The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-06-22
What Human Life Depends On.

these ass UT co are ITeeCOm,
and higher human development pos
sibie. To produce, food, clothing
or shelter, land and machinery are
needed. Land alone does not satis-
fy 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, its owner cannot dominate the
sources of life of others. But when
machinery becomes more complex
and expensive, and requires for it's
operation the organized effort of
many workers, 'its|1nfiuence 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
other classes decreases. their power
In the nation and in the world in
creases. They bring ever large mas
SEES 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 us Parasites.
AS the economic power of the ruI-
Ing class grows it becomes less use
fui in the life of tho nation. All
the useful work of the nation falls
upon the shoulders of the class
whose only property Is its 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--thc small traders and small
farmers. The ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Glass Struggle.
bitter struggle over the division
or the products of labor is waged be-
tween the exploiting propertied
classes on the one hand and the OK
plotting propertyless class on the
other. In this struggle the wage
working class cannot expect adequate
relief from any reform Of the present.
order at the hand of the dominant
class. 90, o.. -. a. 49,
Inc wage workers are, therefore,
the most antagonists of the ruling
CLASS. Ihey suffer most from the
curse of class rule. The fact that
few capitalists are permitted to
control all the country's Industrial
individual profit. and to make the
production Of the necessaries of life
the object of competitive private en-
terprlso and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time
Misrepresentation and IdIcncSS.
IN spite OF the organization of
trusts, pools and combinations, the
capitalists are powerless to regulate
production 70" social ends. Indus
7rlcs are largely conducted in a
painless manner. Through periods
OF fererish activity the strength and
health OF the workers are mercifess-
~ used up. and during periods of en-
forced ldlencsS the workers are freq
nently reduced to starvation
inc climaNes of this system Of pro-
auction are the regularly recurring
ihu "StlIdlS Impressions and crises
which paralyZe the nation every fiji
teen or twenty years.
Lahor's Exploitation.
me capitalist class in its mai
race. for profits. is bound to exploit
inc workers to the very limit of
thcir endurance and to sacrifice Their
physical. moral and mental welfare
10 its own Unsuitable greed Cal,ital-
ism keeps the masses of worlinrmcu
IN poverty. restitution. physical OK
haustion and ignorance 1t d;.ags
their wives from their homes to the
m'lI and factory. 1t snatches their
children from the Fairgrounds AMI
SCHOOLS and grinds their slen, Ter
bodies and uniformed minds inro cold
collars. 1t disfgures. mains ana
Kills hundreds of thousands of work.
lngmen annually in mines, on rail-
ROADS and In factories. 1t Il .Ivos
millions of workers into the ranks
OF the unemployed and forces iar.e
numbers of them into b3-3..ry.
Vagrancy and all forms of crime and
vice.
Power of Corruption.
To maintain their rule over thor,-
FELLOW men. the capitalists must kecD
IN their pay all organs &C thu pu5Iic
powers. public mind and public con-