Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1908-12-17

the propertied enemies of Socialism
sought to rouse the prejudices of the
common people against the Socialist
ideal by raising the cry of Socialism
against the home"
To begin with let II be clearly re-
cognized that the word 'home" is
essentially the possession of the COM
mon people. Home Sweet Home"
in spite OF the fact that the tune
was born In Sicily, is more truly the
English peoples national anthem to-
day than any God Save the King"
while the wealthy family that posses
ses many dwelling places may be, and
practically often is. as homeless" as
the family that possesses no dwelling
place at all.
The aristocrat Byron. i'm his "Boch-
nagar," essayed sneer i'm his distinc-
ton, England, thy beauties are tame
aSl domestic" But it is significant
to students of the history OF the fam
lily. as well as of the derivation of the
word 'famel" (chattel slave), that he
had to go To the Latin tongue for his
adjective, and its prosy ugliness has
no power to hurt the inner music OF
the home" country for those who
have been privileged To have their
dwelling there. The 'auld Scotch
sangs'' themselves are all athrob 20
the thought of "hame" and 'mither."
And was II not Robert Louis Stevenson
who told OF the lad on the cmigrant
train. bound for the far west-how he
began to pipe the tune of Home.
Sweet Home" when we all straight
way fell upon him for a brutal assault
upon our emotions?
Home" or "hame"-thc word
assuredly represents one of the most
powerful emotions (if il be not the
most powerful)-of the English
speaking world today. And IL is this
home" that Lord Balfour of Burleigh
and his anything but-merry men
wouiG persuade the English peoples
that Socialism seeks to destroy!
Incidentally here IL is interesting to
note that when the enemy is talking
with rich men it is property that
Socialism is said to assail; with the
worker IL is his home"
But what do we, and the enemy
alike, mean by "home?"
The word has not yet found its place
in scientific sociology, though l am
hopeful that Socialist economists may
soon succeed in enthroning II there.
IL is not so old a word as its common
use might suggest. When carefully
studied believe IL will be recognized
as representing the races inspiration
rather than its complete experience
it's goal rather than its origin. For by
"home" in the abstract. | am con-
yinced that the common people of
England today mean the influence
alike upon the individual and the com
munity of the family, OF the relation
ship of father. mother. and child to
each other. with all the various out
branchings of that relationship-when
the family has been founded on love
marriage. and been supported and sus-
tanned throughout its upgrowing by
the mutual service and goodwill of its
various members.
The italics have been designedly
used to draw the scorn OF the cynic,
for this article has been written I'm the
belief that in the fullness OF time the
woman who still finds the chief de-
light of her leisure in the reading OF
honest love stories will be approved
as more scientific in her attitude to
life than the coolest advocate of
eugenics strictly controlled by the
state.
At the end of his second chapter on
The Origin of the Family" Frederick
Engels shows most powerfully how,
with the gradual uprising Of the COM
mon people i'm the western races (es-
pecialy in the Protestant countries,
where In large measure the evil In
fluences of an effete Roman civiliza-
ton were thrown off together with the
power of the Roman Catholic church),
the love match was at last proclaimed
as a human right-a right for the
woman as well as for the man.
At any rate IL cannot be denied
tand herein lies the justification of
my definition). that the English
speaking peoples who today attach a
practically religious devotion to the
thought Of "home." are the same peo-
pie who have for centuries upheld,
both by ideal and practice, this same
right of free and natural selection. or
the love-mariage. Today. so strong
power does the word "home"exercise
over the ordinary English imagination,
that the scientific historian who ven-
lures TO trace the origins of the human
famiIy-who dares to speak of such
bygone things as 'group-marriage,"
poIygamy polyandry, or the dread
facts of adultery and prostitution
which still betray the home ideal in
our midst, Is apt to find hemself to his
bewilderment treated as an unbelieYer
in the home. and an enemy of the hu-
man race.
OF course. this super-sensitive attl-
tude may also be born of conscious
hyprocrisy The diseased conditions
of the home" at both ends OF the
social scale, under capitalism, as
shall show later. are becoming patent
The people who uphold capitalism.
while processing to believe In the
'home," are therefore In the posi-
tion which Carlyle describes In his
essay on Martin Luther. They only
believe they believe" For them,
then, welcome the iconoclast! But
the great mass of the people are.
maintain, perfectly sincere in their at
titude, and as wise as thew are sim
cere.
In England, among the common