Evening journal., 1919-08-23
BY JOHN II. FERGUSON.
President Baltimore Federation of Labor.

Reconstruction" has OF late been so
tiresomely reiterated, not to say vio-
lently abused, that IL has become TO
many OF us a word OF aversion. Poll
ticians, social students, business men,
labor men. charity workers, clergymen
and various other social groups have
contributed their quota of spoken words
and printed pages to the discussion OF
the subject; yet the majority of us
still find ourselves bewildered and
helpless. We are unable to say What
parts Of our social system imperatively
need reconstruction; how much OF
that which is imperatively necessary is
likely 10 be seriously undertaken, or
what specific methods and measures
are best suited to realize that amount
Of reconstruction which is at once i'm
peralively necessary and Immediately
possible
do not believe as many or as great
social changes viii take place in the
United States as in Europe. Neither
our habits Of thinking nor our ordinary
ways Of life have undergone a profound
disturbance The hackneyed phrase,
Things will never be the same since
the war" has a much more concrete
and deeply felt meaning among Euro
pcan peoples. Their minds are fully
adjusted 10 the conviction and expecta-
tiOn that these words will come true. In
the second place, the devastation. the
loss Of capital and Of men, the changes
in individual relations and the increase
I'm the activities Of government have
been much greater i'm Europe than in
the United States Moreover our su-
perior natural advantages and resources,
the better industrial and social condi-
tlon Of our working classes still con
stitule an obstacle to anything like revo-
lutionary changes.
our present industrial system is des-
tined TO last for long time in its main
outlines. That is to say, private own
ership Of capital is not likely 10 be sup
planted by a collcctivist organization
of industry at a date sufficiently near
TO Justify any present action based on
the hypothesis Of its arrival. This is not
only extremely probable, but highly de-
sirahle: for other objections apart,
Socialism would mean bureaucracy. pO-
litical tyranny. the helplessness Of the
individual as q factor in the ordering Of
his own life and in general social inefll-
cheney and decadence.
II is true, there are those in the
ranks Of organized labor who. in the
fervor Of their world-mproving mis-
sion. discover and proclaim certain
cure-alls for the ills.of humanity. which
they fondly and perhaps honestly be-
llevc 10 he new and unfailing remedies. /
but which. as a matter Of fact, are
heavy with age. having been tried on
this old globe Of ours at one time or I
another. in one Of its parts or another. /.
Ions ago-tried and found wanting and /
discarded after sad dlsillusiOnment. |
There are the spokesmen Of sophor- /
rampant, strutting about in the |
cloak OF superior knowledge. mischiev-
ously and noisly. TO the disturbance of /
quiet and orderly mental processes and !
sane progress. There are the sentimen-
tai. unseasoned, intOlerant and cock
sure advanced thinkers claiming leave
to set the world by the ears. to recon
siruct society over night and with their
sirident and ceaselcss voices to drown
the views OF those who are too busy 20
indulge in much talking There are the /
self seeking demagogues and various
related types and finally there are the +
ievotees OF liberty run amuck. who. in
fanaiical obsession would place a Wis
IOnary and narrow class interest and a
sloppy iniernatlOnalism above patriot
ism, and with whom class hatred and +,