ous for their absence, and much is taken for granted, as already familiar to the reader ordinarily well acquainted with the existing literature. My one object is the treatment of a special aspect of socialism, its standing and its probable future in the United States. America has much to learn from Europe, but sheer imitation of the Old World by the New is by no means a duty. The American socialist, however, is quick to assume that a governmental telegraph is advisable here because the system is reported to work well in England, and that national railways should be adopted in America because they are found in France and Germany. But the great differences in natural conditions and political institutions forbid such easy conclusions. A nation spread over an enormous area may well pause before copying a governmental telegraph or railway system from comparatively small and compactly settled countries like Great Britain and France. A constitutional republic of federated States may well pause longer before adopting, an economic novelty from an empire like Germany. The deeper inquiry is pertinent, whether the spirit of the American people is consonant with such methods, and whether it gives reason to prophesy the spread of socialism as a guiding principle. Such an inquiry as to socialism under American conditions and confronted by the American spirit may be of sufficient interest and consequence to justify the existence of a volume which it is a happiness to be permitted to dedicate to James Bryce. It has seemed desirable, in the first place, to give a little precision to the much abused terms "individualism" and "socialism." Each of these, strictly taken, denotes an ideal which never has been realized, and in all probability never will be. Conceived more loosely, as permanent tendencies in human nature which vary in the intensity of their expression from time to time, both have their justification. The present drift of many thoughtful minds is plainly toward socialism, in the general sense of an expansion of the powers of government local, State, and national - beyond the sphere in which they have heretofore operated. The leading topic of this book is the American Spirit as it has been manifested in our history, and is now compact in our institutions, and expressed in the life and literature of the present. I consider the American temper only so far as it bears upon the two social theories, not in the least supposing that I have exhausted the subject. Such a determination of the American attitude naturally leads to an exposition and criticism of the two forms of socialism attracting the most notice in the ! United States to-day. The first of these is so largely * literary in its origin and its activity that one might well designate it "romantic socialism" rather than by the inappropriate name of "nationalism. In considering Christian Socialism, I have compared it with its English forerunner in 1848, and have tried to answer the fundamental question of the relation of the social teachings of the New Testament to modern civilization. I assume here, as elsewhere, in this work, that the economic unsoundness of scientific socialism has been sufficiently demonstrated by such writers as Professors Böhm-Bawerk, Marshall and Graham, and Mr. Rae. Gladly turning to more constructive work, I next consider some industrial changes and reforms which would tend to correct the present bias toward individ ualism. Among these, the closer union of employer and employee still seems to me one of the most important and most feasible. The argument for industrial partnership here given is directed against objections which received little attention in my volume on profit sharing. The considerable progress which the system has made in the last four years is briefly summarized. The comparatively large amount of space devoted to profit sharing should not lead the reader to infer that I consider it a panacea for industrial troubles. This chapter may serve, rather, to counterbalance the necessarily general treatment of other subjects in this work. The social problem yields most surely to the exertions of specialists working on different lines. Legislation is one of these lines, but only one; the governing powers in America need purification to-day, rather than an enlargement of their field; a variety of political reforms should precede much extension of the functions of the State. A higher individualism and a social spirit are at the heart of our progressive civilization, the meaning of which I endeavor to point out. They make their strongest appeal to those who reject the name of "socialist," since they believe the socialistic ideal a thing as little to be desired as it is to be expected in a world of reality. The way to Utopia we must all, none the less, be traveling; it lies, for no small distance, over the difficult road of moral improvement. Economic science, individual culture and the social spirit, -all have claims upon us. May my readers find here some help toward a practical solution of the apparent opposition of these demands. WEST NEWTON, MASS. N. P. G. |