First World War Centennial

INTRODUCTION

The following does not represent my senti­ments, but gives the conclusions drawn from the historical facts which of necessity follow from the preceding causes, regardless whether we like them or dislike them.

Sentiment has nothing to do with, can exert no influence on, the phenomena of nature, on the workings of nature's laws, whether it be the cosmic laws which let winter follow summer, regardless whether we wish it or not, or the economic laws which plunged the world into war with England and Germany as pro­tagonists, irrespective whether we are pa­cificists or militarists, pro-German or pro-English.

In judging on the meaning of historical facts, on events which we see occurring before our eyes, we must entirely set aside our senti­ments and our wishes, and, like in any physical or engineering problem, draw the conclusions which follow from the premises, whether they are agreeable or not. If we do so, and record the facts and search back to their causes, we very soon find that there is nothing in this world which we can condemn, but that the attitude of mind of condemning one thing, approving another, is illogical, as bringing the personal element of our egotism into the chain of cause and effect. If we do so, we have dis­franchised ourselves from the community of reasoning intellects, and then we assuredly will be led astray, and our conclusions will be prej­udiced and wrong. But if we set aside our personal relations and our personal interests, we find that nothing that is or that has happened can be condemned, but everything is the neces­sary result of causes which have brought it about, and back of these causes we find other causes and so by the chain of cause and effect everything that is is traced beyond the per­sonal element of the actors taking part in the event.

Thus, if the reader does not like many of the statements given in the following, I also do not like many of the conclusions which I had to draw; but, nevertheless, they are and re­main the conclusions which follow from the physical, economic, and social facts, and I be­lieve I had an unusual opportunity of observa­tion from all sides of the politico-industrial structure of to-day.

Born and educated in Germany, of German and Polish descent, I have lived most of my life in America, as an American citizen. The Germany of my recollection is the agricultural Germany of a bygone age, but the industrial Germany of to-day has remained a foreign country to me, while I have numerous good friends in England.

When I came to this country, nearly a genera­tion ago, everything was strange to me, thus impressed itself on my memory far more strong­ly than it would on a native who had grown up under these conditions, and, therefore, in com­paring the conditions of our country of to-day with those of a generation ago, I can see the enormous changes which have taken place.

As socialist, I took an active part in the ten years' political war of the German social democ­racy against Bismarck, succeeded in escaping to Switzerland, when the Government tried to arrest me, and, after continuing my studies there, came to America. I have always retained my interest in public welfare and politics, have held and am holding political office in my home town, and am still dues-paying member of the Socialist party organization.

When I landed at Castle Garden, from the steerage of a French liner, I had ten dollars and no job, and could speak no English. Now, personally I have no fault to find with existing society; it has given me everything I wanted; I have been successful professionally, in en­gineering, and have every reason to be personally satisfied, and the only criticism which I can make is that I would far more enjoy my ad­vantages if I knew that everybody else could enjoy the same.

For several years I was employed by a small manufacturer; then for nearly a quarter of a century with a huge manufacturing corpora­tion, and helped make it what it is to-day. Thus I have seen the working of small individ­ualistic production—where every cent increase of wages appears so much out of the pockets of the owner—and of corporate production, and have realized, from my acquaintance with the inside workings of numerous large corpora­tions, that the industrial corporation is not the greedy monster of popular misconception, bent only on exploitation, and have most decidedly come to the conclusion that, even as crude and undeveloped as the industrial corporation of to-day still is in its social activities, if I were an unknown and unimportant employee I would far rather take my chances with the impersonal, huge industrial corporation than with the most well-meaning individual em­ployer.

Charles P. Steinmetz.