SOME SOCIALISTS I HAVE MET. (By "A Conservative.")

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 79

SOME SOCIALISTS I HAVE MET. (By "A Conservative.")

The first Socialist I erer knew brought cur loag intimacy to & sudden close by skinning me. Peace to his ashes ! He was a man of elegant tastes, h cultivated mind, an<d luxurious habits, and these characteristics developed in duo course of time a craving for liquor and opiates, the indulgence vi which stimulated, his social a>nd conversational qualities to the very highest degree. - He lived in a simpler, older day, when Specialism was practically unknown, and proressional Socialists had not begun to swell their purses and adorn, -drawing rooms. A -dsep student of th-3 classics, and with a numd well equipped for the digestion of what he read, my friend became a firm believer in the theory that it was -not right that soms men should be exorbitantly wealthy and others bitterly poor, and that it would be better for the world if its wealth could be redistributed in, a anore even manner. In time this idea of the redistribution of property took such a strong hold on his imagination that he undertook' to equalise some of 'ife's inequalities by marriage. 1 His wife, a woman of fine character and 1 breeding, easily persuaded her motner. the holder of the family purse-strings, to build a beautiful house in their native ' town and install the Socialist as its nominal head. The finest room in this mansion became his library, and here, before a cbee>rful wood fire, surrounded by books, which he read less and less as sloth and a drying ambition crept over him, I have listened to Rome of the moat deHghtfnl and convincing talk that has ever fallen upon my ears. At this time I was in his employ as the managing editor jf -a small monthly periodical owned by him, and a-ddTessed lo the "high brows" of his day and generation ; and if a ma\i is never "a hero to his own valet, what can he be to hismanaging editor? I am bound to say that so long as the magazine was conducted at a loss our relations were fairly pleasant, bat, like many a young and inexperienced manager, I was foolish enough 'to hand him in a small monthly profit, with the natural result that he "began by demanding more, and very soon worked himself into the belief that I was holding back from him that *vhich should have been his. But let it not be forgotten that during *• all this uuihappy period, when I was struggling to soueeze out for him a little more money, it was my privilege to listen almost nightly to the most beautiful and uplifting conversation- imaginable. Hb mother-in-law was bitterly opposed to Mquor and opiates, nor do I blame her when I recall trie circumstances that induced fbas }_u'ejudice ; bwt there was always an odd bottle concealed in t'hs hollow of a papier maofoc "tu^ory of England" that ftocd' in an un conspicuous place on the bookshelf, and ofttimes on winier nights he would take down this precious volume and hide it in a sort of cave of books €<rec\.ed on has writiing tatble, and fo arranged that at the sound of appioaeh'n~.<% footstep? our two glasses could Ue {yistily concealed in it and the opaning blocked up with "The Descent of Mar.." I was young then, and a little liquor went a loiyg way witih me. so that generally after a gla.-s or two 1 would find fie tears coming to my eyes as I listened to my friend's diseour.-'S or t-^e higher biotherhood of humanity, and of how \wong it was to v.xierpay the voikpeoyle or accept a lii^ber int. rest tin 6 per cent, on - nw«ted fu'icL-. So beautiful were his vle-ns, •?o '::nt:cu» his cinciicri 1 :. a.'d so line hi.s lanifua_e that, pven b-ic' 1 known th'n, .%* T do r.o-.v, that his prudent mother i.i- 1 a. w '-> fortune was invc-ted in rhemusp lank .=tocl:. T an. quite <-ure that his tr.l'; rot htvt» lo?t one particle of its irr.prcf-.nver'c's :\nd clnim. Ore 1 T vo'ce v ) h::i ''ut wr= orV for a monvnt. It ■was v. hen he pa'uf?d m the ip : cj L of a harangue ■c-n tl:e duty of to others to a-k v. hcthc-r J:r.kin-. our foreman, hrd drawn a certrin 2Cdol that had be^n due to him f or some time. T replied that 1:.3 had not ev-sn ask-2'i for it, and it, was quite po?sible that be had forgotten r'l aboil ''. "TiJe.i don't five it t,-> him !" excL'iir.cci my friend tlw hk.Lip.'i^ l "Ho doesn't de&eive it any way, and, bc-xde.^. money shoi'ld tyo to him who rc«s it the most. Ba^Ln.? it to me to-morrow. Well, as I was jurt saving, ny dsar boy, tha day is coming when th-3 capitalist v.on't make all the money and the man who toils with bis hands will receive a fair snare fcr his labour." It makes *bu.t little difference at this late day to what extent he skinned me, bat it was quite up to the limit of his opportunity. But I have long since credited him with the fact that be taught me the difference between deeds and words, so perhaps the balance is not so far wrong as one might think it. — Tfee Second Friend. — My nest SociaJist friend -was a fellow clerk in the Newark horse-collar factory, where we both toiled 10 hours a day for a pittance of 12dol a week each. During the half-hour allowed us for luncheon we used to talk about what we would do when we got wealthy, and I remember • - that- 1 de6faipe*4Oßee with ; much solemnity :^ba,t the 'moment! 1 was, admitted ip mem. bership in fl*e firm I would inaugurate a »ew sy&estt -whereby *4£h one of tjie three partners would -come teHhe office tw?o duys irt the' week, devqting, the. reel of the 'time to ionoeent enjoymeut. "Later in life I became the. partner in a small firm, and tad to gat up cut daybreak to see thai my associate d><2 not too me. It w«« during' <*ne of theee talks that my friead first told w ihxb be had butt,

