The Inhumanity of Socialism by Edward Francis Adams
page 22 of 46 (47%)
page 22 of 46 (47%)
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machine purposes which are the purposes, good or bad as the case may be,
of the individual operators who have never been and are not likely to be the economically competent. For our generation the problem is, while not restricting either the opportunity or the reward of the economically competent, to compel the predatory and extortionate among them to behave decently, so that others of their class may do so without ruin - to which end, in my judgment, jail sentences and not fines will be most effective. And likewise, to compel the ill-disposed and violent among the economically ineffective, to obey the laws or suffer the consequences. To bother our heads much less about Social theories, whose premises it is impossible to establish, and much more about the practical relief of the unfortunate by both individual and collective action and suppression of parasitism among both rich and poor. To encourage and promote the organization of interests, not for contention, but for cooperation. To fully recognize, that only by personal exertion according to his ability does any one earn the right to live, but that the reward of exertion will be and should be apportioned, not in the ratio of energy displayed, but in that of its effectiveness and usefulness to Society. To learn to differentiate between that reasonable discontent which is the mainspring of human progress, and that unreasonable discontent which is the destruction of Society. |
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