An Address Delivered At The Ford Hall
By Reverend Thomas I. Gasson, S. J., President of Boston College
IT is indeed a pleasure to come before a body of men and women who are interested in what is one of the most vital questions of the day.
The subject upon which I have been asked to speak and the side I shall try to maintain is, of course, one of great interest to the world at large at the present time. We are all interested in the welfare of our fellow-beings. We all feel that there is something wrong in society at the present time.
There are colossal fortunes and there are depths of poverty. There are those who know not what to do with their wealth, and those who have to cry out for a mere pittance only to keep body and soul together.
Consequently, when Socialism comes to us and states that its great aim is to benefit humanity, to lessen poverty, to make life brighter and more
full of sunshine, we must every one of us say that with this aim and object we are in hearty accord.
Therefore I would not have any one understand for a moment that because I want to speak of the dangers of Socialism that I am not deeply interested in the welfare of humanity. My whole life has been spent for others.
I belong to one of the religious orders of the church, and we receive nothing for our services. Therefore I am in hearty sympathy with that aim of Socialism. Socialism is rather a shifting name. It may be that the Socialism that some of you follow is not the Socialism the dangers of which I am speaking about.
I beg all to understand that when I speak of the dangers of Socialism I am speaking of what occurs to me and others as the positive dangers of a specified form known as Socialism. The Socialism of which I speak is that economic, social theory which wishes to place the ownership, production and distribution of all goods in the hands of one body, the State. The great authors of the system of Socialism of which I speak are Karl Marx, Engels, and others.
There is need of reform at the present time, but this reform should come through legitimate channels and not in ways which would overturn society.
Socialism, as propounded by certain of its teachers, contains principles which are subversive to personal integrity, domestic integrity and national integrity.
Even suppose these dangers did not exist, Socialism would be an impracticable system for our everyday interests. The life and the vigor of the nation depend, in its ultimate analysis, upon the vigor and the integrity of the individual.' If the men and women of the nation are all right, if they are just, if they' possess all that range of virtues which goes to make up personal integrity, the nation will be strong and will endure.
Read the rest of Fr Thomas I. Gasson, S.J. speech (here)
Gasson Hall (here)
1 comment:
that's an amazing speech and the Q and A afterwards is remarkable. I'll have to read it again. Thanks.
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