395 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
i89o 
RURAL SPECIAL CROP REPORTS. 
New York. 
Little Utica, Onondaga County, May 
26.—Rain, rain, rain ! The whole of this 
section of the country is flooded with water. 
Many acres of oats remain unsowed as yet, 
it being utterly impossible to work the 
ground. There is scarcely an acre of corn 
planted, and many acres are not even 
plowed. Some have planted potatoes, but 
many more have that task yet to perform. 
This is a dairy country and our pastures 
are covered with water, which causes a 
large deficit in the milk yield. The outlook 
for the farmers of this section was never 
more discouraging than it is now. It is 
really impossible to do any farm work. 
Hay sells at from eight to 10 dollars per 
ton ; potatoes, 75 cents per bushel; wheat, 
$1. Feed of all kinds has been very cheap, 
but is increasing in price. Tobacco, which 
is the main crop of this county, is running 
vary low in price, ranging from seven to 11 
cents per pound. If the weather continues 
wet we shall be nearly destitute of all grain 
crops for next winter. So the farmers wear 
long faces, yes, and long, lean pocket- 
books. h. 8. w. 
Forestville, Chautauqua County, May 
26.—Out of the 26 days of this month we 
have had 19 rainy. Farmers have not been 
so backward with their crops in 10 years as 
they are this season. Some oats have been 
sown but have rotted badly and will not 
make a good stand. The failure of the oats 
will be largely compensated for by a splen¬ 
did catch of grass and clover. A few pota¬ 
toes have been planted, but there is no corn 
in the ground yet. A good many intended 
corn and oat fields will be sown to barley 
or millet. Thousands of acres are being 
set to grapes along the lake shore. It is 
thought by some well-posted men that the 
grape men will overdo the business, and it 
looks that way now. The “ Business Page ” 
in the Rural will be of great value to its 
readers if they will only read and heed the 
information it gives. The sugar bush, 
poultry and potatoes have paid us the 
best in proportion to the amount of care, 
time and labor invested in them. c. H. F. 
SOMETHING ABOUT SOCIALISM. 
According to the utterances of the rulers 
ami conservative statesmen of Europe, and 
especially of Germany, the most formidable 
antagonist the present systems of govern¬ 
ment and order have to encounter is social¬ 
ism in its multifarious forms. It is 
against this terrible enemy that the sever¬ 
est laws have been enacted, and no other 
laws are enforced with greater stringency 
or more sleepless vigilance. Thousands of 
active socialists have been driven into vol¬ 
untary or compulsory exile from Germany, 
Russia, Austria-Hungary and Italy, and 
smaller numbers from France, Spain and 
some other continental nations, while 
thousands also either languish in the 
prisons or toil in the other penal institu¬ 
tions of these countries. Nearly all the re¬ 
ligious creeds strongly oppose nearly all 
the chief socialistic doctrines, and however 
bitterly hostile to each other, readliy unite 
in denouncing this foe to the immemorial 
rights of property and the established 
order of affairs. In spite of the protests ol 
religion and the terrors of the law, how¬ 
ever, the numbers of the obnoxious classes 
are everywhere steadily increasing, openly 
and in secret, and everywhere the most 
dillicult problem statecraft has to solve is 
how most effectually to check, for the 
present, the spread of the pernicious doc¬ 
trines and to combat their adherents when¬ 
ever they shall have the temerity or force 
to make an open attack on the present 
order of things, on the rostrum, in the legis¬ 
lature or at the barricades. What, then, 
is this monstrous bugbear that troubles 
alike the Rothschilds with their millions 
of money and the Kaisers with their 
millions of troops? Is it Nihilism that 
slaughters the Czar in St. Peterburgh, or 
Anarchy which slaughters the police at 
Chicago? In the opinion of many, it is 
either or both, combined with a number of 
other monstrosities whose aim is the vio¬ 
lent destruction of society and a return to 
chaos. This opinion is mistaken, however. 
