The Labor enquirer., 1885-04-25
lH H.nRn,Mpo6SsiI5zz1xe q ,po6SsiI5zz1 SWING.

Aman NAV know so much that he is
considered authority in matters OF which
he knows nothing. Prof. David Swing,
Of Chicago, has been referred to in these
columns as being anxious to utilize our
unemployed labor to aid England in
her attempts to own the earth. In his
regular sermon of April u, he shows
either that he is entirely ignorant OF the
efforts made by Socialists for reform, OF:
else that he is as wilfully unjust to So
cialists as he is heartless in the matter
of sending trans to bat lie.
A man with $4,000 per year has no
right to be ignorant of any doctrine
which he may criticiss, therefore the
following assertion must have been
made with desire to deceive. Here
are samples of the stuff that sustains
high salary: -..;. e.. "A
/. Whether, if man becomes
millionaire, he should remain so, or
should begin to distribute his gold for
the welfare of society, is not the aues-
ton raised by the comm unist and alleged
reformer. This eloquence of complaint
and abuse is directed against all who
live in good homes and are able to buy
something besides foed and clothes.
Their complaints betrsty the value of
what they are attempting to overthrow;
they complain at the rich because they
desire themselves to be the possessors OF
property--thus leading us to suppose
that the, sin of money getting and hav-
ing lies in the feeling that it is held by
the wrong persons; it is hell by you,
whereas it should be hsld by me. 1snot
this the logic in the minds of great
multitude2 rs.,
All this is entirely foreign to the So
'cialist doctrine. Prof. Swin;r knows it
or ought to, therefore il borders closely
on falsehood. .r :. {.....
2. There must be some go5d in those
persons called the rich; and in these
times when many thousands or even
millions are busy denouncipg all who
possess much property, the possible
merits of the rich ought to b. set forth.
There may be good in them, but it has
no connection with their methods of &C
emulation, which is all we Condemn in
them. rgrrrr-~rrr---r+-.-
=. 8. Il society is not Yoing sadly wrong
it can be made to seem so to men who
are always contemplating the had that
exists.
Ofcourse it is wrong to contemplate
badness. Professors and rich laymen in
fine clothes do not, WIZ should the Ia
borer in poverty?
T. Without the possibility of adding
to ones property, the motive of labor
would never appear in mankind, or hay-
ing appeared it would room perish.
The question now arises For what
Object do lsborers worE who never ex-
pect to own property, nuch less add to
it? When tramp comes to your yard
and offers to carry your ton of coal in
for Is cents or dinner, you will know
that he is trying to add to his property
by building brick block, perhaps.
8. Nor can this impulse of industry
be found in the mer, hope of gaining
sufficient food, clothing and shelter, be-
cause man is not an animal and can
never be satisfied with only what he can
eat and wear.
1t ought not, but the professor knows
very we'll that millions work with no
higher hope, yet don't seem to need any
other impulse" to make them work
twice as long as they olght and surren-
der fve-sixths of the result to idlers.
6. Thus far in history each group Of
poor struggling men ard women has con-
tanned some statesman, or poet, or
painter, or philosopher, or divine teacher,
or saint hidden for time in some hut
or cabin. clothed in coarse fabrics and
feeding upon cheap, black bread.
Is it possible that Prof Swing asks us
to believe that the coarse fabrics and the
cheap, black bread fosters and develops
the poet, teacher or saint? Yes, he does,
for he adds:
Could there be found some philosophy
of money and labor that would take
away from the youth Of to-day the pains
of struggle and peril it would not be
many generations before that philosophy
would be discovered to have been not
benefaetof. but an enemy of mankiud.
When corn flourishes amid weeds,
when flowers bloom in the cellar, then
we may believe genius can test develop
from rags and constant toll. Professor
Swings church members like to believe
him in this matter, and they also like to
establish and maintain the proper de-
gree Of squalor calcul!ted 10 yield the
greatest number Of statesmen, poets,
painters and philosophers, If we were
all more observing we could not help
but notice the multitudes of divine
teach Eers and saints constantly arising out
of the thtth filth of our cities, where toilers
live. - .,.r-........,,.,,...-
r II NAV be stated, too, at all times
and plainly, that there will never come
a Golden age in which large possessions
will beq acquired easily by all, or in
which suficiency will be easily reached
nv all. because the moment man reaches
a SUPPORT easily tn, age ceases to be
ooldenamoajao 3tEm5iig9i r. ~'s IT
Notseasily by ali" but essily by few
as st present: Prof Swing despises in
bissheaft any who mssY believe such an
assertion. A golden sge, then. is when
even & suficieney is hard te acquire, the
harder the task the more golden the
aoe, Why was, not The age of slavery
cansidered the mile aniums2 Strikers
and kickers generally are constantly Try
ing to thrust aside th, beautiful golden