The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-04-24
mn KN1GHr or rHr IDEAL.

the spirit OF the zeaiot with lance at rest and
charger paving the ground in eaEerness TO be
81 TO tae lists, The vjrgini1p's socialist and
sins3e tax friend is ever ready to rush into COM
hst for his queen. the Ideal. and never had lady
Z mere valiant knight than he. The sound Of
the buele call has scarce died away before he
meets tho enemy fir shock of combat, and when
II IL over the gallant knight leaves whole and
sound and ready for another ARRAY whatever may
have been the result Of the one Just ended.
On his last entrance TO the lists our Knight
Of the Ideal championed nob}y the cause Of Henry
George Today he lowers lance in defense Of
Socialism. confident that before he is laid be
meath the sod that cause will have triumphed.
In this instance as in most others. our friends
logic is ten attenuated Going back into the dim,
distant past and digging mp the first instance Of
cooperative effort. he stretches his line of res-
soning to make it reach to the ultimate, attempt
ing 10 show that because we have abandoned OK
IRENE indiyidualsm. or anarchy, as he calls it,
we should not cease our journey forward until We
have reached that other extreme cooperative
effort in everything or Socialism He does not
believe in keeping to the middle of the road
He sees no logic in cooperation in some things, il
not in all things Tie cannot understand why we
should have public schools. government owner
shin Of the postal business and other sociaistic
Institutions unless we are to have Socialism in
Its purity.
Probably he Will be able TO understand the
point of view of those who. opposing the prin.
einla of Socialism. have no objection to adopt.
ing 1t ia some of its FORMS when it Is made
clear to him that the same logic which might
lead MS to adopt the principle because adopt
some Of It's tenets would operate Just as quickly
To induce lis to return to anarchy because we
have not discarded it entirely. Our ancestors
we're anarchists: also, they went about the earth
clothed only in that apparel with which endowed
by nature. In the faraway past one Of our an
testers conceived the idea of putting on clothes,
not because OF any deliberately spun theory that
men should be entirely encased in outer adorn-
monts but because the was hot and the
aorth winds cold. Gradually more and more
garments were. added, until today we are almost
covered, but does logic compel us to cover also
nur face and hands on all occasions or discard
clothing altogether? 1t is true that certain
members of one sex show disposition to go
back. as our Socialist friend tells us we must do
or 20 forward to the ultimate, but We prefer to
believe that this is a sporadic movement dig
tatod By the tyrant fashion and is not the result
Of study Of the theory propounded by the So
rialists.
So ii II with cooperation. Where cooperation
is necessary We cooperate Where it is not
necessary we remain individualistic. If the So
cialists can show us that united effort in all
things IS necessary or If it is necessary whether
the Socialists can show It SO to he or not, We
viii some day have Socialism, but We are not
going the whole tourney just because we have
gone part the way. The traveller does not keep
on sailing just because he started He stops
when he comes to his destination. If OUR desti
nation is Socialism, we will continue the jour
ney until we reach it, II it is not we will stop
when We reach whatever point it is.
For our part we do not believe Socialism to
be eur final destination. On the contrary, we
believe it is anarchy Just as the traveller who
continues to sail gets back to his starting point
50 we are inclined to believe that the world
will finally return 70 Sos starting point so de
yeoped and so grown morally. spiritually and
mentally that the local win he found in indi-
vidualism. which we 8ery compelled to abandon
on account 81 the selGs huess which made escape
from it necessary thousands Of years ago. This
may be q fantastic ooncet instead of theory.
Certanly IT is not demonstratable but. then,
neither is Socialism. =
Fer jhe present wc prefer to mako nroeress
slowly adopting this DIan mr. that a.. .,.o,,.. 49,