OCR Text |
Show Bishop Spalding on Socialism Introductory Chapter of His Forthcoming Book-No Gulf Between Rich and Poor, but a Graduation of Generally Distributed Possessions. The people of America have many things to be thankful for. The material resources of our country are so meat that as yet neither we nor the world at large have been able to measure their extent. Hidden storehouses of wealth are continually . being revealed to us. We are energetic, industrious, brave, and untiring.' We are convinced of the supremacy of mind over matter, and we make ceaseless and increasing efforts ef-forts to educate the spiritual faculties of the whole people. We are adverse to war and. believe that disputes between nations, as between individuals, should be settled by discussion and arbitration. arbitra-tion. We are opposed to standing armies, ar-mies, believing that the national wealth and intelligence should be devoted to the. improvement and culture of the citizens, and not to conquest and destruction. de-struction. We have no powerful neighbor neigh-bor to repel or overthrow. Our comparative com-parative exemption from war has made possible the rapid development of out country. The love of peace, which is a .characteristic of the American people,1 manifests itself also in religious goodwill good-will and toleration. As dynastic wars are for us out of the question, so are religious wars.- The spirit of forbearance forbear-ance and helpfulness manifests itself in our customs and habits as in our legislation. In no . other country is property more secure: in no other country is it so generally diffused. Nowhere No-where else is opportunity for woman as for man so universal: nowhere is there such faith in the national destiny: nowhere has the fusion of peoples differing dif-fering in many and important respects been : brought about so rapidly or so satisfactorily; nowhere are the multitudes multi-tudes so eager to learn or so quick to avail themselves of new discoveries and inventions. The millions from foreign for-eign lands who have .founded homes' here are making other millions in the old,- world thankful that America exists. We are "Indeed 'aonrce of hope and confidence to "all. in whatever part of the" earth, who love justice and liberty, who believe in a higher and. more blessed social and religious future for mankind. Already we are the possessors posses-sors of greater wealth than any other nation possesses or has ever possessed: and though ' few men, whose names stare us in the face from the pages of the newspapers, " have fortunes that seem almost fabulous, there is diffused among the masses of the people a well-being well-being and comfort such as exists in no other land. This may be perceived in the housing of the people, in their clothing, in the wholesomeness of their food, andt above all in the spirit of courage cour-age and hopefulness which pervades our whofe life. There is no gulf between the rich and the poor, but a graduation of generally gen-erally distributed possessions. Nevertheless it is obvious that when there is question of American life, a merely optimistic view is a shallow and a false view.. There are great and widespread wide-spread evils among us, as also tendencies tenden-cies which, if allowed to take their course, will lead to worse evil. There is the universal political corruption. There is the diminished sense of the sacredness of property. There is the loosening of the marriage tie and the sinking influence of the home. There is a weakening of the power to apprehend appre-hend spiritual truth, and a consequent lowering of the standards of value, a falling away, from the vital principles of religion; even- while we profess to believe , in religion. There is. indeed, enough and more than enough, to keep all who cherish exalted ideas of the worth of human life and who love America lowly-minded and watchful. One of the most'eertain signs of decadence dec-adence is a failure of the will, and one might think that we are threatened with this. Our ability to react against abuses is growing, feebler. The social organism is so vast and so complex that it seems hopeless to attempt to interfere, and so we permit things to take their course, abdicating tAe freedom free-dom and the power of will in the presence pres-ence of an idol which we call Destiny. The more public opinion is shaped by the ideals' of evolution as the supreme law of life the less capable - we become be-come of bringing reason and conscience to bear upon human affairs, or recognizing recog-nizing God's presence in the world, and holding to truth and love as something higher and mightier than a universe of matter. , ; The course of things is, indeed, but partially subject to human control. Human Hu-man , progress, nevertheless, depends chiefly on human intelligence and energy, en-ergy, which, if they cannot create, can shape and guide. The one means of promoting the welfare of man i3 labor and effort. It alone can develop his mind, can rorm nis cnaracier, can protect pro-tect him . from the blind force of nature, na-ture, and provide him for what is necessary nec-essary for his comfort and dignity. The end of labor is the strengthening and enrichment of life, and the best measure meas-ure of its value is the effect it produces- on man, individually and collectively. col-lectively. The end is not abundance of riches, but noble life, healthful, pure; intelligent, brave and loving. No wealth can enrich the brutal and the base;, no possessions can purchase joy or peace for the slaves of appetite. Where right human life is led a life of faith, hope and love, of thought and self-control, of industry and self-denialto live with as few material and animal wants as possible ennobles man. To learn to live with as little as possible pos-sible and to waste nothing that is needful need-ful is the .sum of practical wisdom. Socrates was happy in thinking how-many how-many things the world is full of which he did not need. Simple pleasures are the best. Expensive luxuries harm those who indulge, in them, and bring misery to many. The highest ambition ambi-tion springs but from the will to lead an honest, helpful life, whatever one's circumstances. . One may be a wise, good and happy man, or a foolish, wicked and miserable man, whether rich or poor.. We must have food, shel ter and clothing that we may live: hut we should live not to ho fed an(i housed, but to grow in kn.iwI.Mge and virtu. in help;uln-ss an. I holiness. For the most fortunate nu r, li!V is full of difficulties p.nl 'irui'.i.les: for tli poorest it may he filled with !i,;ht f peace and biessedness. To be a man is to think ar: we!! as u. work, and the ire,n intelligence tlieie is in the work the better shall f he for the workers. Reason as well as religion impels those who work with the head and thoce wno uork with the hand f.) co- ' operation, not to conflic t. The interests of both are best served u hen ihev are friends. If labor is not d recteri bv abibtv it is sterile. The notion tl.a't those who work with the ha:,ds are the s"le producers of wealth is a fallacy I which should deceive no one. The- viidt increase ef wealth in the modern world of industry and commerce is the result to a far greater degree of ability than of labor. It has been produced chieily by the comnarati vely tew men of exceptional ex-ceptional gifts, who have invented machines, ma-chines, organized enterpi ises. opened markets, and thus given work and sustenance sus-tenance to millions who but for thfm would never have been burn. Capital itself, which makes our great undertakings undertak-ings feasible, is largely stored ability-ability ability-ability embodied and made permanently j fruitful in the means of production and distribution. Columbus did not sail his I ships, but had it not been for his genius ge-nius they would not have sailed at ail; and had the mutinous crew thrown him overboard, they would have drifted to death and the new world had not been discovered. The natural sources of I wealth had existed in America for 4 countless ages, but the savages who ! I dwelt here lived in poverty and wretch- j edness because they lacked men of abil- I I ity to lead them to the conquest of the f : riches of whose existence th" v were l- ! rtorant. ' - - - ' ' Capital is like an exquisite musical ' 5 instrument valueless if there is no one j who knows the secret of its uses, and f the men of ability who know how to I use capital wisely are as rare as excel- lent musicians. Laborers may be com- pared to soldiers, who conquer only I when they are disciplined, equipped and f commanded by men of ability. It has I been calculated that two-thirds of the j; wealth produced in the nineteenth cen- . f tury were due to ability, and but one- I third to the work of those who toil wiLh 1 their hands. This applies to spiritual not less than to material wealth. The j great advances of mankind, in what- j ever sphere, have been made through f the genius and under the leadership of ? a few highly endowed individuals the prophets of better things, the subduera of the foes of man, the pioneers o I progress. Land and labor are the prim- ary sources of wealth, but its produc- tion in the modern world is due chiefly f to ability, working with capital, which f it more than any other agency has ere- ated. Nothing is more wonderful than j the hand, but its almost . miraculous power is due to the fact that it is thy instrument of the brain. f In former times the men of ability were drawn to devote themselves to f war or government or philosophic spec- ulation, but now more than ever before , I they throw themselves into industry I and commerce, making the- pursuit of ! riches their life-aim. This i3 the ca- I reer "which seems to promise the most ? immediate and the most substantial re- I suits: and the really able men are so few and the work to be done is so im- ! measurable and so complex, that the demand for these exceptional individu- als is greater than the supply. Every great enterprise, every great business I concern, needs for its success what they alone can give. Hence they com- mand, salaries which seem to be ex- i orbitant; hence they grow rich, be- ! come capitalists and form combinations of capital, which appear to many to be a menace to the freedom and welfare j of the whole people. Competition. i which begins as a struggle for exist- ; ence, finally becomes a desire to crush j and dominate, become a warfare, which if less bloody is not less horrible or . I cruel than that which is carried on , I with shot and shell. As in battle the I generals, however humane they be. I think only of victory and are heedless ! of the suffering and the loss of life, so in the struggle for industrial and commercial supremacy, the men of f ability, the leaders and capitalists are wholly bent on the attainment of their j ends, and easily lose sight of the prin- i ciples of justice and humanity. f It is this that makes the organization of workmen into labor and trauc-s i unions inevitable and indispensable. f