The Washington socialist. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1914-1915, 1915-04-15
METHODS OF
SOCIAL PROGRESS

dong tho wrongs which cause indus.
trial trouble"
That was jabbed ut me by friend,
and leads me to observe that there
ale two lines OF effort needed to
make men good. The ordinary way
is personal work for private morality
and the other is the improvement of
conditions which react on society for
good or evil
We did not wait on individual of
fort to rid this state of the saloons,
but voted away the saloon system by
collective action. thus changing the
conditions or environment We may
now work on the individual at leisure.
If highwayman takes our proper
ty by force, we don't walt for his slow
moral education, but have the law on
him.
Highway robbery demands the com
pulsion of the state and just as sure.
~ does Industrial robbery. We can
be just as effectually robbed by n
franchise in some public necessity as
with gun, and neither form of rob-
berry has ever, or will ever, cease
wholly by moral suasion.
But take an explanations: Before
the civil war some states passed laws
ioi bidding the whites to educate the
negroes. Here we have law made
or definite purpose and well en-
,oroed, to keep the negro In ignor-
ance for the profit of his master II
worked.
Since then the pubic school system
has been open to the negroes and be-
hold the result! Everybody's Maya
zinc says that tho winner of the prize
given by them for the best letter on
the liquor question was won by stu
dent in Booker T. Washington's
school. Some change. huh? And that
change was brought about by new
aw made for the definite purpose OF
educating the people and providing
way for il and was well enforced. 1t
worked, too.
Man-Made institutions May Help or
Hinder.
Institutions made by man hinder
when they are made for that purpose
md hep when so intended and en-
orced.
With these school systems In mind,
we may find parallels in industry. In
an ignorant past we gave individual
cinches to the things of life, such as
land, water power, mines. forests and
many other public necessities.
This we call system Oh srfyate
ownership. 1t belonged to the era of
small things, and served the people
well while it was applicable But now
with great natural forces such as
steam and electricity and great ma
chimes which multiply labor power
and eventually displace 1t, we are fac
ing new situation which calls for
REIMBURSEMENT of our industrial sys-
tenn.
The chief fault of our Industrial sys.
tenn is that it places too much power
in the hands of individual men, for
our human nature Is not able to keep
its balance under such a strain, and
we see them welding that enormous
power for selfish ends.
Well, what shall we do? My
friend says pursuade them to stop.
We answer that we cannot change
their ideas while they are enjoying
their cinch. This we know from
study of history.
Men get their ideas largely from
their surroundings and the surround
ings are made by the systems or insti-
tutions set up for various purposes.
Economic Determinism."
If that environment reacts favor
ably upon a man, experience shows
that on an average he will not be con-
yinced that he should dig his own
grave by letting go. In other words,
property makes us conservative. The
rich easily find a way to excuse
themselves and hang onto their cinch.
Here the theory of public ownership
says that the fault was not the indi-
vidual rich man, but lies far back
when society made the law allowing
separate ownership of the means of
making living. This was a collect
i've mistake, that is, made by us all,
and the remedy must be collective. SO
we take the question-not to the rich
man who owns a cinch, but to the
whole people at the polls and let col
lective wisdom devise wiser and
more efficient plan of making a living
for the nation under new conditions.
The old law made gods of separate
men by giving them unnatural DOW.
ers, and they quite logically proceed
ed to act accordingly, but the new law
Will simply restore them and all of us
to our rightful place side by side in a
pure democracy and the naughty AFRO