Excerpt from Socialism: The Nation of the Fatherless Children When in 1903 we presented the first edition of Socialism: The Nation of Fatherless Children to the public we had only a very few friends, true blue. The public press paid but little attention to socialist propaganda; and to the general public the movement was known by a phrase or two which signified condemnation without understanding or by those of approval which rested upon equally unknown ground. This indifference had given to socialists a foothold in the nation. Abnormal fortunes were matched by abnormal ambi tions that had been aroused here and there amongst the members of the working class. These proletarian comrades in association with their intellectual leaders were preying upon the hopes and fears of their fellow workers, many of whom were receiving an un just wage and were even so in constant dread of unemployment. On the other hand the occasion was ripe for interesting the illy educated middle class in the science of poverty - that it is all due to the system - and for enlisting its sympathy for the under dog, as their own fortunes were feeling the blight of the trusts. This much was certain, that for socialist wares it was a rapidly rising market, and that for anti - socialist literature there was none at all. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.