The Washington herald., 1920-05-23
BY WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT.
tCopyright. 1890. by Public Ledger
Company

Company
The attack upon our present So
eial order of Individual liberty, the
right ef property and the equality
of opportunity gains support and
arouses enthusiasm among the ig-
norant, the unthinking and the dis
satisfied. by its emphasis upon the
resulting inequalities. in the wealth
and power Of some and the suffering,
privation and poverty of others.
1t is trulysursed that the guiding
stimulus of our economic system is
the motive of selfishness. It's newt
able result Is said to be the triumph
1f the maxim. Every one for him
/ self and the devil take the hind
most"
Aims OF Bolshevism.
Bolshevism, which must now be
regarded as the alternative economic
system. rests on MARKHAM socialism.
We find its motive in the passion
of hatred of the Industrious, the
thrifty and the people who lift
themselves by their own efforts un-
der our present system.
The purpose OF Bolshevism is TO
overthrow the entire social, indus
trial and political system which has
existed for centuries. 1t creates a
dictatorship with the proletariat,
and only small part of that, as a
single governing class. It confis-
Gates the property of the thrifty, de-
prives them of their political rights
and reduces them to slavery. It
haunts the ideals of Christian civil
ization. religion. the family and all
the prudential virtues.
Marx dismisses with contempt the
Ehilanthropists. the humanitarians,
the organizers OF charity, the Soci-
ETY. for the Prevention OF Cruelty to
Animals. the temperance fanat-
les" and the ''hole-and corner" re-
formers OF all kinds.
Under the present social order,
after the prudential virtues of in
ldustry and thrift and the genius of
Invention and organization, stimu-
lated by the reward of gain. have
made life on the physical side suffi-
ciently comfortable, wise men are
able to see that real happiness IL
not to be attained in the gratifica-
tion of ones appetites. or in physi-
lcal comfort or pleasure, but that IL
can come only from the intellectual.
the artistic and the spiritual. and
e. frnR
and the relief of privation. pain and
poverty.
The capitalistic system is indeed
the only possible basis of progress
with human nature as 1t is. but IL
throws on all its beneficiaries re-
sponsibility for smoothing the as
perities of the system by promoting.
through judicious governmental ac-
tion and through private initiative.
helpful aid for the unfortunate and
the suffering.
| The mere inequality Of fortune
between a wage-earner who is able
to live with reasonable comfort, 10
educate his children and to secure
TO them full equality of opportunity
for their future. and the rich man,
is not an inequality that need con-
Germ us. because the former is quite
as likely to enjoy real happiness in
life as the latter
Happiness and Dollars.
The essence of the reasoning of
the Socialist is that happiness is
proportioned TO dollars. The slight
est observation demonstrates its
falsity. II. therefore, through a gov
ernmental action, which will help
without demoralizing. and through
philanthropy and charitable work
of private initiation. the very poor
who suffer by their poverty and the
unfortunate are relieved. other in
lequalities are no reason for an at
tack upon our system.
The defect of all socialistiC
theories of whatever variety is the
absence of an abiding motive in
man to do those things which make
for material progress, and without
which retrogression is inevitable
The theories are predicated on the
hope that interest in what is called
social justice and the welfare of all
VIII prompt men to industry, to
thrift in the interest of the COM
munity, to the devising of new in
ventions and the exercise of the
genius of organization. Men are moi
iyet-and an economic system or a
government framed on the theory
that they can be made so within a
reasonable time by governmental
regulation is absurd The economic
experience OF Bolshevism has dem
onstrated this.
The result is hopeless effort
through despotism to regulate the
life of the individual in its detail
and to force system of slavery
which ultimately brings defeat
While, therefore. we can face, with
the certainty OF almost a mathe-
matical proposition. that no social
isttc system will live. our duty is to
save the world as much as possible
from the destruction and the re-
tarding of real progress by prevent
ing such costly experiments.
Antidotes to Unrest.
The more the instances multiply
'ot srcat and successful philanthropy
ic enterprises which flower out of
our present social order as its leCit-
innate sequence. the less likely is
the fever of unrest and the fierce
love OF plunder and the envy and
Jealousy of the well-to-do, to give
spaSmodc strength to proletariat
ana communiStic movement
In the light of these cons!dera-
tlons Il friend of Christian civiliza-
tion and supporter of the present
social order rejoiccs to visit such a
shrine of philanthropy as can be
found at Rochester, Minnesota
10 that obscure and remote town
came from England a good many
years ago physician and surgeon
named DR.. w. w. Mayo. He had