Workmen's advocate., 1890-12-20
SOCIALISM IN NEW HAVEN.
"What is socialism" Explained from the
 Platform and the Pulpit.

eftu last ounudy afternoon an address on "What is Socialism" before the int Sections of the S. l.. r. of New Haven. The lecturer said Socialism was the scientific solution of a problem that the heart had been propounding to the brains as far back as the time when SO ciety had first come into existence, but which the intellect had never until now been able to solve, The problem Is, How can justice be effected. and men made happy on earth? From the time when men gathered into society, two sharply marked classes had appeared One class that of the few, with wealth and leisure to enable it to develop intel lectually; the other that of the many, bearing the burden of production. re- ceivng only minimum of remunera- ton, consequently, without leisure to rise to the intellectual plane towards which man na .urally tends. Such contrast C0nld not but arouse Opposi- tiOn, That opposition was of two sorts. One starting from among the serf, aim ing at the freedom of the insurreCtion- ists exclusively; and being selfish, could not establish either a lasting or q just social system. The other started from among the few: its basis was justice wealth, comfort, well being, leisure for all This desire manifested itself in the works of Plato, Harrington, Sir ThOs. More, St. Simon, Fourier, etc, and had no more effect, perhaps less, than the less generous struggles of the serfs. Nor could it be otherwise. There were physical obstacles in the way; besides, as to the latter ideologists, sufficient facts and experience had not yet been accumulated to point to the law of social evoluton The physical impOssi- blity consisted in that neither was there wealth enough produced to afford uni versal comfort and leisure, nor was suf fcient wealth producible. So long as this state of things lasted, inequality of burdens and enjuyments seems to have been an inevitable stage through which mankind was to travel. That state of things began however to change with the introduction of machinery at the close of last century, and from genera ton to generation has continued chang ing until to-day, thanks to steam and wonderful machinery, the wealth pro duclble by labor was prodigious and ample to insure to all the blessings which formerly could be enjoyed by but the few-a circumstance owing to which Belamy's wonderful book Looking Backward" was no longer Utopia, nor Socialism an aspiration, but a scientific theory.
 The wonderful change in the produc, tivty of labor notwithstanding, the wealth actually produced to day was far from being sufficient to give mankind the needed leisure. What was there that enumerated human progress? The lecturer then gave an account from the reports of the bureaux of statistics of labor showing the slightness of wages, the long hours of work, the nor tallty among the wage-wOrkers and their families on the one hand, and on the other the long list of crimes com mitted by the capitalists in order to pre- serve what they had; he showed how this state of things utterly destroyed the individuality among the people, fact which the general cry for "secret" ballot confirmed in striking manner; he pointed to the sociologic law of CO operation and the destructive effect of competition upon the production of wealth through it's planlessness and the necessity to limit the output Tn order to keep up and increase prices; he enumer- ated the basic principles of scientific po- ltlcal economy that had been drawn from the gathered facts with regard to the sources of wealth and profits that labor alone produced wealth, that hence values depended upon labor, and, as a further consequence, that profits were the wages capital withheld from labor; and he concluded with showing that the abolition of the competitive system and the establishment of co operation upon national basis would have for their inevitable result the production of ample wealth and it's just distribution among the people. That was the programme, the aim and the reason of Socialism or Nationalsm; and that was what the terms implied.
 Upon invitation from Dr. Squirs, the Pastor of the Universaist Church on Orange street, Mir. DeLeon delivered the same address in the evening at Dr. >quirs' church, with only such addi- tions as the locality seemed 10 justify, mentioning for instance the fact that most ministers in the country did not hold the noble views of Dr. Squirs; that they upheld the creed of letting man struggle tooth and nails for his bread, and of developing his individuality sith the assistance of temptations thrown in his way, notwithstanding they all re. peated the words of Jesus asking God to .n... L - l.