Walter Rauschenbusch

“ You remember the West Shore Road was built almost parallel to that road a few years ago, but is it now in the hands of the same Company which owns the New York Central, which proves that the latter had a natural monopoly. Now, it is the State that grants that right to the railway company, because, unless the State grants the right to buy the land continuously,to condemn the property and buy it at a certain valuation, the Company could never build that road. It has to be granted by the power of the whole community, and therefore that privilege really belongs to the community which grants it. ”

“ Now, granting that that would be a good thing—that artificial monopoly should be done away with and natural monopolies held by the State—the question still remains whether there are not other lines of business which would still be monopolized, for instance, the manufacture of starch, the catching of fish, the curing of salt, or anything at all. Is there not a natural tendency in human society towards the aggregation of forces, toward grasping natural forces, and uniting to crush out opposition? ”

“ Now, such an artificial monopoly can be repealed or done away with by repealing the law which created it, and I think I shall appeal to the sense of justice in all your hearts when I say that any monopolies which are artificial are not right. (Applause.) Any person who is in the enjoyment of benefits which inure to him alone, and which are given to him by the sufferings of others, has rights which he ought not to have. ”

“ But when society stepped in and emancipated the slave, public opinion immediately began to veer around, and there are now a very few men in the South who desire to bring about the old condition of things. There, you see that not only did individual character work upon society, but society worked upon the individual character. Not only does individual opinion, in regard to anything, gradually bring about a transformation of society, but when society is transformed, individual opinion is very rapidly transformed also. ”

“ He is often called a 'socialist, but it is very incorrect to call him so; he is not a socialist, but the strongest opponent of socialism in the United States. He is a strong advocate of Laissez faire in the highest sense of that term.. Therefore he insists that artificial monopolies, such as the tariff, should be swept away, and that freedom should be given to the natural forces of society, and that natural monopolies should be owned and managed by the community to which they naturally belong. These are his propositions in regard to monopoly. ”

“ In the upper part of New York City, as all those who are conversant with the condition of the city know, there are vast tracts of land which would give beautiful houses to many of those who are crowded into the lower part of the city, which are absolutely held and cannot be got at at any price, because those who hold them are able to hold them, and intend to hold them until they are still more valuable than they are to-day. ”

“ Therefore, I hold that it is the duty of all christian men, and of the Christian Church also, to work in the first place towards the amelioration of personal character, and to have the influence from that emanate into society. ”

“ I would like to take issue, from the very beginning, with some of the preliminary statements of the last speaker, who claimed that it is the purpose of christianity to change the individual character of man, and then to leave it to that individual character to work out gradually the transformation of society. It is certainly true that it is one of the main objects of christianity to change the individual life, and to implant in the heart of man the truth and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. ”

“ It is the same with all things and all' affairs; there is so much more strength in co-operation than in individual work. Therefore it seems to me very likely that even after free play has been secured for natural forces those who have already a large amount of force, or those who, by moral excellence or intellectual keenness, see the advantages of combination, will get together, and after all have a monopoly. There is where the socialists and Mr. George disagree. He says that after Laissez faire has been secured, social ills would stop and go no further. ”

“ We know what a long and costly struggle it has been to achieve the independence of the people in the history of mankind; how every step has been wrestled for and wrung out of the hands of royalty and aristocracy. ”

“ But we must not be blind to the other half of the truth. We must also attack the wrongs of human society and the unjust laws of the community, to bring about righteousness through the Kingdom of God in the world, and then we shall also have an influence radiating from society and centering upon the individual. Starting with these assertions I now turn to the subject we have in hand.
The chief school of political economy is the school of freedom, holding the doctrine of Laissez faire, in the higher sense of that word. ”

“ This afternoon, in a way very interesting to me, the point was made that there is a universal tendency to co-operation, to the uniting of forces, and that is the case because united forces are immensely stronger than scattered forces. ”

“ Even the Czar of Russia in making his proclamations puts himself, ostensibly at least, on the ground that he is acting for the welfare of his people, that he is the chief servant of the State, not that the people exist for him, but that he exists for the people. ”

“ Suppose there were others in the United States, but that a tariff would be constructed to keep the saltpetre of the United States over there. That would really create a monopoly for the man who owned the saltpetre mine in Canada; and that monopoly would be an artificial monopoly, for, if that law had not been passed, the saltpetre from the United States could be brought over here, and that man could not raise the price of his saltpetre as high as he pleased ”

“ A great block of iron is hoisted up, bit by bit, to the top of a great beam, and then finally it is let loose and slides down with a tremendous impetus on the pile below and drives it into the earth. Now, imagine that great mass of iron broken up into small hammers, each weighing half a pound ”

“ Therefore, I say it seems to me to be a very fundamental and simple proposition of equity that artificial monopolies ought not to exist, and any law that has created them ought to be abrogated and repealed. ”

“ The socialists say that even after that, we should still have many of the phenomena of social life that at present distress us, and I, for my part, cannot but think that they are right. Even after that, there would still be a power of the stronger over the weaker. ”

“ We cannot buy our goods from wherever we want to. If I send for books I should like to read from Germany, I have to pay a fine for doing so. I am not free to get my information where I please. I am not free to buy clothes in Toronto and take tHem back to New York. ”