University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE EEDWOOD. 13 been carefully trained and given an adequate motive for action. We charge that Socialism removes from man this mainspring of action. What motive to activity can take the place of the desire for individual and family advancement through the accumulation of private property? Take away the stimulus of fear for wife and children — to avert from them suffering and poverty, take away the incentive of hope for their fu- ture education, ease and enjoyment, and what adequate stimulus has man for the cultivation of his faculties and the concentration of his mind and en- ergy upon his work? Socialism is cal- culated to produce wastful and careless herds of human beings, with no private ambitions, no noble aims nor ardor in the pursuit of them. Thus at first blush we can see that Socialism as a practical working sys- tem would fail merely from the five difficulties we have considered and that the Socialistic cure therefore, is worse than the present disease. We have seen furthermore that Socialist claims for the injustice of the present system of production and distribution are falla- cious and therefore the whole chimera is swept from its foundation of clay. There is, however, one more assump- tion to which we alluded ' in the begin- ning, upon which the Socialistic claims for the adoption of their sys- tem are also based, namely, that So- cialism is the ONLY remedy for the frightful human calamities which re- sult from the present system of produc- tion. They say there is an immense amount of poverty and misery, vice and degradation caused by the cruel and extortionate methods of greedy capitalists. These are but the local out- come of the present capitalist system and until we have done away with it, relegated it to the ash heap as it were, these terrible outrages will continue and human beings will be ground un- der the heavy mill wheels of capital un- til at last revolution shall break out and throw the whole social order into chaos. Therefore, they conclude, al- though Socialism is attended with dif- ficulties we needs must accept it, for it is the only effective method of lift- ing from the pool of misery the count- less thousands of exploited workers. Here again the Socialist argues wrongly. Firstly, we are ready to ad- mit that there is, unfortunately, a great amount of poverty and misery, and hence vice and crime which is the re- sult of the forced condition of the work- er. We need but instance the horror of the sweat shops to recall to the read- er the awful condition of many of our workers in the great cities. Secondly, we may even say that this condition is the outcome of the capitalist system of production. Lastly, we emphatically deny that Socialism is the ONLY means by which we may better or even eradicate these conditions. It is not the province nor scope of this writing to point out any remedy for existing evils, but I may briefly in- dicate the fact that there are many

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12 THE REDWOOD. lean task of apportioning work of all conceivable degrees of difficulty and disagreeableness among the workers. For freedom of choice would be an im- possibility, else everyone would flock to the most pleasant, enjoyable and agreeable. But how could this be done without engendering a vmiversal discon- tent that would he fatal to the plan at its very inception? Dissatisfaction would exist, for human nature is such that man cannot be thoroughly satis- fied with his surroundings. The dan- ger is that without proper means for its ' expression, this dissatisfaction would grow and spread beneath the surface of society until, having no other vent, it would at last break out in rev- olution. If on the other hand, change of employments were allowed, an im- mense waste of human power would re- sult by thus undoing the division of la- bor. The increase of annoyance and discomfort would far exceed all the losses and waste of the present com- petitive system. Again, supposing for the sake of ar- gument, the employments were all as- signed. How could one tell which per- sons were particularly suited for such and such a profession or trade? In the beginnings of Socialism this difficulty would not obtain for we know by ex- perience what men are particularly adapted for a given line of work. But what of the rising generation? Who knows the talents of this particular man? Who can say to him, you serve as a blacksmith apprentice, or you be- come a statesman? How are we to test his talents? And, who again, would be this grand dictator, who would say you do this and you do that? The simple outcome of the whole affair would be that our Edisons would be sweeping chimneys and our Shakes- peares cleaning streets. 4. Briefly, our fourth contention is this: either all must receive the same wage or else there must be a discrim- ination. In the first case there is a complete discouragement of both intel- ligence and skill for will not the farm- er, the laborer, the physician all receive the same compensation for their labor time? And in the second case who is to be trusted in arranging an elaborate system or sliding scale of wages in every imaginable industry in the world. There will not even be a trades union under the Socialist state with which a comparison could be made. Again, how can any one say that curing the measles in a certain instance on the part of a doctor is a result of the same labor time which would produce two waterbacks for your kitchen stove on the part of the plumber? We should simply be forced to entrust our good fortune to the arbitrary decision of gov- ernment officials, who, perhaps, might be the very men (and it is highly prob- able) who are least capable of pro- nouncing such a judgment. 5. If we turn our attention to his- torical man we will find that he is one who appears an idle, careless and self- indulgent personage save where he has

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14 THE KEDWOOD. ways of tearing down obstacles in the path of labor ' s improvement, which being not only far more safe are also far more eflficacious than Socialism. That to which I refer is called by many Social Reform, and I urge it especially to the reader ' s attention, for it is the true middle course between Socialism or equality and selfish Individualism. Among many of the changes advocat- ed by social reformers, I quote the fol- lowing: A sound insurance policy indemnifying not only against accidents but against reverses of life, such as sick- ness, loss of work and old age, would give the laboring classes, what at pres- ent they need most — security of exist- ence — and would keep them from drifting into Socialism. Trades un- ions are to be fostered and organized. Every laborer is to be guaranteed a liv- ing wage, enough for the keep of his family, education of his children and a small reserve for the rainy day. Leo XIII, furthermore, in his masterful En- cyclical on the Condition of Labor, laid great stress upon this very matter. He advocated that the majority of people should not live from hand to mouth, but should have, each family, its small capital, some shares or stocks, but prin- cipally a small plot of mother earth from the size of a small garden to the size of a small farm, that no creditor could touch, that belonged to the fam- ily rather than the individual, that Stang., Soc. and Christianity, p. 70 quoted by Devas. would serve as an insurance against unemployment. These are but a few of the salient fea- tures of Social Reform and are here, no more than briefly indicated, but they will recommend themselves at once to the common sense of every individual who has sincerely at heart the moral, mental and physical uplift of the down-trodden laborer who at present, it must be admitted, is strug- gling against overwhelming odds. They show also, that the assumption of So- cialists is false. Socialism IS NOT the sole remedy for existing evils. It is out of many methods but one and that — we might add — a very poor one. It is only fair to Socialists, however, to concede that they have rendered a real service to society by calling atten- tion to pressing Social problems. They have done this by forcing us to reflect upon the condition of the less fortun- ate classes ; by quickening our conscien- ces ; by helping us to form the habit, not 3 et generally acquired, of looking at all questions from the standpoint of pub lic welfare rather than from that of individual gain; and finally by call- ing our attention to the industrial func- tions of government, thus aiding in separating the field of private industry from that of public business. The dissatisfied thousands who seek resource in Socialism, hoping there to find salvation, are sadly misled. The true path leads in another direction ; the family must be protected; the home watched, private property can not be