The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1957-11-14
THOUGHTS WHILE SHAVING
BY George Peck

article that bore the title:
Thoughts While Shaving" tho
same title as heads this column.
From several editors have come
requests that ! do the article
again, bringing it up to date. This
is how it went except for some
minor revisions:
The other morning, as per daily
custom, | got out my trusty cleo
trio razor (the name Of the make
purposely omitted here-no free
plug), turned on the switch and
proceeded tic shave. As usual, l
could not help noticing that some
of the whiskers were longer than
others. This has always puzzled
me- "Why in the same length of
time does one whisker grow long-
er and stronger than others of its
fellow whiskers I have often
asked myself
Growing in the same soil, or
rather l should say in the same
skin, blood and flesh alongside of
puny runt, a healthy, virile
whiskcr blossoms forth. Just why,
I've never been able to figure out.
But, when my razor has gotten in
its ticks, all of the whiskers, both
healthy and puny, are reduced to
the same size-that is, no size at
alL 1t must be plumb discourage
ing to a healthy whisker that has
toiled day and night to gain
stature, to be moved down to the
size of the shiftless, non-toiling
bit of fuzz.
On this particular morning, it
suddenly dawned on me that what
that razor was doing to the indi-
vidual whiskers on my face is ex-
actly what Socialism does to the
individuals of a nation. 1t cuts
them all down to one size-that
is, no size at all.
Under a socialistic economy the
Woodworking, thrifty, self-reliant
individual is reduced to the same
size as the indolent, shiftless,
wasteful citizen. Struggle as he
may, constantly he is cut down.
Finally, he loses all incentive to
attempt to lift himself above his
fellows and discouraged, he throws
up his arms in surrender, and
ceases to struggle.
The theory of Socialism is beau
tiful-the idea of all sharing alike
is intriguing, especially for those
who have little or nothing to
share. But, Socialism in practice,
that is something else again. The
end result is that all do share
alike-each finishes up with
large equal slice of nothing. For
when you reduce the honeybees
to the status of the drones, no
honey is produced.
But there is something that So
cialism creates that is far worse
than poverty, uncomfortable as
that status is, and that thing is
loss of freedom. Loss of freedom
goes hand in hand with Social
ism. Those in charge Of the divid-
ing process have nasty habit of
! debating how each recipient of
the division shall spend his share.
The citizen of the socialistic
state is told where and at what
he shall work, how he shall live.
how he shall educate his children,
what doctor and dentist shall
serve him; he is even told how
to entertain himself.
If you doubt the foregoing
statement, just ask any English
man. The English have learned
the hard way that under social
istic government they not only
were ruled and regulated to the
hilt, but were gradually coming
to share less and less. Three
Prime Ministers, Churchill, Eden
and now Mcmillan have tried to
restore their lost freedoms and
lift their standard of living from
the low level to which the Labor
Socialist government sank it.
Of course, those who foisted So
cialism upon England We're hon
est about it. They called it $50
cialism." Those who are foisting
Socialism upon America are not
so fortnight. They have a lot of
fancy, misleading names for it.
such as Social Security" Fed
eral Medicine" public Housing
"Federal-Aid- To- Education" Fed
eral Power Production" etc., etc
| They know that were they to call
| it by its right name, the Ameri-
can people would avoid it like a
plague.
| Thank God, the American PEG.
pie seem to be waking up to the