period.

Things are not as they are to-day because a group of clever but
desperately wicked men came together and invented a scheme of society
in which the many must work for the few; in which some must have more
than they can use, so that they rot of excess while others have too
little and rot of hunger; in which little children must toil in
factories so that big strong men may loaf in clubs and dens of vice;
in which some women sell themselves body and soul for bread while
other women spend the sustenance of thousands upon jewels for pet
dogs. No. It was no such fiendish ingenuity which devised the
capitalistic system and imposed it upon mankind. It has _grown_ up
through the ages, Jonathan, and is still growing. We have grown from
savagery and barbarism through various stages to our present
commercial system, and the process of growth is still going on. I
believe we are growing into Socialism.

There have been many forces urging mankind onward in this long
evolution. Religion has played a part. Love of country has played a
part. Climate and the nature of the soil have been factors. Man's ever
growing curiosity, his desire to know more of the life around him, has
had much to do with it. I have put the ideals of religion and
patriotism first, Jonathan, because I wanted you to see that they were
by no means overlooked or forgotten, but in truth they ought not to be
placed first. It is the verdict of all who have made a study of social
evolution that, while these factors have exerted an important
influence, back of them have been the material economic conditions.

In philosophy this is the basis of a very profound theory upon which
many learned volumes have been written. It is generally called "The
Materialistic Conception of History," but sometimes it is called
"Economic Determinism" or "The Economic Interpretation of History."
The first man to set forth the theory in a very clear and connected
manner was Karl Marx, upon whose teachings the Socialists of the
world have placed a great deal of reliance. I don't expect you to read
all the heavy and learned books written upon this subject, for many of
them require that a man must be specially trained in philosophy in
order to understand them. For the present I shall be quite satisfied
if you will read a ten-cent pamphlet called _The Communist Manifesto_,
by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels and, along with that, the fourth,
fifth and sixth chapters of my book, _Socialism_,