Because one of its fundamental purposes is to instruct and enlighten uninformed Greeks and others, to correct the misinformed or half-educated, and to preserve the accuracy of Greek history, this Chicago Greek newspaper, the Star, which has a circulation all over the United States wherever Greeks have settled, takes exception to an article, "Socialism Is the Product of the Present Era," by Mr. Barley, published in a Minnesota paper, and corrects the learned American.

Were he interested in the truth about historical events, Mr. Barley would have found in the archives of history what race before Christ created, promoted, and realized in practice the solidary, just, and glorious form of 2society which is known as socialism. For his information and to correct an inaccuracy, the Chicago Star exhibits the unquestionable record of a past era which produced the most excellent and the wisest social minds that have ever existed, those of the present day included.

It is asserted that socialism is identical with solidarity, and the object of this article is to reveal the magnificence and the glory of Athens, which produced and nourished a society of which the solidarity was more complete and more distinguished than could be obtained by combining the socialistic elements of many cities, chosen both from the contemporaries of Athens and from the present era. And therefore Athens was rightly called the only socialistic city in the world, and to speak impartially, no city in the world of to-day could equal the Athens of Pericles's time.

In saying this we do not wish to infer that Athens possessed full and complete socialism, for in that particular period slavery was at its highest peak; but we wish to present facts as proof that the Athens of the "golden century" stands higher in socialism than any capital in the world to-day.

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Coming down to facts, we find Mr. Francis Galton, distinguished professor of anthropology, saying in one of his lectures: "Athens with its population of ninety thousand produced Socrates and Phidias, whose like all Europe did not and could not produce, and fourteen other intellectual giants whom the Anglo-Saxon race, for centuries, could not equal."

The same authority, as well as Mr. Simond, another noteworthy anthropologist says: "In comparing the ancient Athenian with the present-day Englishman, the present-day Englishman is to the Athenian what the lately civilized African is to the Englishman."

In order to show how true the above statements are, let us investigate the era of Pericles, and we shall find a thickly clustered galaxy of intellects whose splendor divinely beautified and illumined the horizon of Athens and of the world.

In philosophy and ethics Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle shine as luminaries of unparallelled brilliancy. Beyond a doubt, in the entire history of the world we find none to equal these three. In the drama we have Aeschylus, 4Sophocles, and Euripides, the pre-eminent models of tragedy, while the unrivalled Aristophanes is the puissant father of classical comedy. In history we have Thucydides, who has no peer, and Xenophon, who up to this day has been equalled by few. In sculpture Phidias and Praxiteles are still unrivalled, and Myron stands very high. In architecture Ictinus and Callicrates produced in the immortal Parthenon the loveliest building in the world. In painting we find Polygnotus, whose works were akin to the refined architecture which they adorned. In oratory we have Demosthenes, whose speeches are the mother's milk on which students of eloquence are nourished, and Aeschines, besides Isocrates and Lycias, who stand as disciples of the other two. In military command and strategy we find Miltiades, the hero of Marathon and savior of Europe, and Nicias, the generalissimo of the Spartan wars; these two will be saved immortal in the annals of time. In politics we have Pericles, Cimon, and Themistocles, whose profound statesmanship astounds the human mind.

These names which I have enumerated are twenty-four in all. Where in the history of the world outside this period can we find the same number of immortal intellectual giants? And all these men were produced by Athens 5within the short period of one hundred fifty-two years, that is, between the battle of Marathon (490 B. C.) and the battle of Chaeronea.

Now let us investigate the cause of so unusual and so incomparable an outburst of genius.

Modern philosophers often attribute it to the Grecian race. But if this is true, and the race alone was the cause, why then did this superhuman philosophical mind flourish for only one hundred fifty-two years?

The Athenian race maintained the purity of its blood about fifteen hundred years, a period which includes Pericles's golden century.

Therefore the credit for making Athens famous the world over cannot be assigned to the race. The same Ionian race settled all eastern Greece and Asia Minor, colonizing the Aegean Sea from Sinopis to the upper Euxine and westward as far as Hesperia or Spain. Nowhere else do we find minds so puissant and imposing as we find in Athens.

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Other philosophers have attributed this phenomenon to the climate. But the climate has remained unchanged to this day, and only for the duration of these one hundred fifty-two years was all this grandeur of mind and of action displayed. Lord Byron says:

"The isles of Greece! The isles of Greece!

Where burning Sappho loved and sung,

Where grew the arts of war and peace--

Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!

Eternal summer gilds them yet,

But all, except their sun, is set."

And again:

"The mountains look on Marathon,

And Marathon looks on the sea."

But Marathon has no Miltiades to-day, and the modern Greeks have not the Academy of Plato nor the Parthenon of Phidias nor the politics of Pericles.

