But Schulze-Delitzsch has, in the third place, a practical nature, which is of more importance than his theoretical economic viewpoint.  He is the only member of his party, the Progressive party—­and all the more credit is due him just for this reason—­who has done anything for the people.  Through his tireless activity, even though he stands alone at a most unfavorable time, he has become the father and founder of the German associations, and so has given an impulse, of the most far-reaching importance, to the cause of associations in general, a service for which, however I may be opposed to him in theory, I shake his hand warmly in spirit as I write this.  Truth and justice even toward an adversary (and for the working class above all it is befitting to take this deeply to heart)—­this is the first duty of man.

That the question whether associations are to be understood according to his or my interpretation is under discussion today is in large part due to him, and that is a real service which cannot be too highly esteemed.

But the warmth with which I recognize this service must not prevent us from stating the question with critical clearness:  “Are the Schulze-Delitzsch associations for credit and for raw materials, and are the consumers’ leagues able to accomplish the improvement of the situation of the working class?”

The answer to this question must be a most decided “no.”  It will be easy to show this briefly.  As to the credit and raw material associations, these both agree in that they exist only for those who are carrying on business on their own account—­that is, only for artisan production.  For the working class in the narrower sense—­the hands employed in factory production, who have no business of their own for which they can use credit and raw materials—­neither kind of association exists.  Their help can therefore reach only the artisan producers.

But, even in this respect, please notice and impress upon your minds two essential circumstances: 

In the first place the inevitable tendency of our industrialism is to put factory production more and more from day to day in place of artisan production, and, in consequence, to drive the workmen of a constantly increasing number of trades into the laboring class proper, which finds work in the factories.  England and France, which are ahead of us in economic development, show this in a still greater degree than Germany, which is, however, taking tremendous strides in the same direction.  Your own experience will confirm this sufficiently.

It follows from this that the Schulze-Delitzsch credit and raw material associations, even if they could help the artisans, could be of advantage only to a very small number of people, a number which is constantly decreasing and tends to disappear, through the inevitable development of our manufacturing system—­people who through the progress of our culture are, in constantly increasing numbers, forced into the class of workingmen