The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-08-16
SOCIAL PANACEA.
Reformer Matchett Tells
the Fortnight1y How to
CureToday'SEVils
ABOLISH LAND LAWS
Then Mrs. Astor and Mrs. Wander
bilt Will Have to Take to
the Wash Tub.

The Fortnightly Club of ST. Johns Free
Episcopal Church listened last night to
a lecture on Socialism by c. H. Match
EFT. who ran for Governor of New York
on the Socialist ticket, at the last Gubes-
material election. There was nothing out
of the ordinary in Mr.. Matchett'S appear
ance, and he bore no resemblance to
the popular idea of a Socialist. HIS
subject was, Socialism as the Logical
Outcome of the Present System" and so
interested did he become in his theme
that 1t was hard work for him to stop
after he had been talking two hours.
Socialism, to put it in the shortest and
most concise language he could use, the
speaker said, was the formation of a
society where the tools and all the land
should belong to the whole people in
"socialasts," he continued, want to
get by agitation, by educating the peo~
pie in the idea, and by the ballot, a
cooperative commonwealth. Many will
think it impossible to change the present
zsate q Years arfai asoi in be ssae IN ca Inhe IA cor or
tact directly with. the Socialist theories,
] reached the conclusion that the great
an arrangement Of things politically ana
industrially. SO that we can provide fos
ourselves proper food. clothes and shelter
sible. If we produce sufficient for our
needs with as little expenditure of labor
as possible. It will leave time for intel
ToDAY's SLAVERY.
The lesson of the past one hundred
wears year b is 5 ina l fne larg coaop prodiiealo Of mas las
Dor. Bearing that in mind as the great
objective point, the question is how to
Mr.. Matchett then referred to the
ancient days when all the enterprises
of the world were carried on by slaves;
when men of science and learning were
owned as chattels, ond contended that
the system of labor of the present Gay
was slavery In the early days Of thif
country most mel were agriculturaliSts,
and there were few manufacturers me
latter manufactured for profit aud that
competition more men were REQUIRED and
that brought about today's, condition OF
affairs. The weaker were forced TO the
The day was not far distant when the
industries of the country would be con-
trolled by trusts formed on a National
1t would be useless, Mr.. Matchett de.
clared. with. emphasis, to cry out
against the brutes SO long as + we ai nos
the railroads, the Constitution was a
BANEFUL TRUSTS.
'Havemeyer, with his thirty millions
in sugar. owns the United States Senate"
in a few years a monopoly in the hands
of a few men which will control all m
dustries. That to my mind means worse
| The W~orkingman of today has no CON
| troll over the tools with which he makes
Il call that slavery. The complication
between working men for the use of
the earth and tools for production is
| fierce even to bloodshed.
Socialism says take the land and ma
| chinery of production and let them be
used by the people in Common. Lanor
mean mere, working; but actually useful
! necessary labor. The wealth Of this
world I contend is the productlooaa Of
lthe ships that sail the sea and comprise
the commercial wealth of the WORLD:
how many nan s exIst th.t tW tMayt1NHys yea aear asG Is
allowing too much time; So if what I
| say is true, if labor creates all wealth in
fhs hi IS, Wh o. does s'' that wealth belong
to? Does it belong to the Astors; the
Vanderbilts the Rothchilds? No, it be
nothing else. We have, the patent to
protect inventions, but how = many tbinm me r
they W aso elGsH PATEST Laws.
TT" The patent adeato, LAW sy I giyes ONE for ma sev enc
teen years, and compel other men who
| might nave conceived the same idea TO
| pay him we'll for the privilege of using
| the article he invented. Why should
| this be? Why should one man grow
wealthy from an invention which is a
necessity to the whole community? Our
| knowledge today is the result of the un.
| maid efforts of millions of minds; l won't
| even say efforts of minds. for most OF our
| Inventions have been jabbed right into
| our faces. Galvani couldn't help seeing
! the frogs legs twitch. and so It has been
| Patent law and how many millions OF
| dollars would Mr.. Bell have? Mind you,
I dent want to find fault with my en-
! blowers or any other rich men: they are
| the product of existing conditions, as
| everything else is. It is said that If there
were no rewards held out to the inventor
! no one would trouble themselves to IN
| vent. This is not so; our necessities force
MS inward to seek progress. me argu-
| ment Of the communist is that there
| is no such a thing as a lazy man, every
| one has some PARTICULAR thing that ne
| it. and if he was given that to do there
| would be no lazy men. IL there were
| any that should refuse to work, IT snouId
be expressed in him as a physical infrm-
The only way out of this was Socialism.
of course. The speaker then 'ufheu "
SIf we sweep away the land law" Mr..
| Matchett continued, I'VE would see now
much Mr.. Aston or Mr.. Vanderbilt would
/ have to boast of; we'd find their be-
| ieWeled wives and. daughters WouIo nave
THE remainder of the lecture consisted
mainly in going over the same grounds;
,rbe recent strikes were referred to and
declared to be the panic produced by