The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-04-04

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Every man should have a reason for
the faith that il in him.
| I have often been asked why I am
a Socialist, and take this opportunity
to make a plain statement Of the mat
ter.
Briefly stated Il appears inevitable
that either q very few men or else
the whole people must, before great
while own the whole wealth., judging
in the light Of the past history of the
world.
1t would be superfluous to quote sta
tistics to prove my position. Any read
er of history will readily confirm the
conclusion drawn.
| Socialism stands for the doctrine of
collective ownership-all the means and
methods OF production to be owned by
the people. The industrial system we
now live under bids each man to &C.
quire and own to himself alone.
! This system has repeatedly and auto
matically destroyed itself through it's
! own operation Socialism recognizes
the natural right OF every man to have
all he produces, less his pro-rata share
OF the expense Of conducting the gov
eminent, thus cutting out the right
of any and every man to levy tribute
and make profit Oft his fellow man.
The opponents Of Socialism do not
pretend to uphold the manifold wrongs
SO apparent under the commercial ism
Of to-day; neither do they offer us any
relief from the present universally con-
fessed weaknesses and devilish results
thereof except to continuously change
from one set Of political grafters to
another.
The old watchword of mo taxation
without representation has been
changed by actual practice into tax
alton with and through misrepresen-
ltation.''
| The representative system has prov
en- in terms as plain and clear as the
glare Of the monday sun that there
is no man wise enough, broad enough,
good enough or big enough to repre-
sent any other than himself-that no
citizen can claim to be, or. remain free
who: has not the right to say yes" or
mo" upon each and every law that
governs him. Socialism would give
every citizen that right. It is only
through such right of expression that
Socialism can either be instituted or
perpetuated.
Commercial slavery is just as def
mite, just as positive, just as heartless,
cruel, brutal and despotic as chattel
slavery ever was., It is not quite so
apparent That is the principal diff
ference in them.
Lincoln's most logical outburst of
pent-up indignation against the condi-
ton Of the negro before the Rebellion
was: "A system that will permit Of
single bond slave will permit of the
whole mass being made bond slaves.
You cannot have a permanent system
that recognizes part slave and part
free"
In harmony with Lincoln's unan-
swerable philosophy, 1t can be positiv-
Ily. stated *that$aa system which permits
a single economic slave will ultimately
make economic slaves Of all the people.
The competitive, commercial system
of to-day has kept the world in misery,
want and, woe through it's whole his
tory. It has scourged humanity with
a scorpion-like lash of hunger up and
down the earth during al 1.-The bleak
and hoary- headed age Of civilization.
It has chained the starved and hollow
eyed pauper within the blighting sha-
dow Of the palace and driven virtue
and innocence, tear-stained and rag
ged, into the highways, to sell its soul
and body for bread. -
Socialism, on the other hand, would
Danish all sorts Of financial and eco
nomic slavery, nourish virtue, re-
ward industry to the extent of it's full
product, .exault the citizen to the high
est degree and make of this grand old
dwell upon. ..i. &.
Nobody fully: and few partially, in
dorse the system and it's conditions Of
to-day, The best that is in every man
would have ample and assisted oppor-
tunity to develop bloom and blossom
under Socialism. .
Either Socialism or depotism must be
the part and portion of the denizen Of
the earth in the non-distant future.
For myself, I choose the former, be-
lieving as I do, that it is the duty of
every man to cast his lot with princi-
pies which he believes to be right, to
"Stand for the cause that needs assist
! ance,
I Against the cause that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that he can do
+ GREEN MAJORS.
/ At the gubernatorial election in
MASSACHUSETTS last fall the returns
showed a surprising increase in the
Socialist vote; the increase in several
locel ities being more than one hundred
per cent. over the previous year. Local
elections recently held in Massa chus-
etts show that this vote is still grow
ing in surprising way. The provi-
dence Journal prints a table showing
the Socialist gains in ten towns i'll
Rhode island since 1901, the total vote
in that year being $40, whereas in the
latest local elections it was 4,122, or
nearly seven-fold. This, for region
where pGblic*< opinion has generally
(