at are not able to find an
alternative economic philosophy and a plan that inspire their hopes.
But the socialist party vote is made up of men of many shades
of opinion, a large number of whom hold only the mildest sort
of socialistic philosophy. Not many of the more than 3,000,000
social-democratic voters in Germany before the war were members of the
regular party organization; but they supported the party as the
one unequivocal way to declare themselves against militarism and
undemocratic class-government. In the United States only about one
tenth of the socialistic party voters have been enrolled as members of
the party.

Sec. 23. #Economic legislation and the political parties.# This floating
socialist vote is now so large that it is eagerly sought by candidates
of the older parties. These independent voters care little for the
radical and distant tenets of the socialist party leaders, and these,
to attract wider support, are forced to place increasing stress upon
immediate and moderate reforms. On the other hand, men of larger
qualities of leadership in the older parties are constantly adopting
and advancing pending measures of social reform. Where this is not
done the socialist party tends more quickly to develop into the one
powerful party of protest and of popular aspiration, receiving support
from many elements of the middle and small propertied classes and from
non-radical wageworkers. This movement from both sides is leaving less
noticeable the contrast between the socialist party and other parties
claiming to be "progressive" or "forward looking." The strongest
allies of the more radical communistic faction of the socialist party
are those members of the conservative parties who fail to recognize
the need of humane legislation, who irritate by their unsympathetic
utterances, and who unduly postpone by their powerful opposition the
gradual and healthful unfolding of the social spirit, energy, and
capacity of the nation. The greatest problem of social and economic
legislation for the next generation is to determine how far, and how,
the principle of authority may wisely be substituted for the principle
of competition in distribution.

[Footnote 1: Distribution as a problem of incomes is not to be
confused with distribution of physical goods by transportation (as
on the railroads) or by commercial agencies transferring goods from
producer to consumer (as in cooeperative distribution). Functional
distributi