Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-07
SOCIALISTS A POWER
In the Metropolis, Where Their Num-
bers are Constantly on
the Increase.
MANY CONVERTED BY BELLAMY.
Any Quantity Of Persons of Education and
Standing Found in the Ranks
Of the Believers.
SOME OF THE PROMINENT LEADERS,
And the Haunts in Which the Faithful Do Most Freely
MANY CONVERTED BY BELLAMY.
SOME OF TIE PROMINENT LEADERS,
And the Haunts in Which the Faithful Do Most Freely
Congregate

formidable power. he incurred tne ols-
pleasure of the politicians of all parties ten
years ago, when he refused to take sides and
formed little political organization of his
own. He has been repeatedly dubbed by
the police, arrested and sent to Jail, de-
nounced by the authorities and driven from
post to pillar by labor unions, and yet he is
stronger, more active and influential to-day
than ever before.
1t is hardly necessary to state that he has
IN army of enthusiasts and sympathizers
behind. The success of Bellamy's book,
Looking Backward" shows at least hall
a million people are interested in social re-
form and have a subdued fondness for the
first ideas lald down by Lassalle and Godin.
Beyond this there is a voluminous literature
in English, French, and especially German,
which is socialistic in character and teach
ing, and which has an overwhelming circu-
lation among the reading classes.
PRACTICAL SYMPATHY.
An illustration of this sympathy is found
in the large amount of money nomiDally
subscribed, but really contributed, to every
socialistic enterprise started in the metropo-
lis in the past eight years. The commercial
settlement at Topolobampo Bay, Mexico,
liable failure, involved the sinking of not
less than 81, 900 borrowed capital. Much.
if not most of this amount, has come
from well-to-do people, who would regard it
as an insult to be called Socialist, or even
to be accused OF socialistic leanings.
To see the New York Socialist at his best,
you should visit him at his club on Fourth
street, near Lafayette place. The neighbor-
hood is crowded one and lies just west of
the densely populated Eastside. The house
is an old-fashioDed building, which was
erected when people liked spacious rooms
and high ceilings, and long before the mod
ern fiat came into vogue. An extension on
the rear OF the lot increases its capacity and
enables 1t TO accommodate small army of
tenants.
The interior of the house is exouisitelv
clean and neat, and the furniture and decor
ations are cheap, solid and serviceable. On
the main floor is a meeting room, which will
seat about 300 people. The rest of the es-
tablishment remains as it was when used for
dwelling purposes. Every room is rented
out One is used by tailoE's union, another
by wood carvers' club and third by
council of bakers trade organization.
More than four organizations have Offices in
the place and as each has from so to 800
members the representative character of the
tenants is easily seen.
DAY AND NIGHT.
In the daytime the club is quiet, but the
house is busy as bee hive. The manage
ment of strikes, sboycotts and lockouts, the
collection of fees and assessments, the pay
ing out of benefit funds, the securing of em-
ployment for the unemployed. the compro-
1i5 of personal and commercial quarrels |
andN fhculties. the reception of visitors and |
friends from out of town and foreign unions,
49, e
small portion of the business done between |
s and o'clock each day.
AT night things are reversed. The Offices
are deserted by their tenants, except where
overwork compels the burning of the noe
turnal oil and business dwindles to nothing,
while the club springs into activity and
life. The members drop in, sometimes
alone, but more often with their sweet
hearts, wives, sisters and children, and
spend the evening in the mild manner for
which the German is famous the world
over.
Beside the club there are scores of beer
gardens. where the Socialists center every
evening, and where they do an immense
amount of work in converting men and
women to their school of faith. The most
famous is Justus Schwab's, in First street.
1t is narrow basement in tall tenement
house. 1t is filled up in the ordinary Teu-
tonic style with wilderness of chairs and
tables. All sorts of beverages are dispensed
from small bar, and on the table are a
dozen newspapers and periodicals. A feat
ure Of the place is large bulletin board on
the wall in front of the bar. On il are writ
ten in chalk the latest Socialistic poems.
On this board appeared Swinburne's famous
lines as soon as they were printed. The
favorite bard, however, is William Morris,
who of late seems to have become unusuaIly
prolific of political doggerel.
A PICTURESQUE CHARACTER.
Schwab himself is a very picturesoue
character. He is tall, athletic and hand |
some blonde, who looks like one of the old |
Morse Vikings. To large culture he adds |
Keen wit and humor as well as a strong |
personal magnetism. He is remarkably |
domestic In his habits and wherever found |
Is well-nigh certain to be accompanied by |
his wife and some of his children. The for |
mer, by the way, is very pretty and clever |
woman, who has contributed largely to his !
success. Schwab has paid the penalty of |
his opinions, having been clubbed by the |
police, arrested time and again, and on |
several occasions assaulted by hoodlums of |
the Eastslde. His pluck was SO great that |
he always came out with hying colors and |
gained sympathy that has paid him very |
handsomely.
D. Before what his friends call his martvr |
dom he had small business and an equally |
small bank account To-day his business is |
very large and his invested wealth cannot
be less than $40 OOO. Much of this has come |
from the pockets of sight-seers from every
part of the world, who would never have
heard of him but for the war waged by the
police and politicians. The sight-seers at
one time were quite nuisance, averaging
70 day and behaving as if Schwab were a
wild man of the woods instead Of genial
man who rides hobby.
More curious, although less famous than
Schwab's, is the Castle" a gloomy and
1orbldding place on Fifth street, near the
East river. 1t is the headquarters ofseveral
musical organizatIons-and it is filled by
DAY and crowded by night. Its construc-
t ton is worthy of a Nlhilist lodge in Russia.
The rear wall ofthe saloon is a solid mass of
heavy timber and steel braces, through
which strong door, so small that only one
man can squeeze through it at a time, ad-
mlts into dark corridor. From this a
second door like the first allows lngress into
the meeting room.
FALSE APPEARANCES.
The entire place is redolent of suspicion
fear and hostility. AS matter of fact. the
proprietor, employees and patrons are inst
the reverse They are natty, clean-shayen
and amlaDle people, who laugh and sing
more than 80 Americans out of a 100
They are Socialists by Inheritance and from
education abroad. They have built their
castle" just as they would have built II in
hose lands where all reform is treason and
sll attempts to better ones condition are
selonies.
As to leaders, the Socialists can give
points to all the political parties of Chris
endom-all are leaders, and followers there
re none. They have an intense individ-
lality which does not brook the manage
nent Of machine" Despite this skir-
nish line or mob condition, a number of