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Show SOCIALISM TRIED AND POUND WANTING I A Socialist Government Once Held Undisputed ! Power in France -Brief History of i its Rise and rail. J i (Catholic Union aiid(TimesJ I Question': AYas Socialism ever practically lestod on a grand scale? Was ever a Socialistic government govern-ment in undisputed power? and what were the' results re-sults of such government as to tlie welfare of the people? Answer: 1. Socialism was practically tested on a grand scale. The. government, of the Fn m-h Convention Con-vention during the Reign of Terror was ex-luive!y' Socialistic. It was based on the "Social Contract" of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the patriarch of all modern mod-ern Socialism. According to this theory the State is nothing but a collection of individuals freely associating together and forming a contract for the recognition of their rights. Every one. surrenders sur-renders himself with all his rights to the commuu- i ity. This community excludes all other assoein- tions. especially the Church.' A Christian community commun-ity in which the Church has special rights not delc-; delc-; gated by the people, is a contradiction. Whatever derogates from the equality of the citizens private pri-vate property, an aristocracy, a church, a commercial commer-cial association, etc. must be overthrown. Th first man, who asserted a property right was a robber rob-ber to the community. These outlines .of .his theory are still -the fundamental principles of Socialism. '2. A purely socialistic government held undisputed undis-puted power in, France during the period called j the Reign of Terror, from Sept. 21, 1702, to October. Octo-ber. 1795. AYhat were the results of this Socialistic government? gov-ernment? 1. As to the Administration of Justice. The administration of justice was entrusted to the Revolutionary Rev-olutionary Tribunal. It. consisted of sixteen judges' and sixty jurymen. Their duties consisted in promptly condemning to death the victims and' suspects sus-pects brought in by the Committee of Public Security, Se-curity, without a hearing, in batches of twenty, fifty or more: It was assisted by the Committee of Public Security, composed, of twelve Socialists charged with the detection of political crimes and with the arrest of "suspects'' and the proscribed. By the Law of Suspects fhe tribunal obtained unlimited un-limited power over life and liberty. Ten classes of people could be tried on mere suspicion of un--friendliness to the Socialistic republic; the last . class comprised persons whom the tribunal had already al-ready declared innocent. The law created OuO.000 suspects in France. The lists of the Committee of Public Safety idiow nearly "400.000 prisoners. 2. Personal Liberty. Xobody was free from that suspicion whjch hampered and annihilated all personal per-sonal liberty. Generals who failed, or who were too successful, were accused of treason and guillotined. guillo-tined. University regents, professors, heads 'of schools, scientists and educated men were sent to the guillotine for their superior knowledge, though they were ur-ovided with certificates of citizenship. Expressions of grief or pity, looks of disapprobation, disapproba-tion, even silence, became state crimes. It was a crime to be rich. Purchasers of ecclesiastical or communal lands were guillotined by the scores, thcf . their lands might be brought into the market again. Xumbers of farmers, mechanics, domestics, women, filled the prisons or were shot, drowned or guillotined guillo-tined because they had harbored an, innocent outlaw out-law or a hunted priest, or had secretly attended the mass of an unsworn priest. - G. Socialistic Taxation. To obtain provisions I for the army raid lood for the inhabitants of Paris and other cities, suffering under the famine created cre-ated by the Revolution, the Committee of Public Security constructed a vast system of public and, private robbery authorized by the decrees of the Socialistic Convention. The State established an income tax and an extraordinary revolutionary tax. The decrees on taxation distinguished in incomes between tlie essential income and the surplus. The essential income was fixed at 1.000 francs per head. According to the amount of the surplus, a quarter, quar-ter, a third, a half was levied as an income tax. When the income exceeded f,000 francs, the whole, surplus was taken. The revolutionary tax, imposed on the capital of the well-to-do .and. rich, ranged from 300 francs all the way up to l,200.n00 on a-single a-single person. Thus in Strasburg, v. g.. 193 merchants and professional men were taxed in graded amounts from (5,000 to 300,000 livrcs each, in all !,000,000 livrcs, payable in twenty-four hours. 4. Socialistic Finances. In spite of the robbery of all the Church property and the confiscation ot the estates of king and nobles, the Socialistic government gov-ernment was always in financial straits. Accordingly Accord-ingly they set themselves to issuing paper money. , This money was called "assignats." They were printed by the billion. In July. 17:13. 100 francs in assignats were worth 33 francs. In their downward down-ward course the assignats in May. 171)5. sank to 7 per cent. Still later an assignat of 100 francs sank to 5 sous (about 1 cent). A pound of bread in 1790 cost 50 francs, a pound of meat 50 francs.' A bag of Hour rose to 13.000 francs in -assignst?.-To obtain coin for the foreign wars, those who had" coin had to deliver it against assignats at par, and those who had none had to deliver their plate and jewels. The Catholic churches were simply ransacked ran-sacked for their sacred vesselswhich were melted into Socialistic coin. All this' while the leading Socialists, So-cialists, who stood at the lever of this grinding machinery, amassed enormous fortunes by plunder and speculation. 5. Labor and Workinmen; the People. Another means of obtaining provisions and labor was the j maximum price established September. 1793, i. e., a price payable in assignats, established by law, over and above which nobody was allowed-to sell or t work. The grocers and shopkeepers had to display a list of all their provisions and goods, sell them at the maximum price, and take assignats at their face value for payment, i. e., they had to sell their goods at one-half- or one-third of cst. By forced requisitions, farmers had to", bring their crops to public granaries, and received as payment assignats at their face value. .Teamsters had to cart, provisions at the maximum price payable in assignats. Tens of thousands of (workirirmeu had to labor for the Socialistic state at the maximum price in assignats. In all these cases the Social- I istie formula was; "Fay. deliver, work, or go to th j ' guill..iiuo." j j The result of !ie maximum priee. tlie bourn!!"-.-; j issue of assio':i;i',s, (. j,ved re'jiiisite.iis, v.;:; j widespread misery and t'n.tune. In Paris mid a!! ; the larger cities ..f Franee ihe government- hie! distribute rati. mis ,, bivad, often amounting to only a few ouiiees a day. Long rows of people had ! ' wait their mru from midnight till bio- in ihe day to : obtain theire;,!i:y allowance or. as the case niijh. 1 be. to leave empty-handed after ten hours M-aif ing. In many distrieis people had to dig no roots . '. thnr subsistence, or io live on worms, bran, gm-s or orlier unhealthy fond. Entire eointiiuns w.-ve , without bread for two three months, in a pi. tee j of ':.iH.n inhabitant. l.l'OO received for a long iir-o ; each .eight ounces, ;n;,l thru thn unoi-s of wiiea" ' i every eight day-. . Net I'o-ub of Socialistic Rule in France.---I The thirty-six regular and ninety-six temporary prisons of Paris, and the I.iiifi regular and I ' " ' provisional prisons in the departments wt re a! : ways tilled. At Angers soo prisoners v.vp- guillo- ,' , tined lor ito other reason than in make room 'for j ) new prisoner-. About i,(xo.(iou (,f 1 reuchnien w, te ! beheaded by the guillotine. Over l.t.oO.dMt died of hunger and misery, and several millions -r;-e rtt- : ined by the Socialistic rule. Would our' modern Socialists he much .better if they had once un-iis- f pitted rule? I |