Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1906-06-13
A SURE SAFEGUARD.
COOPERATION AMONG PRODUC-
ERS A FOUNDATION FOR AMEN.
DURING SOCIAL STRUCTURE


An Address by George II. Maxwell
at Bloomington. ILL.,. Showing How
This Principle Will Overcome Op.
preston by Combination of Capital,
Mr. President and Gentlemen OF the
Convention
am n profound believer In the capa
city OF tho human race to work out the
high destiny OF which II Is capable II
its genius Is rightly directed. 1 am n
most extreme optimist In my expec-
tations Of what the people OF this ma
tion Will eventually accomplish In So
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 I'LL.
Unless this Is accomplished our
boosted civilization will be but II
wave on the great ocean OF time, ris-
Ing into Il brief existence, only to be
submerged, as I'LL the civilizations that
have gone before us have been sub
merged, beneath the rottenness and
corruption which has followed in
evitably I'm the wake OF vast accumu-
letion OF wealth. and the gradual alb
sorption OF tho land into great estates.
HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.
Already I'm this country the hand
writing IL on the wall, and he who
runs may read tho warning which
Byron painted In words when he
wrote:
There IA n moral OF all human tales
| lis out the same rehearsal OF the past,
First freedom. and then giory-whcn that
Wealth. vice. corruption--barbarism at
| last,
And history. with oil her volumes vast.
Hath but one page"
Our history will not he written on
that page, and l am here to tell you
why, and to tell you that your move
ment I'm the line OF cooperation Is one
of the reasons why we will escape the
fnte that has ut last destroyed all the
great nations of the past.
But we have already reached the
stage OF "wealth-vlce-corr :"
No one who knows what goes on In this
country doubts that for n moment
III any one questions 1t he should read
the recently published book entitled
1.-THE Shame of the Clti"'" by Lincoln
Steffens.
How are these dangers to be safe
guarded against?
THE CAR OF JUGGBRNAUT.
1t cannot be done by purifying the
| cities, because they cannot be purified.
Man VIII not rise above his environ
ment or the dominating influence of
that environment, and the influence
which controls all things I'm our mod
ern city Is the mad race for wealth
1t Is car of Juggernaut which brushes
public and private integrity and
morality and every just conception OF
patriotism under its wheels as 1t rolls
ruthlessly onward, driven by the
multitude who are ready to sacrifice
not only themselves, but their country
In the great gamble for quickly gained
wealth.
We closed up the Louisiana lottery
I'm burst OF righteous public indIgna-
ton, because Ii was encouraging the
gambling mania and corruptlng the
Ipeople.
The district attorney Of New York
has recently set the machinery OF the
law in motion to stop the operations OF
"A gambler named Garfield.
In st. Louis and Grand Rapids the
foul brood OF bribe-givers and bride
takers has been held up to derision
and disgrace, and few OF them may
be punished.
COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH
But we have gone so fnr that cor
ruption has become business system
and conditions In our cities will breed
two cOrruptionists where one Is pun
| ished. Those conditions get worse and
worse as the profits Of preylng upon
the people become greater with the
Increase or tue population OF our cities:
and our political and social institutions
are rOtting at their very sourc.
The corruption Of our cities Will In
eyitably faint and I'm the end control
our national politics and the admins.
tration OF our national government
Unless
And here Is the only safeguard
UQless we plant the great majority
or our people on the soil and maintain
II there, aud the people themselves
learn to do for themselves by CO.
operation, so that I'm the end we shall
eventually become great cooperative
commonwealth.
/ am not proposing socialism, as It's
devOtees understand Il, or as it IL
usually defined and understood, as n
remedy.
/ am proposing tho exact opposite
OF It.
am proposing the very highest
form or Individual rights, opportunity,
activity and development.
Socialism Is to dream about doing
things, and to begin at the wrong end
and fail.
Cooperation Is to do things, and to
begin at the right end and succeed.
Cooperation Is 0YOlutlOn-nOt revO-
luton.
Evolution Is the law Of God. =
Evolution Is the natural law which
has controlled the creation OF the
earth and all that there Is on II.
It Is the law Of tho development Of
the human race, and we need only to
learn It's lessons and study lt as a
method for the solution Of every social
problem to save the people OF this
nation from the social and political
dangers that confront them to-day.
The trouble with most theories for
the reform or betterment Of social CON