Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-15

ciety in the midst of magnificent industrial progress look forward to hopeless future. Statistics reveal the fact that from 70 to 80 per cent of the population belong to this class and among them are many who after q life of hunger and misery have no prospects save that of making their passage to eternity in the ward of . poorhouse."
 If in the light of all the facts; If, as In the terrible bread riots of Italy, In the midst of the hunger and degradation of the poor of that land, the church with its tremendous wealth of land and jewels and beau tiful property of all sorts, took a stand in the political fight with the clerical party on the side of the main- tenance of the power of capital ism, or In other words. the perpetu- alton of the misery of the workers and the luxury of the class who re- ceived that for which they had not worked, is 1t any wonder that the socialist political party of the work ing class In Italy fought that clerical party at the ballot box?
 Tn America the church as an or ganized body has not taken stand against socialism, therefore the so- cialist party has no reason for fight ing the church officially, and while the principles of socialism are inter- national and universal, the political tactics of the party must vary with the needs of each country. In Amer lea and in England the Christian church has manifested deep inter- est in the principles of socialism, and in no sense have they repudiated Marx. By the way, we would ask the writer of Pertinent Inquiries" wherein in his books on economic subjects Marx ever took a stand against religion? The bishop of Dur ham in an address on socialism in a church congress at Hull, England, touched the gist of the matter: "The central idea of socialism is that the goal of human endeavor is the com mon we'll being of all alike, sought through conditions which provide for the fullest culture of each man, as opposed to the special development of race or class by the sacrifice of others in serfdom or slavery or necessary subjection. Studying the course which history has taken we can forecast the future. for the broad outline of human discipline is clear. In the old world the ruling thought | was the dignity of a race or of a class to which all beside in a greater | or lesser degree were made to minis ter. In the new world ushered in by the Advent, the ruling thought has | been the dignity of man as man, of men as men" And was it Christ who said. He that doth not work neither shall he eat"?
 We fail to see where the commit tee has been unfortunate in making reference to the American revolution, 1t is so we'll known by all readers of American history that repeated con- | ventions were necessary after the | revolution not only to draw up the articles of confederation, but also to plan and modify working constitu- tion or programme. The convention which met in 17S7 lasted just four months. It is true the revolutionists of 1776 had declaration of inde- pendence and working plans neces- sary for organization to secure the rights demanded, just as socialists do to-day with their declaration of prin- ciples and political platforms, but to make programmes for state of SO ciety to succeed this, after the reyo- lution has taken place, would be ut terly impossible, as impossible as it would have been for George Wash ington at Valley Forge to predict the future programme of the American colonies.