Torch of reason., March 27, 1902, Page 2, Image 2

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T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON , MARCH 27, E. M. 302 (1902.)
“ B E G IN N E R ’ ’ A N S W E R E D !
than one side. If they know how
to profit by it ho as not to let them ­
selves be drawn into a narrow rut The Few Who Capture the Earth and
Means of Living, Leave the Masses in
it is a great gain.
A n o th er c irc u m sta n c e th a t m ust
act fa v o ra b ly on the sp irit of social
e d u c a tio n in S w itz e rla n d seem s to
he th is
Tn an old d em o cracy like
S w itz e rla n d , w h e r e every one is i n ­
te re sted in p u b lic affairs, w here
ev ery citizen is often caller! u p o n to
vote, am i c o n se q u e n tly to form an
o p in io n on law s of g reat social im ­
p o rta n c e , professors a n d s tu d e n ts
in th e h ig h e r in s titu tio n s a re n a t­
u ra lly in c lin e d to ta k e a special
in te re s t in th e social side of every
science th a t re la te s to m an .
W e feel k een ly th e tr u th so well
fo rm u la te d by M. E ouillee in the
preface to his last re m a rk a b le work:
“ T h e fu rth e r we go, th e m ore ev ery
science becom es in s e p a ra b ly p r a c t­
ical a n d th e o re tic a l, u n til it can
no longer d isc o n n ec t itself from its
social a n d econom ic a p p lic a tio n s.
T h e m oral sciences in p a r tic a la r
are grow ing m ore a n d m ore so c ia l­
ized .”
Dependence, Degradition and Misery.
The Cunning That Effects It Is Immoral
and Inhuman.
The claim m ade by “ Beginner ’
in the T orch of March 6, th a t there
has been rapid advancem ent of the
lower or wage-earning class I do
not deny, and there are good his­
toric reasons for it; but th at they
will continue to so advance is sim ­
ply flying in the face of facts, and
of all the present evidence in the
case. The advancem ent th a t the
common people have made in the
last IDO years or so, has been due
m ainly to the opening up of Am er­
ica, with its unbounded resources,
and the consequent opportunities
which have opened a field for liber­
ty of thought and action which has
had no parallel in all the history
of the past, nor is it likely to have
This is why we can perceive, es­ again in the future.
At the time of the discovery of
pecially in the universities of Hern,
Ziirich, and Geneva, the tendency, America, the churches and nobles
to conceive and treat in a social of the old world practically owned
sp irit all the sciences th a t lend the land, wealth and m achinery of
themselves to it, such as law, p h il­ the world, and hence the means of
osophy, m orals pedagogy, hygiene, production. The common, or labor­
history, etc., thus unconsciously ing classes were mere serfs and
following the exam ple given by a n ­ bondsmen under their control.
other great French P hilosopher, in T his state of affairs had been
applying this method to esthetics, brought about gradually, and by
m orals, and religion in his works: the sam e law th at is bringing about
L ’a rt au point de vue sociologique the sam e condition today— the law
(A rt from a sociological point of of the “ survival of the fittest,” the
view by M. G uyau.)
law of cunning and of brute force.
In all the higher educational in ­
This law of brutes evidently will
stitu tio n s of Sw itzerland there are
courses in political economy, theo­ not be the stan d ard when men be­
retical and applied. The U niver­ come civilized. It will be succeed­
sities of Geneva and Bern only ed by the survival of the moral
offer a course in Sociology, prop­ and social best . Then rath e r will
erly so called. At Geneva this course
is given hy Professor V uarin, it be the duty of the strong to help
th$ economist, well known, am ong and protect the weak—both men­
other works, h y his colaboration of tally and physically. If America
the Revue d ’ Economie politique,' had not been discovered and opened
directed by M. Gide. At Bern the up, thereby giving great o p portuni­
course in Sociology is given by Dr.
Ludwig Stein, professor of philso- ties to the poor and the landless
phy. Besides philophic studies, M. class, in what way would they have
Stein has written a large work: Die been able to have released th em ­
sociale Frage im Lichte der Philos­ selves from their thralldom of pov­
ophic, which one only need glance
erty? Now, as then, the m aster’s
through to gain an idea of the bold­
ly reform itory, but alw ays evolu­ greed is never satiated, but their cry
tionary, spirit of his sociological is for more and more, continually ;
teachings.
and like a falling body, the further
W hile rejecting for future society it goes the greater its velocity, so
the collectivism which seems to him
now, with like m om entum , are the
too sudden a leap to find a place
in the evolution of hum anity, he grand aggregations of w ealth build­
seeks a synthesis between equality ing up.
and liberty, and believes it possible
And yet in the face of the vast
to a ttain it by means of the socializa­
aggregations of capital with their
tion of rights, the m onopolizing by
the state of all the new productive tru sts and tariffs th a t have grown
forces (products of the m ines [sous- up in this country in the last few
sol], waterpower, etc.) and hy a years, and the enorm ous power
system of production based in part th a t they com m and by which a few
on private property strongly con­
men are able to dictate the finances
trolled, in p art on collective proper­
ty, the whole destined to end in a of the whole couutry, and make
higher type of the individual aud and unm ake prices, careers and
of h u m anity.
business at w ill—“ B eginner” can’t
The principal science auxiliary to see but th a t we are still on the high
the social sciences, statistics, which
is ra th e r a scientific method th au a road to an up-buildimz of the lower
science, is also tau g h t in most of classes I Let him visit our sweat-
I shops, overcrowded in every city.
our uuiversities.
