The Labor enquirer., 1886-05-29
The Practicability of Socialism
Seems to be the Only
Mooted Point.
Do They Ever Submit Anything to
the Will of God While There
is a Shot Left in the BOx2
To-Day God is Made Landlord, and
His Agents Sell PeWs to the
Highest Bidder.
For the Enquirer.

NEW YORK, May %.
In many ways the situation takes pc
culiar aspects here. To be sure it is a
great center of misery, and of course of
its concomitants vice, luxury and crime.
Thought runs in lines and channels,
high and low. The great mass seems to
regard the spectacle as necessary, if not
edifying, and thousands take the what
can you do about it, view and 80 dis
miss it. They perhaps 20 far enough to
say that it is "human nature" and that
it has always been so and so it must al
ways be, dismsslng the whole thing at
that unless some crank is able to make a
daily fight of it with them. Whirled
along in the great competitions of self
ishness, maybe rewarded with bare
living. 1t is not strange that it is so.
Still. among the liberal wealthy who
are not upstairs and "parvenu" and who
are not averse to new idea, unaccepted
by their leaders and superiors, for no.
body else can be 80 conservative as the
recent struggler who spurns the vile
dust from whence he sprung, l have
found, am bonnd to say, much and sin
cere interest in the question of social re-
organization, and real and generous
consent, frequently, to the cardinal prin-
clples of our faith.
In fact, the practicabilitY Of it all
seems to be the only mooted point. |
find many who want the publications
that we recommend, and who will read
and discuss them fairly. In fact, almost
within strict church circles I find those
who admit that the teachings of Christ
are to-day become mere sentimental
tradition, ignored IN the practical world,
except in the form of Charities" "
preaching "mYsterieg" hat are not to be
elucidated, are confessedly meant to
confuse and further mystify, and hope.
less view life, with perfect submission
to things as they are.
am not without hope that even
an ong these, the people whom we term
the "bourgeoise" and have regarded as a
class hopelessly alien to all interests but
those of class and self, there will arise a
powerful division of belief, and that
many will cast their lot with US. Let US
not forget the noble conversions we al
ready see. If there were but Morris
as sole instance the exception is estab-
lished, and I foresee the day when all
poets and painters, all teachers that do
not bow to the yoke and the lash, all
who aim to think and teach truly, will
form phalanx of invincibIe power for
the Rights of Humanity.
At present perhaps the worse stu NIB
| ling block in the way of Truth is the
Teacher, the noblest function in public
use perverted by its dependence upon
power. The pulpit and the press, the
professors chair, each and all seem more
or less muzzled or subsidized, with few
noble exceptions.
AS to the church, here and every
where, a few things, mostly the provis-
ional savings expedient, merely relat'
Ing to the time and conditions tnen ex'
isting, are taken from the teachings oi
Christ and exalted into eternal excuses
for the very things he wished to dc
away with.
Because He said, the poor We have al
wavs with vou," we are to expect them
to grow poorer and more numerous
Would there not be in the highist reali'
zation of the "Utopian dream" of Social
ism, the sick, the lame, the helpless from
a thousand causes, who would be the
necessary care of the Commonwealth
Are these not in any just construction
the "poor" who must be always with
you while humanity has weaknesses o
body and mind? Is it an objection tina
the care of these would become GER
tainty, organized in the ve:v bases o
things, instead of as now. dependen
upon whim, good nature and chance
Because he blessed the poor and the
meek, are we always to remain SOP Il
there not indeed a mt at all ambiguous
prophecy that t eY shall inherit TIL
EARTH2" Come now. you are literalists
is there not a warrant in these words
fatal to your theories? 1t seems go tC
me.
Lam sorry TO say that perfect con
currence in this doctrine of the newt
able, ineradicable necessity for condi
ton of misery and want, seems to be th'
one thing upon which all the "ortEo
doxies" unite ia happy conviction. l
not a happy conviction it is doctrine q
least that seems almost tai, and one OF
which they all meet as common ground d
Is it possible that it is because there car
be no pow erful people except at the ex
pense of class IN poverty? That the
degradation of it, the disgrace of IN
Thrift, even the canker sore of debt
most cruel misery of all and foul as'the
vice of pauperism, the spot that "char
ity" yainly anoints, all are deemed nee
essary to the glory of God"
Oh, tn inconsistency of it all, and thi
virtue of submission! How Is 1t recon