Milwaukee Socialism.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 17, 30 June 1911, Page 4

Milwaukee Socialism.

Some Statements and the Facts.

My attention has just been called to an article, written in New York, published in Great Britain, and widely reprinted in this country, regarding the Socialist administration in the city of Milwaukee, U.S.A. I am asked to give the facts in this connection. For convenience, I will summarise the statements, and in each instance give the facts. 1. liie statement is made that "Milwaukee was made a Socialist city a year ago 3 including city, county, fourteen fcrtao-e representatives and a Con-

gressman." The tact is that the city was carried a year ago, and that after six months of Socialist administration of the city's affairs by the Socialists, the county, seven additional representatives to the State Legislature, and a member of the national Congress were elected by the Socialists as a result of the satisfactory work in running the city. 2. It is stated that "Socialism is attractive to tne 'unthinking and fluityminded,' but that Socialism in practice is always a failure." The tact is tnat the city was carried by the Socialists by a campaign of education lasting through a pexiod of eieven years, during winch time literature was delivered each month, to every family in tne city. They gamed an alderman at a time throughout this period until finally they gained the city. ".fluffy-minded peopie" arc not mnuenced by such methods. Three-fourths of all the city pastors and tiie solid trades union vote are now

in our party. Socialism has not always been a failure. Socialism has not been adopted in Milwaukee. The city authorities cannot establish Socialism. What the Socialists want has never been tried, even m Milwauicee, But such parts of the Socialist proposals as havt> been tried, hare never tailed anywhere— certainly not in Milwaukee. Public ownership of municipal monois one of tnese proposals. That las never failed on actual trial in iMiiwaukes or anywhere, else. 3. It is staied that "places of disorder are ramp-am, and ijiat Miiwaukee has become a i;arndise of crooks." Over one hundred and nicy disorderly houses nave h-'cn closed 05 our party and there is not a suspicious character y,'no is in gaol, or who ougnt to be in gaol, who is not fighting our party. Tne author of these statements belongs to this assortment of crooks and sian-

dorers, for we are well inter.n<xl ;is to the source of this workl-w.de campaign of misrepresentation. 4. It is stated that "the m.iuii'.'iprd dances have been brought to _.n end because they .were "openly and flagrantly used as a meeting place lor vicious men and women.' " The exact contrary is the '-ivt. 'J he public entertainments have been the greatest tactor m making the schoolhouses the centres of a saie and wiioiesomo socird lite.* instead of the low ordered conditions of the disreputable and dangerous private enterprises, wncso patronage has gone because now only those wholly vicious are left to their care. Hence these tears. 5. "The lowest wages paid are 8s a day r , and *it is expected xhat a further raise of 50 per cent, will be made soon." So it is stated. The fact is that tne cost of living

in the whole country has advanced faster than the purchasing power of wages. JNot even a further raise of 50 per cent, would make it possible for tjhe workers to catch up with the Beef Trust. It would be well for the workers everywhere to remember that the complaint against i.he Socialists is that they pay better wages. G. It is stated "that the City Hal] force ©f clerks and others are overworked—that the force has been decreased and the work required increased. '' This is pretty nearly a fact. Those who were drawing salaries at the City Hall under previous administration, and putting in their time somewhere else, have been dropped from the pay-

roll, and those who put in their time indifferently—coming late and going early—have been required to give good and full service, or give way to thofio who would do so. But what .becomes of that old complaint that the Socialists are the special friends of the loafers? They have increased the wages of those who work, and they have discharged those who were getting salaries without earning them. When the loafers went to work they did say they were overworked. Too bad for them! 7. It is stated that "public ofEces have been filled with rjcrsons entirely unfitted for their places. A teacher in

