New-York tribune., 1912-02-25

cal and economic conquest Of society
and ended class divisions and class
struggles once and forever. For in this
field, too Hegel's dialectical method sup
plies Marx with the formula of develop
ment. Ideas. according to Hegel, tend to
pass over into their opposites The class
struggle, too says Marx Will pass over
into its opposite when the wage earners
have conquered the other classes OF So
ciety: the proletarians in emancipating
themselves from the sway of the capt.
talist will emancipatc society at large
from all exploitation. oppression, class
distinction and class struggles
The history of civilization shows that
truth is rarely reached except by way ol
extremes which are falsehoods As
Schiller said. I'VE must have foolishness
even to exhaustion before we arrive 1t
the beautiful goal Of calm wisdom.
The colossal dogma of class struggles
surely illustrates this observation. En-
thusiasts whether moral or Intellectual,
so quickly lose perspective. A genera
tion ago we were told that evolution
meant the triumph Of irreIigion and ag-
nosticism In the interval We have
learned what evolution means, and espe-
cially what it does not mean. And
churchmen and philosophers to-day have
become evolutionists. There is a truth
undoubtedly in the socialistiC dogma CT
class divisions and class struggles. BGl
| II 30, J., irh . 13gt
aggerated into falsehood. Let me make
this clear by an illustration.
THE ExAeGERATIoN EXPOSED.
Let US take the city of Schenectady.
: which now has Socialist Mayor. Let
us suppose that in this city a skilled
workman or a merchant with a small
business has saved 5000: or. II he has
not saved so much, that he has saved
$1,000 and can borrow $1,000 He is a
man of demonstrated integrity and bust
ness ability; he ConCeives the idea Of
establishing a new enterprise for which
capital 10 the extent of 100000 is nee
sary; he outlines a plan and lays it be-
fore his friends and neighbOrs who have
saved money. which, Of course. they le-
sire to invest they have confidence ~
the man and his plan looks hopeful;
they decide TO invest their money i'm the
business: the enterprising manager later
secures buildings, purchases machinery,
hires labOTers: and ne must have money
enough 10 pay the wages of the labore-s
and the other operating expenses Of the
business until receipts come in from the
sale of commodities The leader Of the
enterprise pays wages; the workmen -e-
ccive them. He belongs TO the class cf
employers; they belong 10 the class 4
employees. Here at once is a difference
in class growing out Of the organization
of modern industry. 1t may also be
freely admitted that the wOrkmen want
as high wages and as short hours as it is
possible to get. They do not however,
make demands so eXtravagant as to
bankrupt the business.
In other words. although there is in this
business a class called tho employers
and another class called the employees.
and some Of their respective interests are
divergent, they are united in an all-dom
from bankruptcy and to make it such Il
success that the manager may be able
not only to pay wages and operating on
penses. including depreciation, but the
rent for his buildings. interest on capital
and a high salary for himself as the ~
gdnizing, initiating and, one might a.
most say, the creative genius Of the en-
tire concern. This example clearly
shows. as John Mitchell has often said.
that there is no necessary antasonism
between capital and labor. This
Schenectady capitalist has added new
industry TO his city, given employment
to a large number Of wage earners, fur
nishcd his thrifty neighbors with good
local investment. given the consuming
public something they need, and in re-
turn for all these services received
good compensation and, until the com
petition Of others cuts it down, soms-
thing in the way of profits besides.
AS REGARDS "RULE or CLASSES"
To call this Schenectady phenomenon
class struggle and class hatred is the
veriest midsummer madness. Still worse
is the socialstic imputation that as
result of the class struggle the capi.
taiistic class shapes and controls in It's
own interests the education, the morals.
the politics and the laws of the mod
ern world. There is no space here -
treat Of this subject exhaustively. But
II may be asked how it is possible, il
the rest Of us do our duty as good citi-
zens. for the capitalists in tho United
States to control our legislation when
their number is comparatively so small
and all the rest of us-milions alto
gether-have votes for the election OF
our law-givers, who speedily lose their
places If they do not represent the pub
lie opinion of their constituents? / do
not deny that capitalists may have
bribed legislators and bulldozed COVER
nors. But this evil, which is now rapidly
disappearing in the United States, is not
peculiar to the economic organization
of modern society and might as readily
occur under "A socialistic regime with
! the bribers called bosses" instead OF
capitalists as under our present COM
petitive system And TO pass from poll
tics TO morals. in what country or cline
has a system of morality ever been i'm
posed upon the people by an exploiting
class? Morality is, as the word lndi-
Gates, the mores or customs Of the peo-
ple--that is, the expression ol the uni
versal heart and conscience. And when
4 ia reformed