Evening star., 1919-05-25
WHY AMERICA IS NOT
i FIELD FOR SOCIALISM
DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler Points Out
Futility of program" Under Con-
ditions In This Country.
ny DIR. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER
President of Columbia Unfversfty.

TINE most pressing question that
now confronts the American
people, the question that un-
derlies and conditions all
problems of reconstruction and of ad-
vance as we pass from war cond1-
tions to the normal times of peace.
is whether we shall go forward py
preserving those American principles
and American traditions that have
already served us so well. or whether
we shall abandon those principles
and traditions and substitute for
them a state built not upon the civil
liberty of the individual. but upon
the plenary power of organized gov
ernment.
Those whose eyes are turned to-
ward a government of the latter type
are designated in a general way as
socialists. The words socialism and
socialist, though less than a century
DID, have lately become very common
among US and are SO loosely and so
variously used as to make it difficult
to think clearly regarding the ideas
for which they stand. Socialism, in
the large, general and vague sense
of the word. means simply social re-
form. In that sense, every intelli-
gent and forward-stepping man or
woman is a socialist.
All for Social Reforms.
All Of US who are in our right minds
are anxious to improve social condi-
tions, to better the public health to
of labor. to increase the rewards and
to add to the satisfactions of those
who do the hard manual work of the
world. to increase and make secure
provision against illness. unemploy-
ment and INDECENT old age. to use the
power Of public taxation to build
roads. to multiply schoolhouses, to
aid with information and guidance
those who farm and those who mine,
to bring together collections of books.
of objects of beauty and of art for
the information and the pleasure of
the great body of the people, to i'm
prove the conditions of housing in
large cities, and to see to it that. such
essentials Of life as water, light and
transportation are furnished of the
best quality and at the lowest prac-
ticable cost.
If by socialism be meant that the
individual must not live for himself
alone. but must use his powers, his
capacities and his gains for the bene-
ft of his community and his fellows,
, then every American and every
Christian is socialist. for these are
fundamental to American life and to
Christian teaching. All this. how
ever, Is social reform. not socialism
socialism, in the strict and scientific
sense of the word. is. however, some
thing quite different from this. So
cfalism involves not social reform,
but political and social revolution. 1t
is the name for definite public policy
which rests upon certain historical
which have been proved to be false,
and 1t proceeds to very drastic and
far-reaching conclusions, all Of which
are in nat contraditian to American
policy and American faith. The as
sumptions OF socialism are these:
What Socialism Intends.
First. that all Of mans efforts, both
past and present, are to be interpreted
for wealth and of the processes which
lead to the satisfaction of that desire.
This assumption excludes at once all
moral, religious and unselfish consid-
erations from history and from life,
and makes of man nothing but gain
seeking animal preying upon his kind
wherever he can lay hands upon him.
There have been, and there doubtless
are, many individuals of this type, but
to suppose that the whole human race
can be brought under such a descrip-
tion is an outrageous travesty on his
tory, on morals and on religion. This
assumption would reduce all human
history to the product of blind gain
seeking forces and would exclude
from 1t both moral effort and moral
purpose. Under such a theory no
man would make any sacrifice for
liberty or for love. but only for gain.
All human experience contradicts SO
cruel and so heartless an assumption.
Second, that in the struggle for
wealth men are divided into perma-
nent classes-those who employ and
those who labor-and that between
these classes there is and should be
class struggle or class war to be
who labor not only conquer those who
employ. but exclude them from any
place in the community.
Taught by Karl Marx.
This doctrine of class struggle is
the savage teaching of Karl Marx, a
man whose consuming passion was
hate. 1t is the extreme form of the
doctrines of Karl Marx which Lenin
and Trotsky have been applying in
Russia for a year and a half past
with such terrible results. In conse-
quence, that once great country Of
boundless possibilities is now as help
less as a child. and it lies. for the mo-
ment, in social. economic and moral
ruin, and is relapsing into barbarism.
ats reorganized schools now devote
part of each day to instruction in
atheism and to removing any linger-
ing traces of what used to be proudly
called civilization.
Russia had lost, happily, the cruel
and tyrannous czar, who ruled over
it. but unhappily it has gained in. his
stead small group of violent and
equally cruel autocratS whose opera
tions make those of the czar seem like
childs play. For the first time in his
tory. on a stage which the whole
world can witness. and on an immense
scale. the doctrines and theories of
Karl Marx are being put to the test
of practical application. No one not
himself blinded by hate or by igno-
rance can be in any doubt as to the
lesson which the world has quickly
learned from the untold sufferings of
Russia.
This doctrine of permanent eco
noTic classes and of class struggle
is the absolute contradiction of democ-
racy. 1t denies a comsnon citizenship
and an equality of rights and priv
ileges in order to set up privileged
and an exploiting class by sheer force
aud terrorism.
Not Nation of Glasses.
Here in America we know full well
that there are no permanent and
conflicting economic classes. for the