By WALTER THOMAS MILLS, Special Commissioner from Milwaukee to Countries Abroad

a trade school, earning £300 a year, was appointed Commissioner of Public Works with a salary of £1000." Here is the fact: The principal of the School of Technology was given charge of the Department of Public Works. He took the place of three politicians entirely without technical training. The salaries had been fixed before. We cut out two of these salaries, and paid the remaining one to the best-trained man within our reach. He has justified the choice of a teacher instead of a politician in a hundred ways. 8. It is stated that "the city payroll has largely increased." This is a tact. But the fact that the contract system of doing the public

work -ox building and repairing .streets and walks has been abolished has not been made known. The public work is better done and more cheaply done The city gets real and honest work. The workers get better pay, and the pvivate "rake-oif" of the old contractor is entirely saved to the city. 9. It is stated that Socialists promised that there would .be no unemployment. Now there .-are 20,000 unemployed in the streets." The fact is that the Socialists promised nothing of the sort. The -Socialis fas do promise that when the means of employment are in the hands of the Socialists, there -will be no unemployment, and anyone can see that this is

true. All that will be necessary will be to shorten the day and so divide tno jobs until there will be jobs enough tor all. The increased wages paid will make certain a permanent market for all products—only there will bo no "rake-off" for the idler. But no city government can do this. The unemployed in Milwaukee are the discharged worKinon of the Steel Trust and of the Kaihray Trust. No Socialist has ever been so senseless as to claim tiiat the private monopolies could continue to control the means of emplovmont,

and a city- administration controlled by working men, publicly provide the employment which can be given only by the use of privately-controlled means of employment. But the same unemployment is extending everywhere m America, and la* the , CQ me 'this cause is not the Socialist administrations of half a duvicn cities. The cause is private monopoly in the means of employment. 10. It is stated that "the business management has been bad ; that the finances of the c.ty are in bad shape." Here are the facts : The public funds had oecn wa.-;..•.■* ... a.<... .. v _y used by previous administrations. The city was uirncfl over wj tne facialis, s. in a badly discredited condition. Banks demanded -extra compensation for floating bonds and higher rates of interest Thy Socialists reiu;:ed to grant cither. The bonds have been sold by the city

directly to the purchasers, without the intervention of the banks, and at a lower rate of interest than is psaid by any- other city in America of equal or even of a larger population. As for business management—ours is the first city in the world to do its work under a system, basing all operations on the "unit cost"—a system now in force in all the greatest and most successful manufacturing enterprises, and this has had the effect not only of effecting great savings, for the city, but of exposing the great thefts of previous administrations. Hence this wn.il of those Avho cannot be comforted. •11. "The City Health Commissioner is not a recognised member of the medical profession at all." So it is stated. The fact is that this is very good reading to those who know the facts. There is a whole volume of them, but

"stated briefly, the Health Department refused to enlarge the typhoid wards in the city hospital. Instead, it took the typhoid germs out of the city water supply within ten days after getting control of the city government and emptied the overcrowded wards of the city hospital. It provided medicines without going through the routine of the double trust of the "chemist" and tihe "doctor." It has compelled sanitary conditions in the tenement districts, and has provided baths with physical training and massage treatments in certain cases, and has been visited with the terrible condemnation of being irregular. It is irregular for such things to be done in an American city. The regular thing over there is to fatten on the -misfortunes of the 'helpless—not to relieve their helplessness. 12. It is stated that "the complete failure in Milwaukee has given the Socialists a set-back in -America from which they will not soon recover."

The fact is that sinco this statement has been widely printed in Australian and New Zealand papers, three more American cities have elected Socialist governments. Among these is the city of Berkley, the seat of tho T Tniversity of California, the most elegant residence suburb of San Francisco, and the chief cause of irritation tro those who complain about tho "fluffy-mind-ed Socialists" is the fact that the most actitvo factors in tho campaign wore

the trade unionists and the university, professors. Since the victory in Milwaukee, repeated on a larger field six months later, the Socialist vote in America has grown from 450,000 to about a million. And there are many other evidences of like discouragement. This is the most important fact of all. It is not the failure of the Socialist administration—it is its success that worries the beneficiaries of private xa.OT3r opoly.