Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-03-16
SOCIALIST HEARD
Harry NJ. Mckee Gives lnstruc
tive Talk at Turner
Hall.
CAPITAL AND LABOR HIS THEME
Says Working People Are to Blame
for Their COndi-
tfon.

last night to hear Harry Nj. Mckee,
the socialist orator, of San Diego,
Cal, who has been meeting with such
marked success throughout this and
other states. His subject was Or
ganized Labor and Organized Capt.
tai" and he presented his subject in
most logical and dignified manner.
he began by tracing the evolution
of industry leading up to the present
method of doing the worlds work
the wage system. This method sue
ceeded serfdom because it was more
leconomical-a more fruitful method,
and modern machinery has now den-
onstrated a more fruitful method
than the wage system which must
inevitably succeed the old wasteful
system of competition.
Modern capitalism" he said, had
its birth with the beginning of the
development of the modern machine
and has developed hand in hand with
the growth of the machine. As the
machine grew it required an even
larger capital to operate, and as the
basic principle of the system is profit,
every laborer is compelled to divide
up with the owner of the machine
the factory-the product of his toll.
In other words, he must give away to
the private owner a part of his nation
every day he works, and today he
finds himself well nigh homeless-6
per cent of the population-the CAPT
talist class owning So per cent of the
wealth of the nation.
Trust Inevitable
ts'Iba flpVplpDmant ,,f tho
inevitable under the system. Combin-
atoms and community of interest are
better than the wasteful method of
chaotic competition. Hence we see
the cooperation has displaced compe-
tition in the field of production. With
these ever larger aggrega tions of cap
ital on the one hand eliminating in
the international trust, what is left
for the nottingham but to also or
game? He must do this for imme-
date relief. What chance has one
single laborer against the billion-dol-
lar trust? But so long as the profit
system obtains he can never get but
a share of his product. He must 'di-
vide up with the owner of the tools
of production. Besides if the union
should succeed in reducing the hours
or raising the wage to the point
where more machinery would be
more profitable, it would be intro
duced and thousands of Iaborers
would be displaced and enter the I'M
employed army. Again, with the
market of the world absolutely con-
trolled the factories here would be
shut down and the factories of Ger
many, or even China and Japan,
would be run and the American labor
er could-then go to work on condi-
ton that he adopted the wage and
standard of living of the cheap labor
of Europe or the Chinese coolie.
Only Itself to Blame.
$50 long as the laboring class
comprising over 90 per cent of the
pulation-continues to vote for the
interests of the capitalist class, which
comprises but 6 per cent of the popu-
lation, it has no one but itself to
blame for unjust conditions.
1.-THE trouble all lies in the private
ownership of the means of obtaining
the means of life. and the only rem
bedy must be the collective ownership
of this means of obtaining the means
of life-the resources of nature, the
machinery of production and distri-
button.
''Now, what political party advo-
Gates this principle? Let each voter
examine the various political plat
forms and see if he can find these
three propositions:
81. The collective ownership of the
means of producing the means of life
$50 The democratic management
by the workers of this collectively
owned means of obtaining the means
of FIFE.
50. Equal opportunity of every
man and woman at the use and ben
efits of this collectively owned and
|democratically managed means of OBJ
tanning the means of life.
"Let him accept no sophistry or
palliative reforms, but insist on the
real thing, and vote for the party
which stands pledged to these three
principles