V. L. BERGER ON SOCIALISM

Hon. Victor L. Berger, Socialist Representative from Wisconsin, and editor of the Milwaukee Leader, addressed the members of the University in New Lecture Hall yesterday afternoon, giving a general discussion of the meaning of Socialism and its relation to present day conditions, both political and economic.

Mr. Berger said that Socialism is not a theory, but rather the name of a phase of civilization that we are approaching. Today, having passed the phases of feudalism and slavery, we have the capitalistic phase in which the worker is free but still dependent upon capital for employment. While seeking this employment the laborer is forced into the open market and hence is subjected to competition, which makes it possible for the employer to hire his men at starvation wages. Machinery, having done away with the necessity of skilled labor, has complicated the situation.

The Wage Question.

Mr. Berger has made a personal investigation of the wage question in the United States and has found that the average wage of the working man does not exceed $6.75, while in Lawrence, the textile workers receive less than $6 a week. These conditions exist in spite of the protective tariff which manufacturers claim is primarily to protect labor. Due to the high protective tariff, we are now in a condition of over-production, which forces us to compete with other countries in the world's market, and which is also responsible for our industrial crises, another of which Mr. Berger predicts will come in 1913.

As a natural result of competition we have trusts. The typical attitude of such monopolies is summed up in Mr. Carnegie's phrase "Competition doesn't pay". This is a large country, so why fight? Let all combine and create a monopoly and in this way avoid competition.

Problem of Dealing with Trusts.

The problem now is how to get rid of these trusts. There have been five proposals to deal with them. President Taft has tried using the courts, but with very questionable success. The Progressives, and Mr. La Follette wish to regulate these and all public utilities. This plan has been tried in Milwaukee with little success, for we cannot regulate what does not belong to us. The Democrats would completely smash the trusts, and Mr. Roosevelt would oust the bad trusts and leave the good.

Mr. Berger's solution of the situation is to buy out the trusts. In this way they would come under public ownership, and all public utilities necessary for the welfare and life of the nation would eventually come into the hands of the people, over 70 per cent, of whom belong to the working class.

Workers and capitalists are now politically equal, both having the ballot, and it is only a question of time before the capitalists must give way.

Thursday, February 22 will be a holiday in all departments of the University.