The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-22

Al the regular weekly meeting of the
Social Democratic Auxiliary at II Sea
yer street. hast night, Addison w. Barr
read paper on Surplus value" He
said in part:
In considering this subject, l ask you
to agree, for the time, to my definition
or understanding of the word value
or exchange value" which rs not al
all the inherent usefulness of natural
OBJECTS, but the common properties i'm
parted to all commodities by the aupli-
cation of human labor it being under
stood that the value Of commodities is
the expression of the relative quantities
OF human labor embodied in them and
measured by an accepted standard
which the Hon. Joseph II. Walker and
Kari Marx agree to be an ounce of gold,
and to substantiate which 1 cite the
following illustration:
6Old can be secured from natural
deposits only by labor and thus il has
value. The man who invests capital in
productive industry is not particular
whether the product be gold or pig iron
SO hng as the returns are satisfactory,
but let the price of iron fall and the
g.
u IRON then advances, re-investment is
Induced, and thus is the relation to the
underlying force of labor kept constant
though the price f1uotuate,
we have considered, go far, only the
general form of value and some of its
determining factors. We must now ex-
anime the thing that creates il, labor
power
This power as the sole possession Of
iC off g..
possessors who, not being in a position
70 force a monopoly, are obliged to &C
oept a price which is determined solely
oy the cost. That is. the cost of sub
slstence and reproduction of the pro-
duoing class which includes all who
contribute socially useful effort whether
skilled, unsdSilled or professional in
character. 49,
Modern appliances, the result Of
mans inventive genius, have Increased
the productive power of labor very
greatly, while the cost of subsistence
has. II anything, been decreased there
py, which, taken together creates the
condition now prevalent wherein an
average of S100 in labor power at cost,
produces approximately $500 of value
In commodities measured by the stan
dard.
"A thing is worth what It costs. any,
thing more is extortion, or toreverse the
proposition; mans efforts are worth
what their results will bring in the
market, and to deprive him OF a part
is conf1scation.
The difference between this actual
cost of $1.00 in labor and the value of
$500 which confronts the consumer is
what constitutes surplus value.
1T is What,we produce but do not re
ceiveg it is the honey removed from the
hive, the down plucked from the livine
goose, IT is the comfort that the work,
ers cannot know, and the rest which
his wife SO much needs but may not
enjoy; it is consumption for the 900;
and govt for the rich.
I'VE declare against such a thing an6
call for its elimination. How? 1t does
not much matter If the five be reduced
to one or if the one be increased to
five. so long as the producers receive
the full value of their product, distri-
buted with practical justice.
There is no longer possibility OF
harmony between modern production
which is essentially social in character
and individual ownership and distribu-
ton Of the product. The greatest good
for the greatest number, indeed for all
demands collective ownership in the
means of production and distribution
in order to secure the individuals full
opportunity to develop and apply ma
turai ability and insure full Value in re-
turn, the only just reward "
Next weeks meeting will partake OF
a social character, and viii be held at
Mr.. Bars residence, 90 Piedmont
street.