Workmen's advocate., 1890-04-26
CURRENT EVENTS.
AS VIEWED FROM A SOCIALIST
 OBSERVATORY.
The New York American Section and its Gret PaanOrama-Understand the World You Live in - Blind Samson Begins to See.


 the World You Live in - Blind
 Samson Begins to See.
 The series of monthly meetings that the New York American Section has resolved to hold was inaugurated last Monday at Cooper Union, Room 24. As previously stated in these columns, the object is to review the events of the month in systematic manner, so that the people-the working people espe- cially-may have better understanding of the conditions which surround them and of the social forces by which their every motion is affected There were about one hundred persons present, and few of these belonged to the s. L. P, whose active members are at this time unusually busy on various committees and preparing the great eight-hour dem- onstration. Comrade Hugo Vogt occu- pied the chair and after few we'll timed remarks gave the floor to Comrade Sanial who presented the following
 REVIEW OF EVENTS.
 For the purpose of a comprehensive review current events might be divided into five great classes: physical, moral, intellectual, economic and political These in turn might each be subdivided into several sets, according to their de- gree of similarity. We should then examine the relations of each set to the | other sets of the same class; and finally | by considering the relations of each class to the other classes, we might expect to arrive at an intelligent comprehension of the social world, which would enable us to formulate theory of the social movement-a theory more or less scen- titic, according to the accuracy of our observations.
 Such is the plan and such is the object of these monthly reviews. It occurred to some of us that with the wonderful facilities at their command of knowing the world they lived in, the best in formed people knew it but little, whereas the great mass knew it not at all; sim ply because, for the lack of proper classi fication, the panorama of events, which through the mechanical agency of tht press, is rushed along before their eye at the rate of twenty seven thousand miles per day, is to them confused picture, uniform in color, and tiresom' to look at unless occasionally relieved by some extraordinary occurrence. is no more possible for them to dis tinguish the relations of social phenO mena, through which alone an idea ma, be formed of the social machine, than would be possible for novice to under stand the mechanism of locomotiv engine running at full speed. Thing that are closely connected appear inde pendent, and the greater are most fire quently obscured by the smaller. An so it happens that in the matter 0 knowledge additional means of informa tion may prove cause of ignoranc among the many, just as in the matte of production additional means of suE ply prove the cause of Restitution. l It is we'll to have light and good organ 5 of sight. But we must understand wha } we see. For thousands of years the su gave mankind abundant light and a l saw it; but not until lately did they LII 3 derstand what they saw.
 l Could we, in the light of the currer events, understand their correlation an t the absolute interdependence of men : all things, we would not for momer either tolerate the practice of despotisl + or entertain the theory of anarchisn h Until we do, however, public opinio @ will be the slow-going turtle it is. an |, showers of hard facts will be dail l poured npon its harder shell withol | accelerating its motion.
 s Therefore it is that we socialists i
 vite you, fellow wage-workers, fello
 men and women in wage-slavery,
 these monthly meetings, the like d which, believe, were never held in al ,, country. We invite you, not to di f l # h,,f ta -t,, ,lx-