Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1906-05-14
SOCIALIST VAGARIES
tom WATSON EXPOSES some OF
Them IN HIS MAGAZINE.
His Criticism of Upton SinCIair'S Book
"The Jungle" Continued. Who
will Do the Nasty Work When
the Socialist Millennium Arrives?
Asks Mr.. Watson,

THE Jungle" was meant to be an in.
dictment against our industrial system.
But it isn't. 1.-The Jungle" succeeds in
showing the EVILS BROUGHT ARoUT BY
OVER CRowDING IN THE CENTERs OF popU-
LATIoN. MIR. Sinclair has simply demon
strated the truth OF what Adam Smith
wrote in "The Wealth of Nations" If
the labor market be oveistocked, wages
fall. If in the labor market, the supply
of labor be less than the demand, wages
rise.
Mr.. Sinclair demonstrates this to per-
lection. THE Jungle" tells lis that 80
long as there were more applicants for
jobs than there we're jobs, wages were at
starvation figures; but when the strike
came on, and the supply of labor was
less than the demand, wages became ac-
cordinsly high. In fact, the wage. Garner
THEN named his own price, and the
packers had to give it.
1t is clear to my mind that we need
not 90 to Socialism to find remedies for
everything that is remediable in our in.
dustrial and political system.
IN THE BIG CITIES TWO MEN COMPETE
FOR one JOB; IN THE RURAL COMMUNITIES
TWO JOBS COMPETE FOR ONE MAN. Surely
that is problem which may be remeded,
PROVIDED THE WILLINGNESS TO WORK CAN
BE MADE TO OVERCOME THE INCLINATION
TO LIVE IN TIE BIG CITIES.
If city life presents such irresistible
destinations that men will persist in
crowding into the already over-crowded
centers OF population, what can you do
How WILL SOCIALISM MANAGE TO WORK
THE MIRACLE OF SUPPLYING TWO MEN WITH
JOB WHERE THERE Is ONLY ONE JOB?
Mr.. Sinclair lays much stress upon the
nasty work which is done in the stock.
yards. He uses language which the re-
viewers consider unquotable in describing.
the butchering Of hogs and cattle and the
making up of the carcass, entrails, ETC.,
into all sorts Of merchantable products,
including fertilizers. The fertilizer max.
ing is peculiarly repulsive in it's nastl.
ness.
Well, fertilizer is right good thing in
its place; and l rise to inquire whether
Socialism prohibits fertilizers? If 80,
let us know, so that we can get our gar
dens, fields, etc., manured up, before
Socialism cuts US off from the bases OF
supply. But, even if Socialism permits
us to assist nature with extra plant food,
will not the making OF fertilizers be
about the same thing that it is now?
The work Is nasty. of course. There
is a great deal of nasty work which
necessity compels people to do, or to
have done.
Mr.. Sinclair talks quite literally about
the quits OF hogs and COWS, and the nast.
ness involved in handling the same. l
fully agree with him. The work is not
nice work. But will Socialism bring
about such change in the habits and
food of cows and hogs that the CUTS can
be cleaned in the front room, as part of
the evenings pastime, while we listen
to the phonograph or pianola?
If, under Socialism, the same repulsive
work will have to be done which we now
have to hire someone else to do, what
will be the process of selection OF getting
at the fellow who MUST 90 out and clean
the guts?-Watson's Magazine.