The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-09-11

A little editor down in Austin, Texas,
recently declared that the Socialist lis
either farmer in hard luck, mer-
chant without customer. a preacher
without a pulpit, doctor without
patients, a lawyer without clients or a
Populist gone to seed"
In California we have Austin Lewis.
once candidate for governor on the
Socialist ticket, and again for judge of
the supreme court, furnishing the OPP
ponents of Socialism with the same
kind of ammunition. The little editor
of Austin seems to have hit almost
upon the very phrases used by our
erstwhile comrade.
Coming from an avowed apologist
for the capitalist regime, a literary
scullion of the master class, such
declaration regarding Socialists is to
be expected. This is what the intel
lectual CD prostitute is kept for We
naturally look for present-day capital
ism to breed just such loathsome para
sites as this pitiable creature of Aus
tin, Texas.
The case of Austin Lewis, once wide
propaganda, is entirely different. At
tackled from such a quarter as being,
with few exceptions, the failures" of
the system, briefless lawyers, pulpit
less preachers, jobless college profess
sors, inefficient mechanics, would-be
artists and literateurs, and of the gen.
orally no-good-anyway class, it may be
well for us to take stock of ourselves,
and ascertain, if possible, just how
much of truth, if any, there is in this
sweeping assertion. Moreover, even if
Mr.. Lewis should prove to be justified
in his contention, what inference are
we expected to draw from the facts as
ted? Are we but to follow the ex-
ample of Mr. Lewis and affiliate with
another aggregation of failures,
largely jobless also, the anti-ballot l.
w. W? But limitations of space con-
fine US to discussion of the first ques-
ton raised.
A Pertinent Question.
Is the Socialist party composed of
unsuccessful preachers, artists, law
yers, doctors, and the less competent
among the skilled and the unskilled
manual laborers? And, as a natural
corollary of an affirmative answer to
the above question, is the moral and
intellectual and economic status of the
wage workers in the Socialist party
below that of the non-Socialists work
ing-class element? And, again, are
there fewer men of superior talents
among tn socialists than among an
equal number of non-Socialists? We
may even put the question less favor
ably: Are the men of genius of our
time mostly non-Socialists, or anti
Socialists?
Answering the last question first, let
us run over only a few names of Gel
ebrities in various departments of art,
science, and literature, names of men
and women who have publicly pro-
claimed themselves Socialists: Victor
Hugo, Charles Kingsley, H. G. Wells,
Algernon Swinburne, Jack London,
William Morris, George Bernard Shaw,
Gorky, Rostand, D'Annuncio, Frances
Willard, Olive Shreiner Walter Crane,
Balfour Kerr, Alfred Russell Wallace,
Jacque Loeb, Enrico Ferri, Caesar
Lombroso, Maeterlink, and the great
est of all political economists, Karl
Marx; while the greatest orator of
Germany, the lamented August Bebel;
the greatest orator of France, Jean
Jaures, and the greatest orator of the
United States, Eugene Y. Debs were all
inspired by Socialist philosophy and
the Socialist movement
Nearly all our most successful maya
zine writer's are well known Socialists.
HELEN Kellar is a Socialist A num-
Der Of college professors and host of
clergymen of distinction are ayowed
Socialists. To name all the famous
persons who have been proud to call
themselves Socialists would be to.
make a catalogue Of all those writer's
and artists whose product will endure
the test of time. No really vital work
is being done today excepting by men
and women inspired by the newer and
better ideals of the Socialist move
ment. If great men and women are
not very numerous in the Socialist
movement, if many Socialists, even
most Of them, have not made good"
under capitalism. is this not true also
of the men and women who are not
Socialists?
Old Party Failures.