The Labor enquirer., 1884-12-20
DENVER, COLORADO: sATURDkY. DgcEMBER %, 1894

stiair is long to continue they szs
doomed It an early date to absolute az
tinctaon. Will they submit to this mis-
CRADLE fate without struggle; will they
seek = method Of escape and, if 60, is
any open for them
We emphatically declare that we pro
vide one; We the much-sbused Socialists,
the men who are branded Is destuyers
pure and simple, who are charged with
wishing to pull down the whole fabric of
society; and offer barbarian as substi-
tute We assure you most solemnly that
we regard Socialism as the legitimate
child of modern industrial development
as representing in compact, truly scien-
tific form the opinions of the greatest
thinkers of this and preceding ages. We
pledge ourselves to prove to all who will
take the trouble to investigate, that il is
the natural evolution Of our progress. and
that it is in complete harmony with all
those latest improvements in our laws
which meet with the most universal ap-
proval. Would you wish, sir. to go back
to the day when the punishment Of
criminals was entrusted to private
hands? Surely notl Yet when this
government took that duty into its own
hands it took distinctly Socialistic step.
Would you wish the taxes of this country
farmed out to the. highest bidder, as
they are to-day in Turkey Surely not
Yet when the government of this coun-
try began itself to collect its taxes it
took an enormous stride toward Social
ism, Do you think that your letters
would be more quickly and safely car
ried by private contractors? !? Yet when
our government took that upon itself, it
assumed the role of Socialists. Social
ism you will begin to see, supposlng you
never to have thought upon the matter
before, means Government, by the peo-
Pile and for the people; not anarchy, as
the capitalistic press falsely tells you. but
the introduction of order into chaos ;
the substitution of cooperative industry
so regulated that the wants of all shall
be the charge of all, for our individual
istic system under which each is COM
PEELED to play for his own hand alone
We say that the question for every
man should be, not "How am to- make
money for myself 2" but What work
of mine will most benefit the COM
munity2n Wesay that we can SO order
it that this last shall be the question,
and further that if we do not of our own
free will SO order it right speedily, we
shall be compelled by fearful suffering
to do SO. We say, inthe words of one
of the most widely read authors Of
modern time In all things cooperation
and, government are life, competition
and anarchy death.p
To your practical, business mind this
has hopelessly Utopian ring; well, let
us be patient with one another and talk
it over for minute. Let US try and
extend our mental horizon and take a
broad view of the industrial world as il
lies stretched before us to-day. The
functions of industry are two-fold, pro.
duction and distribution. The produc,
ton of to-day, how is it accomplished
By industrial armies, literally armies
Generally by capitalist who, as is the
wont of generals, keeps we'll behind the
scenes, but whose every command has
to be implicitly obeyed at whose wore
the host marches into action or is con
denned to months of inactivity. Mr.
Ruskin, whom we but lately quoted
remarks that an army is an instance o
successful Socialism; ESQ far at least al
the rank and file are considered,) al
being animated by one common pur
I ose and cooperating toward one single
end. We tell you that our industrial
armies stand to-day as living proofs tha
already we have Socialism among us
but very one-sided Socialism, for 1t il
in production only. 1t is probable tha
this sided Socialism has not we
reached its climax, the tendency of al
modern Improvement being, as We hay'
previously remarked, toward the con
Quoting ofaffairs on a continually en-
larging scale, dispensing with thu
services of superfuous middlemen ant
organizing the workers into yaster ant
yaster bands. This is the natural out
come of subdivision of labor and its re
suit, under our present competitive
system, is that the rich are becoming
richer and more limited in number, th'
poor, poorer and more numerous. y
palpable has this last fact grown OF late
that there are thousands Of would be re
formers coming forward with scheme
for splitting up the land, establishing I
peasant proprietary, and the like, for
getting that we can no more go back t
the simple methods of production, unde
which for centuries humanity. lived
than men can to their early childhood
We may look back upon that perioe
with regret, considering that life wa
happier then, but we can no more re
turn to the occupations and thought o
those DAYS than we can get rid of thu
principle of gravitation.