The Wise Men of the East
it or not, or be disfranchised! Owen asked him if he believed in Tariff Reform. The man said no.
'Why not?' demanded Owen.
The other replied that he opposed Tariff Reform because he believed it would ruin the country. Owen inquired if he were a supporter of Socialism. The man said he was not; and when further questioned he said that he believed if it were ever adopted it would bring black ruin upon the country. He believed this because Mr Sweater had said so. When Owen asked him, supposing there were only two candidates, one a Socialist and the other a Tariff Reformer, how he would like to be compelled to vote for one of them, he was at a loss for an answer.
At considerable danger to themselves, Owen and the other Socialists continued to distribute their leaflets and to heckle the Liberal and Tory speakers. They asked the Tories to explain the prevalence of unemployment and poverty in protected countries like Germany and America; and at Sweater's meetings they requested to be informed what was the Liberal remedy for unemployment. From both parties the Socialists obtained the same kinds of answers: threats of violence and requests 'not to disturb the meeting.'
These Socialists held quite a lot of informal meetings of their own. Every now and then when they were giving their leaflets away some unwary supporter of the capitalist system would start an argument, and soon a crowd would gather round and listen.
Sometimes the Socialists succeeded in arguing their opponents to an absolute standstill, for the Liberals and Tories found it impossible to deny that machinery is the cause of the overcrowded state of the labour market; that the overcrowded labour market is the cause of unemployment; and that the fact of there being always an army of unemployed waiting to take other men's jobs away from them destroys the independence of those who are in employment, and keeps them in subjection to their masters. They found it impossible to deny that this machinery is being used, not for the benefit of all, but to make fortunes for a few. In short, they were unable to disprove that the monopoly of the land and machinery by comparatively few persons is the cause of the poverty of the majority. But when they were faced with unanswerable arguments they
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