Briefly, socialism teaches that society 
ought to be reorganized on more harmonius 
and equitable principles. It believes that 
the application of justice in the distribution 
of the wages of labor and the profits of capi¬ 
tal employed in production, is the most im¬ 
portant problem in political economy. In it 
there are a large number of divisions ; but 
the two chief are communism and coopera¬ 
tion. Communism and socialism are some¬ 
times used as synonyms; but, in reality, 
the former term specially refers to the kind 
of social reform based on the doctrine of a 
complete community of goods; while the 
latter refers to that branch of socialism 
which concerns itself exclusively with 
theories of labor and methods of distribut¬ 
ing profits; and which advocates a com¬ 
bination of many to gain advantages not to 
be obtained by individuals. The origin of 
all the different phases is the desire to bet¬ 
ter the condition of the less favored classes, 
and to overcome by association the depriva¬ 
tions to which individuals, especially those 
without rank, culture or capital, are ex¬ 
posed. After many attempts in recent 
times to effect a radical and complete mod¬ 
ification of society in a peaceable way, 
socialism nowadays chiefly aims to protect 
the wage-earners and other toilers in their 
rights or to shield them against the oppres¬ 
sion of capitalists. 
Although the influence of socialism is, 
no doubt, greater to-day than at any 
period of the past, its history is parallel 
with that of property. From the earliest 
ages.whenever the power of individual pro¬ 
prietors became oppressive, communistic 
doctrines generally arose, and a brief refer¬ 
ence to the best known of these will indi¬ 
cate the nature of the principal forms of 
socialism ; for the principles advocated by 
all of them, separately or combined, in 
their original form or modified, still influ¬ 
ence large bodies of people. 
Communistic doctrines deducted from 
peculiar religious views, and advocating 
the establishment of Isolated communities, 
prevailed among the ancient Egyptians 
and Hindoos, but only very misty accounts 
of these remain. Later on, among the 
Greeks, Phaleasof Calcedon,proposed grad¬ 
ually to remove the disparities of property 
by providing that the rich should give, but 
never receive, a dower in marriage, and in 
order to maintain an even grade of in¬ 
telligence, he advocated that all should re¬ 
ceive the same education. In Plato’s ideal 
republic there were to be three classes: 
The educated, who were the legislators and 
rulers; the common people, who included 
farmers and other laborers; and the sol¬ 
diers. The State was to assign to every 
body his rank or duty ; the soil was 
to be the property of all, and the women 
and slaves were also to be common prop¬ 
erty. Among the Jews, from about the 
second century before Christ, the Essenes 
held their property in common, for the 
most part renounced marriage, and taught 
the equality of men and the supremacy of 
destiny. About the beginning of the 
Christian era they numbered about 4,000 
and dwelt on the western side of the Dead 
Sea. The Beguinages of the Low Countries, 
which flourished for centuries, consisted of 
religious communities of women, formed 
for the relief of the sick and poor. They 
supported themselves by their own labor 
and used all things in common. A con¬ 
siderable number of other monastic associa¬ 
tions were also founded on a socialistic 
basis. In Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia (in 
1516) there were only good and happy 
citizens, and the government was per¬ 
fectly paternal. State officials assigned 
and directed the duties of the people. Four 
hours formed a day’s labor, and women did 
only the lighter work. The rest of the day 
was devoted to the study of philosophy and 
science. During the next two centuries 
several other notable socialistic conceptions 
created a good deai of sensation at the time 
and are not without influence in shaping 
modern thought and socialistic projects. 
Among the men who have had most in¬ 
fluence on socialistic thought in this cen¬ 
tury Saint-Simeon, who fought in our War 
of Independence and lived from 1760 tolS25, 
comes first. The grand formula of his 
gospel of a new Christianity was: “ To each 
man according to his ability, to each ability 
according to its works.” This simply 
meant that duties should be assigned to 
each man according to his capacity, and 
that he should be rewarded according to 
the way he exercised that capacity in work. 
