The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-11-16
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
fy human needs. Human iab3,
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
land used for Industrial purposes are
owned by rapidly decreasing
minority. So long as machinery Is
simple and easily handled by one
man. its owner cannot dominate the
sources of life CT others. But when
machinery becomes more complex
and expensive. and requires. for its
operation the organized effort OF
many workers, it's influence reaches
over wide circles of life. The owners
OF such machinery become the conn
nant class.
MEN Are Made Slaves.
In PROPORTION as the Iumbei 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
ses of working people under their
control, reducing them to the point
where muscle ard brain are their
only productive property. Millions
OF formerly self-employing workers
thus become the helpless wage slaves
OF Industrial masters.
RulinS Glass as Parasites
AS the economic power Of the rnl-
Ing class grows il becomes less lse-
ful in the life OF the nation. vi
the useful work OF she nation f..!a
upon the shoulders o: the class
whose only propertv is it's manual
and mental labor powcr--the wage
worker-or of the class WHO have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside OF tEeir labor
power-the 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
s SIa: On the one hand and the ex-
CioPSi ~ AeSS CLASS the
other. In this struggle the wage
Moikins class cannot expect adequate
rellet from any reform of the present
order at the hand of the dominant
class -.
The wage workers are. therefore
the most antagonists OF the rulinr
class. They suffer most from the
curse of class rule. The fact that
lew 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-
teFprlse and speculation is at tho
nottom of all the social evils of orr
time.
o'crproductdon and Idleness.
IN spite OF the organization of
trusts, pools and combinations. the
capitalists are powerless to regulate
production foc social ends. Indus
tries are largely conducted in a
painless manner. Through periods
OF feverish activity the strength and
hcalth of the workers are merciless
used up, and during periods of e..
forced 1dleness the workers are FREQ
uently reduced to starvation.
NC CllildheS or this system of Dro-
auction are the regularly recurring
'houstrials depressions and crises
winch Daralyze the nation every 6r
teen or twenty years.
Labor's Exploitation.
The capitalist class, in its mad
race FOR profits, is bound to exploit
the workers to the very limit ~
their endurance and to sacrifice t.;e r
physical. moral and mental welrnr.
70 It's own Unsuitable greed. Can;,al
ISM keeps the masses of worlinrlneu
IN poverty, restitution, physical ~
haustlon and ignorance It d-ars
thelr wives from their homes tn TIN
hili and factory. 1t slatches their
cnlioren from the Fairgrounds AMI
SCHOOLS and grinds their slender
oodles and Uniformed minds inr, cold
collars. 1t disigures. mains ana
kllls hundreds OF thousands of wn, Il
inemen annually in mines. on ra;l.
roads and in factories. 1t .l.,vcs
millions OF workers into the ranks
or the unemployed anu force; iar.-e
numbers of them i.to be..-..,-r
VaSrancy and all forms of crime anf
vice.
Power of Corruption.
To maintain their rule over +,,..,,.
fellow man. the capitalists must kr;,.,
IN their pay all Organs c: the publ.
powers, public mind and bubble con-
science. They control the dominant
parties and through than .i,o o1,..