The transition from private to public ownership would be accomplished precisely as smoothly. The only change would be in the orders that a Socialist administration would give to the chief executive officer of the railroads. That order, in substance, would be: “Don’t try to make any profits out of the railroads. Run them at cost. Give the men more wages and shorter hours, and give the public the best possible service at the lowest possible rate and with the least possible risk to human life.” If you can manufacture a riot out of such ingredients, go to it. If you can figure out how such a proceeding would disrupt civilization, proceed at your leisure. The cards are all down. You now know what the Socialists want to do. Where is the danger? “Oh,” the capitalist gentlemen say, “but you Socialists are not business men, and business men are required to manage industries. A Socialist government would therefore fail.” Mayor Gaynor expressed much the same thought in a statement about Socialism that he prepared for the New York _Times_. Mr. Gaynor’s attitude toward Socialism is tolerant—almost sympathetic—yet he asked: “Who would run your Socialistic government? Where would you get honest and competent men? Would the human understanding and capacity be larger then than it is now?” Wherever Socialism is discussed, such questions are asked. They are evidently regarded as insuperable obstacles to Socialism. As a matter of fact, they serve only to show how little the questioners know of Socialism. Socialists do not purpose to establish hatcheries for the breeding by special creation, of a class of super-men to administer government and manage industry. They will depend upon the regular run of the human race for material with which to work out their ideas. But they will approach the subjects of government and industry from a different point of view. The capitalist’s conception of honest and efficient government is that sort of government that will best protect him in the enjoyment of the unjust advantages that he has over the rest of the people. The capitalist’s conception of honest and efficient business management is that sort of business management that will yield him the most profits upon the least capital. The Socialist’s conception of the best government is that which gives no man an advantage over another, while giving every man the greatest opportunity to exercise his faculties, together with the greatest degree of personal liberty that is consistent with the liberty of everybody else. And, the Socialist’s conception of honest and efficient business management is that sort of management that produces the most product under the best working conditions at the least cost and distributes it among the people without profit. In answer to Mayor Gaynor and others, Socialists therefore make these replies: