The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-07-04
their practice. -(Laughter.) They put

before us a creed of universal self
sacrifice. They preach it in the lang
uage of spite and envy, Of hatred, and
all uncharit ableness. (Cheers.) They
tell us that we should dwell together
in unity and comradeship: They are
themselves split into twenty obscure
factions, who hate and abuse each
other more than they hate and abuse
us. (Hear, hear, and laughter They
wish to reconstruct the world. They
begin by leaving out human nature.
Consider how barren a philosophy is
the creed Of absolute ~- collectivism.
Equality Of reward, irrespective Of
service rendered.! It is expressed in
other ways. You know the phrase
From each according to his ability,
to each according to his need How
nice that sounds. Let me put it an
other way-'You shall work according
to your fancy; you shall be paid ac-
cording to your Appetite (Cheers.)
Although have tried my very best to
understand these propositions, 1 have
never been able to imagine the me-
chanical heart in the Socialist world
which is to replace the ordinary hut;-
man heart that palpitates in our
breasts. What motive Is to. induce
the men; not for day, or an hour,
or year, but for all their lives, to
make a supreme sacrifice of their in
dividuality? What motive is to induce
the Scotsmen who spread all over the
world and make their way by various
paths to- eminence and power in every
land and climate to make the great
and supreme sacrifice of their indiv-
duality? have heard Of loyalty to
sovereign. We have heard of love
Of country. All, but it is to be great
cosmopolitan republic. We have heard
Of love Of family and wives and chill
dren. These are the mere weaknesses
Of the bad era in which we live. We
have heard of faith in world beyond
this when all its transitory pleasures
and perils shall have passed away, a
hope that carries serene consolation
to the heart OF men. All, but they
deny its existence. (Laughter.) And
what then are we to make this sacri-
flee for 1t is for the sake Of society
What Is Society7 =.
"And what is society? I will tell
you what society ts. Translated into
concrete terms, Socialistic society is
set Of disagreeable individuals who
| obtained a majority for their caucus at
some recent election, and whose Off
Gals in consequence would look on
humanity through innumerable grills
and pigeon-holes and across innumer-
able counters, and say to them, Tick
ets,s please JLatghter:) IL Truly this
! grey old world has never seen So grin
| a Joke (Applause.) Now ladies' ane
| gentlemen, no man can be either col
| lectfvist or an individualist. He must
! be both; everybody must be both &
collectitist and individualist. .Fo,
| certain :. of OUT affairs: we must have
| our arrangements in common. Others
we must have sacredly individual anG
to ourselves. (Cheers.} We have
many good things in common. Yot
have the police, the army, the navy
and bfficials-why, a president of TIL
Board Of. Trade you have in common
(Applause.) But we don't eat in com.
mon; we eat individually. And W.
don't ask the ladies to marry us ir
common, daughters II And you viii
! find the truth lies in these matters, al
! 1t always lies in difficult matters
midway between extreme formulae. I
is In the nice adjustment Of the re.
specttve ideas OF collectivism and In.
/ dividualism that. the problem Of TIL,
world and the solution Of that problem
lie In the years, to come. (Applause.,
But have no hesitation in saying that
7 amt on the side Of those who think
that g greater collective elemen
should be introduced into the state
and nlunicip alities. should like t
! see the / state underta King new 1fune:
tions. ticularl, stepping .forWsrs
into those sphere q saetiyi ties .ylslci