Industrial freedom. [volume] (Edison, Wash.) 1898-1???, 1898-11-26

IN ~ II u -, III WutlSNSi hShI IA
amined-whether as gift, or
an Individual accumulation,
IL or an exchange, or an lnheri-
tance-there is proof upon
proof that there is a flaw in the rich
mans title which takes away at once
it's very show of justice and its value.
The present wealth ofthe country was
not given to the ancestors of these
men a century since, for it did not
then exist; and if any could have been
so given, it would long since have
been consumed. 1t has not been ac-
uuired by successive Accommodations OF
the produce of the labor of rich men,
for. as a class, they have never been
1aborers; and even if they had labored,
and labored hard, they could not have
amassed so much wealth. 1t has not
been obtained by equal exchanges, tor,
independent of a mans labor, equal
exchanges will not make him rich 1t
has not been acquired by inheritance
by the handing down of savings
from one generation OF wOrkingmen
to anOther-fOr circumstances OF every
kind have been unfavOrable to It's
transmission as well as to its accu-
mutations. But this wealth has all
been derived from the bones and
sinews of the working classes during
successive ages, and it has been taken
from them by the fraudulent and
slaverv-creating system OF unequal
exchanges.
The principle of unequal exchanges
is the very life and soul of the present
social system and the inequality OF
every kind which is inseparable from
it. Wherever this principle is acted
upon, a mans riches, or his success IN
life, will be dependent neither upon his
morality nor his mental or corporeal
faculties. Every individual has an
undisputed right to the possession
and enjoyment of any wealth winch
his industry or frugality will enable
him to accumulate; but let a working
man under the present system be as
industrious and frugal as possible,
the proceeds of his labor will never
make him rich, nor enable him to live
for any length of time without work
ing. If he would become wealthy, he
must change his position in society,
and, instead of exchanging his OWN
LABOR. must become a capitalist, or
exchanger of THE LABOR OF OTHER
PEOPLE; and thus, by plunderlng
others in the same manner as ne was
plundered, through the medium OF I'M
equal exchanges, he will be enabled to
acquire great gains from the small
losses of other people.
The present system, wherever 1t en-
riches a workingman, does it thus:
hnrrnvvn1
we will suppose, five hundred dollars,
and takes his station as capitalist;
he "speculates" with this money
that is, he makes an unjust and I'M
equal exchange; he purchases COM
modify at one price, and, without
adding any increased value to 1t by
his own labor, he sells the commodity
for double the sum which it originally
cost him; and thus he becomes rich at
the expense of others. Or, again, he
procures a certain quantity OF labor
for his FIVE hundred dollars, and he
sells the product of such labor for one
thousand dollars. Now If the labor
was originally worth one thousand
dollars. and this newly created capt.
talist gave but five hundred dollars
for it, he has clearly defrauded his
workmen of one-half their just due;
and if the labor was worth only FIVE
hundred dollars, and the capitalist
has obtained one thousand dollars for
it, it is equally clear that he has de-
trauded the parties with whom he
made the second exchange, for he only
gave them the FIVE hundred dollars for
their one thousand dollars. All the
gain thus acquired by the capitalist,
whether from the first or the second
exchange, is extracted entirely from
the productive classes.
Society at large consists only of two
parties-those who work, and those
who do nothing. Prom the nature OF
the case, however. the oilers cannot
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