The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-04-07

the machinery or production and dlS-
tribution. Now SO long as the capt.
talist process of production contln
ues, so long will farmers toll for otn-
ers to enjoy, and there is no way Of
escape for the farmer short of the
complete transfer of the machinery OF
production and distribution from pri-
vate to public hands.
Socialism does not necessarily i'm
ply that the individual system OF
farming will be absolutely abolished.
What is collectively used must be col
lectively owned. is maxim of social
ism. How we shall farm under So
G .lism must remain to be worked out
Wnen we reach it, and | defy you,
bro.her De France, to cite single
american writer of note who has ever
claimed that we must establish CO.
operative farming as an immediate
product Of social government,
though in the process of evolution |
believe that will ultimately result.
What we do stand for is the coliec-
tive ownership of the means of pro-
duction and distribution with demo-
cratic management by the workers
employed in the various divisions of
the public service, something as diff
ferent from your government owner
ship as day from night.
Until this transfer Is made the
farmer is helpless and hopeless, and
therefore his immediate and ultimate
interest lies in helping the wage work
ing class in it's battle against capital
ism. The wage worker must be free
before the farmer can begin on his
own emancipation, for the industries
where the wage laborer is employed,
are those which are crushing the life
out of the farmer. They are the shoe
factories, the -four mills, the cotton
and woollen mills. the mines and the
shops and the whole vast industries
of the country, including the rail-
roads. When these industries are re-
moved from the control of the capt.
talist class and pass into public own
ership and management, the robber
barons who pillage the farmers will
be forever laid to rest, and then the
farmer can begin to change his own
methods, and so regulate the farming
industry as to give him the shortest
hours of labor with the best Of ma
terial comfort, When this time comes
the farmer not the coal miner, will
solve this problem, and he will have
the machinery in his own hands to
do it.
Prof. Will is right when he says,
Split south from west by fusion, then
split the south on the race question,
the west on the labor question. Get
all these elements to fighting each
other. and capitalism may rule for
ever"
! Populism never reached so high a
plane of thought as when it said in
Omaha in 1892: "The interest of the
urban and rural workers are identi-
CAL" We only need to add, the wage
working class who stand where ex-
ploitation is fiercest, are in the hot
test part of the capitalist hell. In
til they are emancipated the farmer
cannot be free, and without the farm
er's aid all hope of the wage workers
freedom would be dead.
To the logged determination, and
fervent spirit that animates my pop
ulist brethren who gathered at st.
Louis on the 22d of February an6 is
sued call for the populist conven-
ton to meet at Springfield, H., on the
Fourth of July. 1904, take off my
hat, but to the Judgment which called
such body together, cannot but
enter protest. The socialist party,
organized now through the length and
breadth of the land. animated with
the spirit of the social revolution, is
sweeping onward with resistless pow
er. Soon will the whole force and
power of capitalism be arraved against
1t, and the historic class struggle, now
at last to be finally waged, must of
necessity divide the people according
as 70 whether they be producers or
exploiters. Forget the exception
clause" and the "crime of 49," and
come where the real struggle of the
centuries will be waged.
New occasions teach new duties: Time
Makes ancient good uncouth
They must upward still, and onward,
Who would keep abreast OF truth;
10. before us CLEAN her camphres; We
Ourselves must pilgrims be.
/ 4 L..x 10 "a.