The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-01-31

| bOundleSS, and their secrets are be-
ing unlocked at a rate far more rapid
than the increase Of population. There
are single States in the union that
| could furnish bread for the world with
the intensive methods of cultivation
known to modern agriculture. The
known coal beds of the United States
cover nearly 100000 square miles,
more than the area of the entire Brit
| ish Isles. Steam, steel and electricity
are being applied in ever more effect
i've ways to coal production.
Yet the people of America are I'M
able to get ;coal!"
! What is the trouble?
l. When fuel was cut on the old wood
| lott by the farmer and his sons and
| hauled to town during odd spells there
was no trouble while the trees lasted
| and the strength of the workers held
| out, in. getting fuel
To-day there are ample workers at
the mines. President Mitchell tells rus
| there are thousands of miners still
! clalnoring for their old positions which
| have been refused them. But nothing
is said about this in the same daily
press that has SO much to say about
| the wickedness~ Of those who are at
work keeping peo~1n from "getting'
coaf' by tatine a holiday on Christ
mas day.
The old 'bob-sleigh'' has given way
to the 'mogul" locomotive hauling
mile-long trains Of mammoth pressed
steel cars-certainly far greater inn
provement in transportation facilities
than is demanded by the increased
use of coal and fuel.
What +ha' b. clogging the action of
these wonderful new productive forces,
until nation is left shivering and
freezing. the lives of thousands are
shortened, industry paralyzed, and a
land filled with vain cries for warmth?
1t is because these new and exhaust
less resources, these improved and
more effective means of producing and
@'~"~'',"'1i'" wealth, which are operated
collectively by great industrial armies
to create national necessities are
owned by a few individuals who take
no part in production and have no
interest beyond possible profits in the
satisfaction Of human wants.
!; 1t took but one man to use the ak
and ''bob-sleigh" and it was fitting
that this one user should own them.
But to-day when it takes a million
! men to dig and transport a nations
coal we still permit a. few individuals
to own the sources of supply and the
tools with which t'~:~ million work.
Worst Of all the men who own these
tools are not the ones who use them.
The one motive which moves these
owners to action is profits. They de-
sire the production of coal, not that
people may be warmed, but only that
profits may come. If profits can be OBJ
tanned easier" by Withholding from the
! market what has already been pro-
duced, and thereby raising the price
OF the, diniinishea quantity which the
! people are: permitted to use, then cars
will be left standing on the tracks and
| ships left laden in the harbors, while
women and children, the sick and the
aged die for the want of warmth which,
the coal thus withheld for profit might
! supply.
! The way to get caol" is to remove
| that obstacle.
The way to remove it is to make the
mines, the coal breakers, the railroads
and coal yards the property Of those
who must use these things. What can
! only be used collectively should be
| owned collectively
| There will then be no one interested
| in keeping coal from the people who
want it. There will then be no class
of profit tak ers riding upon the backs of
the producers and the users of coal.
That is the way the socialist would
"get coal'