Atlasian Gentlemen's Psephological and Social Club - 1913

[Beet]

A socialist revolution is inevitable in all countries. Just look at last year's elections in Germany. The world has been trending towards socialism since 1873; I had hoped the end of the Great Depression would reverse the tide, but it has not. It is a cold, irrefutable mathematical fact; when the franchise is expanded to the proletariat, they will vote themselves revolution. If you put a piece of candy before a child, will he not take it? And so, if you put the vote, and through the vote power, before the coal miner, the factory hand, the dock worker, will he not vote to overthrow the capitalist system and take for himself the luxuries of the bourgeois? It astonishes me how anyone could think, or could have expected, otherwise.

If capitalists had wanted to preserve free enterprise, they should have opposed universal suffrage. Now, I fear it is too late. The very fact that we are even now debating womens' suffrage proves that universal manhood suffrage can never be overturned. It turns out that capitalism contained the seeds of its own destruction after all; not as Marx predicted, through violence, but through the very system of elections it created. I only fear what a future without free enterprise and collective ownership of all the means of production will mean.

[ilikeverin]

All I know is my fellow Ohioan Warren G. Harding will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate next year!

Whosoever wins the election will be a fellow Ohioan, Clevelandfan, as it is an Ohio Senate election. Pursuant to this discussion, I must say that I fully support recent efforts to amend the Constitution that we may popularly elect such officeholders.

And who leads that noble cause?  Why, none but the Progressive Party, of course!  I wonder when the Republican Party will just give up and admit defeat.  We Progressives are so bully about what we believe in that we are even nominating women candidates for Congress.  Wilson may have beat us this round, but Teddy'll lick him good in 1916, you mark my words.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

All I know is my fellow Ohioan Warren G. Harding will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate next year!

Whosoever wins the election will be a fellow Ohioan, Clevelandfan, as it is an Ohio Senate election. Pursuant to this discussion, I must say that I fully support recent efforts to amend the Constitution that we may popularly elect such officeholders.

You Americans are so charming, yet so irresponsible with your wild ideas about elections to every possible position. It ought to be restricted to responsible individuals, who respects the proper authority. If we had your ways, the Reichstag would be filled with anarchists. Alas, what a horror!

(My grandfather was from Wreschen, Provice of Posen, no way I'm a Russian subject here)

[hawkeye59]

A socialist revolution is inevitable in all countries. Just look at last year's elections in Germany. The world has been trending towards socialism since 1873; I had hoped the end of the Great Depression would reverse the tide, but it has not. It is a cold, irrefutable mathematical fact; when the franchise is expanded to the proletariat, they will vote themselves revolution. If you put a piece of candy before a child, will he not take it? And so, if you put the vote, and through the vote power, before the coal miner, the factory hand, the dock worker, will he not vote to overthrow the capitalist system and take for himself the luxuries of the bourgeois? It astonishes me how anyone could think, or could have expected, otherwise.

If capitalists had wanted to preserve free enterprise, they should have opposed universal suffrage. Now, I fear it is too late. The very fact that we are even now debating womens' suffrage proves that universal manhood suffrage can never be overturned. It turns out that capitalism contained the seeds of its own destruction after all; not as Marx predicted, through violence, but through the very system of elections it created. I only fear what a future without free enterprise and collective ownership of all the means of production will mean.

Germany, no doubt, and perhaps a few other countries as well. But I cannot see a country like Russia undergoing a communist revolution.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I cannot see a country like Russia undergoing a communist revolution.

Most definitely not a Marxian revolution, but there are other sorts of communes and revolutions.  It be quite conceivable that by the year 2000 Russia would be a theocratic communist state with the Patriarch of Moscow ruling the country instead of the Czar of Sankt-Peterburg.  I've heard they are thinking of changing the name of the city to Petrograd and if the Romanovs go down that secular path it will be to their ruin.

(OOC: Despite what one might think, the name was changed to Petrograd in 1914, before the revolution.)

[memphis]

How do you fellows like the new moving picture fad? When I first saw one I could scarcely believe my eyes! Yet, I feel that interest amongst the public must surely be waning now. How many reels of comely lasses dancing will a man pay to see in one lifetime?

[King]

Those "pictures" move far too quickly for my taste.  I could barely follow the one I saw.  Some tripe about a vagrant who stumbles around like a fool.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

What a waste that the good Theodore Roosevelt did not win the Presidency in the last federal election. The Progressive Party will live on and shall perhaps elect a President one day.

