ant letter than the one you have
written to me, but there are not many men, even among professional
writers, who could write a better one. What I like is the spirit of
earnestness and the simple directness of it. You say that you have
"Read lots of things in the papers about the Socialists' ideas and
listened to some Socialist speakers, but never could get a very clear
notion of what it was all about." And then you add "Whether Socialism
is good or bad, wise or foolish, _I want to know_."

I wish, my friend, that there were more working men like you; that
there were millions of American men and women crying out: "Whether
Socialism is good or bad, wise or foolish, _I want to know_." For that
is the beginning of wisdom: back of all the intellectual progress of
the race is the cry, _I want to know_! It is a cry that belongs to
wise hearts, such as Mr. Ruskin meant when he said, "A little group of
wise hearts is better than a wilderness full of fools." There are lots
of fools, both educated and uneducated, who say concerning Socialism,
which is the greatest movement of our time, "I don't know anything
about it and I don't want to know anything about it." Compared with
the most learned man alive who takes that position, the least educated
laborer in the land who says "I want to know!" is a philosopher
compared with a fool.

When I first read your letter and saw the long list of your objections
and questions I confess that I was somewhat frightened. Most of the
questions are fair questions, many of them are wise ones and all of
them merit consideration. If you will bear with me, Mr. Edwards, and
let me answer them in my own way, I propose to answer them all. And in
answering them I shall be as honest and frank with you as I am with my
own soul. Whether you believe in Socialism or not is to me a matter of
less importance than whether you understand it or not.

You complain that in some of the books written about Socialism there
are lots of hard, technical words and phrases which you cannot
properly understand, even when you have looked in the dictionary for
their meaning, and that is a very just complaint. It is true that most
of the books on Socialism and other important subjects are written by
students for students, but I shall try to avoid that difficulty and
write as a plain, average man of fair sense to another plain, average
man of fair sense.

All your other questions and objections, about "stirring up class
hatred