Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-03-21

SOCIALISTS IN TINS and in other cOun-
Tries have been making themselves so
prominent OF late that it is worth while
to consider hat is the basis of their
ciaam for separate consideration apart
nom the rest OF humankind. They pro-
Tess, IN effect, to represent a creed which
ID superior 10 all the creeds thai humanity
naS previously possessed, and in barticu-
lar STANDS above such fundamental human
instincts as love OF ones own country.
On the basis Of this creed they put for
ward a demand hat they should have a
pfedonlnan voice in determining the con-
ditfon OF peace. They do not, it il worth
noting, explicitly assert that they repre-
sent a majority OF the Inhabitants of any
or the countries concerned. though they
are suote enough implicitly to suggest
maj they represent the whole>x OF the
"Peopse"-with a very big "P.' his sug-
eestion is cleveriy based on a deliberate
confusion between socialism and trade
unfonism. The socialist ~wirepullers in the
press and elsewhere constantly speak and
write as If the whole of the labor orgnni-
cations of this and other countries were
adherents to the socialist dogma. AS =
matter of fact, the vast body of wage
Gamers In the United Kingdom and in the
United States have little or no sympathy
with the main propositions OF the socialist
creed. They are concerned to Improve
thel1 own conditions of life as wage
earners. and most OF them are tempera-
mentally opposed to the socialist concep-
ton of the complete subordination of the
Individual to the state. In Germany and
In France the conditions are to some
extent different. In both these countries
socialism has obtained a larger hold upon
the wage earning community han among
the English speaking races. But II is
sisnifieant that ever in Germany, the
nome Of eoctaltsm, the vast majority Of
SoCt2IGt2 Sh401ntAlv eAiArt <hA rssnNA.
mental conception Of the socialist creed
thai characterization must prevail over
naoonaItom There are indeed a few Ger
man socialists, of whom Herr Eduard
bernstein is a distinguished example, who
have. upon the evidence, deliberately come
TO the conclusion that their country COM
mttted a crime In beginning the present
war. But such men count for little among
the great mass OF German socialists. who
K all other Germans shout "Deutsch-
land uber Alles!'
Thus the socialist claims certainly can
not be substantiated on the basis OF num-
bers. Yet 1t u to that basis that socialists
Internationally appeal whenever they pose
before the world as democrats. In sub
stance, however, the leading socialists In
all countries have AZ little sympathy with
the democratic conception that the major
ty must rule a. any old time aristocrat or
nonarchtst might have. What they believe
in IL the predominance Of Intellect, and
they also believe that there is no intellect
in the world worth speaking Of apart from
what they possess themselves.
Let us then dismiss the democratic basis
and argue the question from he intel
lectual basis. Socialists profess to have
discovered a creed which solves all the
problems OF life, at any rate all those
problems connected with the primary BUSH
ness of getting bread and butter. That
creed is entirely derived from the German
writer Karl Marx. Stated in the simplest
terms, it mounts to this: that the capital
list classes are engaged in persistently
robbing the wage earning classes by an
nexing part OF he value of the work
which the wage Garner creates. Therefore
there must be perpetual warfare between
capital and labor. until the private capital
list Is altogether abolished. and all capital
More tina this, as capital tends to be
international, the conflict between capital
and labor must be international also. In
place of the national rivalries which the
instinct of patriotism creates the socialists
would substitute a universal class warfare
between the wage Garner on the one hand
and the capitalist and his hangers-on upon
the other.
1t will be seen that this creed begins
with the assumption that the capitalist Is
..robbing. the wage Garner. But isEthat
assumption true? Take the simplest pos
sibIe case of the employment of capital,
spade. A peasant tilling his field with the
plough will get through the work far
more rapidly than II he dug it with the
spade. It Is therefore worth hts while to
pay something for the hire Of a plough.
and he Is better off as long as the sum he