New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-08
SOCIALIST CALLS GOLDEN
RULE |MPRACT|CABLE
"WouId Mean Financial Ruin of
Employer Who Tried It,"
Says Algernon Lee.
PROBLEM OF PRODUCTION
Lecturer Asserts That Teach
ings of Christ Were Meant
Only for Individual, Not
for Economics.

In an exposition of socialism and what
he termed the faults of the present 'capi-
taIIstic" system Of society. Algernon Lee
director OF the Rand School OF Social Re-
,or,,, declared at an open meeting m
hudson Memorial Building last night that
tho teachings of Jesus. however suited 10
the perfecting of individual morality were
,radeouat. TO form the basis of any wide
scheme of social reform.
"I have no desire to assert any COL.
,radiction between the teachings OF ChiiS'
and those of socialism" he said, out
sneak for socialism, and against Chrls-
,ianitv. only I'm so far as the exponents
Of Christianity give ii an anti-soclaisu'
sipnpacance. In seeking the heart OF the
doctrine of Jesus we are met WIN 'he
same problem that often confrohts uloSe
who seek the essential In any doctrlhe
which has been used, at widely diferen'
, times by widely different kinds of people
The Golden Rule, perhaps, Is the heareS'
approximation we can make TO such III
essential. II is taught as the very mar
row OF Christian requirements
THE trouble with the rule Is that
however applicable to mems private re-
lations, IL would mean the fnanclal run
of any one who tried TO practise IL IN hiS
business. II he tried to treat his en-
ployes with the same consideration M
| would wish. were he in their shoes, his
business would go to the wall. The stock
holders. getting insufficient returns Wouio
sell out and invest in some enterprise
run by men OF coarser conscience "ho
would only safeguard their men to the
extent required by the necessities or the
business: in short, as little as possible.
Would Hurt, Not Help.
observance Of the Rule in business
would do no particle of good, for unless
all employers practised it together, those
who did practise Il would be financially
DESTROYED and those who did not finan'
cially strengthened: and the idea OF al
employers beginning TO practise 1t at the
same time is Chimerical. We thus fnc
that Christs teachings, If practised liter
ally. would not tend TO the amedioratior
of conditions but to the reverse.
Let us, in seeking a remedy, dives
ourselves of prejudice and remember tina
| the big men, the Rockefellers and Carne
gies. are as much pawns, at the mere!
Of great economic forces. as the meanes
OF their wor kmen. Let ds remember TOO
that the moral conduct of business is no
prlma rily a moral but an economic
! problem; that we shall have moral Dusi
ness methods when We make such meth
DDS economically advantageous TO thos'
who use them; and not before. We mus
change .he system so that instead OF tn
conscientious. the greedy and unscrupu
! lous will he at a disadvantage. CHRIST
teachings. we lave seen, cannot enec
/ this What can?
! production, which in the past was IN
dividual. has become social II Is carried
on by groups OF men, scientifically or
| ranized-yet the ownership of the means
OF production remains in the hands or IN
diyIduals. The jobs Of the producers de
mend no longer on themselves. They arr
at the mercy OF the owners OF the means
Of production. and the result has been th'
| growth OF two classes, mutually an
| tagonistic, the producers and those VINO
by commanding the means of production
| hold the others in economic slavery.
System Wrong, He Says.
Capitalists and wage earners, capital
lists reaping rich profits. not because the!
work. but because they own, and wag
earrers eking ouc bare livelihood, no
because they own, but because the!
work: such is the system, and IT accord
the profits not 10 the men who carr
them. but 10 those who. often through N
| effort Of their own, possess the means D.
which those profits can be produced.
"This system, we think is wrong. /
breeds haze, as injustice always does /
must be changed, and the way TO chang
il is TO transfer the ownership OF tn
means OF production TO the producers
and thus allow each man, to the exten
Of his efficiency, to be master Of his owl
job
we must socialize ownership. as w
have socialized the means Of production
We aim at a peaceful revolution, revo
luton which will differ from all that hav'
preceded II in that II Will not substitute
one class for another. but eliminate al
classes. or, rather, turn them all into pro
ducers."
nIcThGRhPH ARSON TRAP