The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-10

| guished members of that great society
| of scholarship Society Of Jesus
/ whose brightest minds have impaled
/ the fallacies Of socialistic notions ON an
/ memorable and pitiless logic.
This theory of state omnipotence.'
says Father Thebaud, lin order 10 be
! logically consistent and benencial TO
1 all. assumes that human governments
are always immaculate, infaiiibly pru-
| dent, and absolutely just institutions
working disinterestedly for the common
/ good, entirely incorruptible in fact. and
/ thus must really aim OF replacing God
/ government In the world. To indulge i'll
| these theories is, however. little less
/ than insanity, or cruel mockery, when
one reflects ON the stupendous discios-
urcs of crime, and impious plans and
conspiraeies, which have so lately aston
/ ished mankind though il can readily be
| believed that the worst ana the most
odious of them have not come To light.
/ 1t would require more than the SIM
plicity of a child. not TO see Mt once,
| that the new state of things, with all
| the ina gina BILE social science possible,
| would run into the most insuppoftable
/ tyranny, on the part of the state. excit-
| ing universal indignation and ending in
| the most terrible insurreetion on the
| part of the trodden-down people, 1t Is
| not necessary to dwell further upon
1 these points. What we have said suf-
/ fees to prove the scheme impractical
| BILE"
Our holy father, Leo MIL, speaking
| of this doctrine of governmental om-
impotence, says: Nor must We at this
| stage have recourse to the state. Man
is older than the state. and he holds the
right of providing for the life of his
| body prior to the formation of any
state"
Because, forsooth. the government
does some things well, therefore, ac-
cording to the strange logic of the so
| cialist it can do all things we'll
Those who have studied the science
of political economy know that there
| is a wide divergence of opinion as To
t the meaning of the term value. But
] while there is disagreement as 10 the
| correct definition of the term, there is
| among those who have studied the
science, with any degree of thorough
ness, am agreement that the socialists
/ are wrong when they assert that labor
is the cause of value. Labor is undoubt-
| eddy very important factor in the
production of value. but the factor of
| supply and demand Is of infinitely
| greater Importance. What is it that
has made wheat go up to a dollar a
| bushel? Is it because more labor has
been expended to produce a bushel of
| wheat this year than was expended last
| year? Certainly not. In fact the con-
trary is the case. 1t cost the farmer
less labor to produce a certain amount
| of wheat this year than ii did last year.
If the socialistic principle were true.
wheat would sell for less this year than
it did last year. Wheat is worth dol
| lar bushel simply because, in a GER
tain portion of the globe. the supply Of
wheat has been diminished, While the
demand has remained the same.
Let us imagine that tonight the la
dies of the United States should dis
pense with the use of hats What value
would ladies' hats have tomorrow?
Suppose that men yesterday determined
they would no longer use tobacco. What
price would tobacco bring in the mar
ketS of the world to-day? 1t is evident.
therefore, that labor is not a determin-
ing cause of value. but that desire to
have and to use is the determining
value. Supply and demand are the
great principles which regulate value.
The cause of value is a desire for. or
need of thing. That which men need
not and desire not has no value i'll
human society. Desire for a thing in
duces labor to produce it, Labor is the
cause of the thing being produced, but
not the cause of its value. 1t is the re-
verse, 1t is the value that prompts la
Dor to exertion. The farmer produces
the wheat, not the value of it. because
he knows it is desired and needed by
| somebody, and that the market price
value--is the measure of desire or need.
Price is the legitimate child of desire.
Socialism and Religion.
Now no presentation of socialism
would be adequate without touching on
another point which, although not
contained in its principles, is neyerthe-
less kept prominently in the foreground
by all of its adovates.
In its tendencies, socialism of the
present day is out and out irreligious,
athestic and hostile TO Christianity.
1t says the church is only police in
stitution for unfolding capital. and that
the church deceives common people
with check, payable in heaven" and
that it deserves to perish.
Indeed there are not wanting those.
among the yotaries of socialism, who
vainly imagine that their theory is des-
tined to overthrow the entire fabric Of
Christianity.
The church" says one of the most
brilliant and able of the expounders Of
socialism, lis ON the defense; she will
shift her ground pefpetually, according
to the fierceness of the attack, and yield
position after position, as she has al
ready yielded them"
For eighteen hundred years. Chris
tianity has Withstood attacks, beside
which the assaults of socialism are
pygmean and pnny. Hence this vain
glorious Boosting is amusing to the
| Christian.
Against socialism, as a destructive in
novation. the church will ever take its
stand. for once Christianity relaxes its
| Vie lAouiE oN1i tIf principles III
justice. its ruin would be inevitable.
The church stands for the conservation
of justice and right and for the promul-
cation of morals and correct life. and,
therefore. against a system which
would destroy all these, it must pro-
test. Consequently. side by side. with
the great statesmen of the world, the
ministers Of the church have stood, still
stand, and shall forever stand, a living
protest against injustice, confiscation
and oppression. These men furnish us
. with impregnable arguments against
the sephistries and fallacies of social
ism
. The socialist speaks of the condition
of the wage Garner, in this and in al
. civilized countries. In his mind the
. wage Garner is mere slave. That is