been agreed as to the desirability of the abolish
ment of such an ancient and tiresome custom.
The present graduating class has marked more
than one mile stone in the history of the institu
tion, and what would would be more fitting than
that they should solve this troublesome question
for once and all, and establish a precedent for fu
ture action. Let every man decline with thanks
the position of commencement orator, and he will
have helped to place his alma mater on a plane
with the more advanced institutions, and will
have conferred an inestimable benefit on future
graduates.
THE DANGERS OF SOCIALISM.
By socialism is meant governmental co-opera
tion in all enterprises of production and exchange.
Walker says: “The term ‘socialism’ may proper
ly be applied to the aggregate of many and large
schemes for. the extension of the power of the
State, actually urged for present or early adop
tion.” All business, then, is to be regulated by
the government, the people in their official capac
ity. All men and women are to enjoy equal
rights. Private property in land is to be abolish
ed. The laws of bequest and inheritance must be
annulled. Whatsocialism desires is, not the divis
ion of property, but the concentration in the hands
of the people of all productive enterprises. More
than this, its advocates dream of the just distribu
tion of all the products of industry by some
central authority.
The dangers of socialism are many and real.
Think of the multitude of public officials needed
to carry on the business of this great Common
wealth. In spite of all precautions the govern
ment must fall into the hands of corrupt and
unscrupulous combinations, from whose powerful
sway there can be no escape. Reform from with
out will be impossible, and regeneration from
within improbable. Such dangers to freedom
can not be over estimated.
Free competition is essential to production,
THE FREE LANCE.
and this socialism aims to control. Giant trusts
and corporations seek the same end, and are
therefore an important step toward socialism.
Under freedom of competion capital is the most
productive, and the excellence and variety of pro
ducts greatest. Governmental control of these
economic forces would give abundant opportuni
ty for speculation and fraud.
Again, socialism aims at equal or just distribu
tion of the products of industry. Its doctrine :
“From each according to his abilities; to each
according to his wants” is at best an Eutopian
scheme, and can never be realized. Under such
a system, the individual can have no incentive to
urge him to do his best. Guizot says, that the
“prime element in European civilization is the
energy of individual life, the force of personal ex
istence,” and this applies with still greater force
in the United States to-day. It is this essentially
American characteristic which socialism seeks to
destroy, and the danger of such a course must be
evident to the most casual observer.
Socialism leads to skepticism and infidelity. A
prominent socialist says : “No man else is worthy
of the name of socialist save he who, himself an
atheist, devotes all his energies to the spread of
atheism.” Thus socialism is preparing a fruitful
soil for skepticism and infidelity. And this, too,
is a danger which must not be overlooked.
The ranks of socialism are recruited largely
from the horde of immigrants who land upon our
shores. America, the home of the oppressed and
down-trodden of the world, is the reservoir into
which pours this vast stream of criminals, atheists
and infidels. Socialism finds there a rich har
vest, and seeks to encourage rather than discour
age this overwhelming stream of destitute human
ity.
Again, socialism aims to ameliorate the condi
tion of the poor by enforced equality. In other
words, it seeks to regenerate society without first
regenerating the individual. It demands the ex
termination of all class distinctions, although
these will survive as long as the world upon .which