[traininthedistance]

I for one am most excited about the new Dual Contracts plan the city is working out with the IRT and BMT to ease congestion, such a problem in the trolleys and tenements of this city.  It will be a great thing to grab myself a piece of the American Dream and get a spacious country house in the peaceful, suburban countryside of Queens someday.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Those "pictures" move far too quickly for my taste.  I could barely follow the one I saw.  Some tripe about a vagrant who stumbles around like a fool.

I couldn't agree more. Beside, developing such inventions seems to me a waste of time and efforts that would've be spent on actually useful things.

I mean what's next? Moving "pictures" in colour?

[Northeast Rep Snowball]

Those "pictures" move far too quickly for my taste.  I could barely follow the one I saw.  Some tripe about a vagrant who stumbles around like a fool.

I couldn't agree more. Beside, developing such inventions seems to me a waste of time and efforts that would've be spent on actually useful things.

I mean what's next? Moving "pictures" in colour?

or with sound... But I have researched this, and its grounded in reality, I mean you see exactly what the camera sees.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Those "pictures" move far too quickly for my taste.  I could barely follow the one I saw.  Some tripe about a vagrant who stumbles around like a fool.

I couldn't agree more. Beside, developing such inventions seems to me a waste of time and efforts that would've be spent on actually useful things.

I mean what's next? Moving "pictures" in colour?

or with sound... But I have researched this, and its grounded in reality, I mean you see exactly what the camera sees.

Unbelieveable if true! Hard to comprehense some fancy mechanism can be as accurate as human eye.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Those "pictures" move far too quickly for my taste.  I could barely follow the one I saw.  Some tripe about a vagrant who stumbles around like a fool.

I couldn't agree more. Beside, developing such inventions seems to me a waste of time and efforts that would've be spent on actually useful things.

I mean what's next? Moving "pictures" in colour?

or with sound... But I have researched this, and its grounded in reality, I mean you see exactly what the camera sees.

Unbelieveable if true! Hard to comprehense some fancy mechanism can be as accurate as human eye.

Perhaps by the 21st century we shall be creating pictures and putting them in these cameras! Oh, Johnson, you make me laugh!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

You all have no vision.  While of course these moving pictures will soon fade away as a novelty as far as entertainment goes, I think they show much promise as a way of presenting the news. No more distortions written by foxy reporters for a yellow paper.  Instead we will be able to view the undistorted truth presented in a way that will be fair and balanced.

[memphis]

In other local news, skyscrapers continue to pop up in my hometown year after year. The lastest boasts an unbelievable 19 floors! I would not believe it had I not seen it with my own eyes. I have read in the newspaper that the Woolworth Company of New York City has erected a building that is 57 floors, though that must surely be an exaggeration. Though I do often wonder if God will soon strike it down as blasphemy as he did with the Tower of Babel. For centuries, the tallest buildings in the world were always houses of God. What right has man to deem mere commerce more substantial? I have no doubt that we are inviting Divine Judgement. My worries notwithstanding, here is a fine colored illustration of Memphis's newest goliath.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Bah, a socialist revolution? Those unwashed, bearded "intellectuals" couldn't overthrow a village, much less a country! Even if they can find a home in Europe, socialists will never penetrate sunny Havana as long as it is protected by Brother Wilson!

[ilikeverin]

What a waste that the good Theodore Roosevelt did not win the Presidency in the last federal election. The Progressive Party will live on and shall perhaps elect a President one day.

Bully for you!  And that President will be Theodore Roosevelt, mark my words!

In other local news, skyscrapers continue to pop up in my hometown year after year. The lastest boasts an unbelievable 19 floors! I would not believe it had I not seen it with my own eyes. I have read in the newspaper that the Woolworth Company of New York City has erected a building that is 57 floors, though that must surely be an exaggeration. Though I do often wonder if God will soon strike it down as blasphemy as he did with the Tower of Babel. For centuries, the tallest buildings in the world were always houses of God. What right has man to deem mere commerce more substantial? I have no doubt that we are inviting Divine Judgement. My worries notwithstanding, here is a fine colored illustration of Memphis's newest goliath.

I certainly cannot believe the changes that are being executed near to the National Mall.  Why, they have finally selected a design for the memorial to the great Rail Splitter of Springfield!  I believe it to be far too ostentatious for a man of such modesty as Honest Abe, but unfortunately Congress is too busy catering to the whims of the monied interests to listen to men of erudition such as myself.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

How I miss that fine Abyssinian bloke we had; he posted portraits of the most pristine women, and was quite the common dandy at first glance.