Would these gentlemen have us reject everything that comes from Europe? If so, why do they not reject the Declaration of Independence, which, though written by Thomas Jefferson, yet breathes the spirit of Rousseau and Voltaire, at whose feet he was proud to sit? Why do they not reject the constitution of the United States which is heavily saturated with the political principles of the English? Why do they not reject the English common law, which assuredly is not American? Why do they not reject the multiplication table, the works of Shakespeare and the wireless telegraph? Why don’t they? Because they are not fools. They are foolish, let us hope, only when they are talking about Socialism. On this subject, their brains curdle. They do not ask whether the principles upon which it is based are true. Truth is not the test. The test is the place where the principles were first proclaimed. If it could be proved that they were first proclaimed at Muncie, Indiana, by a gentleman who was born there immediately after the landing of Columbus—then we might expect these patriots to become Socialists even if Socialism had not a leg to stand upon. But since Europeans chanced to hit upon Socialism before we did, precisely as they chanced to hit upon many another good thing before we did, these gentlemen do not want Socialism, even though it be true. Well, let them reject it. Let them reject the sun, the moon and the stars, if they want to. None of them was made in America. Let them reject the Mississippi River because it was discovered by De Soto, a foreigner. Let them reject the Pacific Ocean because it was discovered by Balboa, another foreigner. The march of the sun and planets will probably not be seriously disturbed, even if some gentlemen do reject them. Possibly the Mississippi River may flow on. Certainly, the Socialist party in America will not disband. It’s busy. I cannot tell my correspondent what percentage of Socialists have three generations of ancestors who were born in America. I do not know. I do not care. I do not know why he should care. I know some Socialists who have fifteen generations of ancestors who were born in America. I have seen some Socialists when they had been in this country only fifteen minutes. So far as I could discover, they were precisely like the Socialists who had lived in this country, in person or by proxy, for 300 years. They all believed that poverty was unnecessary and that Socialism would remove it.