Industrial freedom. [volume] (Edison, Wash.) 1898-1???, 1899-04-22
0-e9@s-99-l91 ----o-@9-
~ Frio2d. Jo57 5nitl2. e III. ...s
AN EVENINGS CONVERSATION on SOCIALIST


T. S-Nhy YOU done believe in
drunEenness do you2
S.-No; bat that is not the only
Icausc Of hard times Those that
Ispend their money for drink arc thch
own worst enemies. If YOU would
&abolish the liquor traffic today and
& let other things remain as they are, it
! would amount to this: The man
I,who spends his substance now for
drink and let's his family suffer, would
not do SO then; but perhaps he would
be saving, and after awhile would
buy lot and build q house on it and
/ give a mortgage for part payment,
| and then his employer viii get ma
/ chimes to do the worl, and he will be
| out of Job and lose what he has
. saved. So YOU see IN a little while the
| workers family would be suffering as
much for the necessaries OF life as they
donow. or course it would save many
wives and children from being i'll
treated by drunken husbands and
fathers. Rich people do not hire poor
people when they can get machines no
matter if they are sober. Wheather
we have protection or free trade, gold
or silver, or paper for money if the
rich own the land and machinery
they own us.
]. S.-The populists claim if we have
government ownership of railroads
and few public utilities and plenty
of money we would have good times,
for after the war in the latter sixties
when money was so plenty We had
good times.
S.-TEere never has been good times
for the poor people. They have al
ways been slaves to the rich, they
have always had to work hard G.
nough to keep themselves and the
RICH, too After the war the times
were not so bad as now, but it was
not because of plenty Of money.
There had been a great deal ofpropcr-
ty destroyed which had to be rcplac-
ed by labor There was plenty OF va
cant land, but little machinery Now
conditions are all changed, The va
cant land is all gone; the machines are
here and still coming faster each year
1t is folly to talk about plenty of
money making good times. Ifmoney
created wealth, as the rich have had
us taught, there would be no employ
ers. II money made wealth the rich
would set their dollars to work in
stead of paying them to people who
make more or less trouble. The dol
lars would never strike nor ask for
better wages, or shorter hours, or
HOLIDAYS, or get drunk, or waste any
thing, or neglect their duties. 1t
takes mental and muscular effort to
produce wealth. If ten men were
shipwrcckci and got to a fertile island
and saved few tools and seed and
were making living they could get
along without money. They would
not eat it or wear it. But suppose
the ten men change their plan and put
in two men as soldiers, one as bank
er, one as preacher, one as lawyer.
At first they all worked five hours per
day. After the change of plan the
five workers must work ten hours per
day, for If it takes ten men five hours
it must take five men ten hours work
to keep the whole, for they all have
to live from the products of labor.
We will suppose the five men that
have been put into useless occupations
got some gold dollars and paid the
uSclli WOfkcIS liNc Oh tt~l Xxx NOiidIS
per day in gold, it would not make
their work any less. The ground
they titled would not produce any
more food nor gold dollars would not
make it any easier to prepare the
food, make their clothing, or shelter;
60 you see if some people live without
doing their share of useful service for
society others must work more than
their share. Socialists believe that
all persons VINO are able bodied and
of a working age, who do no useful
work for society are robbers, either
legal or illegal robbers.
S.-Tf n man should i'll one day
find n big lump of gold valued at 81
100000 he would be a millionaire
and not n robber.
S.--No not as far as finding the gold
is concerned, but when the law per
mits him to take one of natures pro-
ducts and for one days work ex-
change it for one million days work.
then his robbery begins, for if he the
next day exchanges his gold for what
it takes one million days work to
produce; he has surely robbed others
of one million days work less than
one days which he performed in dis
covering the gold If it wasn't for
the law he would not care to bring
the gold home with him. The law is