The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-07

pauSeS, the torrents or passion Win
which the latter sways his audiences
Rev. Frank Dixon takes lecture ike
a blooded trotter trained for the road
| clip, clip, on and on, the stride never
slackening, only at rare intervals los
| ing itself in quicker gait. In app
pearance, he is tall and dark, Win
| heavy black browS and eyes that ap-
pear at a little distance as Sits. Ills
mouth, too. has the cruel set that
seems inseparable from men who look
old established conditions in the race
without reverence and are. alWd!
seeking the weak points of attack III
old lines of defense. There is GER
| tain sort of defiance about the DiXoli
breed which is as unmistaKaple as
! their oratory.
Introduced as "the youngest OF
| three brothers whose reputation Is CO
! commensurate with the country. MI :
j Dixon started off humorously on l he
disadvantages of being younger
brother Usually people said: can
he lecture like his older brother! ne
would set all minds at ease. He could
| heat Tom lecturing all to pieces Out
| 7 don't like to do ii. / love him TOO
4 much - True Thomas had written d
| nopular novel called the Leopard
Spots." He had never written mover
| but he proposed to write one that
would knock the spots off OF that OF
| Toms. Thomas Dixon, said he, was In
oratory tempestous, Incorporate, cy-
clonic. volcanic. t." he declared,
"am the sunshine that follows the
Storm"
In these opening sentences Mr.. Dix
On displayed a mannerism, kind or
mincing daintiness that he overcame
and forgot when he got into his sub
iect. 1.-The man against the mass, the
individual against the crowd.
In developing this subject he was
unmerciful to the socialistic idea,
which. as above stated, he compared
in its aim with anarchy
He strongly outlined the aims OF So
cialism as being those of centralized
power so strong as to crush out indi-
vidual effort, a system under which
hope would die and progress stop.
Every man would be assured that he
could earn his daily bread, but he
would have the equal assurance that
he could never hope to earn any more.
The danger was that socialism existed
i'm the minds of thousands who had no
idea that they were harboring its ten
cts 1t was here in Raleigh; It's germ
was in the hearts of many who were
listening to him speak. 1t is the thing
that is dangerous, not the name.
There is nothing new about socialism
except the name. He never knew a
man to call himself socialist
who knew anything about the thing
itself. That was an impulse nameless
with those devoted and given up TO IL,
waiting the moment when they would
make it practically as we'll as theoret-
cally a danger The sentiment of the
ayowed socialist and the man impreg-
mated with the fallacy is the same;
the language alone is different.
Socialism he declared TO be syS-
stem which would grasp a child at
the moment of its birth and hold II
immovable as brick held in wall
until it is deadi'
There are more Christian ministers
socialists, he said again. than can be
found in the membership of any other
profession.
1t was common to find man who
would say, Il am Socialist-but d
Christian Socialist.
That phrase, he declared TO be
meaningless.
Might as we'll man. say: i am
drunkard-but a sober drunkard.
No more Yln a man be socialist
and a Christian, he aSseverated. IL
was Christ who discovered the indl-
viduaI and made possible his advance
ment.
Socialism says: Take up bad cit
izen, put him in good circumstances
and he will take on the color OF the
circumstances; Christ said that he
would corrupt the circumstances In
which he was placed.
Mr.. Dixon took occasion to say In
his remarks that he did not consider
the idea of government ownerships OF
strete cars, cailroads, electrict light
systems, etc, to Se SOCIALISM, since
these were not legitimate corporations,
q
however. that they could be run by
the government al profit and without
scandal. citing the postoffice frauds In
illustration. No business could be run
by the government as economically as
by an individual because at the bot
tom government was political, While
business depended upon efficiency.
Politics demanded popularity; busl-
ness cared nothing except for capacity.
Referring to the advances and in
yentions of the nineteenth century,
| and the greater wages paid TO labor
| and the enhanced purchasing value OF
money, the speaker declared:
There are no longer any common
people
This condition had been brought
about by the fact that ii was every
man for himself. The nineteenth CEN
| fury had been distinguished for its in
| The socialist was the greatest critic
and the greatest Pathfinder of the
| the government of the age. He was
! like a buzzard, soaring like speck In
the sky, seemingly intent on elevated
| Thoughts whereas his purpose was to
! find something dead!
Referring to the complaints of So
cialists against the capitalists putting
money above flesh, he told tale OF a
manufacturer who used girls In ardu-
Gus work that broke their health ano
! then cast them aside because girls
! were cheaper than the invention WhlcT
| would have rendered the practice un-
necessary and for one of the few per-
| iods of his speech with quite the man
| ner of the elder Dixon, he exclaimed
| paSSionately:
THAT man is a snake. Humanity
means to tear that snake from the hos
| ON of civilization"
But socialism was not the cure. So
cialism would do away with compet-
! ton, the law of God. Competition was
| in a sense as the socialists would say
the law of the brute. 1t was meant
as the spur to advancement. 1t wa: