The representative., 1901-11-14


those demoralizing businesses hold out to
them. Will the temperance people ever
learn that the surest way to cure an eruption
on the surface of the skin is by an injection
of medicine into the system to purify the
blood? The liquor traffic will exist while
the incentive remains. And Socialism is
the only antidote we know of for the deadly
poison of commercialism in the blood.
Society makes criminals, and then de-
mands their punishment Environment
makes most men and women what they are.
If society could purge the land of crime
and of criminals, society must go to the roo.
of the evil, and purge itself of that system
of industry of which crime is a natural
product.
! What incentive does society offer to any
man to be honest and industrious? The
penitentiary convict is better housed, more
comfortably clothed, has better food on his
table, enjoys more sanitary habitation, and
is better cared for when sick, than is the av-
erage honest workingman who labors with
his hands, The men in every community
who are most respected, and who enjoy the
best things in life, are those who live by
their wits, and who never perform any use
full labor of any kind. Is it any wonder
that the day laborer sometimes abandons
all hope and becomes tramp? We know
that all are exhorted to do right for the
sake of reward in heaven. And those
who are loudest in their exhortations to
righteous living as rule, have their hands
the deepest in the pockets of the dear peo-
pie, and themselves live in luxury from the
proceeds of their schemes for the exploita-
ton of their fellows How would it do to
reward people while yet on earth? The
Socialist believes this is the better plan.
THE GREATEST CRIME.
But the greatest crime of the nineteenth
century has not yet been directly mentioned.
1t is the greatest because it is the father OF
all other crimes, and is the one crime for
which there is no punishment provided in
the law of the land. That crime is THE
EXPLOITATION OF MAN BY HIS
FELLOW MAN FOR PRIVATE GAIN.
This is the crime born of the commercialism
of the nineteenth century. And in this
class of criminals are to be found large
percentage of the people Men who would
scorn to steal as much as penny will de-
liberately engage in commercial transac-
ton in which they will unblushingly take
dollars from a conhding and uninformed
customer, and believe they are doing no
| wrong. The merchant who misrepresents
the quality or value of any commodity OTTER
ed for sale, thus taking advantage OF an IN
nocent purchaser, is as guilty of robbery as
the highwayman on the road. The honor
is with the higtwayman. for the reason that
he does not disguise himself as an honest
man. The newspaper which sells its COL
umns to boom dishonest project or which
misrepresents candidate for public off1ce
by telling an untruth about him, or by with
holding truth about him which ought to be
made known is criminal and should be sup
pressed by law. The preacher or other pro-
! fessional man who remains silent when ne
should speak, because it is to his financial
interest to do so, is as guilty as if he had
committed the greatest crime on the caien-
dar. The dealer in food products who sells
adulterated goods, thus endangering the
public health, is fit candidate for the pen