References
“THE WORKMAN: HIS FALSE FRIENDS AND HIS TRUE FRIENDS. By Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, D.D. LL.D. American Tract Society.
The sad circumstances which attended the recent death of the earnest, upright and devoted scholar who wrote this book are fresh in the memory of our readers. Although Dr. Thompson was eminent as a clergyman, and was deeply learned in all the studies that appertained directly to his profession, he possessed a profound knowledge of a subject which to the tastes of most occupants of the pulpit is uncongenial and unattractive. Political economy with him, however, was a study which he followed up with much enthusiasm, and in which, as is shown in every page of the book before us, he had made many acute, if not original, observations. In considering the welfare of the workman he vigorously attacks the socialistic and communistic doctrines that are promulgated in their name, and points out their ruinous and degrading tendencies. Yet he would not go to the other extreme, to the selfish theory of ‘Every man for himself,’ which Adam Smith planted as the foundation stone of the free trade school. While he does not appear to find a complete solution of the problem in the co-operative system, he believes that it is the most satisfactory method, when properly managed, of protecting the workman. In Christianity, too, in its principles of brotherhood and human sympathy, the laboring man will find that he can, in conjunction with his fellows, elevate himself to a higher plane of thought and action. In this country Dr. Thompson recognizes the industrial and moral tendencies which have done so much to improve the condition of society, and here it is, he believes, that the labor problem will yet be solved.”
– The Philadelphia Enquirer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 17 Oct 1879
You must be logged in to post a comment.