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Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 12, 1910
Robert Hunter on Laissez Faire, what the powerful claim to believe in.
From the Socialist Montana News of August 11, 1910:
LAISSEZ FAIRE.
By Robert Hunter.
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The above is the name of a politic that the powerful claim that they believe in.
It means, “Let Alone”. It means that the community must not interfere in behalf of the weak, nor in aid of the strong.
It is the politic upon which our government is said to be founded and it has been called the politic of “Everybody for himself and the devil take the hindmost.”
Those who are successful sat that it is a fine doctrine, that it means, unlimited competition, unlimited struggle, and the survival of the fit.
They say everyone should have freedom to battle and to win, if he can.
And they claim that Laissez Faire permits a free race in which the swift always wins. And so Bryan and Taft, Cannon and Aldrich, and nearly all the leaders of both parties, say they believe in Laissez Faire.
When the the judges declare unconstitutional laws limitting the hours of work, they speak in the name of Laissez Faire.
When the trusts want to escape the law they plead in the name of Laissez Faire.
When the rich fight socialism they say it is because Socialism would hurt Laissez Faire.
And who is this Laissez Faire anyhow that has become such a terrible bogie?
Well I’ll tell you. It is a secret, but I tell you. He doesn’t exist. He is just gas and wind. He is a goblin.
If Jack Johnson should go to Mr. Rockefeller’s estate and beat up Mr. Rockefeller and take his property away from him, Mr. Rockefeller would run to the courts not to Laissez Faire.
If the workers were to gain control of congress and do away with the protective tariff, the powerful would denounce Laissez Faire.
And so the rich not believing in Laissez Faire have built up about themselves every kind of protection.