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The cause of this manifestation of grandeur of mind and of soul in so many men was the socialistic spirit which ruled Athens from the time of the battle of Marathon to the time of the battle of Chaeronea, and which neither before nor after that period ever appeared so clearly and so powerfully.

Now let us consider the aims of socialism, which were simply to administer wisely and justly the affairs of this capital and this state of solidary society. This term is applicable to the free citizens of Athens, for as we have already stated, Athens had slaves, and brilliant minds were not found among slaves but among the free citizens of Athens.

What socialistic Athens was during the era of Pericles we may see from what follows.

The Athenian system was very simple and practical. Each free citizen was supported by the State for services rendered to the State. The money for support was handed out daily by the so-called Dicasts. Each Athenian who served on the immense juries of Athens received originally one drachma and later three drachmas. This was a sum quite sufficient to support a poor 8free citizen in comfort. For twenty-five drachmas he might rent a small house for a year, and for two hundred fifty drachmas he might buy a good-sized house. The furnishings of the house were very simple but artistic. The chiton, the man's garment, could be bought for ten drachmas. The food was simple, cheap, very clean, and wholesome. One third of a drachma was more than sufficient for daily expenditures. This distribution of money continued throughout the year so that every free citizen could enjoy life.

Besides the above-mentioned compensation for services rendered each and every Athenian was also paid for participating in the assemblies, that is, the public gatherings. How democratic and socialistic these gatherings were is revealed by Plato, who says: "When a topic of public interest was to be debated, the citizens came together, one and all, and one and all, from the highest to the lowest, expressed their opinions--the carpenter, the blacksmith, the cobbler, and the other artisans." Each and every assemblyman received three drachmas for his attendance. Thus each citizen of this socialistic city was free of worry about his maintenance, and consequently the grand solidary society of socialism flourished.

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On holidays, which were magnificently celebrated in Athens, poor citizens received half a drachma so that they and their families might attend the performances of the immortal tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides or of the comedies of Aristophanes. And besides all this the citizens received other small gratuities. And so by all these allowances the state took care of its citizens individually and collectively. Here we see that care for the individual gave rise to that solidarity which contained the true socialistic idea.

Since the state made such arrangements for the welfare of the citizen, we find that life did not depend upon wealth, and that gold had no excessive value. The poorest Athenian could enter Plato's Academy or Aristotle's Lyceum. The same citizen could also devote his life to the study of philosophy, and art without worrying about support or security, for the state assisted and encouraged him. The wealthy Athenians under compulsion of law and also of their own free will gave public prizes to those who competed in music, in rhetoric, in the drama, in other arts, and in athletics. Athens thus fostered among her citizens competition in the fine arts but no competition in commerce or in business. No Athenian had the 10desire to purchase anything at a low price and to sell it at a higher price. Trade of this sort was not characteristic of Greeks; it was the custom and the preoccupation of Jews. The State not only encouraged but even compelled the Athenian to compete in the arts. Commerce and the business of the market, with very few exceptions, were left in the hands of the slaves.

What conclusions may we draw from such solidarity and from such contempt of wealth? Here we find the lofty idea of socialism in operation, although it contained within itself slavery, as to which the best minds among the Athenians said that the slaves would eventually be admitted as equals among them. Philemon, discussing the socialization of the slave, said: "In the future the slave will be of our own flesh and blood. No one is a slave by nature or by birth; it is fate which has enslaved him."

The polity of Athens was paternal. All the allowances mentioned above were granted to the citizens not as favors nor as charity, as allowances were afterwards granted to Romans, but for service rendered to the State, that solidary State which was composed of those who, receiving grants, repaid the State by participating in its function. How democratic Athens was is revealed in one of Pericles's immortal speeches: "We consider ourselves 11happy that we have such an administration, the first in Athens, designed to govern not for the benefit of the few but for the good of all, and that it is called 'democracy'."

The Athenian citizen of that period was undoubtedly the freest citizen in the world--freer, in fact, than any citizen of a civilized state ever was before that time or after.

The famous city of Athens supported this socialistic system with all its power and all its resources. The public treasury, of which the funds were augmented by the mines of Laurium and by tribute paid by allies, served no other purpose than to develop a higher type of citizen for this famous city.

In conclusion let us say that we have brought out the historical fact that socialism is not the product of the present era but a product of Athens, the enlightener of the world. At the same time we have pointed out and corrected the misconception or the inaccuracy of the distinguished American, Mr. Barley, who wrote that article, and we have upheld the true account of the historical events of Greece. Doubtless our readers all over the country, 12because of the instructiveness of the article, will be benefited.

If there is a country in the world that eventually will perfect socialism in its highest manifestation, and lead the rest of the world to it, that country is the United States of America. The reason for this is that America is the only democratic country of the world to-day in which democratic doctrines are deeply rooted in the minds and souls of its people. And socialism in its true form is the perfection of democracy.