Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-12-08
...;,o subie ct Of Spiritual signi-
ficance OF Sociai-
ISM"
EASING PRESENTATION
pLeN OF IMPORTANT QUESTION:
Unusually heprese ant se+.rsr
Hears Promine".
and Writer.

JOIN ,a a. q most representative audi
i lnat 6lled the odd Fellows hall on
t .nana I'VE evening on the subject: The
cniritual Significance OF socialism.
1 ngs method of treating the subject was
ant of the ordinary, and IN complete
o uo of the theory that So
o o;aiist must have mud on his pants:
Tho audience was very evldently
.,oasod by the mastery presentation
p pf tbis now fall-important subject by
W. ms man who, originally a granite
e .mt has made his recognized place
ou'cT the lecturers and writer's OF
anoirca His style is distinctly diner
a. from the oratory to which we have
ba ae accustomed, his delivery being
accompanied by almost no gestures,
and no unusual emphasis. Every Woro
boweyer. is so clearly and denDerateiy
nunnciated that an unusual impress is
~ IN the minds of his hearers. For
t t hours he elucidated the various
ma of the subject and held his
bic audience completely throughout.
The Address
full and complete stenographlc re-
mort of the remarkable lecture follows.
m is characteristic of all great men.
snch world-6gures as Jesus, Savona-
rola. Luther, Lincoln, Marx, ana many
others in the unnumbered host OF the
truly great, that they may be approach
ed and studied from many different
viAwpoints with peculiar justice ana
ADVANTAGE. Indeed, it is perhaps the
hest test of greatness we have, inns
many sidedness which compels cr1tl-
cism and appreciation form minds Oh
varied temperaments and interests.
The lie of a great man is like dia-
samond that is cut with many facets,
from any one of which the beauty OF
the stone may be seen and appreciated.
All the facets cannot be seen at once,
lust as no one vision of great li1e
urehends all it's sides. Take a hun
dred men. representing as many tenn
neraments and as many interests IN
life. and each of them will admit the
greatness of Jesus, of Savonarola, OF
Luther, of Lincoln, rof Marx. But II
YOU ask each to tell what seems 20
him to be the supreme quality in any
one of these great characters, each wilt
give, perhaps, different answer. Ana
there is no surer test of true greatness
than that
A great historical figure seen by men
of varied temperaments and visions Is
like a landscape seen by different art
lists in varied conditions of light and
mosphere. One artise sees 1t in the
gray mystic dawn, peopled with whls-
pering phantoms, and so paints 1t. An
other sees it gilded with the radiance
u noCn and filled with the song and
10Y of life. And as he sees it, so he
tries to paint it. Yet another sees the
same landscape at eventide, gorgeous
with the glow of sunset and pervaded
with solemnity, peace and rest. And
he, too, paints the landscape as ne
sees it,
So there are three pictures of the
same landscape widely different In
character. The pictures are deterrent,
but the landscape is the same. There
are the same trees and the same rock
it is the same valley, or the same
plain. The physical elements OF the
landscape have not changed at all,
but, according to hi sconditions, each
artist has seen something which the
others, in their conditions, could not
see
As with men, so with movements
AS with the individual, SO with indivi
duals in the mass. The same test can
be successfully applied to any great
movements in history. Just as men
who unanimously acclaim Jesus as the
sublimest hgure in history will do SC
for very different reasons, so men whi
regard christianity as the Creates
movement in the history of the worl(
will differ greatly in their reasons fol
that estimate. So men will agree II
proclaiming that the Protestant Refof
nation was glorious movement To-
many widely diverse reasons. So 1t. Il
Win Wesley and Methodism; with LIN
coin and the Emancipation OF tn
Negro; with Marx and the Socia
Revolution.
Not least of the signs of thes great
ness of the modern Socialist move
ment, then is the fact that it appeal
with equal charm and force to men an
women of many diverse points OF view
1t is, think, the supreme glory OF tnl
great world-movement that so man
temperaments and passions, SO man
qualities of mind and character, al
attracted to it; each finding in 1t soms
o thing that answers its own peculla
needs. The saying attributed !
Jesus, 81, if l be lifted up out OF u
earth, will draw all men unto myself
LIDS peen cl,ed many times as q prot
of the sublime faith of Jesus. Llk
wise it may be said of this Sociall'
movement tath its adherents have
sublime faith in the power OF the
ideal to draw and unite all men, regar
less of race, color or creed.
To the wage-worker, engaged IN
daily struggle for existence against u
forces of capitalist society, Socialis
signifies primarily movement for q
economic deliverance. It means $
curity of employment. I means vol
that is worthy to be done and prop
conditions for doing it. condition
which do not debase body or brain.
means freedom from Want and =
haunting fear of Want It means
larger share Of the Good in life q
less of the III. It means, In VOL