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THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
JULY 9, 1903.
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POPULIST PRINCIPLES APPLIED
Socialist Principle IlHtinfiraUhed-Kadl-Ml
Dlffrnc PolnUd Oqt Major
Hy Kale th V1U1 Iia - ,
' Editor Independent: In my letter
oMast week, I outlined the develop
ments in the majority rule program,
showing how the people's party in
state and nation, even though its
membership is nominal only, can se
cure constitutional amendments from
the legislatures elected this year, and
next year can insure. the installation
of majority rule in national affairs.
Furthermore, the people's party
platform conforms to the principles of
progress, while the socialist platform
is out of line. It follows that there is
urgent need for the continued exist
ence of the people's party, either un
der its present name or a term that
will be more satisfactory to the lib
eral hosts that will be looking for a
home should the next democratic na
tional convention be controlled by the
reactionists. t
The fundamental difference between
the people's party platform and the
socialist platform is that the one is
the natural evolution of free institu
tnno while the other is a product of a
people who have never lived under
free institutions, permit me 10
The "English and American people
have inherited and live under tree
institutions. The people are the
Bmirrp of political power.
In Germany the opposite system pre
vails "fiprman science declares au-
ihm-itntivelv for the prince, whose
will it considers the' highest in the
state, which latter is itseit sover
eign." It is patent that in Germany
v.o ronnio arp not the source of power.
liav. l- ," ir -
Germany has not reached the stage of
free institutions. The few rule the
many in all things. Practically ev
erything Is determined by officials
rulers are divine appointed or elected.
Necessarily the future of society
as viewed by German students and
American scholars is vastly different.
' The American sees the people of to
day in power theoretically, and he
observes a tendency to an effective
majority rule, and experience shows
that under majority rule certain kinds
of legislation prevail, namely, a ten
dency! to abolish the legal advantages
of the few and in other ways the
' eak and helpless are protected, . yet
i nor to an extent that interferes with
social efficiency. There is religious lib
erty also, free 'speech and voluntary
association. These are the resrlts of
the sovereignty of the people the
products of free institutions, But as
yet these principles are absent in the
German state.
This fundamental difference and its
effect on German thought is pointed
out by the political scientists of Eng
land, Switzerland and America. Prof.
Borgeaud of Switzerland in a prize
thesis awarded by the law faculty of
. l:aris in 1893, "Adoption and Amend
ment of Constitution in Europe and
America," says in the concluding chap
ter of the history of the American
constitutional system:
"The sovereign people itself estab
lishes its constitution. . . . Except in
case of urgent necessity, justified by
cne of those revolutionary crises in
: which force necessarily has precedence
over law, no convention in America
would dare arrogate to itself the sov
ereignty of the people, the exercise of
.which belongs to the electors, and to
' them alone."
This view, Prof. Borgeaud points
. out ,1s disputed by Prof, von Hoist,
"whose remarkable works on the
United States have brought him fame
on both sides of the Atlantic." The
German professor's criticism is di
rected at Judse Jameson's work on
Constitutional Conventions, and the
judge's reply is that the von Hoist
ihoorv would make the constitutional
mnvention the master and the people
5ts slaves. This is quoted by tho
Swiss professor and he follows Jt with
TnmeRon's comment:
"That he (Prof. von. HolsU failed
in some respects properly to appreciate
those (American) institutions ought
not to he deemed remarkable, when
it is remembered that, before him, De
Tocaueville also failed. That my
critic must have failed, that his brie
sojourn among us could net have
fitted him to dogmatize in regard to
the practical operation or tne consti
ri-tionni convention a perfectly un
ique institution seems to be certain,
if the Judgment pronounced by . one
rf the most, learned English Historians
Mr. E. A. Freeman, is to be taken as
eoimfl. In a recent work that writer
says: 'A Swiss or a Norwegian may
hidtre of the workings of free lnstitu
tions, because he, like the Englishman
has dailv exDerience in his own land
Ttnt these thlners are mysterious to
German professors, because they are
mysterious to German statesmen also.
The German scholar simply reads in
a. book of thines which we are always
wiring o nnH anting in. He there-1
W B " " ' ' - - "- -'
fore utterly fails to understand many
things at Athens or Rome or anywhere
else, which come to us like our A, B.
