Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1905-10-04
Answer Made
Rev. Poland

ther | am greatly interested in this
part of your discussion, because
there are two sides to it and you
have evidently not seen more than
one. Now in the first place you
can not get the mechanic to take
your job, or if you could, he could
not complete it and furnish you with
the thing you want, for the simple
reason that the mechanic has went
out of business long ago unless you
call the factory or mill owner a
mechanic. This is so interesting
subject to me. / invite you to sit
down and make out list of things
that comes to your mind that you
can get the mechanic to make for
you and send it to the Mon
tana News for publication, and in
case you are able to stumble onto
something the mechanic can sup
ply you with, il will open up an
opportunity to discuss the other
side of the question that / referred
to above, and which you just merely
touched, where you say can al
ways have my demand supplied
where there is an individual per-
sonal profit to be made, etc. You
did not explain what this personal
profit consisted of, which is some
labor product and, which in your
especial case would be preaching
sermon on the Christian religion.
Now suppose your mechanic would
say to you, it don't make any
difference what kind of a sermon
you preach me in payment for this
thing you have received from me in
exchange for it, You may not be-
lieve in it, in fact you may believe
just the contrary. For instance he
might ask you to preach a sermon
in favor of Socialism. Oh, no, you
would say, this is a horse of an
other color. My congregation is a
collective body. and / am supposed
to preach sermons that will not
outrage the feelings of any mem.
Der of this collective body. Now
brother what becomes of your free
dom of individual demand argument
in this case, and will go still further
and ask you if this case is in strict
accordance to the golden rule.
Are You not asking just a little
more of the mechanic, than you are
willing to return to him1
Now / will take up the thing you
state as the second requisite in
this discussion, some approximately
fixed and determinable unit meas
ure of value for the purpose of ex-
change, and you 60 on to quote the
old farce; that the dictionary max
ers have defined as to money being
the measure of value and medium
of exchange, money as a medium of
exchange and a representation OF
wealth is all correct brother. But
money as a measure of value is nit.
Labor is the true basic measure
of value at all times, past, present
and future, it not only measures the
value of all wealth, but it measures
the value of money which in its sell
is not wealth. When you refer to
the use of the labor check being
used as a medium of exchange un
der a collective commonwealth, yor
have about the Socialist idea. Bu
when you say that Socialism stands
for the return to the individual the
exact amount that the individual
produced; you are a little off. Il
demands an equal individual dis
tribution of the products of col
lective labor now produces nearly
all of the products of the world
under the capitalist system. AL
that the workers demand is a chang,
of ownership and an equal distri
button.
| Webster defines Socialism as
theory of society that advocates I
more precise, orderly, and har
monous arrangements of the socia
relations of mankind than that which