Morning journal and courier., 1885-04-14
SOCTALISM DTsCUSsEp.
interesting Meeting of the Congrega- tionaI Club Last Evening-Tea Fol- w Djacuagion.

lowed by Discussion.
 The Congregational club spent a very pleasant time at the College street church l last evening. Tea was served at 6:30 in the ! lecture room, after which the gathering of | ladies and gentlemen adjourned to the church where business was transacted and 1 music engaged. Then a discussion on socialism was heard in the lecture room. Dr. LymanAbbott, editor of the Christian Union, opened the discussion. He spoke in sub- stance as follows: The problems of to-day are not theological problems, but are those l which relate to the inter-relations of men. We have in the country men of every class 1 in society, and we have to learn how to live with one another. A great many questions | are included in the general question, what | do social classes owe to each other? one of which is, what do employers owe to the em- l ployes? We must deal with the question in | it's concrete form. The time is past for say ing that anyone in the United States can get 1 employment if it is wanted, for employment 1 is given and withheld according to the mex orable law of supply and demand. With the introduction of machinery 8 great 1 change took place in the whole industrial organization of the country, and personal, 1 independent industry can hardly now Ee said | to exist. Men have crowded into the cities l in such numbers that the conditions of l healthy moral life are almost wholly lacking. The solution of the social problem is not quick and easy one; nothing can solve 1t but the development of Christian society The duty of the nation is one thing and the du- ties of individuals are other things. We owe work to the great wage-workihg popula- ton: we do not owe them charity; we owe them justice, and a great part of that debt is opportunity to work. The product of past industry is cap ital, which is in the hands of capitalists who take it in trust for God and their fellow men. Capitalists are bound not to add to the store of capital, but to the industry of tke world. Any man who uses wealth for himself and not for God and humanity embezzles it. Not that capitalists should be done away with. They are for the most part Christian men, who administer wealth Christian princi- pies. Their duty is to so use their capital as to give employment to laborers
 The working class also should have 8 fair share of the profits. The time will come when the profits will be shared, though not i until the laboring classes are thrifty enough 1 to share the losses. Now they do not get any share of the profits, but labor for wages
 which are determined by the law of subsist ence. This is not right and Christian men must find some way to right it. The wealth of the country is growing, but how is it dis | tributed! We making no progress in the | line of general distribution. When work stops poverty comes. Though the working
 men are often at fault they are not to be blamed. Laborers must resume some meas | ure of control over the industrial organiza- tion in order to raise themselves. Formerly each laborer was his own master, but now | they work under bosses. In the great future we shall come to the condition where the | few shall serve the many and the many de- termine their own interests. We have de-
 mocracy in religion and democracy ill poli- tics and must find the way for democracy in economies. The social structure of society will not be firmly established on Christian basis until the laboring classes have these three things, l. e., an opportunity to work, fair share of the profits, and some voice in the control and administration of industry. In the future they shall and ought to have government with larger functions and l larger jurisdiction than that of the past. We must look for cooperative industry. 1n- stead of employers and employees there will be partners A new science of political economy is needed for the new world. The religious work must be broadened and deep
 ened and the laboring classes be brought un- l der the inspiring influences of Christianity. Dr. Smyth spoke for few minutes and Dr. Fisher made few remarks. A vote of thanks was unanimously extended to Dr.
 Abbott. The meeting adjourned for one month