The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-29
A MIDDLE.CLASS BARRIER

At last the worm Is about to turn. The bourgeoisie or middle-class peo- pie of Europe are going to organize for their protection against the other classes that are making war on them, principally upon the communist class which considers the bourgeoisie as public robbers, deserving to be sup pressed. A conference is to be called to meet in Berne, Switzerland, in September, and middle-class people from all the countries of the world are to be invited to attend. The mid dle-class people are all of us who have no specially recognized rights the merchants, shopkeepers, manufac- turing proprietors, clerks, account ants, engineers, contractors, scientists, teachers, writers, musicians, publish CTS, lawyers, doctors, artists of all kinds, and so on. According to com munist doctrine there are only two classes that can 1e recognized, the laborers and the producers. These alone are worth while. All the others live off the working classes, produc- ing nothing and adding nothing to the well being of society. The capitalist class is particularly condemned as both useless and harmful, in that it lives in idleness upon the labor of others, and in this respect is even worse than the bourgeoisie, for the latter, it is admitted, do work.
 Of course, this communistic theory is easily exposed, for it takes no ac- count of the fact that the division of people into classes is the logical re- suit of economic law, and that it is best for society because it is a sys- tematic division of labor. Whereas, in a state of barbarian, every man was his own producer, laborer, manu- facturer, and distributor, it has been found, among civilized peoples, that the best results for all are obtained when the various kinds of work are distributed to be accomplished by the persons best able to perform them. In this system, the capitalist is essen- tial for providing accumulation of the means with which labor is employed and for directing large undertakings which, without his help, would not be undertaken. These enterprises assist in encouraging production. They cheapen the transportation of food and goods of all kinds and bring oth- erwise unknown conveniences and comforts within the reach of the masses of the people. The same is true of the bourgeoisie, who perform very important part in meeting the wants of all classes. The merchants collect goods and sell them in quanti- ties suitable for the daily needs of the people; the manufacturers buy the raw products and convert them into usable shape; the scientists discover speedier and cheaper methods both of production and of manufacture, thus putting vast stores of desirable ma terial at the command of the people, while the teachers, writers, publishers and the like disseminate information by means of which all the operations of life are better carried on, and con- ditions are improved. So also the physicians, surgeons, sanitarians and health preservers generally are of great value in preventing diseases and prolonging life, to the end that more can be accomplished in a given time, and more time will be gained for use- full activity. The artists and others who deal with the aesthetic side of life, help to smooth the rough places, cultivate the pleasing arts, and en- courage the ideals which are the re- wards of lives well spent.
 All this is a commonplace to stu dents of economics, and would not need to be dwelt upon but for the fact that in at least one nation every truth above stated is denied, and the pur- pose is announced that the whole world is to be forced to recognize the system of division of labor as false, and to abandon it. More than that, there is organized in almost every country a considerable party pledged to bring about the abolition of this, which they call the capitalist sys- tenn. The members of this party inn anime that if the world would go back to the earlier practice of individualism, all people would be better off. It is clear, how ever, that nothing but very powerful and very despotic gov ernment could hope to take over the functions of the several classes, and that, with all its power and determi- nation, it could not do the work as . we'll as it is done by the classes. Hap oily, this is not mere dogmatic asser- ton; for the experiment has been given four years of trial in Russia with frightfully deplorable results-a failure on a colossal scale. No per sons are bettered there by it, unless it be the adventurers who have got hold of offices, and are exploiting the miseries of the common people.
 -t The communists, however, are not of f,,1 b,,t ;,,l, Lo4