Mr. Gladden On Socialism

Rev. Washington Gladden, of Columbus, Ohio, Saturday evening, lectured in Ann Arboron " The True Socialism." Hi " true socialism " is nothing but the golden rule. We should do uuto others as we would have thetn do unto us. He would have every one look upon his daily work as a social function, and not merely as an individual function. This is all very pretty, but of what practical hearing is it on the labor question? If every one did as near right as popsible, of couree this would be a much better world ; but how can it be possible for the golden rule to get into very general use so long as men must strugglefor the mere necessities of life ? Supposing that suddenly all employers were to become honorable, and all laboring men and women were to do their work in the spirit of social duty which Mr. Gladden wants for his " true social6m," how would that help the starving, the unemployed, the paupers, the tramps? The preaching of the golden rule is a good thing, of course, and clergymen might well do more of it; but in relation to the great labor question of today, it is unfortunate that any one of Mr. Gladden's prominence should talk the way he did. Evidently the labor question is an economie one ; and the reason why wages tend to the minimum, why thousands can find no employment, why tenement houses are used, and poor-hoasee are necessarr, is not tü be fotind in the mutual relations of employers and employed to their work. Improve the temper and spirit of both, and how could that prevent wages falling as they have done in the past? Mr. Gladden at least understands the growing importance of the labor question, which cannot be said of many who attempt to talk about it. He acknowledged that inequalities in eonditions even in this free country were becoming more apparent ; and pauperism is growing while granaries are ready to burst. As he said, there is a chasm, constantly widening, between the House of Have and the House of Want