Man's Inhumanity.

The World says to the Magdalen: "You are beyond the pale.

You belong to an alien race.

You have fallen, have fallen forever. We will not lift you."

The World says to the Criminal:
"Go you out from among us.
Henceforth our doors are closed.
The gates of hope will not open.
Your doom is sealed. Out with you.
You have fallen. We will not help you."

The World says to the Pauper:
"You have no kinship with us.
Can you find no work? Then go,
Starve, steal, or beg; we care not.
Sink down to the mendicant's level,
We may give you a grudging charity."

In our boasted civilization,

There is much of the brute about us;
There is much of the savage inherent-
Inhumanity,

Hypocrisy masking as virtue,
Cold respectability

Freezing the native kindness

Out of our natures.

We cry, as they cried of old time,

"Away with him, crucify him,"

To the Christ, who is Humanity.

We hear not the voice through the ages:

"As ye have done it unto one

Of the least of these, my brethren,

Ye have done it unto me."

The Pharisee yet is among us,

The self-righteous, the dogmatist.
Have we no charity?

Have we no mercy?

Have we no love?

Have we no pity?

Millions are perishing daily

For want of a word of kindness;

For want of a helping hand,

To be reached to them in their gropings;
For want of a loving smile,

To shine on them in their darkness.
God help His poor and unfortunate,
Since man has forgotten, or spurns them.

Selfishness rules the world
And shuts the door on affection.
Ancient lies are invoked,

To bolster him up in his kingdom. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Says the World, as Cain in the old time; And out of the Silence thunders The eternal "Yes." Will we hear it? Then turn from the worship of gold And lift up the weak and the fallen; Then turn from the service of greed And make the world sweeter and better. Denver, Colo., 1899. J. A. EDGERTON.

Unionism; Socialism; Communism.

By SAM. L. LEFFINGWELL.

As the time approaches for the assemblage of the great congress of economic reform-the American Federation of Labor-the same disturbing and distracting element of opposition is arousing itself for action, and will present, probably, a bolder front than ever before, for the propagation of its senseless, visionary and impracticable theories, to the destruction, if not absolute annihilation, of sound, sensible, conservative methods tending to happy consummation in the establishment of measures for the substantial amelioration of the present and future generations of mankind.

The enlightened and intelligent trade unionist needs no admonishment to serious reflection upon the advantages enjoyed by himself and fellows by strict adherence to the simple, sound, preservative and conservative principles of trade unionism. A glance at the struggle for the betterment of the human race from earliest ages-the barbarism of might ever crushing and oppressing the helpless and powerless in contention for the commonest rights and privileges of natural birthright_should imbue a spirit of gratefulness in every workingman for the opportunities and facilities afforded him in this age for protection and defense against unequal and exacting conditions.

There is nothing revolutionary in the advocacy of and the adherence to the trade union principle. It deals with no theory, but facts. It is founded upon the purest sense of equity. It claims nothing but right, and its methods are as legal and loyal as the church. It faces the present-the now-and asks no favors for itself that it is not willing should be granted to all others. It makes no discrimination in the elements of its composition-neither of sex, color, nativity, nationality, politics nor religion. In a very broad sense it is cosmopolite, more especially in its social phase, exerting its energies as much for the benefit of humanity as for individual self.

Enlightenment, education and organization have brought the laboring masses of this country to a better understanding of their common rights, and to a fuller enjoyment of them, than any species of reform ever before attempted by the human race. It is not necessary to say that trade unionism is alone responsible for these improved conditionsstill improving and expanding beyond careful estimate.

And the introduction of any new theory or speculation to disturb the harmonious concord of agreement of facts so well demonstrated and established in the amelioration of conditions, would be as disastrous and disgraceful as the designedly destroying one's own life.

There is so much clamor for socialism among a certain class of impracticable reformers that one is nearly brought to the belief that socialism is the only panacea for all the ills which afflict humanity. But there are many degrees of socialism. Every member of a trade union is a socialist, if he only knew it. His own organization is socialistic in its tendencies, and we venture to say that nearly, if not quite all the principles set forth in socialist platforms find warm favor and support from a majority of trade unionists. But he does not necessarily have to give up his trade union to give favor and support to any principle of reform which will not interfere with his present legal, lawful, conservative methods of obtaining and maintain. ing means of support for himself and dependents. There is nothing in trade unionism that restricts him from voting for any theories of reform his conscience may dictate.

Socialism, though, as represented in what is known in this country as the "Socialist Labor Party," and strongly advocated by its leaders and adherents, while unpretentious to that end in its declarations, is, when stripped of its gauzy frontage, nothing more nor less than communism. There can be no other analysis of state socialism, with its wide-mouthed clamor for a co-operative commonwealth, than communism, "pure and simple," a term, by the way, they are pleased to apply to trade unionism, as one of reproach and ridicule. It is not exactly anarchism, but in the hands of zealots and fanatics, such as are acknowledged among its leaders, it needs only the encouragement of seeming success to the efforts being made by them, to proclaim its true colors and stand for the ruin and desolation of government and society, with all its attending ills and evils.

And what is communism? About as clear a definition of communism as we have been pleased to note was written as far back as 1879, by the Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock. We have not the article before us, but will try and give as succinct a relation of his views as memory will give us aid. Meanwhile, keep your eye on the propaganda of the "co-operative commonwealth."

Communism is simply the absorption of the individual in the community, the citizen in the State.

The individual, as such, has no rights; the community has absorbed them all. What the community ordains must be done or endured. Not relations only, but employments, everything, must be determined by the state. Not only must everybody work, but everybody must do just the kind and just the amount of work the community shall set him to do. In short, the state undertakes to do everything, or almost everything, which individuals now do. The state owns all the lands and all the houses, all the railways, factories and banks and all the vessels. There is no more any private property or private business. No man shall even braid himself a hat of straw, mend his own breeches or cobble his own shoes. If it be answered that no one will wish to do any such thing for himself, having no occasion to do it, it follows that the present motives to industry and economy will have ceased to operate. The inability to better one's condition will have extinguished the desire to do it. The right to do it will be no longer debatable. All freedom has perished. The citizen is nothing, the state is all, and, in a republic, that all may be a majority of one, and that one carried drunk to the polls. One drunken voter may thus be master of us all. Such a doctrine is one of monstrosity. But it is one that will not down by howling. It must be treated philosophically and combatted with argument.

First of all, it should be made clear that the state is for the citizen, not the citizen for the state; society for the individual, not the individual for society. We are taught that even God's Sabbath was made for man; not merely to serve him as he is, but to make him still more a man. Institutions are mortal; man immortal. The historical, temporal judgment is of institutions and organisms. The final judgment is of individuals, each one of us all giving an account of himself. Consciously responsible to moral law, we must have perfect freedom, in order to be up to the responsibility. And so the humblest of us has rights which all the rest of us, banded together, may not dare to touch. One has a right to life; and society, without consent, shall not take it away, unless it has been forfeited by crime. One has a right to liberty and shall not be enslaved by society. One has a right to one's property, whether earned or inherited, and society shall not use it against one's wishes, without appraisal and indemnity. The final end of society, is not itself, but the individual. Society, of course, has its sphere, its prerogatives, its authority. It may command one to assist the policeman in arresting a murderer. It may send one to battle. Society is under bonds to defend all, in defending itself, and each one is a party to the contract. Society may build roads and bridges, but when it crosses one's meadows or injures one's business, it must make settlement for damages. Society may abate nuisances; but it may not undertake the organization of labor or

exchange. It may not tell one what he shall do for a living.

These rights here named, rights of persons and property, are not only inalienable, but also awfully sacred, and somehow or other, sometime or other, the infringement of them is avenged.

