life of the city would have gone on just the same for a time at least;
hence why the great fear of Socialism? What this man failed to see was
that in fact the life of the city would go on for a time without change
only on account of the impetus the former democratic government had
given. That the policy of individual responsibility and judgment, which
had always been the professed aim of American government in the past,
had produced leadership and popular experience by the process of natural
selection, and that this leadership would last only until the time that
the deadening influence of Socialism had its true effect.

Let us consider for a moment the result of Socialism as a permanent
policy. It means the substitution, as already shown, of government or
official judgment and initiative for that of the individual. The whole
process would be one to deaden and atrophy the powers of the people in
general, with the result that there would follow a leveling down to a
plane of mediocrity rather than a leveling up according to individual
capacities and ambitions, exercised through equality of opportunity.

It should not be forgotten that the varying degrees of success in the
different walks of life finally have caused so-called social
differences. These differences result from the attempt on the part of
mankind to meet "the inequality of men in their capacity for the work
with which they are confronted in this life," said the New York _Journal
of Commerce_, with great acuteness, in a recent editorial discussion of
the phase of the question.[6] It continued by saying,--

"What we must strive for is intelligent understanding and sound
reasoning on the question of rights, and a just application of
principles for the common benefit. Everything should be done to develop
and train intelligence and increase the capacity of the people for their