ed that the
products were raised without the employment of farm hands. But it seems
likely that such a plan of private ownership would not be tolerated
under a Socialist government, for, first of all, a very large number of
Socialists are opposed to such a plan, and, secondly, the political
actionists who have favored it either have sacrificed thereby the
principles of their party, or else by advocating the private ownership
of small farms, have done so with the intention of deceiving farmers and
small land owners in order to win their votes. More will be said about
this further on.

Railroads, street car lines, express and steamship service would be
among the _principal means of transportation_; while included in the
list of _principal means of communication_ there would be the public
telephone and telegraph systems. Automobiles, horses and carriages, if
used without the assistance of hired labor, would not be considered as
being principal means of transportation. So, too, under similar
conditions, a private telephone or telegraph line running to the house
of a friend would be excluded from the principal means of communication.

The state would, of course, own all the goods produced in its mines,
factories, shops, etc., until they were purchased with money or labor
certificates. The people would then retain these goods as their own
private property, and would not, according to the leading American
Socialists, be compelled to divide them up with their fellow countrymen.

The Socialist plan looks very nice on paper, allures many impoverished
workingmen of the present day, appeals strongly to the uneducated, and
offers great inducements to the "downs and outs" of society. It is,
however, a deadly poison, and this will be proven conclusively in the
chapter on "Socialism a Peril to Workingmen." There it will be shown not
only that a Socialist state cannot possibly be a success, but that it
would be a source of continued civil strife and discord, thoroughly
unsatisfactory to workingmen, whom it would overwhelm with all the evils
attendant on crime, strife, rebellion and chaos. In the Marxian state
the industrial establishments, land, and business enterprises would be
confiscated; neither interest, rent nor profit would be tolerated; the
wage system would be abolished; no satisfactory plan could be devised
for assigning so many millions of workingmen to the different positions,
while at the same time satisfying them with re