The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-07-06
What Human Life Depends On.


these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human development pos
sible. To produce, food, clothing
or shelter. land and machinery are
needed. Land alone does not salts
1y human needs. Human labor
creates machinery and applies it to
the land for the production of raw
material and food. Whoever has con
troll OF land and machinery controls
human labor, and with it human
life and liberty
The Cause of Class Rule.
Today the machinery and the
minority. So long as machinery Is
land used for Industrial purposes are
owned by rapidly decreasing
simple and easily handled by one
man, it's owner cannot dominate the
sources of life of others. But when
machinery becomes more complex
and expensive, and requires for its
operation the" organized effort of
many workers, its influence reaches
over wide circles OF life. The owners
of such machinery become the @domi-
nant class.
Men Are Made Slaves.
In proportion as the number OF
such machine owners compared to all
In the nation and in the world in
creases. They bring ever large mas
ses Of working people under their
control, reducing them to the point
where muscle and brain are their
only productive property. Millions
OF formerly self-employing workers
thus become the helpless wage slaves
of industrial masters.
~ Ruling Glass Parasites.
AS the economic power Of the rul-
ing class grows it becomes less USE
full in the life Of the nation. All
the useful work of the nation falls
upon the shoulders OF the class
whose only property is It's manual
and mental labor power-the wage
worker--or Of the class who have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside Of their labor
power-the small traders and small
farmers. The ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Glass Struggle.
"A bitter struggle over the division
OF the products of labor is waged be-
tween the exploiting propertied
classes on the one hand and the ex-
plotting propertyless class on the
WORKING class cannot expect ADEQUATE
relief from any reform of the present
ordern!at the hand of ther dominant
class.
Inc wage workers are, therefore,,
the most antagonists Of the ruling
CLASS They suffer most from the
curse of class rule. The fact that
a few capitalists are permitted to
control all the country's industrial
resources and social tools for their
individual profit, and to make the
production of the necessaries of life
the object of competitive private en-
terprise and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
Otcrproduction and IdIcncss
IN spite OF the organization of
trusts, pools and combinations, the
capitalists are powerless to regulate
production for social ends. Indus
tries are largely conducted in a
planless manner. Through periods
OF feverish activity the strength and
health of the workers are merciless-
~ used up, and during periods of en-
forced idl"ness the workers are freq
uently reduced to starvation.
The climaXes of this system of pro-
uuc'lon are the regularly recurring
1ndnstrinls depressions and crises
which paralyZe the nation every fif-
teen or twenty years
I.abOr's Exploitation.
The capitalist class, in its mad
race, for profits. is bound to exploit
the workers to the very limit of
their endurance and to sacrifice Their
physical, moral and mental welfare
to its own Unsuitable greed. CaDital-
ism keeps the masses of worl<inymen
IN poverty. restitution, physical ex-
uaust1on and Ignorance 1t drars
their wives from their homes to the
mill and factory. 1t snatches their
chlldren from the Fairgrounds ana
SCHOOLS and grinds their slen.ler
podies and uniformed minds in,o cold
uolIafs. 1T disGgureS, mains and
Kills hundreds of thousands of work
1ngmen annually in mines on rail-
roads and in factories. 1t Il Ives
mllllons of workers into the ranks
OF the unemployed and forces large
numbers of them into b.-s:.rv.
Vagrancy and all forms of crime and
vice.
Power of Corruption.
10 maintain their ruln over their
Fellow men. the capitalists must Keen
IN their pay all organs @: tho publ g..
powers, public mind and public con-
science. no