The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-11


 of beet on more than l speo..ed propor-
 tion of the present beet area. By driving out beet. the government will compel the cultivation of wheat and rye. Anyone who grows beet where he should grow
 wheat or rye win go to jail. From this
 it is only short step 10 compelling the
 farmer directly 10 grow wheat or we.
 Another bill now under preparation
 adumbrates that. In any district where
 the wheat-sown area does not exceed that
 wheat-sown area of past years ny cer-
 tain figure, the I.andrat will report to the
 provincial president. who will have the
 right to compel farmers to plant more
 wheat
 This soeialistic war measure, says Pro-
 lessor Fischer involves other socialistic
 war measures. Even a war socialized
 state cannot compel a farmer 10 grow
 wheat at loss So the state must guar
 antee the farmer cheap seed, manure and
 labor; or it must guarantee him prices
 which will yield him a living profit. If
 higher prices than these were charged the
 consumer would suffer. So the state will
 have to decide what Is living profit for
 a farmer or for landed proprietor. In
 deciding this. the state will be fixing
 mems incomes Further than this few
 Marxian socialists could go.
 Prof. Adolph Wagner holds tIat the Nar-nationalizing of one class of pro duction eurtails the nationaliziag of
 others, so that no class may be favored.
 Further, nationalizing will he com pelled by the exigencies of the state at war. The government will directly
 manufacture everything necessary not only for the army, but for the econe- mic self-sufficiency of the people, this lf-suffieiency being as vital 8 factor
 Ss are armies and naYies for the sue
 cessful conduct of war. Here Russia | l.. AL. IL
 the Baltic and Dardanelles, and by the freezing of the White sea, she Is cut off from Europe She is without tho products which she formerly got from Germany. she cannot get them from England; and only slowly and insuf ficient numbers over the Siberian rail l. way from the United States. These products are chiefly drugs and medi . cines dyes. surgical and optical ap- pliances, and scientific instruments. Many are wanted for war. Russian cannot wait Her technical conditions are such that she cannot manufacture them cheaply on capitalistic profit yielding principles. So the socialistie state and the socialistic local self gov ernng organs are to manufao ture them with public capital. Government engineers and government university professors give the initiative and the science. The local zemstVo councils are proprietors of the works. These are purely state socialistc undertak . ings. After the war they must remain, as it would be waste to break them up, sacrificing their plant, and lose the | national advantage of their eXperi- cnce
 All the war states will take over wholesale private factories. Already In | England. France, Germany and Russia | the war state has acquired lawful au- | thority to appropriate private works which produce things necessary for na- | tional defense Or the state may com gel factories which produce not wanted | products to turn it's plant to producing products which are wanted. nhis Is | rure socialism; and if the public does not recognize the fact. that is because | the public is immersed in the war In peace time. the anti-socialist "bour- gois" parties of Europe would raise | revolution before consenting to such state measures. Now, through patriotic motives, they consent: and thus they bring grist to the red party's mill. | The red party is beginning to see this; and each red party, in its own country, l becomes more and more enthusiastic | for the war. The measures taken, say l the reds, prove indisputably the prac- l ticability of our socialist vision. If, | ir the furry of the war, without prep l aration, the state can run all onter- | Lrises, so much the easier will .r be Tn peace when measures can be carefully prepared, and subjected to public con- | trol.
 l War Is going further than some social | ists expected. It is causing the compul- | sion of districts and individuals to work not in the way they want, but in the par | ticular way which best fits the needs Of | the warning state The German military authorities are forcing the civilian Ger | man to work as they want Here IS an | instance. The military authorities wanted l 900 GOO new soldiers ovorcoats. They or dered certain towns and districts to sup ply them within fixed time. Big towns | like Leipzig were required to furnish 2OOo overcoats week, exactly to specification. and they were threatened with me IT | they failed This is the same as the reuuisition system practiced heretofore only in an enemys occupied country Leipzig had not the means or the men to do the work It had to procure them The municipality ordered all out-of-work tailors and men from other trades who knew anything of tailoring to report themselves Under threat of imprison- ment, 1t set them hard to work turning out the overcoats. In other parts or Ger many civilians are comrulsorily at work
 collecting copper and lead which the state
 needs for shell cases and bullets. This |
 sion for national defense. All these meas- ures will survive the war.
 Berlin's leading socialist journal, Vor-
 waerts, acclaims state socialistic war
 measures not merely because they ara necessary for war, but because they ser precedent for peace. It quotes Dr. Frank, the socialist Reichstag deputy, who volunteered early in the war and was killed on the French frontier Every man" wrote Frank, desires that the war will be short If it is long the people will suffer the more. But the longer 1t Is, the more socialism will gain. War will con- pei the ruling classes to do what peace could not compel them to do- In peace time no intensity of national privation
 would induce them to try the socialist remedy. But in war time, the very ex- fstence of the ruling classes depends upon their trying socialism. The contentment the good feeding of the people are essen- tial to the carrying on successfully of the war, and the successful carrying on of the war Is essential to the existence in each state of the ruling class Hence ths ruling classes will more and more bs forced to take socialistc measures against bread usurers, against monopoliats, against spectators. So the longer the war, the more fruitful, the more social istic will be it's economic results.