Morning journal and courier., 1885-02-09
SOME SOCIAL PROBLEMS.
TcoscLUpED FROM SECOND PAaE.1

ther federation of these social groups by 1ree
 contract. These Internationalists abstain from politics, wait for the industrial revolu- tion which they tell mo is sure to come ere long of itself, and there is much violence In their talk.
 The other wing of the Socialists, on the con trary, the Socialists more properly so-ealled, favor political agitation, the organization or labor for political ends, and an immense en- areement of the powers of the State ln the interest of the working class Their tactlcs, as proclaimed by their official organ in New York, are not 8 foolish exchange Of tools TOT weapons but Improvement Of the condltlon of the working class through working par ty, which shall be possessed with the con sciousness of it's class" Inotice these distinc- tions between different kinds and degrees of socialism partly because it is only just that we should make them and that we should not follow the hurtful example of some ot our | leading journals in condemning alike the dan gerous and the harmless elems snts among so- cial Agitators and dreamers And furtnermore I society needs to keep cool even in the pres | ence of dynamite and not to exaggerate the explosive power of evil under free institu | tions.
 The chief danger is not that a few fends let loose from the hell of the sins of civiliza- \ ton shall suddenly blow up tho works of | ages of progress, but the danger is that &C., l final wrongs shall be pent up beneath our l civilization and not ventilated in open dis | cussion and 50 what might have been harm | less if exposed to the free air and the sun | light shall gather slowly destructive energy l and become menace to our social order. Let | society have a hand of steel for criminals and | hold them, if necessary, in it's close grip un- til they shall be still; but let it have an open | and fair hand for all men who ask TOT thelr | proper share 1n the advancement of mankind l They that take the sword against society \ shall perish by the sword, and they who III their wild schemes aid and abet murderers | of existing civilization can be best reasoned
 with by the police; but denuncla- lence are themselves criminal; and in foolish fear of the wild wrath of a few delirious agitatcrs we should not lose for one moment our love of fair play among all men, but should be the more de termined to search out and to order for all I classes that which is economically right, and \ socially honorably and just
 In attempting to discuss social problems | and the claims of labor, let me come to a | distinct understanding with my hearers as to \ what do not propose to do. l assume with | out argument that there is an increasing so- ! cial problem involved in the industrial devel- ! opment of society in this so-called capitalis- ! tic era of the world. A new department of \ literature has grown up almost within our memory, which may be classified as the liter \ ature of social discontent One might fill 8 ! department of library with the volumes | and periodicals of this literature of social ! discontent So much literature of social dis | content we may be sure could not spring up | without cause Envy and evil of all kinds | may enter into it and swell it's volume, but | the existence of the literature, 1 and it's persistence, are sufficient | to show that there are some vital causes for it's appearance. Icannot find that | there is much socislistic thinking among | American workingmen at present, but there is a great deal of socialistic feeling among the \ masses What shall come of it is a question ' in which all classes are concerned. work ! ingman writes me that he was put into \ factory when a child, forced to work ten hours day for twenty cents day among ! other pale little wretches as unfortunate as \ himself amid the foul and sickening odors of I close and crowded shop, hopeless and de- | spairing; and he asks me how such men as ! he are to learn self respect and assert their ! manhood "That manhood" :" he writes, s'is ! worth all the rest; fire that into their hearts \ more and more and more; not dynamite ia | needed, but self-rsspect; but fail in that and I dynamite will voice the delirious demand" \ I assume then that there is social ques- ! ton. There always has been ope. Mankind 1 has made progress through the struggle of | classes. But this industrial problem, whose | increasing and even ominous importance assume, do not propose to discuss in all its l phases, or with any attempt at scientific com | pleteness. He who tries to learn will repeat | edly discover how little he knows in any sci ! ence and particularly in the study of that ! vast complexity of force and laws which 1 make up human life. The phenomena of in ! dustrial civilization are so multiform, the laws of social economies are so occult, the ! forces which balance themselves in any e1
 isting status of human affairs work from ! directions so diverse, and often from dis | tances so historic, that some humility ot ! judgment and severe caution of speech are 1 required for their profitable discussion, as ' welll as an ear and heart open and sympa- l thetic towards the wants of men and the cries of the world for help. And where spe- cial and lifelong studies are hardly sufficient | to enable one to grasp the conditions and ! laws of great vital problem, there surely ! both clergymen and social reformers, advo-
 cates of the rights of the people and leaders ' in workingmen's clubs, and all who in sym
 pathy with any class, or from 8 general en- \ thusiasm for humanity would hasten the ' world on to better era, shall do well to be I sober in their speech, to look all around be-
 fore they act to go somewhat slowly in thei1 legislative reforms, lest they destroy more than they can build up from lack of judg- ment. I shall certainly not attempt,
 therefore. in these discourses to \ propound any new theory of the law of wages, or to work out any fine scheme \ of the economic harmonies; with less pre- sumptuous aim, shall seek, at least, to look \ in the face doubtful evil facts, to apply & few plain principles to existing social eondi
 tions, and if possible, to gain from any source, high or low, some light in which we may see \ more clearly how through our own conduct \ and business to make the sum of human evil less, and to help the good grow.
 Again let it be distinctly understood that \ do not propose to preach to workingmen \ any generalities about human fraternity. TC many men who have not seen much human \ brotherhood down in their part of the world L II IL l.. descanting on the viands of feast to hun gry man. Yet nevertheless there is a truth of human brotherhood which ought te be be- \ lieved in, and there is gospel of love to be | preached up and down throughout the whole | world. Over the door of one of the wealth
 jest churches of New York havs been cut in ! the stone these words: "The poor have the | gospel preached to them" Some one passing by that door wrote beneath those words \ "Only not here" Yet could that man who \ in know not what bitterness of soul, wrote those words of biting wit upon that night I saw; could he have seen in
 one of the worst quarters of \ New York, in a comfortable room, many ! workingmen and their families receiving \ from the pastor of that church and from one \ of it's wealthiest members the bread and the
 wine which we still hold sacred as the em | blems of universal love; could he have seen the genuine and self-respecting equality \ which was permitted to see upon that floor Ian equality which could be relf-respecting \ because it was the recognition of one common and higher ife-then I \ doubt whether that man who wrote his bit I ter satire upon that church door would not in simple honesty have at least written be- | heath it these further words. "But things hu man are often better than they seem. God E may be love!" But of what may be said of I the brotherhood of all men under the father
 hood of God let me speak on every fitting oe-
 casion to my own people; will not now mock with what may seem 8 vain word any
 workingman who may be willing to listen to mo- I leave that to the demsgoguss.
 \ Again I shall not in this discus sion argue directly in defense of the Christian religion, or ask any favor of any man for the Christian church. I recognize the fact that . great many men ! and women in our factories and workshops have lost their interest in God because they
 see nothing in the circumstances of their lives l to make them think that there is . living l God interested in them. f'It is not" said
 one of them, "that we have become atheists;
 we have simply done with God" Many men
 have done with God because in the. hard
 ships of their lot they have felt in bitter
 ness of spirit that God had done with them. l That was an irreverent sarcasm, yet one which may set us thinking, | which I once saw in a German | iIJ,,ofrefad r,or,ar in xubiob ,,.o..--A