He had a host of famous disciples; but after 
his death dissensions rose among them, and 
several of the undertakings in which they 
practically illustrated the master’s doc¬ 
trines failed; but Saint-Simeouism still has 
a powerful Influence on socialism. Then 
came Charles Fourier whose doctrines, 
too abstruse for most people, may be em¬ 
bodied, so far as socialism is concerned, in 
the idea that a township of about 1,800 
persons, male and female, formed by slow 
developmentof harmonious natures, should 
be the germ of larger combinations, which 
would gradually interweave and unite 
themselves together until a network of con¬ 
nected, harmonious associations, bound by 
the same principles and governed by a coun¬ 
cil of representatives, should spread over a 
State, a nation, a continent, the globe! 
Then came Louis Blanc, who wanted the 
government to undertake the regeneration 
of society by the “ organization of labor,” 
maintaining that the evils resulting from 
large capital and ruinous competition 
ought to be remedied by means of the 
State, the largest capitalist of all, from 
whom every person has a right to demand 
employment. The government should pur¬ 
chase, or gradually absorb the great indus¬ 
trial institutions of the country, and ulti¬ 
mately render it more profitable for every 
workman to join the large government 
work-shop than to work for himself. The 
wages of all laborers should be the same. 
As soon as the State had acquired control 
of all production in the country, and the 
workmen had learned to appreciate the 
abilities of individuals among them, the 
administration of the government should 
be superseded by self-government by the 
workmen on democratic principles. His 
maxim was: “From each according to 
his ability ; lo each according to his need.” 
Proudhon protested vigorously against 
State aid. He was the author of the idea 
that all property is a kind of theft; al¬ 
though what he wished to show was merely 
the injustice of incomes without labor. 
When also he said that he wanted the 
State reduced to “ anarchy,” he merely de¬ 
sired to say that he wished centralization 
to give way to government controlled by 
the masses. He held that employment 
should be guaranteed to the laborer, and 
that credit should be reorganized on a 
paper basis. Robert Dale Owen’s funda¬ 
mental axiom was that man is entirely 
made by external circumstances, so that to 
form his character and to make him per¬ 
fectly happy all that is needed is to change 
his external relations. He established 
large workshops in which his principles 
were applied to the laboring classes. By 
exercising justice in the payment of labor, 
instituting vast economies in business and 
establishing a thorough system of infant 
and adult education, he achieved such re¬ 
markable success at first that his system, 
or parts of it, were in a fair way of being 
widely introduced into the manufacturing 
districts; but soon he began to attack re¬ 
ligion and all forms of government, thus 
provoking the bitter hostility of the clergy 
and authorities, and after a time his experi¬ 
ments all collapsed. There has been a 
large number of other noted socialistic 
leaders, .but they have been generally 
disciples or imitators of those mentioned, 
although they have popularized many 
modifications of their doctrines and 
schemes for the amelioration of the lower 
orders of society. 
From the Middle Ages until to-day there 
have, now and then, arisen spurious social¬ 
istic communities or affiliations whose doc¬ 
trines have been atrociously pernicious and 
whose members have indulged in the wildest 
license, although they have generally been 
actuated by pseudo-religious principles. 
Such were the Adamites, the Anabaptists, 
the Familists, the Levelers and other 
fanatic sects centuries ago, and such are 
the Nihilists and Auarchists of to-day. All 
have been animated by bitter hostility to 
the rich and an ardent desire for a promis¬ 
cuous distribution of property. All have 
been advocates of violence to attain their 
ends, and have been restrained only by fear 
or force. The fanatics of old were pitilessly 
suppressed or extirpated by the authori¬ 
ties, and few, even among the great 
body of the socialists, would deeply regret 
if the same fate befell those of to-day. In¬ 
deed, a vast majority of the socialists re¬ 
pudiate all connection with these fauatics; 
but in a heterogeneous class, whose opinions 
and plans differ so widely, there are, no 
doubt, some extremists who sympathize 
with the aims and means favored by them, 
but as their object is to disrupt, not to re¬ 
construct society, they cannot properly 
be classed with the socialists, though some 
of them claim to belong to that class. 
