The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-07-15


eve of election-if you imagine you
are, it is no credit to your intelli- |
gence. l know better Don't take |
my word for it-use your brain and |
represent yourself. Have. intelligence
enough to know that your interests
are identical with the interests Of |
every other wage worker, and that
the day to prove that you are union
man is election day.
"The world is verging upon a great
organic change The competitive sys-
tenn has reached it's climax and will
soon diappear. The merging of en-
ployers' interests has resulted in the i
latest phase of economies, the trusts.
Controlled by few capitalists, they
are enabled to extract from the la
borer extra profit, and thereby be-
come multi-millionaires. The CAPT
talists have you absolutely at their
mercy. They do not consider you at
all. l am finding fault with you be
cause the system cannot continue a
day longer than you wish it.
"It is only a question of time when
the last vestige of competition will
have disappeared and there will be
only two classes-the very rich and
the very poor-a class of exploiters
and class of exploited. The middle
class will have gone. If there is one
of this class here today l want to as
sure him that he need not fear the
socialist, but to look the other way
If you have $4,000 the time will
come when you will be stripped, and
it will not be the socialist who will
do it, either. 1t will be the inevitable
result of the system.
"The times in which we live are
filled with unrest. The economic
foundations of society are undergoing
profound change Thousands of
working men are having their eyes
opened to the fact that a change of
system in an imperative necessity
They are beginning to realize that
the present system has outlived its
usefulness and that it's effects upon
workers are essentially demoralizing.
Capitalization is closing up the fields
of competition, the middle classes as
an economic factor in society are
losing their power, while the work
ers are associated together in great
armies producing wealth which flows
in steady stream to the capitalist
class, who won the tools of produc-
ton and are, therefore, the masters
of the product.
Production has in the main been
socialized and is now forwarded on
: large scale by cooperative labor.
Distribution, however, is still car
: ried forward upon the Individual line.
The capitalist who owns the tools
does no work and produces nothing.
The workers who made the tools, and
also use them, and produce all wealth
2 are allowed simply wage sufficient
to keep them in working and produc-
t ing order. Among the workers the
competition for employment has be
come so sharp that in thousands of
s instances the wage has been reduced
S to pittance. The strike of the Penn
sylvania coal miners now in prog
t ress was caused by the wretched
= conditions resulting from the steady
d reduction of wages from SIS to Sc per
e day 80 years ago, to less than 81 pei
4 day in 1902. The barons who own
d the mines and also the railroads, are
l. not interested in the welfare of the
S vast army of humans who mine the
l. coal. They are simply interested in
y securing profits to themselves. The
d mines are their private property an6
& they operate them to suit themselves
u Labor is bought by them at the low
1T est price, the same as any other com
modify, and the workers have be
n come industrial slaves. There would
It be no relief for these impoverished
u toilers while the wage system lasts
G. Their labor unions, strong as they
n may be, can at best but modify thu
e effects, but can never hope to abol
ish the wrongs of the wage system
L. 1t is at this point that working mel
1t are beginning to realize the neces
Re sity of political action.
1t "The class struggle has thus beel
le recognized by organized labor ant
le the members of trades unions Now
= uuuSISIduu LuSlT UIuo pOSlUlOn, Sut
r henceforth will battle consistent,
Us and conscientiously to put an end t,
wage slavery and the whole brood O
1T ills that flow from it. They will
81 prove their loyalty to the union, espe
n cially election day, when they vii
g. deposit united and class-consciou
~ ballot for the socialist party, tn
v party of the working class, the part
nj that will lead to economic freedom.
he "Only when the workers are place
to in possession of the means of produt
cd ton, including the land, the railroads
re mines and factories, with all thei
modern machinery, only then wi
a. workers secure economic freedom
IT, To enable them to conquer this the
m must first secure control of govern