Workmen's advocate., 1890-11-29

1 possible tO unite two men. one of whom would put an end to competition as destructive of tEe happiness of man, anu tue other, who would increase 1t as essential to that happiness; and thirdly, what instance he knew where at auy great crisis in the history ut mankind progress lay over the route oJ compro- mlsr. He showed, on the contrary, that the Socialist was the true Suci1lugisl and "SOcioCrat,' because his aim WAS tue development of the individual through the 'unly means possible: the social organism; that all progress was carried hy the uncompromismg the compromi- serS being swept aside like feathers in storm, and he illustrated thls with nu. mcrOus historic instances. Finally, ho Sald 1t was not the fullness of the social list programme that had not yet brought victory 10 its side, nor any wall of con vlCtiOn that stood in its way. It's clear, cut programme would be understood and accepted all the sooner for its com. pleteness; and as to the wall of opposi- tion, it was not one held together by the light of the recent elections.
 lilthc uueSlOHS htt'll tO nave gwen great trouble to the lecturer. In closing the debate he lost his temper to the eX. tent of taking up most of his time with d personal attack and combating views he claimed had been expressed but which in fact had not been remotely hinted at. Every one, he declared with superabundant emphasis, had a right to study; tho poorest workiugman had that right, and no one had the right to demand to be believed because lie said so. With this sentiment the audience was in hearty and unanimous accord, and 1t evidently expected to see the lec turer practise what he preached, and answer the questions put to him with proper proofs, illustrations and evidence. But what their surprise was may be sooner imagined than described, when, referring to the first question putto him, he declared he had noauthority and repu- diated all; he saw certain facts and he knew them. In other words, he was his own authority, and as 1t always hap pens with unipersonal authorities, they keep the evidence to themselves. The lecturer then crowded into the few remaining minutes he had such choice nuggets of political philosophy as that the French revclution-t most success ful of revolutions, that which estab lished the bourgeoisie-had failed; that Garibaldi fought like a lion for the re. public, but that the monarchy having come, the Italian revolution-whose chief aim, by the way, was the political unitication of ltaly-failed; that, not political action but agitation was wanted as though political action were not the most effective means of agitation; that the Socialists in Germany as de- clared by Liebknecht (sic) had followed the line of compromise
 MRs FLORENCE KELLEY WIsCHNE- wETZKY; Never"
 CHARLES SOTHERAN; Name one in stance"
 EDWARD KING: "They have done so in New York" NauGhter),
 The lecturer finally, as an intended clincher, alleged that the Socialists had wasted their time at the last election in getting paltry 4,00O votes.
 Several voices in the audience called out at this point: zig ,OO0, if you please" And the meeting adjourned.
 Injustice would be done to the spirit and the merits of the lecture, if it were left unmentioned that before the close of the meeting MT. SllbernlCk declared himself converted to "SoCiOCraCy" as defined by the lecturer,
 On next Sunday Daniel DeLeon will deliver d lecture at the club, entitled. "The Rev. II. 0. PeEteCost's Platform"