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قراءة كتاب The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 3 May 1906
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
any struggle; willing to step behind the gun himself, if need be. Thus in regard to subjects relating to public spirit, nothing which might contribute to promoting a mutual understanding among American citizens leaves him indifferent. He often says that that which is important for the welfare and the power of the people is not so much the existence of a few isolated characters of extraordinary powers as a good general level of public spirit.
Effort, individual energy, the sentiment of responsibility, a primordial decision to go straight ahead and not be diverted—all this, combined with a sociable disposition and a willingness not to go to the end of one's right out of regard for one's neighbor, is what he most appreciates.
As a pastor, M. Wagner was struck by the depth of religious feeling in the United States. The great diversity of creeds signified to him vitality and liberty, not the loss of a central belief. He was surprised, too, to find such cordial relations existing among different sects.
In our schools, he says, it is possible to trace the universality of the ideals of democratic government. The public schools are the mills to which comes the grist of immigration, to be ground into American citizens.
To the American character he admits the advantages of youth—sincerity, frankness, prompt initiative; and with these, the maturer qualities of endurance and patient wisdom.
The strength of the country, concludes this most kindly of observers, is in four strongholds. The first is religious faith. The Americans, he says, are a religious nation by heredity as well as by conviction. The second stronghold is the belief in liberty:
Our old Europe shows us states whose entire politics consist in hindering the development of men and institutions. There law takes the form of a systematic prohibition, initiative is regarded as lack of discipline, independence of mind as an act or a beginning of treason. America believes in liberty as she believes in God; and, as she believes in the God of others, she also believes in the liberty of others. To individuality there is left an unlimited field. From childhood, strength of character is encouraged. Each one is expected to show himself in the fulness of his originality; all he is asked in return is to respect the right of his neighbor.
Though Pastor Wagner recognizes our country's originality in questionable financial schemes, he thinks that on the whole our relations are marked by sincerity and conscientiousness. Therefore, he names honesty as our third stronghold.
The fourth is respect for women. Custom makes slaves of women in France, while in America our national respect for them gives them freedom and the opportunity to develop.
JOSEPH'S CORNER IS NOW DEFENDED.
Pros and Cons of an Old Question Discussed
by J.D. Rockefeller, Jr.,
and Professor C.P. Fagnani.
Joseph's policy in cornering the visible supply of corn in Egypt has found its defense. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., raised the question a short time ago in his New York Bible class, and after discussing the transaction in its different phases, said that he could not see how Joseph had done anything unjust. The foresight and ability of Joseph, said Mr. Rockefeller, saved the people of Egypt from starvation.
Mr. Rockefeller's talk, in substance at least, appears to have been as follows:
One commentator says that Joseph bought the fifth part of the corn crop of the years of plenty. If that was true, we can find nothing to criticize in him, because he gave them a market for their product. If, as another commentator says, he levied this fifth as taxes, we can have no criticism, for he created a reserve supply against the time of want.
In the distribution of the corn during the famine, did Joseph act rightly? Should he have given away the corn instead of selling it? They brought money to purchase it, and when they had no money they offered their cattle, and finally their land and themselves, for they did not want to die....
Joseph let them have corn at their own terms. They did not then become slaves as we think of slaves. The situation then was that they were tenants of the land. The only difference was that the people not only paid the tax as they had paid it before the famine, but paid a rental of exactly the same amount, the lands being held by Pharaoh. They had sold their land to Pharaoh for the food.
A few days after this pronouncement Professor Charles P. Fagnani, of the Union Theological Seminary, was addressing the New York Baptist Social Union on "Christianity and Democracy," and among other things he said:
The corn corner of Joseph has been in the public eye recently. That young man had a good private character, but Joseph, the king's jackal, who took every advantage to take away all the property of others, can be held up only to obloquy. Compare Joseph, the enslaver of the people, with Moses, the liberator!
What was the matter with Joseph? He was, like most men, only fractionally converted. We think the conversion of a man in his private character is enough; but he was not converted as a citizen and as a man.
In conclusion we may note the Richmond Times-Dispatch's remark that "compared with Mr. Rockefeller's, Joseph's was a mere cozy corner."
SOCIALISM'S LATEST MILLIONAIRE CONVERT.
Views Expressed by J.M. Patterson, of
Chicago, Who Has Resigned Office
Because of His Convictions.
One of the most recent converts to Socialism is Joseph Medill Patterson, of Chicago. Though he is now only twenty-seven years of age, Mr. Patterson has had a strong taste of public life as commissioner of public works in Chicago. In the local campaign of 1905 he supported Judge (now Mayor) Dunne, who, after election, gave him his important appointment. He has now resigned the commissionership. In his letter of resignation he says:
It was through a common belief in the cause of municipal ownership of municipal utilities that I first became acquainted with you, and in this letter of resignation I desire to express publicly just how my views on this subject have changed. They have not diminished. They have enlarged.
I used to believe that many of the ills under which the nation suffers, and by which it is threatened, would be prevented or avoided by the general inauguration of public ownership of public utilities. But my experience in the Department of Public Works has convinced me that this policy would not be even one-fourth of the way sufficient.
He then goes on to say that in Great Britain—where municipal trading has been highly developed—the problem of the unemployed is becoming very intense; while in Germany—where municipal and government ownership of public utilities has become almost the rule—the gap between the possessions of the rich and the poor grows wider every day. The letter concludes:
The universal ballot gives every male citizen an equal political opportunity. The common ownership of all the means of production and distribution would give everybody an equal chance at music, art, sport, study, recreation, travel, self-respect, and the respect of others. I, for one, cannot see why those things should be concentrated more and more in the hands of a few.
Two hundred years ago a proposition for equal political opportunity would have seemed more absurd than to-day seems the proposition for equal opportunity in all things on this earth for which men strive.
I have hardly read a book on socialism, but that which I have just enunciated I believe in general to be its theory. If it be its theory, I am a socialist. You will find, and other advanced liberals and radicals who believe as I do will also