Norwich bulletin., 1914-03-06

question which type of student has got the most good out of college. Physique and mental training are not exclusive products of college preparatory insti- tutions and lack of money is a splen- did barrier to keep a fellow in sober and industrious ways. Even in the tangible honors of college life. the old democracy is still vital and it is being worthily supplemented by the Yale ideal of public spirit and service.
 Because he hasn't been aye to find
 out what socialism really is, is one of
 the reasons why Prof. Irving Fisher, the noted economist, gave in an ad- dress Why Am Not g. Socialist, before
 the Yale Society for the Study of So- cialism. Every man he asks has a diff ferent explanation, and there are more
 than 57 varieties, against which others
 the socialist is as keen as against an
 anti-socialist- If one persons idea is
 taken as model, all other socialists complain.
 Since his college days under William Graham Sumner, Professor Fisher said his ideas have undergone a radical change. He favors the utilization of the government for combating social reform in every practical way. The
 decay of religious thought drives many
 to socialism, in the opinion of the Yale professor, giving them a new sort
 of creed. But the socialist accusation
 that the rise in prices during the past
 
 tions of the capitalists, Professor Fish
 CT emphatically denies tracing it to too
 much imitation, too much gold and
 bank notes and it's other substitutes.
 Of socialism as the agency to afford
 the greatest means of solving the high
 cost of living and the other evils to
 which the worAingman is heir, Pro-
 lessor Fisher was doubtful. The ques-
 tion of the time is, Can great wealth
 and great poverty co-exist in a democ-
 wit f,-tA AP
 cal power? The answer of the socialist
 is the appropriation of the wealthy to
 produce an equality. Socialism is the expression of the discomfort of the masses because of the power of the
 classes
 There is not yet a scientific social
 ism,'' said Professor Fisher, and he
 showed the fallaciousness of the Marxian theory of interest. Social is nnhas good intentions" he said. suc-
 cinctly. but it is leading to hell eco
 nomicaIly.'
 Until socialism puts forth a work able scheme and shows what actual re- suits are likely to be attained, it is not to be endorsed. It is to be measured not by intentions, but by results. Far from its intentions, Professor Fisher said that socialism would be one of the greatest producers of poverty. The standardization of railroads and other utilities he thought a doubtful good. The great need is a puriication of politics. When we can trust our gov ernment officials more, we will give them more to do.
 Professor Fisher endorsed the com batting of the causes of poverty and discomfort one by one. referring to the | fight against the hookworm in the south and the two constructive philan- l thropies in New York city-that of the
 model teemennt reform, now affecting ! 100000 people, and that of the formation in the last three months of
 . loan association for the poor that | Wall street man said the other day would be making in five or ten years
 loans of $26o, ,eoO.000 a year to the poor | of New York.
 The socialists are too big for these 1 small philanthropies, which they call superficial. They are too Utopian, too | impracticable. The socialist cure is | based on a Quack diagnosis. To be 1 truly practical, we must put up with 1 poverty to some extent, and by com go a long way toward reducing poverty | and the inequalities of wealth. I am l suspicious of all panaceas in medicine 1 or in society.
 The Yale Society for the Study of 1 Socialism provides one of the most in | teresting feature of the extra curricul- 1 lum these days; and occasionally it | meets with rebuffs. For the opinion | gains ground, no matter how much de- | nted, that the society is a hotbed for 1 socialism. As matter of fact it is | on the fence. But, as an instance, ar
 engagement had been made for three | lectures by a prominent anti-socialist l speaker: but he was in New Haven a | few days ago, and since then he has | been compelled to give up the course | because of impaired health" accord | ing to a letter received from him by | the presiding officer of the society. He 1 had heard that the organization was | sociaIistic.
 An interesting commentary on the l status of socialism is that it Is found | exceedingly difficult to get an anti | socialist speaker Twenty socialists | will speak to one anti-socialist: and in | trying to keep on an even keel the 1 society has to use considerable energy.