The drift of current opinion is not hostile to property per se. Its animus is rather against special privilege of all kinds. It is also bent on subjecting property that has outgrown the restraints of competition to political control. Where political control proves inadequate, however, there is a disposition to resort to collective ownership and operation. It is undeniable, also, that the right of private property in such gifts of nature as forest and mineral wealth, and in the future "unearned increment" of land in large cities, is being more and more called in question. But, on the other hand, practically every one recognizes the indefeasible right of a man to property in any value that his labor creates, and the great majority of minds approve the right to property in the product which capital creates under competitive conditions that are normal and fair. The preponderance of opinion still strongly favors private ownership and initiative, and relies upon self-interest as the fountain source of the additional capital required for the further development of our resources. It is noteworthy that socialism limits its attack on property to things instrumental in exploiting the working classes. A member of the Socialist party in such good and regular standing as Spargo contemplates the retention of private property in a portion of producer's as well as of consumer's goods. In appealing to farmers and small dealers, socialism is under the necessity of moderating its attacks on property, thereby losing something of its purely proletarian character. It is significant, also, that the national constitution of the Socialist party, approved by referendum in 1912, declares that any member of the party
who advocates crime, sabotage, or other methods of violence as a weapon of the working class, to aid in its emancipation, shall be expelled from membership in the party.[1]
There is little prospect of a contest in which all the property owners will be found in one camp and all those without property in another. The normal craving in every man of ambition to accumulate something of his own works strongly against such an alignment. In most contests, those who ride are not pitted singly against those who walk, but various combinations of these two classes constitute the contending parties. Moreover, the combinations are rarely the same in two successive contests.
Many of the great reforms that have been adopted have not destroyed property, but have changed conditions in such a way as to increase the incentives in life, and to enlarge the sum total of things capable of ownership. The abolition of slavery simply transferred slave property from the master to him who had been the slave to the mutual good of both parties. Railway control and effective regulation of trusts
- ↑ National Constitution of the Socialist Party, Section 6, Article II.
