The Washington herald., 1914-10-21
The Growing Socialism.

social philosopher or analyst of social conditions
could make it. as to what is the exact nature of
the force that has, in the last quarter Of CEN
tury, been at the bottom of the worldwide i'm
pulse toward Socialism That such an impetus exists
is of course beyond question and by no means the
greatest proof of it is the numerical growth of the
political Socialist party in all civilized nations We
are inclined to think that in our own country one
cause for this growth has been the dissatisfaction
of the people with the old political parties. The
habit has been with many people, in the current
era of undertaking to consider both the Republican
and Democratic parties oligarchies whose aims
and methods are wholly out of touch with popular
needs or desires. In England discomfort with the
monopoly of land maintained by the higher classes
is undoubtedly prime factor in the movement; but
the fact that the movement is felt in about the
degree in all countries and where different social
conditions prevail shows that no cause peculiar to
any one country is at work
For our own part, we believe that this general
fundamental cause is the increasing population of
the world and the increasing difficulty of the number
of people who are born into the world of obtaining
the means of subsistence. The struggle for exist
is becoming harder and the old social order is
undergoing strain. All these tendencies have been
tremendously enlarged under our very eyes since the
war broke out in Europe. The government of every
country concerned in the great European struggle is
doing things that would be left to private initiative
and enterprise in state of peace. The fact that
it is doing these things is at all alarming The
danger is that when the is and matters
once more resume their normal course, the govern
ment will be asked to continue the temporary pater
naism that it now exerts And this may hold true
of the countries that not directly engaged in
the struggle as well as of those that were actual
participants in it.
The vital trouble is that for long time past
subtle tendencies have been influential in all nations
toward an obliteration of individual effort and a
substitution therefor of government effort and that
these have led the steps of government into paths
that in the days of our fathers would never have
been entered upon under any circumstances. For in
stance race of theorists has grown up in the
United States in the present generation which has
harped upon the municipal ownership of pretty near
ly every branch of human activity in cities as the
one cure-all for every municipal difficulty To con-
troll every business by means of a government COM
mission is the aim of large body of so-called po-
ltical thinkers Our general government has already
embarked upon a great scheme of war risk insur-
ance which in itself does not seem very harmful
But proposal to spend hundreds of millions of
dollars upon government-owned shipping indus
try has only barely been averted by the awakened
common sense of even radical politicians themselves
Now comes the latest addition to these departures
from the traditional American way of doing things
in scheme, which has enlisted strong support in
Congress- for the purchase by the government Of
100000 bales of cotton at a price of 10 cents
pound, to be held until the cotton consumption of
the world allows sale at profit of the amount of
cotton thus purchased 1t seems certain that no such
scheme will go through but the fact that it has
made much headway as it has shows how danger
ous the general situation has become 1t is fair to
say that the case it stands is practically this Any
business interest in the country that can command
considerable quantity of popular voting power thinks
itself at liberty to go to Congress- whenever its
especial business meets with any misfortune or dis
3ster, and ask for government aid The labor unions
lsk for government aid in getting raise of wages
he cotton planters want government aid, when, by
reason OF troubles outside own borders the price
IF cotton falls below cents pound the Western
farmers want government aid whenever grain prices
are depressed and all these different interests are
light in asking aid if the country is going
70 follow the principle of extending such aid to any
one particular interest at any given time. If the |
farmer or cotton planter gets it, the copper pro- |
iucer, the man engaged in the lumber business and
he men engaged in every business ought to get it
90 whenever their businesses are depressed.
1t is the story of the old greenback days over
lgain' that people OF older generation we'll re-
member, when there was demand for an unlimited
ssue of paper money BY the government, based upon
he idea that real wealth and fundamental value could
created by Congressional enactment Will the ma
ion have strength again, it did forty years ago,
o stick to the American native doctrine of self |
lelp and selfreance and to repudate the crazy no.
ion that it is within the duty and the power of the
government to raise money by taxation from the
whole people for the purpose of keeping any one
business the business of any one section of the
country up to normal when hard times affect it?