The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-10-05
What Human Life depends On.

lunar life depends upon food,
clothing; and shelter. Only with
these assured are freedom, culture
aud higher human development pos
sible. TO produce. food. clothing
or shelter, land and machinery are
nceded;. Land alone does not salts
~ human needs. Human labor
creates machfnery and applies it l"
the laad 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 Glass Rule.
Today the machinery and the
minority. So long. as machinery IS.
land used for Industrial arc
owned by 4 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, It's influence reaches
over vide circles Of life. The wner
OF such machinery become the domi-
ant class.
Men Are Made Slaves.
In proportion as the number of
such machine owners compared to all
either classes decreases, their power
in the Enation rand in the world in
c~reases. They bring eve large mas
fes OF working people under their
control, reducing them to the point
where sLluscle and brain are their
only productive property. Millions
of FORMERLY contemplating workers
TINS become the helpless wage slaves
of Industrial masters.
Riding Glass as Parasites.
AS the economic power of the rul-
ing class grows it becomes less use.
ful in the life of the nation. All
tho useful work OF the nation falls
upon the shoulders of the class
whose t.only property is it's manual
and mental labor power-the wage
wsrker-or of the class who have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside of tier labor
power--the small traders n small
farmers. The ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Glass Struggle.
\ blttor struggle over the division
"i the products of labor is waged be-
tween the exploiting propertied
Classes on the one hand and the ex-
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 land of the dominant
class.
INC wage workers are, therefore,
the most antagonists of the ruling
GLASS. They suffer most from the
curse of class rule. The Fact tiI7t
4 few capitalists are perrcittcd 40
control all the country Industrial
and social tools for their
individual profit, and to make The
p~roduction OF the necessaries OF life
the object of competitive private en-
ierpriSe and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
oHcrproduction and IdlencSs.
In spite of the organization of
trusts. pools and combinations, the
capitalists are powcrleSs to regulate
production for social ends. Indus
lflcS are largely in n
PAINLESS manner. Through periods
OF fererish activity the strength and
health of the workers are merciless-
~ used up, and during periods of eo
forced idleness the worker are freq
uently reduced to starvation.
me cllmaNeS of this system of pro-
drction are the regularly recurring
Ihnnstrials depressions and crises
which paralyze the nation every nr-
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 of
their endurance and to sacrifice tie. r
physical. moral and mental welfare
TO IFS own Unsuitable greed. CAPITAL
ISM Keeps the masses of workin ynncn
IN poverty. dcstitution, physical ~
ha'stlon and ignorance. 1t drag rs
thcir wives from their homes tn the
mill and factory. 1t s%natches their
children from the Fairgrounds eanI
schools and grinds their sIen:ler
bodies n uniformed minds inro .oId
dollars. 1t d~isfigurcs. mains and
Kills hundreds OF thousands of work.
lngmen annually in mines. on rail
roads and in factories. 1t dives
millions OF workers into the ranks
OF the unemployed and forces large
numbers of them into begg.rv.
VaSrancy and all forms of crime and
vice.
HDxynr IF