THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1899. SOCIALISM IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3673, 24 February 1899, Page 4

THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1899. SOCIALISM IN AMERICA.

With which 'is likcdniintuTm- Tire * Wjoijmotw ... iHDErKSDKNT,-

Socialism in the United States barhitherto existed in a fragmentary and oxuerimental v/ay, in. connection with certain sectional movements : for the founding of communities where .Socialistic tenets wore attempted to,he realised in practice 3; hut now for- the first time it has made its appearance as’ si politica’ force and will in future have to he reckoned with. as. - an active factor, ir .public affairs. . The fact: that at, tin recent State elections., two avowed Socialists wero elected to*- the ■ Legislature of Massachusetts is described by i> London journal as the ■ forerunner o' “a ferment deeper and more pregnant with meaning than any event which has happened since the French Revolution.’ It is noted as ominous that, there has been a largo growth of the-Socialist vote for the Governorship of Massachusetts and that, this growth has accrued ' ip spito .of the- fact that the, mill-worker-of that State show ail-the- signs of economic ' prosperity—their .wages; thou savings and their earnings, per head having all increased of late., The spread o Socialistic sentimeit is attributed to the fact that the: great monopolistic. Trusty are spreading' their octopus-like ami around every - industry crushing oui healthy competition and ' darkening thf outlook for the workers, who canned hope to compete against the vast aggregations of capital arrayed against them Nearly one half- of the entire - industrial Capital employed in the’ Unitet States is now controlled, by. someTrus 3 or other;: and it is but natural that thi workers, despairing of'- being 3 able ti fight these “combines” or to secure far treatment from, them, have resolved, t< attack them through the medium o' politics. . - ’ ■ ■' . ■ . - | . One of the latest devices of tin Trusts to defeat their employees is -thf importation of cheap negro or foreigi' labourers to take -the place of. men wlu demand a docent reward for their.labour Ib is not’ 3 many moptlis since miniu; capitalists in the State of Illinois supplanted white labour in the mines b; importing ?i large number,: of southern negroes. The Governor 1 of the Stati was appealed to, and ho took such-actio: against the capitalists as compelled then to withdraw the “.slave” labour.. Not only so, but lie publicly declared -hi. intention to carry out his views by force if need bo. “I will not,”, lie said “ tolerate this wholesale importation o foreigners into Illinois, and if I heal that -a mob is to bo. brought into thif State, such’as was taken into Yirdcp, 1 care not on what railroad it comes, o: for whom, I will meet it at the Stati lino and shoot it to pieces with Gatlinf guns.” This, whether pure rhodomontado or not, opens up a prospect ,s: widely different from: the-usual order of things in America 'that it is not sur. prising to learn that Governor Tanner’.utterances have been wildly applauded by the labour organisations oftho States In past times it-has been the -rule foi tbs capitalists to claim freedbm of com tract, and to have their underpaid, imported workers protected, by the State miiitia, who "did not hesitate to fire upon the Unionists when- they assembled tc“persuade” 'the workers to, stand mil for higher wages. If the Socialists wort to capture ’the Legislature, or secure r. Governor-to their minds in. each State, the attitude of ,tbo authorities as between employers - and employed woulc. everywhere bd 3 subjected to'a motamorpliosis. , „ Probably, however, .the Socialists dc not aim so much at merely fair amount of liberty to combine and protect the rights of the-Workers, as at a complete abolition of the great capitalistic combinations. , An agitation has been going on for some, time against the Trusts, aroused by reports that an effort would bo made during the present session of Congress .to repeal the Sherman Anti-Trust . Law 7 . _ The, New', York “World” has been taking the opinion oi a number of legislators on the subject, and lias elicited a mass of declarations to the effect that the law' should bf amended in the direction of being made more stringent. It is stated that the

hnv is now practically inoperative —the (.’rusts..having devised ways of evading d or.driving the proverbial “coach and ix ” through : it. In view of the many ivbwals.of to amend the Act so. as to .abolish Trusts altogether, tho’ likelihood is that no legislation of a repealing character will be proposed and Unit ’ the law will remain as at present for some lime to come. Inaction will, however, giro a stimulus to the Socialistic hiotenlcnt-in the country and will accentuate tlie demand for the'-nationali-sation. of industries, .which is the ultimate goal of tho Socialists. In sober truth it would seem that tho capitalists who organised these gigantic Trusts m serve selfisn ends have only succeeded m giving n valuable demonstration of th-a feasibility of carrying on the industrial life of tho country under State control. They have given the workers another lesson that has sunk deeply. By employing tho power of the State to uphold their interests, they have taught the masses that all they have to do is to capture tho political machine iu order to have wages hours, and conditions of labour regulated to their own liking. It' is significant ‘ that 1 the Socialistic narty : in American politics should have originated in an eastern State where tho basis, of the: population is essentially English, and/' that the two Socialistic legislators Just elected are not importations' from -Europe, but native-born Americans. -Evidently the antidote to the bane of extreme Individualism is about to ho applied in the United States. The movement- deserves to bo closely studied by all interested in social and -political'evolution.