The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-12-19

PONTIAC, dec. III, 1913.
To the Editor Of the woRENenAS's ADVOCATE.
Mr.. T. Wharton Collins of New Orleans
thinks misunderstood his idea of Chris
tian Charity as q Principle of Politica
Economy. fully comprehend the broad
and bene6cent idea he enunciates, but all
experience demonstrates the impossibility
of acting upon his principle in connection
with the divisions and antAgOnisms Of So
ciety. 1t might even be argued that the
abolition of slavery in the Roman Empire.
and Of serfdom, the establishment of
guild and trades unions, a. well rs Of our re-
public, were results Of sel6shness and an
tagonism rather than Of charity. He says
charity is growing stronger and more thor
ough daily, but it is hard to discover it in
any Of our inordinate government taxation,
the Wholesale plundering by mohied rings,
the universal reduction of wages to u star
walton point, and the numberless wrongs
inflicted on the working clauses. Charity,
like everything else, depends on favorable
conditions for its exercise. Nothing 10 20
fatal to charity as wide spread suffering,
especially when brought about through the
greediness and incompetcncy Of dominant
classes. What charity can possibly exist
between the rings and corporations which
plumber labor, and the strikers that reaist
their tyranny Christianity itself has no
chance to grow and develop under such
conditions.
hope Mr.. Collins will devote his atten-
ton more to the practical economic matters
Of every day life. Is there no way to re-
heve labor from the despotic plundering'
of capitall Ii that condition If things
Just or charitable which dOoms Thousands
to poverty and misery, that it may breed
millienaires 10 there no way of uniting
capital and labor in equitable partnership,
~hsroin labor can EAnAi~4 A. F--6ta of its
tolls 10 no: our whole financial machin-
cry . plundsring despotislnl In mot our
whole system Of prodactioa and distribu-
ton also device to plumber labor for the
benefit Of other glasses Is there not am-
pie proof of this in the fact that all the
cities, factories, railroads, mines, FORCES
and workshops, winch labor has created,
have been appropriated by capital ~ its
share of labor's earnings, leaving the latter
nothing but bare subsistence Where
rs charity to begin, at the top or the bot
when subjected to 6 constant grinding
oppression
Charity, in its broadest sense, is a grand
and glorious principle, and fundamental,
SOCIAL, and political changes are now advo-
Gated to give this charity favorable con-
ditions for growth We must begin first
by establishing justice. ! am glad that
charity, equality, and fraternity are
acknowledged to be christian principles
They have been hitherto denounced as the
rawlings of bl"od-thirsty demagogues and
anarchists.
1t is true that workingnen neglect or
refuse to help themselves by making the
sacrifices essential to union and consolida-
| ton. Who can wonder ct it Have they
not for century been lied to and cheated
by political damagoguesl Have they not
given a fair trial to trades unions and 9TH
or means inaugurated for their relief Has
not every remedy failed Of the results an
ticipatsdl These failures are due to not
going far enough. Labor has always been
in serfdom to capital, dependent on q mas
ter for work and bread. Il is time tor Ia
Dor to become independent, and work and
accumulate for itself instead of others.
The present panic isevery moment preach
ing them q sersom on the evils arising from
labor being utterly at the mercy of capital.
There is no remedy short Of social recon-
struction. j. II. BRAY.