The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1903-06-13
LABOR COLUMN.
Devoted to the Interests Of the Laborer.
H. {. BRAGG, Editor

tfiUf 10 every eieCtlon tue Cdh'i
dates OF both parties are nominated
by yet of corrupt politicians AMI
the peope go to the polls and en-
! deavour 10 cast their vote for the
! better of the TWO. Once IN a while
good man. accidently gets the
/ nomination and we at orce find the
90 'lt,cal ring of both sides array"d
agalns. him. Money in abundance
is fur l-hed by the Capitalist IN or
der TO elect a candidate who they
can control, and the people listen 10
the arguments Of these men and de-.
ode which set of Capitalists they
are going to vote for. Is this using
the "Ballot" for their own interest!
Will they never learn that the in,
terest of the Capitalist and the In
terest of those who produce the ne
cessities of life are diametrlcally op.
posed2 Why don't we quit voting
for men who can be corrupted and
vote for conditions.
The politicians have continually
dlnged into our ears that "there
were no classes IN this country.
DO we not known tins TO he false!
We have three distinct classes: the
Capitalist class, the middle class
and the producing class. The cap.
italist class is that portion of so
c,ety who own all of our great In
dustries, and also the greater part
of our lands, thus they are in pc
sition where they can compel the
rest of society to pay them tri
butte tor the privilege Of using thei'
capital and their lands. They ar,
represented by the Republican
Party and when~,hey 60 to the poll
they cast their vote for their ow,
interest. The middle class con
slsts of those individuals who apt
the c ass above them. They are TIL
small capitalists; and while they de
plore existing conditions, their onl,
regret ls, that they are not the one
on top; so they stick to the remo
cratic Partv in the hope that i, viii
place them in the capitalist ranks
The working class IS the Lowest il
The social scale; they are exploited
on every side; every law made b.
either a republican or democra
is a law to further enslave them
they have never had polltica
party TO represent them until tb
last few years-cOnsequen,ly, tn
"vote' which they have cast, onl,
, benefited one OF the other tw,
classes. Ii Il any wonder that w
find SO many working men, wh'
never vote at all? And we canno
blame them mucn, when the "vote'
does them no good.
Here in the State of Louisisna
The Democrat c party, knowing tina
the laboring class was getting dis
gusted with the tarce of voting
enacted the "Poll tax law whIci
, required every voter to pay for I'VE
Years preceding an election on
dollar year, not latter than tn
,, 3;st of December. The object o
this law was to disfranchlse tn
Iaborer and thus make 1t easier 1,
always keep in Office. They knew
|, that if ever they needed few ex
ira votes, they could easily be oh
. tanned by paying the poll tax o
those whom they could rely on.
There is however one good fea
turc to this law, and ,ha; is, tn
,, purpose for which the money 4
spent. Every good citizen shoult
wish TO see the children of the com
!. munity receive lar education
and | think that no one should be
grudge dollar year. Let ever,
working man pay bis poll tax, G.
that not only will be help To edu
cate h,s own children, but when tn,
time arrlves, when he will have !;
political party of his own and y
will not be long before he has
he will be able to 20 to the polll
aud at last cast q vote IN bis owl
behalf.
The "Baliot' is q harmless weap
on. The workingman must use
this weapon in the next great revo'
luton. He must never cease to ed