[6] To many a thoughtless man, who has misused his wealth and social position to drag down women of the poorer classes, it would doubtless seem like a new revelation to have the truth brought home to him that the fathers, mothers, and brothers of his victims had precisely such feelings as his own father and mother, or himself, towards his sisters. But the socialistic agitation in Germany has brought out clearly the fact that this is true. Poor men hate the wealthy on account of their sins. Nearly all of the thousands and tens of thousands of fallen women in cities like New York and Berlin, it is said, come from the poorer classes. It is terrible to think of the anguish they have brought to parents whose only crime has often been poverty. If the wealthy use their superior advantages to oppress and afflict the poor, terrible retribution will some day be exacted of them as a class, and the innocent will suffer with the guilty. The French Revolution should forever be a terrible warning to those to whom much has been committed. Modern novelists have devoted themselves assiduously to the work of reform. Every oppressed class has found some one to sympathize with it and describe its wrongs. Married women, misused by their husbands; school children, maltreated by masters; orphans, wronged by tedious processes of law; the negro slave in our South—all have been made interesting, and excited our pity. The fourth estate, with which Dickens concerned himself more or less, has also found its novelist, whose skill reveals to us the laborer’s views and feelings, so that we laugh when he laughs and weep when he weeps. I refer to Max Kretzer, whose latest and best work is “Die Betrogenen” (Berlin, 1882). For an excellent review of his writings, _vide_ the _Wochenblatt der Frankfurter Zeitung_, 20 Aug., 1882. For a further illustration of the views of social democrats concerning the crimes of the wealthy, _vide_ a story in the newspaper _Die Fackel_ (Chicago, 20 Mai, 1883) entitled “Die Geschichte einer Arbeiterin.” [7] In _Contemporary Review_, April, 1882. [8] Quoted by Mrs. Fawcett in her article on “Communism” in the “Encyclopædia Britannica.” Cf. De Laveleye’s article on the “Progress of Socialism” (_Contemporary Review_, April, 1883, pp. 567, 568). [9] “Money in its Relations to Trade and Industry,” by Francis A. Walker (New York, 1879). [10] “Die deutsche Social-Demokratie” (Bremen, 1879). [11] _Vide_ the published programme of the Commune of Paris, April 19, 1871, in Pierroti’s “Décrets et Rapports Officiels de la Commune de Paris et du Gouvernement à Versailles du 18 Mars au 31 Mai, 1871” (Paris, 1871, pp. 181-185).