Let him attend strikes in full blast he happens to be cunning, or to
arid learn th a t those strikes are not know som ething th a t is of vital im ­
to enable workers to get rich, but portance to the hum an fam ily ?
to get bread for the hungry homes T hat he can establish no toll gate
of the over-w orked and under-fed and m ake all pay endless trib u te
poor. Let him see how the mines, who are in need of what he has a p ­
the farms, ranches, lum bering and propriated ? I say to you, No !
railroads are m ade to pay our m as­ For the thought of man belongs
ters by constant s w e a t, ignorance to men, and should be a> free as air
and degradation J and then the to his fellow-man. Like the air,
thousands— nay m illions, who ca n ­ the value of intellect is im m easu ra­
not get enough work or m eans to ble. We can only ju stly pay for
the time and labor in applying it.
live, and so perish m iserably!
Let “ B eginner” be silent till he He who discovers how to propagate
can get eyes to see facts. The eyes a new variety of fru it—apples,
he has have been blinded by read­ peaches, or potatoes, is just as great
ing political capitalistic newspapers, a benefactor to the world as the
and silly books on “ political econo­ m an, who by his intellect reduces
m y.” Then his talk about the cre­ or traps the m an who reduces, the
ation of wealth by the intellect of cheapness of the m eans of a produc­
Man aud society
the rich I Bah ! Such nonsense ! tion of steel.
The laborer and the genius of the m ust be ever and ju stly protected
craftsm an have created all the against the. cunning and violence
wealth of the world. According to of intellect as much or more th an
“ Beginner’s” own statem ent in the against physical violence, for they
Carnegie case, this is plain enough, are far more dangerous.
for he says th a t C arnegie’s ability
I know th a t this may be hard
laid in the fact th a t he knew how for my friend “ B eginner” to un d er­
to select and use able men as co­ stan d , because he seems a believer
workers.
We are told th a t he in the law of the rig h t of discovery.
cheaply secured the ta le n t, the He thinks th a t if a m an finds any
ability of a Germ an chem ist, who thing, th a t it is his. I suppose
• process
gave J him the secret of * » his
th a t he is angry and his “ blood
how to make steel cheaper, then by boils” again, when he thinks th a t
cunning, shooting, and low wages, Columbus and his heirs ought, “ by
he got control of other skilled and right of discovery” to have a clear
good workmen, and hence his field and a perfect title to all A m er­
ica—“ to have and to hold for ever?”
wealth !
Now, sir ! In all fairness, I ask
No, my dear sir, this wont do.
you, if according to your theory We m ust protect the w’eak as against
th a t a m an is entitled to the inven- 1 the strong intellectually as well as
tion or discovery of his mind and physically.
You have no more
the work of his hands, was not this right to take away a m an’s means
G erm an, this laborer under C arne­ of a livelihood by cunning of in te l­
gie, entitled to the wealth he pro­ lect, no more than you have by
duced, instead of C arnegie? And physical force. The law of our
then this is what m akes your “ blood land denies you the right of brute
boil” is it? Because the people force to take away w hat an o th er
wont bow and cring and craw l to a m an has worked for, earned or cre­
m an who by his own confession ated for his living, and when we
had no genius or ability of his own, become civilized it will deny you
but had the legal power to m ake a the right to do it by intellectual
forceful hiring of some who had, cunning or the power of your law.
aud could produce w hat you call C entral Point, Ore., M arch 12, 302.
His wealth thereby. Such was the
ability of this great hero of yours ! “ B e g in n e r’’ Leads to S o cialism ?
W hat is it really ? Let me label
it for you by the modest nam e. It E ditor T orch of R eason :
In the article ag ain st Socialism ,
was sim ply uncousciousable, selfish
cunning ! T hat is a ll—just ability in T orch of March 6, “ B eginner”
(1) Argues, “ th a t the progress oi
enough to take advantage of some
the class at the foot has been and
one elses’ circum stances.
But now I am going to expose the will be enevitably upw ard.” G ra n t­
m orality of forceful cunning, on a ing th a t this is true, is it an arg u ­
higher pedestal— th a t of our com- m ent against socialism ?
Let us see. He p o rtray s tr u th ­
mon hum anity, or “ socialism ,” if
you prefer th a t name. Did you fully the condition of the “ bond
ever hear th at all men are brothers th ra lls ” a few centuries ago. T h at
and m ust rise or fall together ? m ilder servitude when the “ serfs of
T h at there is no such ju st thing as the soil” were not allowed to leave
one man building himself up at the the estate where they were born,
expense of his country and his fel­ was one step upw ard. “ Later, the
low-man? T hat he who would be masses could go where they pleas­
a beuefactor, or even a ju s t m an, ed,” and had “ as much freedom as
m ust give the thoughts of his brain, was com patible with h ered itary no­
given him by nature and h u m an i­ bility com prising lawgivers by b irth .
“ Still la te r” he says, “ came ‘tr i­
ty, to his fellow-man f r e e ! Free
as the air we breath ! T h at he has u m p h an t dem ocracy’,” and he pic­
no hum an right to make a selfish tures triu m p h a n tly the great prog­
monopoly of his intellect because ress dem ocracy has m ade possible