he great religions, be possible as a rule of
life. No ethical life is possible except as the outgrowing of just and
harmonic economic relations; until it is rooted in proper economic
soil.

No, Jonathan, it is not true that Socialism is antagonistic to
religion. With beliefs and speculations concerning the origin of the
universe it has nothing to do. It has nothing to do with speculations
concerning the existence of man after physical death, with belief in
the immortality of the soul. These are for the individual. Socialism
concerns itself with man's material life and his relation to his
fellow man. And there is nothing in the philosophy of Socialism, or
the platform of the political Socialist movement, antagonistic to the
social aspects of any religion.

(5) I have already had a good deal to say in the course of this
discussion concerning the subject of personal freedom. The common idea
of Socialism as a great bureaucratic government owning and controlling
everything, deciding what every man and woman must do, is wholly
wrong. The aim and purpose of the Socialist movement is to make life
more free for the individual, and not to make it less free. Socialism
means equality of opportunity for every child born into the world; it
means doing away with class privilege; it means doing away with the
ownership by the few of the things upon which the lives of the many
depend, through which the many are exploited by the few. Do you see
how individuals are to be enslaved through the destruction of the
power of a few over many, Jonathan? Think it out!

It is in the private ownership of social resources, and the private
control of social opportunities, that the essence of tyranny lies. Let
me ask you, my friend, whether you feel yourself robbed of any part of
your personal liberty when you go to a public library and take out a
book to read, or into one of our public art galleries to look upon
great pictures which you could never otherwise see? Is it not rather a
fact that your life is thereby enriched and broadened; that instead of
taking anything from you these things add to your enjoyment and to
your power? Do you feel that you are robbed of any element of your
personal freedom through the action of the city government in making
parks for your recreation, providing hospitals to care for you in case
of accident or illness, maintaining a fire department to protect you
against the ravages of fire? Do you feel that in maintaining s