The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-05-06
ORGANIZATION THE
SECRET OF POWER
Will Toilers Learn to Use Their Strength
The Ballot is the Weapon.

writer of the following article, is a mem
Der Of the typographical union, Of San
Diego Cal, and contributor to mum
erous labor publications He possesses
one of the keenest minds in the American
labor movement and his gift of eX-
preston makes him a potent power in
the battle for humanity.-Editor.)
Man is created in the image and like
ness of God, and is Divine Wisdom's
highest form of expression. By means Of
his intellect, man has harnessed the
waves of the sea to ships of commerce
and made the boundless ocean obey his
mandates He has lassoed the lightning
and compelled it to bear him from place
to place and carry his messages around
the world. He has made the mighty force
of steam his servant and shifted the
burden of man and beast upon its shoul-
ders. He has turned his telescope to-
ward the heavens and measured the dis
tance from star to star and from planet
to planet. He has erected such massive
forms of architecture in marble and stone
that they seem destined to
repose until time shall be no more
He has even gone to the length Of hold
ing intercourse with the spirit inhabit-
ants of the world beyond the grave, if
the evidence of our Spiritual friends is
to be believed.
And yet with all these marvellous
achievements of mans transeendent gen
ius, he seems unable to cope with the
one problem Of common, ordinary, every
day eXistence-the bread and meat prob
lem-how, in a world OF plenty, all Gods
children may have the amount Of food
necessary to keep the spark Of life with.
in their bodies.
All over TINS broad land Of ours-a
land rich to prodigality IL the fru-aqe
of its soil-where happy homes dot every
hillside, where church and school are
ministering to the soul and intellect of
humanity, and great cities swarm with
masses of toiling men and women--all
over this broad land the bread lines and
soup lines are being constantly augment
ed, and the struggle for existence grows.
sharper and more desperate as the years
roll on.
\ few days ago. thinly-clad pale
faced man hurled brick through a large
plate glass window on State street in
Chicago, for the express purpose of hav-
ing himself arrested. When brought
before the justice, the man said: 1T
matters not where I am from or what
my business is. Recently it has been
that of trying to solve the problem of
how to live on nothing was starving
| have no friends The priest and the le-
yite daily pass me by, and the good
samaritan has not found me vet. 1t
was either beggary or theft, until
thought of committing some compare
lively harmless crime and being arrest
ed. That is why broke the window. to
be saved the shame of begging or steal
ing My name-well-let it 90 as
|"Friendless Vag.'
Now, reader, what do you think you
would do under the same circumstances
Supposing YOU were told by some burly
bluecoat to "keep moving on and peo-
pie turned you from their doors as a
worthless tramp; would you steal, would
YOU beg, would you commit a crime for
the sake of getting food. or would you
end it all by going out of the world 2
Every day some resort to one of these
measures and some to another. Hard
indeed, is it to tell which is the more
terrible-the crime of stealing. the ie-
gradation of begging or the crowning act
of desperation, suicide.
But, after all, this is not the main
question. The main question is; How
oan we destroy the system under and
through which hundreds of thousands of
men and women are driven to these aw-
full eNtremities? The United States of
America is rated as the richest coun-
1 try on the globe, and one of the most en-.
lightened and progressive of the nations
of the earth, and vet we have thousands
/ upon thousands of human beings under
the silken folds of our starry banner who
are compelled every day of their lives
to decide whether they will steal, beg,
commit a crime, or end all in suicide
And, worst OF all, it is through no fault
of their own, but it is the fault of a
damnable system of oppression and ty-
ranny, backed and upheld by the gov
ernment itself. 1t is not on account of
mean hearts, base motives. wrong de-
sires, or a lack of the necessaries of life.
that these people must needs suffer
the pangs of hunger. The granaries and
warehouses OF the land are filled almost
to the bursting point There is plenty
for all-and to spare-if the system
would only be magnanimous enough To
allow a Just and equitable distribution
TO be made. It is not the fault Of the
earth, which yields in abundance. or Of
the people who produce all that is nee
essary, but of the system which con
trole the distribution.
In France, when the conditions becam
as they are todayin America, the masse
T Of the people resorted to force of arm
to obtain their rights. and the naDes q