Part 5 (2/2)

If in these chapters the errors of Mr. Roosevelt's notions are not dissipated, then this book will have been written in vain.

One thing more, however, must be said on this subject. Inexcusable though Mr. Roosevelt may be in most of his attacks on Socialism, it must be admitted that the ”iron despotism” to which he thinks Socialism will lead is justified by many Socialist authors, and it is only very lately that a way has been found for introducing cooperation without compulsion. Again, Mr. Roosevelt is in good company in making this charge. It is the great _cheval de bataille_ of every anti-Socialist.

In ”A Plea for Liberty,” edited by Herbert Spencer, the idea of concentrating wealth in the community is denounced as a ”conception of life or conduct” which would compel men ”to rise at morn to the sound of a state gong, breakfast off state viands, labor by time according to a state clock, dine at a state table supplied at the state's expense, and to be regulated as to rest and recreation.”

In fact, Socialism proposes none of these things. But if it did, a factory hand might very well ask whether such a conception of life or conduct would be worse than to rise at morn by the sound of a factory bell, labor by time according to a factory clock, neither breakfast nor dine at a factory table supplied at the factory's expense, but be regulated as to rest and recreation by factory rules. When we come to discuss liberty, we shall be in a position to compare the liberty enjoyed under Socialism with the liberty enjoyed to-day.

In the chapter on Property and Liberty, the subject of liberty is carefully a.n.a.lyzed; no more, therefore, need be said on this subject except in conclusion to insist that it is the compet.i.tive system of to-day that makes slaves of practically all of us, and that it is the cooperative system alone that will secure for us the last and greatest of all the liberties--economic liberty--because it is economic liberty alone that will enable us to enjoy the other two.

-- 7. CONCLUSION

Having now chipped off some but not all of the errors that prevail, regarding Socialism, let us sum up what Socialism is not; it will help us to a study of what Socialism is.

Socialism is not Anarchism. It is the contradictory opposite of Anarchism. It believes in regulation, but demands that the regulation be wise and just.

Socialism is not Communism. On the contrary it demands that workingmen be a.s.sured as nearly as possible the product of their labor.

Socialism does not propose to eliminate compet.i.tion, but only to abolish excessive compet.i.tion that gives rise to pauperism, prost.i.tution and crime.

Socialism is not hostile to the home. On the contrary, it seeks to remove the evils that make the homes of our millions insupportable.

Socialism is not immoral. On the contrary, it seeks to make the Golden Rule practical.

Socialism does not propose to abolish property or distribute wealth. It proposes, on the contrary, to consecrate property and concentrate wealth so that all shall enjoy according to their deserts the benefits of both.

Socialism will not impair liberty. On the contrary, it will for the first time give to humanity economic liberty without which so-called individual and political liberty are fruitless. It proposes to regulate production, consecrate property, and concentrate wealth only to the extent necessary to a.s.sure to every man the maximum of security and the maximum of leisure; thereby putting an end to pauperism, prost.i.tution, and in great part, to crime, and furnis.h.i.+ng to man environment most conducive to his advancement and happiness.

Whether it will accomplish these things can only be determined by approaching it from the positive side. We shall proceed next then to answer the question what Capitalism is.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] The princ.i.p.al evil attending such laws is that they give rise to graft. In other words, our political machine actually favors such laws, because they put a club in the hands of the machine through which it can not only levy political contributions, but coerce their victims into support of the machine.

[13] The death rate in 1900 among occupied males in the professions was 15.3 per 1000; in clerical and official cla.s.ses 13.5; mercantile, 12.1; laboring and servant cla.s.ses 20.2 per 1000 (12th Census U.S.) Dr. Emmett Holt, writing in the _Journal of the American Medical a.s.sociation_, points out the marked contrast between the death rate of the children of the poor and the children of the rich. See Appendix, p. 421.

[14] _Outlook_, March 20, 1909.

[15] Book III, Chapter V.

[16] U.S. Census Bulletin 96, p. 7, 12.

[17] ”Poverty,” by Robert Hunter. (Macmillan.)

[18] ”Socialism and Social Reform,” by R.T. Ely, p. 43. (Crowell.)

[19] Ibid.

[20] ”Government or Human Evolution,” Vol. II, p. 88 _et seq._, by the author.

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