Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-19
ON WHAT MEAT DOES
SOCIALISM FEED?

TN TUESDAYS primary election in
Buffalo the Socialist candidate for
Mayor received 26 per cent of the total
vote cast. The Republican vote was
1s414, the Democratic 1895 and the
Socialist 1891 In the wards with a
heavy foreign population the Socialist
candidate polled more votes than his two
opponents combined.
In New York city the Herald is con.
Quoting one Of its polls of straw votes,
and the result induces that newspaper to
make the following editorial comment
"whatever the explanation, the fact is
that every poll of straw votes shows
Mr.. Hillquit with greater strength than
the political leaders have been disposed
TO concede to him. That he is drawing
from the vote cast for Mr.. Mitchell four
years ago is shown by the testimony of
many of his supporters concerning their
1918 preferences" Mr.. Hillquit is the
Socialist candidate for Mayor.
Philadelphia has been the ark of the
covenant Of protection these many years.
Philadelphia represents sturdy conserva-
tism. the triumph of industry over mere
legislation, the value of skill and work
as promoters of prosperity, the keeping
faith with capital and honest investment;
and the city offers TO labor unparalleled
opportunities in the skilled trades. The
: community is one to which Socialism
does not appeal, for Socialism is an out.
growth of dissatisfaction, of poverty and
of discomfort. 1t is a doctrine which
sprouts chiefly from ground rich in
rottenness and disintegration. It con.
templates the overthrow Of the intricate
machinery under which the society and
business of the world are now organized
and have been organized for centuries.
II seeks to offer other incentives than
that of profit to human effort and out,
lines a sort of leveling process 1t is
not reformative doctrine, but revolu-
tionary doctrine, proposing governmental
experimentation so radical that no man
could prophesy it's results with accuracy,
although it is apparent that almost per.
feet administration would be requisite
to avoid virtual anarchy. Many of the
Incidental aims of Socialism, however,
are being adopted by the nations of the
world. The method is a gradual one,
FASTENED by war. under conditions that
do not imperil the structure Of society
and are subject to change.
What, then, makes Socialists? Those
street orators on soap boxes have to have
something to talk about. They never
make much of hit unless they are
denouncing something. They have to
have some truth on which to build their
pictures. Where do they get it? OBJ.
viously from political conditions such as
have humiliated Philadelphia for years
past. 1t does not require many murders
TO change a Fifth Ward from a Repub.
lican to a Socialist camp. II does not
take many decades of contractor gov
ernment and robbery of the public TO
put La Toilette in the Senate or some.
body worse than La Toilette in the White
House. Business men do not have
TO acquiesce in governmental masquer.
ades very long before discovering that
business as well as rotten government
Is target for extreme radicalism. De
basing government may be a very profit
able pastime for a period, but 1t leads
inevitably TO revolutionary programs
We have pointed out repeatedly that
politics in Philadelphia has become a
-r'siness issue. Every day of continued
Dad government further imperils tn,
stability Of enterprises and values. Their,
could not be bad government unless bust
ness men permitted it. The people under
stand and know that fact. We car
afford to forget factionalism and put tn,
present fight where 1t belongs-on q
business basis. The soil is dangerousb
near ripe for Socialism of the advances
sort. We may as well take warning from
fhc experience OF other communities.
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