our country were too wise to attempt any such ridiculous undertaking.
The ideal or object of the United States is to give equality of
opportunity for each individual to work out his or her own salvation in
a political, a moral or an economic sense. In other words, to give
equality of opportunity for each individual to work out or achieve his
or her own happiness. That is the only possible way in which happiness
can be gained. For this reason the American people believe in public
schools and child labor laws and other forms of social, not Socialistic,
legislation, in order to help less fortunate individuals to help
themselves, and not to help them in spite of themselves. The former plan
is in accordance with the needs of human nature and with American ideas
and ideals; the latter is the essential basis of Socialism and
inevitably pauperizes and atrophies human character.

There is as much difference between social legislation and Socialism as
there is between the common-sense advancement of the ideas of peace and
the selfish or cowardly brand of treason that is known as pacifism. In
both Socialism and pacifism the essential idea is that the individual
should mentally "lie down" and "let George do it." In contrast with
this, the common sense way to gain peace is actively to restrain wrong
in order that right may triumph. The United States recently has been
engaged in just this kind of an undertaking. Also, man is a social
animal as well as an individual being, so social consciousness or social
responsibility consists in the common responsibility of society to see
that each individual gets a "square deal" in the form of equal
opportunity for advancement by self effort.

In fact, the American ideal is to restrain human initiative only to the
extent that is necessary to give equality of opportunity to all, and
that the government should act only on the principle of the greatest