The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1913-08-21


OF what they claim as a creed.
Ihere are others of us who confound
the socialist theory with that of the
anarchist, and are prone to think,
very much because of the attitude of
the socialists themselves, that bombs,
strikes and the like are the basis on
which the doctrine rests. When Mr.,
webster compiled his famous die
tlonary, he gave the meaning of the
word socialism" as a doctrine that
a community of interests is the best
form Of society"
When one gets beyond the horizon
OF ones daily life, the novelty and
the diversity of all one meets wakens
a keener sense Of interest than is
possible from reading tons of books
and trying to digest thereby the
opinions and arguments of others.
SO it is, if one wants to get the fall
lacy Of the socialistic argument, as
we have had it illustrated daily to
us for years, one needs only to travel
through those States where mining
is the principal or the only industry
The ramiications of the question
are many, but one may safely begin
with the old Dugbear Equality" for
which the socialist is ready to lay
down his life, all Of his time and
most Of his money.
One has only to go through these
mining settlements to realize that
squalOr is as much part of civili-
cation as collar buttons, and while
one may exist without the collar
button, and be just as we'll off, the
t0O7 mil f1rt33 IL
list without squalor. One begins to
realize clearly how tremendous an
element the foreigner is, when one
has looked at the personnel Of these
villages and towns which make up in
SO large part, the interior Of Penn
sylvania.
Efforts have been made at archi-
tectural beauty, in the houses that
the miners occupy; there is much
jig-saW carving; the red, green and
blue paint has been lavishly used,
and there seems to be little effort
on the part OF the tenant to aid the
landlord to keep a "house beauti-
full once he has taken possession.
The houses were built as closely as
it was possible to get them, and the
rear views showed the rabbit had
nothing on some humans when it
comes to the matter of crOwding.
There was absolutely no reason
for the croWding, excepting the de-
mand on the part of the renters to
Give close" There were stretches
of the most beautiful shaded coun-
try less than two city blocks from
some of these cOngested districts,
but aside from the goats, the COWS
and the children, there were none to
enjoy the fresh, clean air, and the
beauty which was SO apparent. It
wasn't that the women folks were
too busy to go out to these spots
they all looked thoroughly happy
and content, sprawled out in rocking
chairs, hanging over front gates and
back fences, and all looking ex-
tremely comfortable in girth, as
though the matter of food had never
been a serious question.
The men, when they appeared
above ground, we're stalwart, healthy
and full of vitality None of them
looked as though they were suffer-
ing, from their work, and yet these
are the handspring from which the
socialist draws his illustrations Of
the uneven division in which the
poor gets the small end, and the rich
all the fat
AS a people, the Americans have
made the same mistake with the for
eigner that was made with the negro,
and for the very same reason. There
is such a thing as an intelligent