Competition was natural enough at one time, but do you think you are
competing today? Many of you think you are competing. Against whom?
Against Rockefeller? About as I would if I had a wheelbarrow and
competed with the Santa Fe from here to Kansas City. That is about the
way you are competing; but your boys will not have even that chance—if
capitalism lives that long. You hear of the “late” panic. It is very
late. It is going to be very late. This panic will be with us five years
from now, and will continue till then.
I am not a prophet. I can no more penetrate the future than you can. I
do study the forces that underlie society and the trend of evolution. I
can tell by what we have passed through about what we will have in the
future; and I know that capitalism can be abolished and the people put
in possession. Now, when we have taken possession, and we jointly own
the means of production, we will no longer have to fight each other to
live; our interests, instead of being competitive, will be coöperative.
We will work side by side. Your interest will be mine and mine will be
yours. That is the economic condition from which will spring the humane
social relation of the future.
When we are in partnership and have stopped clutching each other’s
throats, when we have stopped enslaving each other, we will stand
together, hands clasped, and be friends. We will be comrades, we will be
brothers, and we will begin the march to the grandest civilization the
human race has ever known.
I did not mean to keep you so long this afternoon. I am sure I
appreciate the patience with which you have listened to me. From the
very depths of my heart I thank you, each of you—every man, woman and
child—for this splendid testimonial, this beautiful tribute, which I
shall remember with gratitude and love until memory empties its urn into
forgetfulness.