reading some very radical foreign books on economics and that it was quite possible that we would both, live to see the j day when there vouid be no such thing ( as private property — when the State would own everything a-nd the profits of labour would be divided according to a much fairer ratio thaai had ever been known in Newark up to that time. At nrct I regaided him a.3 a person dangerous to the peace of a thoroughly discontented community, but when J came to consider that the property of the nmi for which we v,crked would be prized by the State and the incomes of the partner.? Reduced to our own I began to realise chat even a eccial revchiiiou mzy aave .fs aava.nva'jes. In due coum> of 'time I left horse collars for liiirature, and it was not until after a lapse of nearly 40 years that I van across my old friend again. He was delighted to see me, and entertained me at dinner at DfiLmcaico's. Fortune had favoured him since his marriage, he said, and although he spoke modestly of his wife's huge fortune and his own earnings. I know -now that their joint income runs far above the million mark, and that the factory which lie owns in Western Pennsylvania employs fully 1600 men. He told me wit* considerable pride that he paid better wages than any of his competitors, and that his employees had never gone oat on" strike "And hv\v about the social revolution we tts-od to dream about?" I inquired "How soon is the State going to .own all the property and make everything^ even?" "It won't come in our time." lie said as he blew a great smoke wreath from his cigar. "Things have changed since you and I used to work side by .side ;n; n that iic-rss ooTar factory. Tbe working men are better off. and they're not 'so anxious for a change as they used to be. Why, there's scarcely one of th«m in my enroloy that ha?n't got a piano in his house. 1 really believed in all that sort of thing when you first knew me, but I'm equally sincere in my disbelief now." And I respected him for telling the truth. Increase of income destroys a great maaiy revohitiocary ideas. —A Settlement Worker.— Another Socialist of^ my acquaintance was a settlement worker "n the lower part j of the city abou* 15 years ago, and ear- ; nestly devoted to the labour of instructing the women of the neighbourhood in hygiene and their children in the graces of life. •Whenever I called upon her I found myself in tha society of the learned men of t/he neighbourhood — poor but scholarly Jews, teachers or physicians of foreign birth practising in the alien colonies of the to-»n. I never knew until I attended one of these gatherings that there was a really intellectual society to be found sout h of Washington square, "for as a born and bred Kew Yorker I am, of course, as provincial us they m«ike them. One Sunday evening about half a dozen years ago 1 called at the Settlement House and was introduced by my friend to a woman whom she described as " very interasting." C remembsr that she was tall Vaid spectacled, pnd engaged, as she hareelf told his with ov/1-like gravity, 4 n "studying tbe sociological conditions of the congested district." in order to deliver a series of addres-es at th different women's colleges of the country. I observed that tlis little company, which, by the way, had b?^n aii(>montc-l by tv.o or three fashion.ibiy-dre«ed women, li^ten^d open-mouthed to tho 6™£ctaL-led one's utterances, which were characterised by a profound ignoimce of every branch of the subject. Then I looted about the room, ar.d saw that th^ro were none of the oW-timo doctors and teachers present, aad I had scarcaiy abscib^d tk?«e new conditions when my dear friend, whispered in my ear : "I hope t \ on won't bs shocked by whit you hear to-night, buL the f<".ct is we':e growing very FCciali^Lic. You sac, dear Mr-; Jack Sinhhers — that's her automobile 't-"Jir._; (,i:i<J' — '* ,i ,3:1 T-^ , ? i.'.'^.h in hei' views, and .''i?'* be?n do-.vn here a good deal !civ!y an h 'oualr «-r;:iu> of her ssceiet'*' fvierd-- with her. a i"l the oti-er night -he aslieJ r& a'! ro) to diinor. Wr'-ji't it if-i ixr-"fc'U\ '')■.•' ]\ of hci ? Th?re v, era tl 1 : v.v <\ v\shh. n at . 'L'.f <:.r.d four kinds cf wine, a:id I neve" mw <o niutii i>Hto in all niv life. Oi coui.^e. you know how awfully ic-h she i>, «nd how evsrxbrdv's talking about her beco.uing a Socialist. '' "What h Socialism?" I as-ked. Th-e otK'-tion nv. rt hava wt,; a ci"ro^rciLng cr.e, for it several morrep.t-i bcfni*e ths'je reached my ears the halting reply : "Oh, well, Social' c ni r:crns uift what the Naw Testament tello its, ;>nd very mrch what we're doina; downi here. It mcani t'aat the rich h?ve pot altosrether tco mixh money ard the \ajov too little, and we must try to «quaJi£e it. By tho way, we're goiacj to havo a reception next nioaith — you'll get a card for it. — and if you could manage to fay something about it in the papers it would be real nice. Who's coming? Well, there won't be any more of those frowsy old doctors and teachers we used to have here. Mrs Jack is coming, and ever so many of her society friends. It's going to be the very finest affair erer given in any settlement house, and that lady I just introduced you to is going to give a Lecture oa New York's foreign quarters tb.2t will be perfectly deJig&tful. It's the same one she's been getting up in the last tea days, and she's going to deliver it. to all tfee women's colleges in the country. Oh, there's Mt Cadger ; he's the man that's making such a sensation by giving among the poor. His mothef-in-law entertains delightfully. You really oraet meet him." The Anarchist. — I h«d> seen Mr Cadger once before. It was in a , great Broadway grocery store, where I was waiting -to give a modest ord«r lor my household supplies. He was ordering his supplies, too, and 1 as I heart the list of costly deliotciee rolling so easily from hi« tongue 4 began to *K*Bd*x who «v going to «at *& Oyose fvnaaewa

