The Labor enquirer., 1886-10-30
SATURDAY OCTOBER

said to me that Socialism means equa
opportunities-and that was the touch.
From that time / became Socialist;
learned more and more what it was.
knew that had found the right thing
that had found the medicine that wal
calculated to cure the ills of society
Having found it, ! believed it, and had
right to advocate it, and ! did.
The constitution of the Unit ed States
when it SAYS: aThe right of free speech
shall not be abridged" gives every man
the right to speak. l have advocated
the principles of Socialism and social
equality. and for that and TO other rea-
son am I here, and is sentence of death
to be pronounced upon mel WHAT'S So
cialism? Taxing someb ,dY else's prop
erty2 That Is what Socialism is in the
common acceptance Of the term. No ;
but if | was to answer it as shortly and
curtlY as it is answered by It's enemies,
would say that it is preventing some-
body else from taking your property.
But Socialism is equality. Socialism
recognizes the fact that no man in 80
ciety is responsible for what he is that
all the Ills that are in society are the
production of poverty; and scientific
Socialism says that you must 60 to the
root of the evil. There is no criminal
statistician in the world but will &C
knowledge that all the crime, when
traced to its origin, is the product OF
poverty.
1t has been said that it was infam-
matory for me to say that the present
social system degraded men until they
became mere ANIMALS. Go through this
city into the low lodging houses where
men are huddled together into the
smallest possible space, living in an in
fernal atmosphere of death and disease,
and l will ask you to draw your silks
and your broadcloths close to you when
these men pass you. Do you think that
these men deliberately, with full
knowledge of what theV are doing,
choose to become that class of animals
Not one of them. Thev are the product
of conditions, of certain environments
in which they were born, and which
have impelled them resistlesslY into
what they are.
And we have this loadstone. You
who wish it could be taken from the
shoulders of society, what is it? When
those men were children, put them into
an environment where they have the
best results of civilization around them,
and they will never Wilfully choose
condition like that. Some Cynic might
say tnat this would be very nice thing
for these men. Society, with its rapid
ity of production of the means of exist
ence, is capable of doing that without
doing an Injury to single individual
and the great masses Of wealth owned
by individuals IN this and the old world
have been produced in exactly the same
proportion as these men have degraded
and they never could have accumu-
lated in any other way.
l do not charge that every capitalist
wilfully and maliciouslY conspires to
bring about these results, but | do charge
that it has been done, and l do charge
that it is very undesirable condition
of things, and | claim that Socialism
would cure the world of that ulcer.
Til .se are my ideas in short on Social
ism. The ultra patriotic sentiment OF
the American people-and | suppose the
same comparative sentiment is felt in
England and France and Germany-ls
that DO man in this country need be
poor. The c,ass who are not poor think
80. The class who are poor are begin
ming to think differently; that under
existing conditions it is impossible that
some people should not be poor.