The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-07-13
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
fly human needs. Human labor
creates machinery and applies it to
the land for h 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 Eule. .
Today the machinery and the
minority. So long as machinery is
land used for industrial purposes are
owned by a 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 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
o'i'' hnD u''i lHcil kpp"Fl
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 sclf-cmployins workers
thus become the helpless wage slaves
of industrial masters.
Ruling Class as 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 its manual
and mental labor powcr-the wage
worker-or of the class who have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside Of their labor
powcr--thc small traders and small
farmers. The ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Class Struggle.
a bitter struggle over the division
OF the products of labor is waged be-
tween the exploiting p]ropertied
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 hand of the 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
Il lew capitalists are permitted to
control all the country's Industrial
resources and social tools for their
1hol'ldual profit. and to make the
production of the n~eccssaries of life
tho object of competitive private en-
terpr1Se and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
t.crpro'nCtion and IdIcnesS.
IN spite Of the organization of
trusts. pools and combinations. tho
capitalists arc powcrlcss to regulate
production for social ends. Indus
tries are largely conducted in 4
painless manner. Through periods
OF feveri"h activity the strength and
healtll of the workers arc merciless-
~ used up. and during periods of en-
forced idleneSs the workers are freq
uently reduced to starvation:
IN" cImaNes of this system Of pro
auction are the regularly recurring
lhhustrials dcpressions and crises
winch paralvzc the nation every IF
teen or twenty years.
Labor Exploitation.
The capitalist class. in it's mad
race, for profits. is bound to exploit
the workers to the very limit of
lhelf endurance and to sacrifice the
physical. moral and mental welfare
TO Its own Unsuitable greed. Capital-
ISM keeps the masses of workingmCn
IN poverty. destitution, physical on
haustlon and ignorance. It drngs
th"lr wives from their homes to the
mlll ana factory. 1t s%natchcs their
ch1idr"n from the Fairgrounds ami
SCHOOLS and Srinds their ~slnnler
bodies and uniformed minds in,o cold
dollars. 1t d~isfigures. mains aud
KITS hundreds of thousands of wo,k-
1ngmen annually in mines. on rail
roads and in factories. 1t. dives
mllllons of workers into the ranks
OF the unemployed and forces large
hnmh"fS of them into be-g:ry.
VaErancy and all forms of crime anG
vice.
Power of Corruption.
10 maintain their rule over their
fellow men. the capitalists must keen
IN thcIr pay all organs CO tho publ