The respectable, conservative, imme¬ 
morial belief was that all educational pro¬ 
gress and industrial development should be 
left to individual philanthropy and enter¬ 
prise; that the government should never 
undertake or attempt to control any busi¬ 
ness which could be carried on by private 
effort; that the prices of labor itself and of 
all its products were inexorably regulated 
by the relation of supply and demand ; t hat 
the accumulation, use and distribution 
of wealth, outside the scope of the criminal 
law, were individual matters with which 
neither the State nor the public had any 
right to interfere ; that while corporations 
composed of capitalists for self-aggrand¬ 
isement were quite legitimate and highly 
beneficial, associations of toilers for self- 
protection and self-advancement were a 
menace to the law and perilously perni¬ 
cious ; in short, that what had been, was 
right, and that all changes were dangerous. 
Socialism has always controverted all 
these claims. For individual effort it has 
always insisted on substituting that of the 
community, association or State as most con¬ 
ducive to human prosperity and happiness. 
Many, nay, perhaps all its schemes of 
reform have been more or less impractic¬ 
able and visionary; but its doctrines, con¬ 
ceptions and aspirations have made a deep 
impression on the best thinkers of the age, 
and are exercising a mighty influence on 
the masses, and it is in this growing in¬ 
fluence rather than in the possibility of any 
rebellious outbreak, that the danger to the 
thrones and other time-honored institutions 
of the world, lies. There is not in Europe a 
single nation, with, perhaps, the solitary 
exception of despotic Russia, whose legisla¬ 
tion has not been strongly influenced by 
socialistic doctrines during the last decade. 
Indeed, some of the most remarkable laws 
passed by any government within the cen¬ 
tury, such as the Irish land laws and the 
German workmen insurance laws, are 
flagrantly socialistic. The other day, it 
was charged in the British House of Lords, 
and couldn’t be contradicted, that within 
the last five years 808 socialistic bills had 
been introduced into Parliament, of which 
40 had been passed! In this country, too, 
socialism has been making rapid strides of 
late, especially among the agricultural 
classes. Many to whom the idea of social¬ 
ism is a horror, have unconsciously em¬ 
braced, with the greatest cordiality, some 
of its most prominent doctrines. Nearly all 
the laws now before Congress designed to 
protect and relieve the farmers of the 
country are distinctly socialistic, and the 
fact that they are so, is one of the strongest 
arguments used against them by the polit¬ 
ical press and their other opponents. The 
schoolmaster is actively abroad, however, 
even m country places, and words, mere 
words, have ceased to be a bugaboo. There 
are a large number of acknowledged evils 
in every country, and statesmen are bound 
to remedy these in the most effective man¬ 
ner, even at the risk of being stigmatized 
as socialists. 
gUisiccUattCouis: gulvcrti^ing. 
Advertisers treat all correspondents 
well if they mention the Rural New- 
Yorker. 
CONTINENTAL. 
Your land will he hard and need rhoroneh culti¬ 
vation for the • ext erop. You will prepare for seed 
ing with less labor if you use our Pulver ,zer. 
LABOR SAVED IS MONEY. 
You can get larger returns by using the Continent" I 
Larger crops mean mom cash. Stnd for prices and 
circular, “How to Buy Direct.” 
THE JOHNSTON HARVESTER CD., “I*: 1 * 
THE NEW CUTAWAY SEEDER 
Positive in Its action, and perfect in its seeding. Will 
sow' all kinds of grass seeds and graius. Send for new 
special Circular-. 
The HICGANUM MANF’G CORPORATION, 
N. Y. Offlco, P* & 191 Water St. liigganum, Couu, 