The consciousness that if they do not f protect and defend themselves they will be ground by the wheels of a vast l machine or reduced to a conditionlit- tie better than that of slaves, compels ? them to unite lest they be deprived of the common rights of man. In ancient times laborers were slaves: it is not j long ago since multitudes of them in our own country were slaves; and, , however the fact be disguised, the nat- ! ural tendency of greed, of the love and pursuit of material things as the chief f good of life, is to deaden the sense of justice and humanity, to make the strong, the men of ability, feel that ; they have the right to do whatever they are able to do. They are pot necessarily nec-essarily unjust or cruel, but they be- ' come the victims of a false belief and the agents of a system which is as piti- less as a 'law of nature. j One of the chief forces by which this j tendency is held in check is the reli- gious principle and feeling that men are the children of God. and have inalienable in-alienable rights: th. work should enable en-able the worker to lead a life not unworthy un-worthy of a rational being; that richea which are procured at the cost of human hu-man misery and degradation are ac- (Continued on Page 7.) j ''' 1 '" urn. - 1 "I"" ip-.ii. 1 BSH0P SPALDING . ! ON SOCIALISM I ? (Continued from Page l.) '; f ' cnrA: that what constitutes" the pro- or" value of individuals and of nations L spiritual and not m;Rerial: that U ,1,,.,'r is eternal wrath in store for all 1,0 trami'l upon mopaj and intellec- f : ,j F,),i that they may add to their I ,,U.ssi"ns. These .truths are accepted I 1 public opinion of. the civilized I ! vori'l. an.i hence there is a general I i vvnipatliy with laborers in their efforts V j j,', obtain justice and to improve their )f .-..niiiiiun. All -who observe and reflect ,-f.,-j .jrnize the fact that their lot is ihat they bear an undue share of tli, burdens f life, that they are often ,,, . , t.t 1d work which is destructive c( ,,;,th and happiness, and that they , n;,.'sc(1 to greater vicissitudes, of l,!'';n" than others. ' 1 :i this, however, would accomplish I ..,;,. for their improvement if they i v), nisei ves remained indifferent, if they (i'i.j net organize, if they did not dis-,.;s dis-,.;s .in J come to a fuller conscious-, conscious-, c- of their grievances, if thev did ! j-,,,; si l ikes and other lawful menas i jii.ik" strenuous efforts to increase tI,,.j- Maes or to prevent them from 1, if they did not agitate for few-; few-; (.r h.rjrs of work, or whatever else i r,,;y riv-'1 them leisure and opportunity to , ';",ivate their spiritual natures and Tl;i;S 1,1 make themselves capable of en-i,,v,:;u en-i,,v,:;u life in a rational and Christian ay. Keonomic laws, which are im-n im-n f.i'aMe. make it impossible that nai.'s should rise beyond a given p,,: t, or that wealth should be so dis-tr dis-tr ' as to make all men rich. The nil,: it u ! are poor and can never be ,,, K it is indeed fortunate that it is , Impossible that the masses of mankind 1 s!in;;M ever be able to lead an idle jin i luxurious life. It is a law of hu- n -c; nature that man shall work and ; 1 ; ;, in, if it is to be well with him; ? ;!.::t 10 do nothing and enjoy, much-is i"l,.-ible. Political economy, liko g.i. . iiii ent, rests on a basis of morula:.-. .Moral character alone can give I j man self-respect, courage, hope. A ,!,,,!! ulness and power of endurance. : i l. the laborers, and all who identify identi-fy tlvnselves with their cause, should a 1 are first of all that they, be 11 ue men provident, self-restrained, kiii.'.ly. sober, frugal and helpful; and that this may be possible, also relig- ions. The foe of labor is not capital, but irnorance and vice. In the whole ; Kilish-speaking world, at least. Its worst enemy is drink. More than a, . i!iijinatiop of employers, the saloon has power to impoverish and degrade workingmen. In their own ranks the traitors are those who preach irre-lision irre-lision and anarchy. The influence of Christianity has been and is the chief , ; ,owt 1 which' has brought'the world to ! reeopmze the rights of the enslaved, the j r. the weak, of all who are heavy-laden and over-burdened. It aroused and it alone can sustain enthusiasm en-thusiasm for humanity. If this faith i- could die out, what would remain but ; the law of the survival of the fittest, that is. of the strongest, the most un-.' un-.' rupulous, the most reckless of the sufferings and sorrows of their fellow fel-low men? ? These are the men who prosper among savages, in barbarous states, and in periods of anarchy. nut it is not conceivable that the civilized world should turn from the I principles "which Christ proclaimed, if, whose development and diffusion must in the end substitute for universal competition the war of all upon all the co-operation of all with all, not merely or ehiefly for the winning of - the bread that nourishes the body, but 5 above all for thr spread of the higher. life of truth and love, of purity and" ' j potidnesp. In America, assuredly, we have pood reason to take a hopeful i view of the future. No foreign power : can offer hindrance to our progress in 1 the fulfillment of our God-given rights, j vhiih are not only to secure equal j richts. liberties, and opportunities to all the people, but so to educate and i inspire all the inhabitants of this great continent that they "nay all -work to-f to-f pet her to shape here' a nobler man hood and womanhood than the' world ': has ever seen. |