The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-11-26
EVILS OF COMPETITION
Entails Waste, Cuts Down Wages, and
Leads to Displacement Of Labor
Also Hits Cockroach
Capitalists

VI all the commonplace copybOoR
maNims which are taught to the chill
dTen In our schools, none Is more con
clusNely contradicted by their after
experience than the old proyerb Of
Waste not, want not
Having left the ordered life OF the
schoolroom, the child enters into the
chaos of competitive coInmcrcialism
where he is led TO believe that compe
tition ia the life Of trade and that
the waste which II entails is a ncces-
sary and inevitable accompaniment OF
business processes.
But to the more thoughtful of the
workers there comes a time when
they begin to question the sacredncss
and sagacity OF n system which has
for one OF It's permanent features an
enormous waste OF lives and re-
sources.
They find themselves in the midst
OF vast business organization which
has for its ostensible object the sup
plying Of society with the goods which
ii requires TO satisfy the needs
houses, food, clothes, coal and the ma
chinery and implements. which are
used IN the production and transporta-
ton OF these articles
Surely then, IL should be the object
OF the nation TO see that the feeding,
clothing, and housing of its people is
carried on in the most efficient man
ner possible and that the labor, ma
chinery, and natural resources arc
utilized with the minimum of waste.
The Socialists alone possess the
key to the problems presented by the
antagonism between contemporary
moral preceptS and commercial prac-
tices.
He knows that. despite the iino
phrases and pious expressions of the
defenders of the existing system. the
real motive, the dominant incentive,
of those who own and control the In
dustrles and business of the country
Is ont the satisfaction OF the peO-
pies needs. but the production Of
profit. and only in so far as they In
terfere with the making of profits are
the wastes OF competition removed
More time is spent in selling com
moditics than In making them, vast
hordes of commercial travellers and
statesmen, whose labor Is that of en-
deayoring 10 wrest trade from com
pet,tors, are kept by commercial
firms, hundreds OF thousands of un-
employed workers eagerly scan the
columns of the news
papers and flock to the doors of the
labor exchanges and factories vainly
TO secure employment.
thousands of tons Of food arc destroy
ed to keep up market prices cotton
crops are burnt in America for the
same purpose and in times OF COM
mercial depression factories and ma
chinery lie idle, while the workers
suffer from lack of the things which
their labor, given access to the ma,
chimes. could readily produce Even
in the most skilled trades this waste
of unemployed labor Is rife. labor
saving machinery IS continually dis
placing the skilled artisans, one strik-
Ing Illustration OF this is furnished
by the BolleTmakerS' society. this
union Of highly skilled workmen had
during the last year no less than TO-
900 Of it's $1,000 members unemployed.
his state of affairs being LARGELY due
TO the introduction Of pneumatic
tools.
But while commerclalism finds it
more profitable to add TO the compCtl
ion prevailing In the labor market, it
IS at the same time, by the forma-
ion of trusts and syndicates and the
crushing out of the small capitalists
and shOpkeepers. largely abolishing
among capitalists
Far from meaning as it would In
/ Socialist system of society, more
easuTe and greater wealth Tor all
tho people, today this doing away
with waste will bring more suffering
md anxiety to the workers,
During the next few years We shall
see the formation Of
rusts and combines in every branch
lf trade and a consequent increase
n the number of unemployed work
men
Already we have seen this process
At work in many Industries. railway
agreements have shown that the en-
)loyers find II more profitable to com
zinc than 10 compete.
The outlook for the workers under
capitalism is indeed dismal. the
growth Of combination among capa-
hats must cnivetably mean more
for employment among
he workers.
Their only hope lies in their learn
ne the lesson from their masters that
is better than competition
md In their Joining together to es-
abllsh a social system based upon
he common ownership OF the means
IF production, so that the labor and
'esources of the nation may be en-
)loyed TO secure communal happiness
instead OF profits for divldend-seckers.
Only thus can all the wastes OF com
petition be removed and the squalor,
want and unemployment OF the
workers abolished. Combined Industry
IS the most efficient form OF DroduC-
ion. IT. ensures n greater output with
1 lesseDed expenditure OF labor, II
brings beneficial results TO its owners:
when the whole OF the workers are
Ioint owners OF industry under Social
sm it Will bring beneficial results
% them; untli then 1t viii only In.
crease their weary toll and hopeless
poverty and continue the curse OF
for employment - The
New World
Experience teaches that dynamite
explosions are ilshy things, frequently
-csorted 10 by the usurping powers
10 draw attention away from their
own misdeeds II was so recently In
where court circles, gVllty
Of embezzlemcnt. felt that the end of
their tether. The least that the re-
ports of the blowing up OF the nom
union Los Angeles Times justify one
to say that it is passing suspicious
that. as reported. Immediately after
thn oNnlnslnn "nreesmen walked into