The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1906-06-15
A SURE SAFEGUARD.
CO. PERATION AMONG PRODUC-
Frs A FOUNDATION FOE ANENs
DURING SOCIAL STRUCTURE
An Address by George II. Maxwell
at Bloomington, ILL.,, Showing How
This Principle Will Overcome OPP
preston by Combination OF Capital.

| preston by combination OF IapitaI
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the
Convention
am a profound believer in the capa
city of the human race to work out the
high destiny of which ii is capable II
its genius is rightly directed. am q
most extreme optimist in my eXpec-
| tations of what the people of this ma
ton will eventually accomplish in Sc
curing in fact as well as in theory not
only equal rights, but equal opportun-
ity for all men and the achievement by
all our people of the highest average
standard of life of which all are cap
able and which can be brought within
the reach of all
Unless this is accomplished our
boosted civilization will be but a
wave ON the great ocean of time, ris-
ing into a brief existence, only to be
submerged, as all the civilizations that
have gone before us have been sub
merged, beneath the rOttepness and
corruption which has followed in
evitably in the wake of vast accumu-
lation of wealth. and the gradual alb
sorption of the land into great estates
HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
Already in this country the hand
writing is on the wall. and he who
runs may read the warning which
Byron painted in words when he
wrote:
''There is a moral of all human tales,
TITS but the same rehearsal of the past,
First freedom, and then glory-when that
fails,
Wealth, vice, cOrruption-barbarism at
last,
And history. with all her volumes vast.
Hath but one page"
Our history will not be written on
that page, and / am here to tell you
why, and to tell you that your move
ment in the line of cooperation is one
of the reasons why we will escape the
fate that has at last destroyed all the
great nations of the past.
But we have already reached the
stage of 'wealth-yice-cor
No one who knows what goes on In this
country doubts that for moment.
If any one questions it he should read
the recently published book entitled
1.-THE Shame of the Citi by Lincoln
Steffens.
How are these dangers to be safe
guarded against?
THE CAR OF JUGGERNAUT.
1t cannot be done by purifying the
cities, because they cannot be purified.
Man will not rise above his environ
ment or the dominating influence of
that environment, and the influence
which controls all things in our mod
ern city is the mad race for wealth
1t is car of juggernaut which brushes
public and private integrity and
and every just conception of
patriotism under it's wheels as it rolls |
Onward, driven by the |
multitude who are ready to sacrifice |
rot only themselves, but their country |
II the great gamble for quickly gained |
wealth.
We closed up the Louisiana lottery |
n burst of righteous public indigna
ion, because it was encouraging the |
gambling mania and corrupting the |
PEOPLE.
The district attorney of New York
las recently set the machinery Of the
aw in motion to stop the operations of
gambler named Garfield.
In st. Louis and Grand Rapids the
oul brood of bribe-givers and bribe-
akers has been held up to derislon
nd disgrace, and few of them may
e punished.
COMMONWEALTH
But we have gone so far that cor
upton has become business system
nd conditions in our cities will breed
wo corruptionists where one is pun
shed. Those conditions get worse and
yorse as the profits of preying upon
he people become greater with the
lcrease of the population of our cities;
nd our political and social institutions
re rotting at their very sOurc
The corruption of our cities will in
vitality faint and In the end control
ur national politics and the admits
alton of our national government
Unless
And here is the only safeguard
Unless we plant the great majority
our people on the soil and maintain |
there, and the people themselves .
arm to do for themselves by CO.
oeration, so that in the end we shall h.
Yentually become great cooperative
| am not proposing socialism, as its
svotees understand it, or as it Is
sually defined and understood, as a
,medy.
/ am proposing the exact opposite I
it.
/ am proposing the very highest /
rm of Individual rights, opportunity, !
.tiyity and development.
Socialism Is TO dream about doing |,
ings, and to begin at the wrong end
I'd fail.
Cooperation Is to do things. and to
gin at the right end aud succeed.
Cooperation is ey0lntlon-not reyo-
tiOn
Evolution Is the law of God.
Evolution Is the natural law which I
IS controlled the creation of the
nth and all that there is on 1t.
1t Ii the law Of the development Of
G human race, and we need only to 2
i'm It's lessons and study il ais
sthod for the solution Of every social 2
oblem TO save the people of this
ton from the social and political G
myers that confront them to-day.
The trouble with most theories for x
E reform or bettermcnt of social con 9
ions II that they are too radical e
Reformers Of THAT class plan an at 4