New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01

the cooperation of many individu.,.
for a common cause, and is one al
the greatest and most benehcent a.
velopnlents of the past century !.
links together in a common entsv
prise Che joint labors or Joint s.n
ings of hundreds, thousands, eva,
tens CT thousands, of men ar,I
women, who to that extent are q,
ganized as a single economic mn.
interested in promoting efficient nro
duction and entitled to divide amon,l
themselves the common prodpt
Under the system of private capit.
all this individual cooperation IL
free. Under any Socialist system
whatever cooperation existed would
be imposed by rule and enforced Nv
the power of the ajority or ruins
group. Under the system Of priyats
capital the individual cooperating
whether investor or workman, come.
and goes as he chooses. He is fres
to make what disposition he will
of his own savings or of his own
labor. Under any Socialist system
all this would be regulated for him
and directed by public authority.
His freedom would be wholly gone
America is worth saving, not onl,
as a land in which men and womes
may be free and increasingly Bros
porous, but as land and govern.
ment under which character can bs
built, individual capacity given op
portunity for free exercise, and CO.
operation on the widest scale pro-
NOTED not only for private advan.
tage but for the public good. As
men become increasingly moral and
increasingly intelligent, their per.
sonal activities will be increasingly
impressed with a public interest
Their citizenship will not exhaug
itself in the formal exercise o..
political rights or>n merely political
activity. 1t will show itself in way
that are economic, social and ethical.
Throughout this land there are thou.
sands, hundreds of thousands Of men
and women who illustrate this fact
Neither America nor mankind in
general is likely to attain absolute
perfection; but under the influence
and guidance Of those principles and
ideals which are historically and
truly American there is every res.
son to believe that each succeeding
generation will see new ano mcreas
ing progress toward the goal Of
greater human happiness and greater
human satisfaction.
The sure mark Of the reactionar
is unwillingness to make use of thu
teachings of past experience, or to
read the lessons of history and apply
them to the problems of to-day. The
real reactionary, who is always al
egoist, insists that mis- own feelings
his own desires, his own ambitions,
take precedence over anything that
all the rest Of mankind may have
said or done or recorded. He wishes
to start life all over again in a Gar.
den of Eden of his own, with pr.
vate serpent and private apple
The true progressive, on the Other
hand, is he who carefully reads his.
tory and carefully examines the eS.
perience of mankind in order 10 see
what lessons have already been
learned, what mistakes need not be
repeated and what principles Of OF.
ganizatiOn and conduct have estab
lished themselves as sound and bene'
f!cent.
Upon all this the pGogressiv
builds a new and consistent strul.
turc to meet the needs Of to-day IN
the light Of the experience of yes.
terday. He does not find it neces
sary to burn his own fingers 10
order to ascertain whether fire u
hot.
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