Political socialism is unquestionably an appeal to the masses. Philosophy does not indulge the futile hope of reaching them. Few people have a more comprehensive grasp of the history of man’s progress than friends Will and Lizzie Holmes. It will be interesting to have them cite some examples of the contributions made by the masses to such intellectual progress as has been achieved. All that has been attained has been despite the opposition of society as represented by Demos, as our friends will have to admit when they come to investigate.

All that history records may be set at naught by the events of tomorrow. So that it is possible that the next step in the evolution of mankind may take form in a political reversal of the natural order. Competition may be supplanted by an enforced cooperation. An act of Congress (probably among the first to be signed by the first socialist president) will be a prohibition of any competitive enterprise; and doubtless such a contest as that which obtains between the centrifugel and the centripetal forces in physics will be declared against public policy and come under a sacred governmental tabu.

But why any one who is opposed to governmental meddlesomeness should dissemble his position in order to be counted with those who favor every sort of despotism (so long as benevolent justifications can be speciously made for it) is not made clear by our friends Will and Lizzie. But they have a capacity for clarification,and we may hear from them further on this.

The philosophy of anarchism is not calculated to enlist popular acclaim. If the appeal were to the Ideal it would have more popular recognition. It is too practical for ready acceptance by the unthinking. It holds out no promises. It deals with discernments only. The unhampered individual in association with other unhampered individuals will better assure the well-being of each than is possible by any scheme of interference. This, we are told, is a dream that gets us nowhere. Nevertheless, to the extent that we have made any headway at all, it has always been by the lessening of interferences. Meanwhile the numbskull masses will continue to rely on Sovereign powers to keep them decent, while Anarchism proceeds on the hypothesis that unrestricted man is a rather friendly and neighborly [animal].