Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-01

that l have bought with my own
 money whereas they contributed no,
 a penny? And is 1t just that they
 should have equal shares with me
 in the profits of my factory? A
 share they should have, for withou,
 them l could do nothing, but natural
 justice cries out against giving them
 more than get. can shake hands
 with the committee in its arraign-
 ment Of the travesty of justice some-
 times meted out to the poor chap
 who takes a little to keep his wife
 and children from starving. It may
 be true in some measure what he
 says of the church obeying capital
 ism. l am not in position to speak
 for other denominations, but I can
 assure the committee that the Cath
 ollie church-not individual Catholics
 is not at the beck of capitalism.
 If the committee will not believe
 me, l refer them to the official pro-
 nouncement of the church as made
 by Leo XIII in his Encyclical on
 Labor. They will find that the capital
 ist receives some harder knocks than
 ever the most pronounced socialist
 ever gave them.
 The committee claims that social
 ism Is not trying to drive out Chris.
 t1anity. Perhaps the committee, and
 are considering different brand of
 socialists. Let me give a few speci.
 mems from some socialist leaders
 Ernest Bax in "The Associa- tons of Christianism With Any
 Form of Socialism Is a Mystery"
 (The Ethics of Socialism,. Chris
 tianity is the dirt-heap of modern
 thought. The civilization of social democracy will never befoul itself with Christianity" (Avants quoted in Literary Digest May 23, 1903)
 Says Schaef1e: Democratic social- ism is actually and of inherent neces- sity the foe of the Christian church." Says August Bebel: We wish in politics the republic, in economy so- cialism and in religion atheism" Says another socialist, Hagerty: "If Jesus Christ were on the democratic ticket and Judas Iscariot on the so- cialist ticket, I would vote for Judas Iscariot." Says the Volkszeitung: Socialism is not logical unless it denies the existence of God" Says Liebknicht: Tt is our duty as socialists to root out faith in God with i all our zeal, nor is any one worthy 1 or the name who does not consecrate himself to the spread of atheism" Said Shall: We open war upon God because he is the greatest evil" The committee may say that these are the opinions of individuals. We'll, I refer the member to the Gotha Pro- gramme. the Erford Programme, the Brunn Programme, the Belgian Pro- gramme (1S95), the Tours Pro- gramme, 1902, the Linz (Austrian) declaration of 1898, the Chicago plat form of 1905-I think-which said: AS an American socialist party we pledge fidelity to the principles of international socialism as embodied n the united thought and action of he socialists of all nations.' We ire referred to the platforms. Let he committee consult some of them. Time and space will not allow me to go into detail. They say as little as possible, With socialists as with others they are vote catchers. Speak, ng of the socialist contention that eligion is private affair, the Volks- eitung Ueipsic) says that ''the 'arty should interpret that principle. t would be a mark of cowardfce not o acknowledge openly where the arty stands on so vital a subject as eligion. The party must in its own interests be against religion and the hurch." e Says the committee: "All the ncyclicals on record could never rove that Jesus Christ would ever ( phold a system that fostered the ( avery, cts" The encyclical I re- erred to never tried to prove any ling of the kind. On the contrary 2
 deprecated the very evils that. the 1 complains of and offers a ef1nite solution of them, and that Is g astly more than socialism does. If le teachings of the encyclical ' ere followed "the mothers would ] ot be driven into mills nor "the ! lildren ground into profits" The T 'mmfttee quotes Jesus as driving s le money changers out of the tenn. c e. Why? They were in reality | pod socialists, those money chang V s. They contributed nothing to s e purchase of the instruments of a 'oduction, but they did want the S ofits. Socialism," says the com Il ittee, will help to bring us to S nrist." It, will have to change its lture. Its present materialistic si ndency is decidedly at variance A th the spirit of the Christ who s' i'd: Seek first the kingdom E
 God and of his jus t' 'e and all these things shall t'
 added unto you" What doth it e oft man if he gain the whole u orld and lose his own soul?" There st @ economic evils, there ever have 1t en, there ever will be. That social tt n might remedy some of these sl ils may be true and the writer of e e General Survey" agrees with u e committee in much of its in- F strial and political demands. Yet st
 still holds that private ownership g a natural and God-given right. Il le public ownership of railroads, m Iegraph, etc, is vastly different "f ing from the collective ownership SC all the instruments of production. T le public ownership of what has b. en called public utilities does not p me within the domain of socialism A
 l used the word in the General n' rvey''. They do not mean the ss nflscation of what the capitalist n;