and brandi-ed peaches and fruits and cheese and truffled pates ; and I confess that I bent an inquisitive ear as he reached the end of his rasmcracidiun, and- added, as he button-ed his mr-idned overcoat closely about him, "Yoxi may ser.<J the goods to Mx Arth-ua- Cadger, in Slum street, but send the hid to Mrs Jones, in Upper Fifth avenue/ And as I tcok my cir.all bag of purchases uixiisr my arm — sira 1 ! as they were they had set in.9 back l.flodol — I enviect ths" man who co«id solve the difficult problem ol living on stendetr means as easily a 5 he could. The very next week I saw Mr Cadger's name signed to a magazire article entitled "Heavy Eurciins thit Women Must Bear," a subject on which he coiil'd spe«k Avith high authority,' for he is cae of the heavisst of them. That was why I was gkd when >Jr Cadger arose in "tha settlemeat psrlour to offe-iT a few wcdl-titned observations on Socialism. I felt that he had mastered at one i>hafe of the question — and an important c:ie, too. — as well as bad Tiy old frieinl described in my opening paragraphs. And now, when he delivered a beautiful address en the need of more bomb-throwing, and explained why every true Socialist owed it to himself to marry well, I realised 1 that I was listening to one who knew whereof he spoke. In fact, his remarks interested me so much that after considering them "for several days I determJßsd: to call on'hiro and invite further discussion. I " found" his house readily enough, but the servant told me he had just stepped out, and would be back at dimmer time. I called again -that evening, onJy to miss. him. and several times during the Jollowmg week I had) the same ill fortune. Finally I took & half dollar from my pocket, aiid; noting the covetous gleam in. the ' ma«U' servant* eye, said : ",Teli me, on the level now, when Mr Cadger is a-t^home." " "Shure, T Chink he's at home now, sir, wid his mother-in-law, iB"^EW avenue.5e don't live hei>e ; he oialy gets his letters h«ne',-. and has it, for a place te meet them sittlemint folks an' siich like."