Economic Socialism would not only place too large a machine at the disposal of political leaders to be used against the people, but it would stifle initiation and tend too much to hold society in a static condition. Under individual ownership of industry and business, under the laws of legitimate competition, initiation is encouraged by offering increasing rewards to those who adopt new methods and invent new things to advance human welfare by lightening the burdens of life and labor. The spirit of rivalry and competition maintains a constant and steady demand for the best that can be produced for the people in all lines of industry and business, which is among the strongest incentives to new thought and invention. Man is naturally a conservative being and without some stimulant will be content with conditions as they came down to him from the past. It is true that in spite of economic incentives there will appear now and then an individual who is inspired by higher motives for the advancement of the race, but the great masses of the people still require the power and pleasure of possession, individual ownership, and the more material rewards of industry and business. And so it appears to me that Socialism would tend to bring society to a stagnant condition, arrest human progress most seriously, and discourage in the future those human benefactors, who, in the past have blazed the way for the marvelous development and advancement of modern society.
Finally, after waiving many other objections to Socialism, it might be well to observe that in the present state of society, if we were to inaugurate the industrial Socialistic regime, we would have still with us all the great social problems to be solved, perhaps in different form, with some additional ones with entirely new features and surrounded with new conditions. To my mind the different social problems constitute the problem of civilization and through the coming ages must be worked out together. All devices and schemes which do not include the individual development and social progress at large are so much wasted efforts that might be better spent. The final and ultimate solution of all human problems is necessarily educational and will have the best results if society is permitted to evolve in its natural and normal way. All the uplifting forces of society must be utilized to develop the social wants and economic demands of the masses, through increased social and industrial opportunities. The people must be brought into contact with an increasing variety of economic and social phenomena, carrying with the process an ever growing demand for the consumption of the best there is in life and mind. And until the perfection of human nature, every age will have its problems and its vices, in spite of what we think and do.
Allen, John Robert. (University Professor, Minister and Author.)
I am opposed to Socialism because I believe it will have an injurious effect upon the development of individual power and character; since it will withdraw the stimulus to achievement by destroying its rewards, and since it will weaken the attractiveness of virtue by trying to destroy the pains that follow vice. I do not believe that Socialism will develop great individuals like the present conditions even, unjust as many things now are.
I am opposed to Socialism on the other hand because I believe it will be deleterious to society as a whole, because it will eliminate the entrepreneur at the top, and I can conceive of no way whereby at the bottom of the social ladder it can have the disgusting and unpleasant work done, which, however, must be done for the well-being of the race.
I am for "applied Christianity," which in common with Socialism denies the right to use property merely for personal aggrandizement and pleasure.
Giering, Eugene T. (Editor, The Wilkesbarre, Pa., Record.)