The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-03-09
Lecture by George r. Kirkpatrick, of
New York, at the Stephenson Audi
torium, Charleston, West Virginiic,
Thursday, March 2, 1911, 500
p. w.

WI men they took man prisoner thew
took him to have fun, to build fire
on him and hear him squeal, Just as
cat plays with a mouse A long
time ago they did not take prisoners.
except, perhaps, the women, they did
not take big, strong men as prison.
ers. after their victories. And for
this reason; they had no way of mal<-
ing use of prisoners as live working
animals. The system had not de-
Veloped to the stage to make it profit
aDle FOR the conquering tribe to make
use Of the conquered tribe as work
ing animals.
But another system finally reache ed
that stage when the conditions made
1t possible for the conquering tribe
to make use of it's neighbors as work.
ing animals, If they could be caught
alive, and that developed one Of the
greatest ideas: namely, now a live
man Is worth more than a dead one
II you can make use of him. And
when they got that idea they did not
so on with slaughtering after they
were victorious, they saved alive not
only the young and best women, but
also the big strong men with whom
they had been fighting, and kept
them after the battle, and set these
prisoners to work as working amin
als-took them to work as horses
and oxen are set to work in our day
This is the origin of chattel slav-
cry. There is no guessing about it.
the anthropclogists are agreed on the
origin of slavery and the origin of
tribal wars. when they began to take
prisoners after conquering their
neishboring tribes.
have explained the origin of war
and the origin of chattle slavery.
Now, the slaves constituted a class
The conQuerors who were victorious
over their neighboring tribes. took
as many living men as possible. and
the conquering tribe became the rul-
ing class. and the conquered tribes
become the working class. They
were slaves. The conquering tribes
proceeded Immediately to organize
society. for their own benefit nntur-
ally. They made all the rules Of the
game of life thereafter. in their own
interest. Nobody should be blamed
for this. understand. nobody par
ticularly to blame at all. 1t came
about just as other things. just in tho
process of evolution of society. No
particular person is to be picked out
because of slavery. These slaves had
been enemies before they had been
at war with these conquerors. ana
these slaves were therefore despised.
even hated: they were put down as
low as the horses and cattle in so
cicty. They had no rights whatever.
they had not even the right to live.
no voice in the control of the. sys-
tenn socially they had no voice. po-
litically no voice. industrially no
voice, they were down at the bottom
of the scale. with the horses and cat
tie of the field.
I Why were they made slaves? The
owners sought to make a living out
of their lives. by getting on their
shoulders. so to speak. and ride the
rest of the way through life. Cloud
|applause).
Here is the origin of the ruling
class.
Here is the origin of the working
class.
Here is the origin of the very best
people. and the leading citizens.
If there are some leading citizens
there must be some other citizens be-
ing led. Here is where the leading
business began. o, it was cruel and
fierce.
Now. this proper class-up on the
shoulders of the working class.-be-
gan to talk about superior people
and inferior people. the right to rule
| inferior people. and all that sort OF
talk. All, here does the class strug-
| gle come in
1t was the interest of the workin Z
class to get free.
1t was to the interest of the rulins 2
class to hold them down.