Proudhon, in his famous essay, advanced the doctrine that rights imply duties, and duties rights; that society, in absorbing the individual becomes responsible for his support; while the individual, in being absorbed, becomes entitled to support. Birth into the world," he said, "entitles one to a living in it." This sounds both humane and logical. The right of society to absorb implies the duty to support; while the duty of the individual to be absorbed, implies the right to be supported. But the premise and conclusion are equally false. Society has no right to absorb the individual, and consequently is under no obligation to support him, so long as he is able to support himself; while the individual has no business to be absorbed, and no right to be supported.

Experience has taught us to beware of the man who says that society owes him a living. The farmer has learned not to leave his cellar door open, when such theorists are about. Society has entered into no contract to support anybody who is able to support himself, any more than Providence has entered into such a contract. Providence certainly is a party to no such contract; or there have been flagrant breaches of contract in the famines lately afflicting India, China and other portions of the world. It is told in an old book, which some communists have called agrarian, that the God of the Hebrews used to hear the young ravens when they cried; but we do not read that any young raven ever starved.

One of the most offensive and distasteful features of this Socialist Labor Party's creed is its intolerance. It will admit of no "ifs" or "ands," but would drag over forcibly every man with a franchise to its way of thinking, to an unequivocal endorsement of all its theories and speculationsco-operative commonwealth and all-and its leaders and the editors of its organs will brazenly stamp you as an idiot, a hypocrite, a liar, or probably a thief, if you contend that there is possibly a better way to bring about a reform for your necessities than by the line of action laid down by them. The trade unionist has not only nothing to fear, but something to rejoice for, if he will only reflect upon the "before" and "after" of his condition in his connection with his union, and to how much his energy should be exerted for a continuance of the blessings he enjoys by renewed homage, loyalty and fidelity to the organization so dear to him and those dependent upon him.

The receipt of a sample copy of the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST is an invitation to you to subscribe to it, or you can have it sent free to your address for one year by sending five paid subscriptions,

British Labor Notes,

By THOMAS REECE.

LONDON, October 12, 1899.-Tom Mann's saloon in Long Acre has become a center for an extraordinary amount of life in connection with the labor and reform movement. The private parlor is the resort of all the trade union secretaries for miles around, who meet here in their spare time to carry on an informal trade union convention of a very friendly sort. In the large hall upstairs societies of every kind, from the Young Ireland League to the Social Democratic Federation, hold their sessions.

Still retaining his vice-presidency of the Dock Workers' Union, Tom Mann undertakes organization tours for that trade union occasionally. Along with Ben Tillett he is just starting a weekly labor paper, which is to be the mouthpiece of all sections of the movement, from the most advanced to the most conservative-a rather wide field, which he hopes can be covered satisfactorily by the exercise of a spirit of fraternity and toleration.

Again, the difficulty of getting decent halls for labor and reform meetings in this city of so many millions has induced Tom Mann to evolve a scheme for a great labor hall. The estimated cost is about twenty thousand pounds sterling, which would probably be raised partly upon joint stock lines and partly by voluntary subscription. The hall is to seat 1,500 people.

The "Trade Unionist," the monthly organ of pure and simple trade unionism in Britain, has been compelled to cease publication after its thirteenth number. Frederick Maddison, M. P., the editor, takes a farewell of his readers in the October issue. It was too finely got-up a journal for the money-only three pence a month.

The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants has just held its twenty-first annual convention. This year the location was Liverpool. Nearly fifty-five thousand members were reported to be in benefit-an increase of nearly five thousand since last December. George Thaxton was reelected president, and Richard Bell, secretary. The proceedings were most business-like and amicable. An invitation to the delegates from the Cunard Steamship Company to view their liner, the Lucania, then at Liverpool, was refused, the Cunard Company having a dispute on with its sailors.

This is all part of the general shipping trade dispute at present going on in various ports. Catheray, the Secretary of the Seamens and Firemens' Union, declares the campaign for higher wages a decided success. Apart from other mens' gains, quite 3,000 seamen employed on colliers have 'obtained concessions bringing their wages up to $8 per week-an increase of from 25 to 50 cents. The strike continues in some ports.

The shipowners have also been galvanized into activity and have met in conclave at the London