pooled their interests and are acting together the world

over.

682. Socialism and Municipal Misrule.-Municipal misrule as related to Socialism involves two important considerations. First, what will become of the corrupt forces of municipal life under Socialism; and, Second, what could the Socialist party do if in control of a municipality before securing control of the general government, and hence while being obliged to administer the affairs of a city under the laws and institutions established by capitalism.

683. Tax Dodgers, Corporations, Politicians and the Socialists.-First, both taxation and the tax dodger will cease to exist under Socialism.

Second, the establishment of the co-operative commonwealth, by abolishing the private corporation, will utterly destroy the power in public matters of the private corporation which is rendering.a public service.

Third, the co-operative commonwealth will utterly destroy the power of the professional politician so far as he is able to secure for himself an unusual salary, private reward for the sale of franchises, commissions for placing contracts, blackmail in connection with licenses or crimes, or private spoils in the distribution of jobs, because none of these will be possible under Socialism. Franchises will be neither sold nor given away; the contract system as related to public works will not exist, and the best possible employment will be guaranteed to all, regardless of their relations to any political party.

684. Why No Purchasable Voters Under Socialism. -Fourth, under the co-operative commonwealth, the purchasable voter will utterly disappear, for the reason that under the co-operative commonwealth his vote will involve, neither the matter of protecting himself in a questionable business, nor in the improper conduct

of a legitimate enterprise, as is now the case, but will then involve all of the problems that from day to day are related in any way to his employment, his hours of labor, his subsistence, and all other questions related in any way whatever to the collective management of the collective industries of the co-operative commonwealth. There would be no private contractors, or private spoilsmen in public office with personal advantages to them of sufficient importance to put them into the market as the purchasers of the votes of others; but if such a thing were possible, the personal interests of the individual voter, in the just and efficient administration of public affairs, would be so great, under the co-operative commonwealth, that no private boodler could afford to pay a sufficient price in the purchase of a vote to make it of advantage to any voter to sell his ballot for the advantage of another, rather than to use his ballot to protect and provide for himself. The political job, even if it could be conceived to exist under Socialism, will lose its power to attract when decent, industrial employment shall be the right of all. Give to all men and women the opportunity for reasonable, respectable, clean and honest work, and questionable enterprises,-lawless methods of providing one's livelihood, will be utterly abandoned. Socialism, then, will settle the problem of municipal corruption by putting out of existence the great political forces which are now the sources of municipal corruption. Socialism will remove both the motive and the opportunity for municipal misrule.

685. While Capitalism Remains. Again, the Socialist party will not be able to do all these things until it is in control in the nation, because only then can it inaugurate the co-operative commonwealth. But in any city it could immediately and greatly improve the adminstration of local affairs. Today the corpora

tions and tax dodgers furnish the money, the politicians do the unclean work, and the purchasable voters furnish the only vote sufficiently large, under the guidance of the professional politician and influenced by the funds of the corporations and tax dodgers, to control elections.

686. Corrupting Forces Put Together and Out of Power. The Socialist party will directly antagonize the private corporations and the tax dodgers, because of the nature of its general proposals, and having their opposition, would drive them into the party of opposition to Socialism, and together with the corporations and tax dodgers, all of the forces of municipal corruption which the corporations and tax dodgers can control, including the professional politicans and the purchasable voters. Wherever the Socialist party has approached the point of promising an early victory for the Socialist party, all other political parties have combined in a single organization to withstand Socialism. This being the case, while the Socialist party cannot locally inaugurate the co-operative commonwealth and so destroy the forces which corrupt municipal administrations, it can drive all of these forces of municipal corruption into one political party, and by carrying the election put that party out of power.

But what would be the nature of the relations of the Socialist party to these same corrupt political forces? Not until the co-operative commonwealth could abolish corporations, and by giving employment to all, rob the professional politician of the unusual salaries and of the spoils of office and put out of existence the purchasable voter by making the vote of all men and women of such great economic value to themselves that no one could afford to sell, and no one could afford to buy, could the forces of municipal corruption be put out of existence. But the Socialist

party coming into power in defiance of these forces and in spite of their opposition would not be obliged to keep the peace with them in order to return to power. The Socialist vote would be composed of the voters whose public interests would be real and genuine. They would be interested in improving the public schools, and maintaining sanitary conditions, in abolishing the outrage of private blackmail, and in securing the greatest benefits to the public from private corporations, so long as private corporations remain in the public service. An adminstration which would enable a Socialist party to hold its own votes together, would necessarily antagonize the corporations and their corrupt followings in municipal affairs.

687. Keeping Them Out.-So long as these corrupt forces, tax dodgers, private corporations, professional politicians and purchasable voters remain, so long municipal corruption cannot be entirely set aside. So soon as the co-operative commonwealth is established, municipal misrule will cease, because the causes of municipal misrule will cease to exist. So soon as the Socialist party shall come into control of any city, the tax dodgers, the corporations, the professional politicians and the purchasable voters will be shorn of their greatest power by forcing them into one political party and by putting that party out of power in the municipality. The tax dodgers and the corporations would be obliged to deal with public officers whose election they had done their best to prevent and who would find the continual enmity of the tax dodgers and corporations the strongest element in securing their own reelection.

688. Summary.-1. City governments are uniformly corrupt.

2. Tax dodgers, corporations, professional politicians and purchasable voters are directly and greatly

interested in having the city administrations corrupt. 3. The whole body of voters are kept divided while the corrupt forces unite, and, acting first with one party and then with the other, control the city all the time.

4. When Socialism comes the tax dodger, the corporation, the professional politician and the purchasable voter will all disappear.

5. The sources of corruption having been removed, municipal corruption will also disappear.

6. A local municipal victory could not establish Socialism, but the Socialist party, because of its general program, would drive the tax dodger, the corporation, the professional politician and the purchasable voter all into one party and by carrying the election put that party out of power.

7. The Socialist party could remain in power only by continuously provoking the opposition of these corrupting forces by a just adminstration of affairs.

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

1. Are virtuous citizens the only ones who desire good government? Why?

2. Why are both the Democratic and Republican parties alike corrupt in city matters?

3. What are the sources of municipal corruption?

4. Why are the tax dodger, the corporation, the politician and the purchasable voter all personally interested in misrule?

5. What is the personal interest of each?

6. Why cannot the corporation stay out of politics?

7. What is included in the spoils of office?

8. Who are the purchasable voters?

9. Why is a false issue always necessary?

10. What share does each of the corrupt forces undertake in carrying elections in their own interests?

11. Why do they pool their interests?

12. Why will not these same forces prevail under Socialism?

13. How can the Socialist party, better than any other party, meet these forces in a local city election, while capitalism continues to rule the state and nation?