23/71 More radical reformers find the same principle equally useful for their own purposes. Mr.Frederic C.Howe, in his "Hope of Democracy," bases an elaborate scheme of municipal socialism exclusively upon it. Mr.William Smythe, in his "Constructive Democracy," finds warrant in the same principle for the immediate purchase by the central government of the railway and "trust" franchises. Mr.Henry George, Jr., in his "Menace of Privilege," asserts that the plain American citizen can never enjoy equality of rights as long as land, mines, railroad rights of way and terminals, and the like remain in the hands of private owners. The collectivist socialists are no less certain that the institution of private property necessarily gives some men an unjust advantage over others. |