The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-04


not go to suit them they shut off this
livelihood. The workingman has to do
what they say or starve.
People who fight socialism tell you
it is all right for you to educate your
children, but it is not all right for you
to run your street car company. They
say you have enough sense to educate
your boys to be electricians or chemists
or financiers who in turn can run your
corporations, but you have not got enough
sense to run the. corporations yourself
Mr.. Seidel received warm applause from
the entire house. Mr. Seidel did not re-
ceive a single hiss or cat call from those
of the audience who disagreed with him,
but when Mr.. Bede began his speech
those opposed to him repeatedly inter-
rupted him.
All Capitalists Not Criminals
IF you will subtract the fortunes of
the capitalists of the country from the
wealth of the country" said Mr.. Bede,
you will still have much more wealth
left than If the capitalists had never lived.
I believe In getting on this platform and
giving a man credit for the good things
he does rather than condemning him for
the mistakes he might have made.
Il am saying nothing against any man
who is a scialist, but l am condemning
the fool notions he has. The socialists
say capitalists are wicked and heinous
men. Some of them are. But socialism
will not reform any man. The way to
solve the problem is through the heart.
Put Christianity into any mans heart
and you have put the golden rule into
his business. Preach the doctrines of
that great Teacher and Master whose
love has transformed the world and you'll
do more good in a minute than socialism
will ever do. Everything the socialists
claim they can give you, you can get
through cooperation. That's what this
country needs, is for all of us to get to-
gether and work together
''Mr. Seidel talks about socialism, but
he does not attempt to define 1t. He is
afraid to. Socialism is that every pro-
ducing agent of the country shall belong
to society, shall be owned by the gov
ernment. What are they going to do
about wages? How are they going to de-
eide what you shall be paid and what
shall be paid? Oh, they say every man
shall live on what he produces and there
shall be no wages. Wouldn't preacher
get fat? What would school teacher
eat or wear, what would a conductor
heat his house with, what would book
keeper wear on his back, what would the
hundreds of other people do whose labor
does not produce in reality that which
is needed to sustain life?
Factories Not Responsible
"They tell us that the factories pro-
duce immortality, tuberculosis and crime.
l don't believe it. Rear girl in a
proper home, with a proper mother, and
she will not go wrong because she re-
ceives low wages. / have more faith
than that in American womanhood. The
secret is, love your children. Be q COM
rade to your boy and because he works
in a factory is no reason he will be
criminal. The factory, they say, pro-
duces the germ of disease. / say, give
John Rockefeller a chance and he will
drive the tubercular germ off the map
Mr.. Seidel answers me by saying that
capitalists like John Rockefeller put the
germ here. How about the American
Indian? The Indian race is dying of
tuberculosis which will soon extermnate
them. and everybody knows it. They
never worked in a factory in their lives.
They must have caught it fishing"
Mr.. Bede was. not only very able de-
batter, but he entertained his audience
with numerous stories and bursts of wit
and humor that could come only from
the man who during his congressional ca
reer was known as 1.-The wit of the
House."
Mr.. Seiders definition of socialism was
that society or the federal government
shall own and operate those means of
production which today are used collec-
lively. He denied that it means public
ownership of all lands and real estate,
but Mr.. Bede read an extract from
speech of Representative Berger, the So
cialist in Congress, which said 1t did
mean ownership of all lands and farms.
There were some features of the de-
bate not altogether pleasing. At one or