Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-12-28
AIsr AND SOCIALISM,.
william Morris on Modern Deacncr-
aCY.

acy.
Significant OF the changed spirit which has
come over Oxford in recent years, SAYS the
London PoN NAL gazette, was the meeting
held the other night in the hall of University
college to hear a paper from the author of "The
Earthly Paradise" on cart under Pluto.
crocy." Significant, too, of the depth Of the
impression which recent revelations of Lon
don misery have produced was the profound
interest which motley gathering of Univer-
sity authorities showed in the problems of
human suffering and the plans for Its anchor
alton, as stated with eloquent pathos by the
mau who, from being "the idle singer of an
empty day." las become the foremost adyo.
cate of the Democratic Federation. 1t is
not for nothing, one would think that heads
OF colleges, undergraduates, professors and
lecturers could jostIe one another for places
TO hear lecture on Socialism in the hall of
college where everyday grace is read, which
ptaYs mat God may grant "Ecclesim Regina
tegnoquc nostro pacem ct concordiam."
~ want to take counsel with you,n were Mr..
Morris's first words, chow art NAV best be
made solace to the working classes.
True 1t is that in the last so years there
has been almost a new renaissance, but vet,
under all satisfaction, there lies now in the
minds of many thinking people almost a
justified despair as to the future of the arts"
AIT includes all our external surroundings
even our dealings with the carth-and how,
asked the lecturer, have we dealt with this
art! Why, in the best times intellectual art
aud decorative art were closely connected /;
'the artist was workman still, the work.
man still an artist" But now system
which encourages indvidualism is spelling
many good workmcn, and by condcmning
our best artists to isolation rDbs them of
tradition, and consequently of a sympathetic
audience. In the public to-day there is little
knowledge of art, or love of it, beyond vague
prepossossions which are mere phan,asm
OF the old tradition; and everything now
made by mans hand is absolutely ugly un-
less made beautiful by conscious effort.
Whereas formerly Unborn in every man
was the instinct Of beauty, VIC are now de-
stroylng ''thc golden twilight of st. Marks,
the scnlptured cliffs of the French cathcdrals
and the quaint lovelincss of our own mini
s,crs," aud even an innocent beast Ike pleas
ule in the daily life of man is impossible.
"Civllzation owes us some rccompcnsc for
this loss of romance, which hangs like a
cloud over our meadows" cried Mr.. Morris,
and lie had his audience with him.
we demand some waste or mountain sacred
as memory of mans ruder struggles in an
earlier day the right for peaceful citizens to
wander at their pleasure, 50 that they harm
neither garden nor corn6cd" But not
whit of this rccompcns. shall we find under
the prescn, system of society What has
this system done for us? L. has made Lon
don "a mere mass of squalor, embroidered
with patches of pompous and vulgar hldeous-
ness it has laid whole counties under crust
oil uuutcrablc CRIME. Oxford itself, which
should have been left as precious jewel by
US, the trustees of postcrity," has been treat
ed as stone in the highway. Wherever
tree falls worse is planted in It's place. The
wells OF ant are poisoned at their springs. II
am continued the lecturer, "what people
call Socialist. That 'the devil take the
hndmost theory is the final perfection Of
political economy, tie very evolution which
has produced the theory forbids me to be-
lieve. Competition between man aud man
is bcstial. Association is human." Making
this the text of the remainder of his lectures.
Mr.. Morris traced the growth of that unhap-
plness OF life which is the caukcr of art, and
Analysed the keen interest in work, with
which he hoped 10 change mechanical toll
into variety, hope Of creation the self re-
spect born of the Consciousness Of usefulness
$3.50 'hN SNHsu'ho I'lCdSult Nultn HDtS Win
all deft use Of the faculties.
When was there happiness in this world
asked MIR. Morris. In the Middle Ages.
when there was no mill of the competitive
market; for the trade guilds. though rigid
enough, produced no division of labor within
their pale. Every apprentice became n mas
ter of all his trade. The unit of labor then
was an intelligent man ; commerce was then
felt to be made for man, and not mau for
20 nmerce. Then, however, came the wok k
shop system, in which the unit of manuiac-
turc was group of men, and this in turn
has been succeeded by the idea OF commerce
rs an end in itself by the doctrine that the os-
scntal aim of manufacture is making profit.
This last deadening superstition 1t was that he
had come 10 attack-to attack, too the ottho.
lox economists ideal of n bourgeois world,
made up of big bourgeois and little bourgeois
in which all men were to be equal tefore
Inc ballot-box, save only so far Us man
like everything else, could be bought and in
which peace of mind would come to all I'M
Ter the blessed rule of sauce gpi peut. But
his, he urged, was n fond IDEAL nor were
we even approaching to that. Even those
who take refuge behind averages he tavo own
hat there is chnk in the armOr of their
satisfaction. The bourgeois or Radical
programme has skeleton in its cup
board. 1t is failing fast. Is, then, its fail
ire due to the unthrift of the victims ?
such thrift Is itself degradation to q man
whose very nature Is to desire mirlh and |
And yet il is an orderly fail |
ire. There are no signs of the anarchy. |
What, cried the lecturer, what are the |
okens of war? Orderly regiments, clean |
anuon. How neat are the storehouses of |
murder; the very commands of destruction |
ire given with quiet precision. The prim |
uriace OF society is the mask held before the |
Unworthy death of worthy man" What, |
hen, could wrench away the mask? Asso. |
iation of the prolctaria,c. Against the vic |
inns are arrayed solidarity Of interest;
tubborn bourceoisie, and trade unions |
which have become conservative and OBJ |
,ructiNe bodies worked by mlddle-class pol |
'icians for party purposes. Yet there is
ope in the pro'ctaratc or if, added Mr.. |
Norris, no hope, then despair. Il stand |
cfore you us II member of SOcialistic prop |
gands bent on combating this despair of
estructivc Socialism by the hope of re-
enouncc your class pretensions, 10 show
one of that dread of impracticabil-
Iy which marks the university - for
IT is long, and lite is short, and we must do
omethng before we die. But if we wait for
crfoclion of association, we shall die before
We do anything. There is one great weapon
gainst sellishuess and that is union. Or
anized brotherhood will break the spell of
plutocracy.' Zone man has an
lea concluded Mr.. Morris, "and you say
c is mai. Two men have the idea, and
lcy are fools One thousand have it, and
on hear of new religion. Ten thousand
nd society trcmblos. Onc hundred thousand
nj there is war, A million, aud there is
pacc upon earth
Ii was hard for the Warden Of kcblc to do
lore in proposing vote of thanks than to
xpress belief Ina, of all men in England
Ir. Norris was capable Of constructing an
lrthly paradise but Mr.. Ruskin, whose
ppearance was the signal for immense en-
lusiasm, speaking of the lecturer us 'thc
cat concciver and doer, the man at once II