Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-02-29
SOCIALISM OR INDlvlDuALtsM.

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SOCIALISM OR INDIvlDUALtsM.
Editor Courier:
Robert J. Shaw of Hayesville, la.
evidently wants to enliven the columns
Of the Peoples Pulpit and throws dowl
the gauge of battle to the socialists
Now, the socialist, whatever his faults
is not noted for. going out of his wa!
to avoid fight, and though Mr.. Shaw
n puts up some strong (eVen tOp-heavy.
argum ents, will endeavor, in my hum.
BILE way to knock the props from un.
der them, as he suggests, and hope
that l will at least succeed in EARRING
! them little, as per his kind invita-.
| ton.
/ Mr.. Shaw admits that social condi-
tons are not what they should be (ev-
erybody does thaD: that the breach
between capital and labor is growing
wider, and that some reforms could be
inaugurated for the good Of the coun-
| try, but that socialism strikes at Amer
lean homes, liberty and individuality
! Without explaining how it does this, he
goes on with more platitudes. about
individual liberty and blames the cause
of our economic ills on the evil nature
! of men, and not on the system which
/ produces them, and that all reforms
| therefore should be directed at the
men and not at the system. But unless
we go to the root of the matter and
change the system. these men at the
head of affairs will continue to appear
! like the leaves on the trees as they are
! the product Of the system and can be
no better than the system which pro-
duces them. The concentration and
combination of wealth goes steadily
forward with increasing rapidity, and
outside the power of those who direct
it. Mr.. Rockefeller's income this year
is about seventy millions, which he
must invest in more property that will
bring him more profits Next year his
income whl be eighty millions which
must again be invested 1t Is the nature
of this enormous fortune to grow, and
yet he is only taken as an example, as
there are other great capitalists, some
OF whom may be richer than he, ana
whose fortunes are likewise expand
ing at rapid rate. Yet Mr.. Rookie
Teller and Mr.. Morgan and others of
their kind profess to- be good and re-
ligious men. No crime has ever caused
the law to lay its clutches on them.
and we are assured that in this coun-
try, at least, the law is sufficient to
cover every crime. and that in the eyes
of the law the rich man and the poor
man are equal. No, it is not the fault
Of men that the trusts have grown to
their present enormous proportions.
When two men found that by combin-
ing their factories they could produce
and market their goods more econ
omfcally than by competing with each
other. they naturally combined. This
forced others to do the same thing to
meet the competition of the combined
plants, and the process went on rap
ivo nf
firms either ruined or absorbed its
competitors, and obtained a monopoly.
2hen the law of supply and demapd
was set aside in that industry, .xnd
prices regulated by what the traffic
would bear. But the men who did this
could no more help~it than they could
turn backward the waters of Niagara.
1t is the survival of the f1ttest, and in
this case, the most eXacting, the most
ruthless, the most INSCRIPTIONS, are
the ones that survive. 1t is not the
ia ult of men, but of the system which
produces them. The whole trouble with
such a system is that the few get the
largest portion of what the many pro-
duce, add with the enormous develop
ment of machine production and the
concentration of industry, the. worker
produces such a large surplus and the
capitalist Invests in more machinery
to produce more wealth and SO on ad
infinituui AS each worker produces an
average of San and receives in wages
an average of $437 (these are from
census bulletin No. 1907 it Is impos-
sible for the workers to buy back all
they produce, and as the capitalists
with all their wanton waste. can con-
sumo only a fraction Of the surplus,
overproduction follows Greatly under
consun,ption) and the workers are laid
off until the surplus is consumed. .
This Is where the worker gets an OPP
portunity to assert his individuality in
hunting for a job. But if the system
which caus IS such an unequal distribu-
ton Of the products OF labor is just and
right, then it is right for the capital
list to lay off his workers when he can
no longer make profit off their labor,
as that profit is his individual incen-
tive under the present system. But
such a system gives ninety-f1ve per
cent Of the people practically no op-
pcrtnunity to- develop their individual
ity, but they must mold themselves to
the environments into which they are
thrust by economic pressure. /
Mr.. Shaw says that any system
which has tendency to destroy COM
petition is bad, and tends to retard
civilization. Mr.. Carnegie on the
witness stand few weeks ago before
the steel Investigation committee on
being asked about competition in the
steel business, laughed and said that
competition did not exist. Yet the gem
tleman from Hayesville says: ANY
effort to destroy competition will be
fruitless. because it will be aimed at
progressiveness and it is contrary tot
human nature" ~
Individualism is good thing, though
not quite as good as he pictures it.
For instance individualism has never,
as asserted won a battle, made a ma
ton, or created a republic. These
things can only be done by co-opera-
ton <f large number. and for an in |
dividual to attempt any such thing
would be quixotic in the extreme. Yet. !
individualism is good thing in it's
proper place but the system of in
dividual production is only q memory.
All proSuetion of any consequence is
social noE, and what we want is to
make the distribution social also. So
cialism advocates a system that will
make individualism possible for all the
people. The present system only makes
it possible for about five per cent of /
the people to have individuality, and
can scarcely be called individualism.
Socialism does not as claimed, advo-
cafe communism If Mr. Shaw serious =