The People Themselves Must Think, Because The

The Great Work Of The Present For Every Man, And Every Organization Of Men, Who Would Improve Social Conditions, Is The Work Of Education The Propagation Of Ideas. It Is Only As It Aids This That Anything Else Can Avail. And In This Work Every One Who Can Think May Aid First By Forming Clear Ideas Himself, And Then By Endeavoring To Arouse The Thought Of Those With Whom He Comes In Contact.

My Primary Object Is To Defend And Advance A Principle In Which I See The Only Possible Relief From Much That Enthralls And Degrades And Distorts, Turning Light To Darkness And Good To Evil, Rather Than To Gage A Philosopher Or Weigh A Philosophy. Yet The Examination I Propose Must Lead To A Decisive Judgment Upon Both.

As Man Is So Constituted That It Is Utterly Impossible For Him To Attain Happiness Save By Seeking The Happiness Of Others, So Does It Seem To Be Of The Nature Of Things That Individuals And Classes Can Obtain Their Own Just Rights Only By Struggling For The Rights Of Others.

How Vainly Shall We Endeavor To Repress Crime By Our Barbarous Punishment Of The Poorer Class Of Criminals So Long As Children Are Reared In The Brutalizing Influences Of Poverty, So Long As The Bite Of Want Drives Men To Crime.

So Long As All The Increased Wealth Which Modern Progress Brings Goes But To Build Up Great Fortunes, To Increase Luxury And Make Sharper The Contrast Between The House Of Have And The House Of Want, Progress Is Not Real And Cannot Be Permanent.