Book Description

Excerpt from Socialism and Social Reform The ideologists of the better classes represent a less reactionary but not more efficient type of social reformers. These kind-hearted but short-sighted gentlemen are thor oughly convinced Of the soundness of our social system as a whole. They notice occasionally certain social evils and abuses, and they endeavor to remove them in what seems to them to be the most direct way. They happen to encounter an appalling condition of poverty, and they seek to allay it by alms. They notice the spread of disease among the poor, and they build hospitals and sanitariums. They are shocked by the tidal wave of crime and vice, and they strive to lead the sinners back to the path of righteousness by moral sermons and model penal institutions. They find their elected representatives in public Office incompetent and cor rupt, and they unite to turn them out Of office and to elect more efficient and honest men. They treat each social abuse and evil as an isolated and casual phenomenon. They fail to see the connection between them all. For them, as for the late german-american statesman, Carl Schurz, there is no social problem. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.