The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-30

VI
The declaration of independence is a
glorious document one Of the best
ever written,
BUT YOU CAN'T EAT IT.
1t is not food and cluthing. What does
it matter If we can go to the ballot
box and vote for Tom, Dick and Har-
ry? 1t is better to have something TO
say about our industrial system than
to have the poor privilege of voting
for the men that make the laws.
The capitalistic system is the growth
of centuries. According to statistics,
$4,000 people own more than half the
wealth of this country. Year by year
you are being dispossessed. In few
years we will have our billionaires.
An Australian said that the day
would come when the work would be
done by simply pressing a button.
There will be one gigantic machine of
production and distribution The
great question to be decided is who
shall own that button, the people or the
few. The man that controls that but
ton will control and dictate to all the
others. There is but one solution of
the problem-the people must take the
means of production and distribution
and run them for the whole instead
of for the profit of the few. 1t is eth
er that or absolute serfdom. We have
to make a choice. The longer you put
it off the harder it is going to be. The
capitalist has it in his power to with
hold from us the right to
WORK UNDER PRESENT CONDI-
TIONS.
We hear great deal about prosperi-
ty, but it is always out west, far away
from us. In the west when they shout
about prosperity it is always in the
east. The oily orators of the old par
ties will tell you that the wealth of
Massachusetts, is so much per capita,
and then you put your hand in your
pocket and you do not find red cent.
They will tell you that the salvation
of the country depends on the tariff, the
gold basis, of Is to l.. Yet if they made
silver free would you get any more of
it than you do now? By no means.
Mayor Chase at this point gave a de-
finition of sound money. He pictured
a cashier counting money. The rich
man got the money and the poor man
who heard it dropping, got the sound.
Continuing, he said: We cannot buy
back the production of our labor by
what we get in wages to produce it.
Socialism is simply scientific scheme
of government The formation of the
OulI6u States lllO Ole uIllOl lGCCSlLH-
es the fundamental principle of social
ism, which is COLLECTIVELY.
After tracing the progress of man
kind from a savage state to organized
nations with armies and navies he
said 1 hope to live to see the time
when we shall have no further use for
the army or navy. That will not be
until the
BROTHERHOOD OF MEN
is firmly established in the world. If
we can collectively run the postal sys-
tenn we can socialize and run every in
dustry. In the sense in which I use
the comparison, there is no difference
between a postage stamp and shoe.
If we had a shoemaker general in the
cabinet, as we have postmaster gen
eral, he could easily figure out how many
pairs of shoes the 70,000.000 inhabitants of
the United States needed, then how long
it would take to produce them. Possibly
it might take eight hours labor day.
We would reduce the hours of labor In
proportion to the displacement of labor
by machinery. Is this insane or idiotic?
Is it not something to long for and to
struggle for?
So long as ] have voice I will work
for the achievement of socialism in its
highest development = the cooperative
commonwealth. Then and only then will
we get the full benefit of machinery and
genius
Another man has figured 1t out that
four hours work day would produce all
that human consumption might demand.
Is not that something to hope for? 1t is
as easy for us to get it as it is to roll off
log, as they say in New Hampshire.
The earth belongs to the human race. The
majority of people are better off today
than they were 80 years ago, but they are
not getting what they should get in COM
parson to the
PRODUCING POWER OF so YEARS
AGO.
Present conditions are worse than chat
tel slavery. The African slave had
commercial value. 1t was policy for the
master to keep him in good condition,
with proper clothing, food and a dry
place to sleep. Like a good horse. he was
sold to the highest bidder. We, on the
other hand, day after day, are selling
ourselves to the lowest bidder. The slave
was sold at auction and separated from his
family, We are forced to leave our fami-
lies and become tramps in search of work.
Grasp the situation here and now.
Make a demand on the capitalists that
they shall get off our backs. The capi-
taliSt system reminds me of a speech l
once heard delivered in New Hampshire.
The orator said that the democrats were
grabbing everything in sight, and, MY
God!' said he, what hands they've got!'
So 1t is with the capitalists.
1t is necessary for the preservation Of
civilizatio that we get possession of the
machinery of government You are not
throwing your vote away when you east
a ballot for Winfield ?. Porter, our can
didate for governor. 1t is better to vote
for what you want, even though you
don't get it. than it is to vote for what
you do not want and get it,
In conclusion Mayor Chase told of the
GROWTH OF SOCIALISM
in Haverhill. He was one of the six orig
inal socialists in the city, and they kept
pegglng away, gaining year by year, until
last year they carried the city. He said
that the socialists have a big fight on
hand, for the capitalists are determined
to down them, and the two old parties
nave formed coalition to bring about
this result. but the socialists have no
rear, and are bound to win out in the end
He spoke of the municipalization of
gas, electric light, street railway plants,
the telephone service and other public
utilities. The day is coming. he said
when men Of stern stuff will be needed
men like Phillips, who. when he saw
Wlillam Lloyd Garrison dragged through
the streets of Boston by mob, ranged
himself with the abolitionists Every
man, when he learns the facts about So
cialism, must inevitably become a social
list for no man can withstand the truth.
Thomas Paine Abbott, the freelance
socialist, tried to interrupt Mayor
Chase, but was squelched completely
by Chairman Barr before he had time
to say three words. He said he would
reply to the arguments of the speaker
during the week from his soap box,
which he carries around with him much
after the fashion of Diogenes and his
tub.
UsHER's QUERIES.
L. d. Usher handed in the following
typewriter questions:
Do you think that the wage earning
class can inaugurate the socialist re-
public by voting solidly for the socialist
labor party?