Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Socialism in Politics THE ELECTION OF BERGER IN 1919 Berger is the mere politician. Socialism for him is the jnere ladder by which he would rise. The principles of Socialism are only valuable to him inasmuch as they get votes for Berger. He is willing to adapt them to the exigencies of his political aspirations. In the election of 1919, he found a field to exploit his anti-war views. A large portion of the voters voted in a spirit of protest against certain policies and activities of the government; against the vindictive illegality which sprang from the war-sentiment, and which for a time interfered with proper personal liberty and justice. Thus between 1916 and 1919 the socialists gained 8,431 votes, though in that interval the total votes increased only 777 votes. SOCIALISTS DECEIVE THE PEOPLE Let us grant that our entry into the war was a mistake. Let us grant that this mistake was caused by wealth. The lawlessness and curtailment of liberty which followed our entrance into the war are chargeable to the character of our people. These defects would be present in any system of government. The remedy for these lies in the proper education of our people. But we may also charge the Government with the offence of having directly employed excessive restriction of free-speech, of having put in force many laws which conflict with human rights. And what then? Does it follow as a conclusion, therefore, we should accept Socialism? By no means. It follows that our institutions have made mistakes which we, taught by experience, must correct. Do the socialists wish us to believe that they have invented a system which removes all weakness from human nature, and establishes a human State absolutely faultless? Do they wish us to believe that they are more powerful than Almig…