C After referring to Ranke and Cur
tius, as illustrating thi3 general de
lect, he closes a high eulogium upon
Mommsen with this statement of the
points in which he fa3 as a histor
ian: 'What is lacking in him (Momm
sen) is political and moral insight
which is born with a man, the political
insight which is gained only by living
in communities of freemen.' (Free
man's Methods of Historical Study, pp. ,
89-291.) Where Curtius and-ltanKe
rert.lv the simple and ordinary machin
ery of free communities, it. can hardly
be deemed remarkable, as we have
said, that von Hoist should have mis
apprehended the novel and peculiar in
stitution presented him for study
among us." (Jameson on Conven
tions, p. 658.) -
This is the American, English, and
Swiss view of the criticism of the
Germans when they venture an opin
ion concerning free institutions or
their product. If so strong a case is
Made out against the German histor
ians, how much stronger must the
criticism be of German thought which
attempts to deal in futures forecast
the political and social institutions?
The German socialist's forecast is ut
terly vitiated by his surroundings
The tendency of the universe is away
from the German political system and
toward the ' sovereignty of the people,
and as the ideal commonwealth will
be controlled by the sovereign people
it follows that the present-dav Ger
man concept of the ideal state is al
most sure to be erroneous. For ex-
r.mple, the German concept usually ex
cludes voluntary association, voiun
tary association is the bed-rock of our
lihorHea Tt follows that, the Ger
man idea of industrial organization1 is
erroneous. Self-government will pre
vail, which always results in liberty
liberty to work where one may
choose arid live where one may choose,
and in such manner as one may choose
provided he does not. infringe the
rules laid down by society for the
voTv",t.irn of oenowi welfare.
This and other principles of liberty,
which result from the sovereignty of
the neoDle. are the basis of the &ng
lish and American system of society,
but are unknown in Germany, Russia,
f:hlna and manv other countries. It
is impossible, therefore, that the Ger
man socialists can have forecasted the
state of society which the American
and English people are to develop.
Scannine the views of American so
cialists we find one faction fighting
against the adoption of majority rule
the referendum and initiative. Mr
A. M. Simons, editor of the Interna
tional Socialist Review, is of this
school. Another portion of the so
cialist partv base their philosophy on
the sovereienty of the people. Mr.
Wilshire is of this school. Mr. Wil
shire has worked and is working for
he real sovereignty of the people,
whereas Mr. Simons and his co-worK
ers are laboring for the sovereignty
of the socialist party the rule of the
fw. The highest conception whicn
Simons and his comrades have is par
ty government, whereas the American
school of thought stands ior enngni
ened maioritv rule, which, when it is
established, will as unerringly root out
egal privilege as gravitation brings
riown the apple.
This leads to another fundamental
ciistinction. Americans aim to abolish
legal privilege (private monopoly),
and this has been the demand in fcng
land and America for the past three
hundred vears. The German socialists
rim to abolish private capital, having
no arlenuate conception of free tnsti
tution and .the great corollary, "equal
rights to all, special privileges to
none." The . American remedy is to
ebolish private monopoly. Private
monopoly is the crying evil of the day
nnri is tendine: to produce a serious
(Vnression. vet the aim of the sociaiis..
nartv is the immediate public owner
ship of not only the monopolies, nut or
all the means of production and dis
tribution. The reason assigned is that
competition has been and is the cause
of industrial depression, and therefore
to remove these depressions it is nec
cssary to terminate competition be
tween organizations within each in
dustry. This is refuted by the history
of the "auantitv theory," also by the
fact that today the evil is private mo-
r.onolv. while the "surplus value" the
ory is refuted in detail by Prof. Bohm
Tlawerk.
A more detailed statement of the
American principles of social progress,
anri which underlv both the political
parties of America, and which, when
applied, may lead to a co-operative
commonwealth, is, as follows: -AMERICAN
PRINCIPLES
The ' sovereignty ,. is, the, people;
ait
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therefore they have the right to alter
their system of government at will.
The final enactment of constitutions
is by direct vote majority rule. The
system of voting is termed the ref
erendum. Statutory laws are also enacted by a
majority -rule system, but woefully
crude: Each political party enumer
ates a series of legislative measures,
pledging that if agreed to by a ma
jority of the voters, fthe party will
carry out the people's will. AH po
liticians since the disintegration 1 of
the federalist party in national af
fairs in 1817 have stood for the doc
trine of majority rule.
Majority rule, then, is a fundamen
tal principle in both the great parties.
An improved form is obtained by add
ing to the representative system a peo
ple's veto (through the optional refer
endum) and direct initiative.
