The Gavelyte, April 1907

'7 fi TH8 (}AVBLYTE, the public weal. The charge, therefore, that, for· the inauguration of Social– ism, a change of h111nan nature is neces ary, is absurd. There will be a change of human nature, but it will come as a result and not as a prerequis– site, of Socialism. All that is necessary is the reconciliation of the two principles, hitherto incompatable, selfishness and altruism, the synthesis of two laws given by God and therefore not contradictory, namely, the law of self-preservatton, taught in nature, and the law of brotherly love, taught in revelation. Under the present system, this is rmpossible, bu£ with God all things are possible, and this reconciliation is the v~ry essence of Socialism. It is a magnificent tribute to the intelligence of the American people and to their fair-mindedness as well, that, in spite of misrespresentation and in– vective they have come to recognize in this short time, that Socialism is neither anarchy nor communism; that it is neither repugnant to their deep re– gard for law and order, nor, extremely idealistic as to be beyond the reach of human nature. In fact the great majority of Americans at last realize that the fundamental principle of Socialism, that of collective ownership and con– trol, is an extremely practicable proposition. All except extreme individu– alists and those financially interested agree that government ownership of monopolistic industries is not only possible, but necessary. They differ, then from socialists not at all in principle, but only in degree. For Socialism I means nothing more and nothing les~ than the ownership and control, by the whole people, for their own benefit, of the means and instruments of production and distribution. There are a thousand and one methods by which thi object of collective ownership is to be obtained, a million plans according to which the principle of collective ownership is to be applied, but it must be remembered that these are but the theories of socialists, they do not constitute Socalism itself. ocialism itself is much simpler; as August Schaffle, the great Austrian sociologist, and one of Socialism's fairest critics, says, "The Alpha and Omega of Socialism is the transformation of private and competing capital into a united collective capital," and the means by which thi object is to be obtained, and the methods by which this principle is to be applied, must obviously be left to circumstances and to the choice of the agent, that is, the people. But Socialism is more than a principle; it is also a theory of social . evolution and a political programme. In other words, the socialist says that progress tends inevitably toward greater ocialization 'that co-operation in industrial affairs, the culmination of this movement toward socialization, ~