East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-02-16
THE EcSrACY or HIGH PROFITS

Socialists sometimes speak of a
capitalist this or capitalist that. a
great many people do not understand
just what We mean, and we are often
sneered at as visionary and irrespon-
sible. Last fan our distinguished
president made speech in Boston.
There was one phase of that speech
which viii make clear what we mean
by capitalist president The hum
of prosperity and the ecstacy of great
profits, he said, are likely to dull our
interest in reforms
What a marVelously Illuminating
phrase--the ecstacy of great profits
Property understood. that phrase
should open to all of us the mind
and heart Of Mr.. Taft. Perhaps he
has sat down with great financiers
when melon was cut or a box of
Hood River apples was opened up,
Can you imagine an ecstacy so eX-
quisite as 10 be a stockholder in a
great trust which has laid aside mill
lions of surplus profit which it decides
to divide among you. Here is the
most gorgeous graft that the mind of
man Ndll NpllNflNt W. II - NANhAi Sun
without any effort on our part
Mr.. Taft knows how to reach the
heart of the capitalist. He has done
il to perfection in this phrase. He has
tickled him with the most exquisite
sensation known to the profit seeker,
the ecstacy of great profits.
We socialists say that Mr.. Taft is
a capitalists president and YOU ask
what We mean. We mean this that
President Taft is the repre-
sentative of the profit seekers, the
two million or more little child slaves
have no president Men. women and
children of toll deep this day and
every day in the mines in the fac
tories, before the furnaces, have no
president They know not the ecstacy
Hof great profits. They never have
nor ever will cut single luscious mel
/ on. The product of their labor this
I wear alone will amount to untold mil
| lions. The bread they bake, the steel
( they make, the coal they mine, the en-
| gines they drive, the clothing they
sew. the houses they erect are ike
mighty rivers filled with blood and
/ sweat, laden with profits flowing into
/ the Golfers of our great commercial
trusts to provide capitalists with mil
lions of melons to cut. The surplus
will be rich and plentiful and there
, viii be ecstacy in the heart of the eN-
ploiters of labor.
The men who toll may or may not
get wages which may provide them
with enough for food with cheap
clothing ana shelter. They may pro-
duce ten times the amount of their
4 wages. That will not matter They
/ win profit not at all. The hum of
prosperity and The ecstacy of great
{ profits. these are the words Of re-
publican president in the year 1903
and 1910.
Let us fall back to the words of
that noble patriot, Abe Lincoln He
said. "Our whole species falls into
three great classes, useful labor, use
less labor and idleness " Of these the
first only is meritor.ous and to it al
tho product of labor rightfuliy be-
longs. But the two latter while they
exist are heavy pensioners upon the
first. robbing it of a large proportion
of its just rights. To be plain. Mr.
Merchant farmer and laboring man
what then is a capitalist president.
We socialists claim he is that one who
represents the pensioners. Those who's
position in the commercial struggle
enables them to rob labor of a large
proportion Of its just rights. He is
that one who. when he speaks of {
nations veal. has one thing only il
mind-robbery. Or as Mr.. Taft says
the ecstacy Of great profit.
Respectfully,
nENEDATN