THE RESULT OF MAJORITY RULE.
The aim, under majority rule, is:
1 To secure eaual rights to all.
The result of this will uimately be
(a) the ownership of monopolies Dy a
public corporation a corporation in
which each adult casts one vote; (b)
equal opportunity to serve the puDiic
-competition in the puDiic service.
2. The second great aim is to pro
tect the weak up to the point where
to go farther would interfere with the
efficiency of the service to the public.
These are the mam teatures or leg
islative policy under majority rule.
Tn applying: these principles, we nna
a tendency to a development of monop
olies in- transportation and an oiner
means of communication, also a ten
Henv in manufactures and trade. As
rapidly as monopoly develops it will
be necessary, of course, to cnange me
ownership of the monopoly from a pri
vate corporation to a public one.
"Furthermore, there is a tendency co
abolish, private profits in the liquor
traffic in ereat cities, as a means to
ward its complete eradication.
And as competition between organ
nations within an industry entails
much waste and a low grade form of
competition, the tendency, under tne
effective business organization of ma
jority rule will be to estahiisn legal
monopolies as rapidly as the cut
throat staze of competition is reached.
And when the majority rule system is
fully developed we can conceivt tnat
it. will be likely that legal monopolies
will be decreed before the cut-throat
stage of competition is reached.
As to the land, its value apart irom
improvements is due to the presence of
society, therefore the application of
nai rights will result in the eventual
ownership of the lanl by a corporation
in which each of the adults wui own
share of stock. This will increase
the income of all workers, for under
private ownership the product ot tne
poorest land in cultivation is the av
erage wage, which will be greatly in
creased when rental values are applied
to the payment of public service cor
porations such as the school, etc.
Furthermore, majority ruie
to develop co-operation, namely, that
. .i
form of mutual helpnuness in wnicn
the corporation Is composed of volun
tary associates.
In the course ot years it may De tnat
there will be developed a co-operative
wealth. But in reaching it,' If
we do, the aim each year will not be
A da l
to develop such a system, but to pre
serve equal rights in the changing con
ditions and protect the weaker mem
bers of society. This is the legislative
compass of the scientist, and of dem
ocracy. Whether or not the Creator
designs a monopoly in this ot that in
dustry is no concern of the framers of
human laws. Their duty is to apply
the principles of liberty and brother
hood to the ever-changing conditions
'which the Creator provides. In other
words, the Creator changes the condi
tions, and it is the duty of the' legis
lators to mee these changing condi
tions with laws that preserve equal
rights and duly protect all.
The socialist party leaders, such as
Mr, Simons, have a different concep
tion of the principles of progress.
Such of the legislative nominees of
the republican and democratic parties
as pledge to , immediately install an
effective majority rule will help to in
stall a system that will immediately
result in the termination of private
monopolies and in progress in scores
o' other directions. The system of
government will be radically changed.
It will be the twentieth century revo
lution.
The people's party can force the
adoption of this great change. It has
only to declare for majority rule and
that it will nominate legislative candi
dates wherever both the old-line can
didates refuse, to pledge for majority
rule. Success can be secured, doubt
less, without the nomination of a pop
ulist candidate.
Ten states are to elect legislatures
this year: Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky,
Maryland, New York, New Jersey,.
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, and Mississippi. The Ken
tucky populists have ordered their
state convention for July 4 and doubt
less will force the fight along the lines
above described. They almost won
out on these lines two years ago. . -
Let the populists in the other nine
states call conventions or conferences.
Don't mind if the attendance is small.
Secure expressions of opinion by let
ter. Our strength lies in our program.
Last year a majority in seven legislar
tures were carried by, organized labor
and referendum leagues and - the
Washington state . grange merely by
questioning' candidates. One or two
men in a state did practically all the
work. Let the people's party join in
the work and stand ready to put up
legislative candidates. The chairman
or secretary can do jll the work and
at slight expense.
The people's party has before it an
opportunity for great usefulness. It
should enunciate the platform that is
tc prevail and then should help to
complete the installation of majority
rule, which will be the greatest change
the world has ever experienced.
GEO. H. SHIBLEY.
Bureau of Economic Research,
Washington, D. C. ' ' '
The readers of The Indepcndert
should remember that one of the best
methods for favoring the paper is to
examine the advertisements carefully
and make purchases from advertisers
when possible, always mentioning the
fact that the advertisement was seen
in The Independent. Write today for
the several catalogues advertised and
looVthem through for what you want
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