The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-06-29
What Human Life Depends On

these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human development pos
eible. To produce, food, clothing
or shelter, land and machinery arc
needed. Land alone does not salts
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
mi GRITTY. So long as machinery IS
land used for Industrial purposes arc
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 it's
operation the organized effort of
many workers. its influence reach les
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
creascs. 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-employing workers
thus become the helpless wage slaves
of industrial masters.
Ruling Glass as Parasites.
AS the economic power OF the rul-
Ing class grows it becomes less use
fuI 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
workcr-or OF the class who have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside OF their labor
powcr--the 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 propertied
classes on the one hand and the ex-
ploltlhS propertyless class on the
other. In this struggle the wage
relief from any reform of the present
order at the hand of the dominant
class.
The wage workers are, therefore.
the most antagonists of the ruling
class. They suffer most from the
curse OF class rule. The fact that
rev capitalists are permitted to
control all the countryS 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-
terprise and speculation is at the
hottom of all the social evils of our
time.
INSTRUMENTATION and IdlencSS
IN spite Of the organization of
trusts. pools and combinations. the
capitalists are powerless to regulate
production for social ends Indus
tries are largely conducted in a
painless manner THROUGH ncriod;
OF feVerish activity the strength and
health of the workers are merciless-
~ used up, and during periods Of en-
forced ldlcness the workers are freq
uently reduced to starvation.
ne cllmaNes of this system of pro
auction are the regularly recurring
industrials depressions and crises
which paralyzc the nation every fif-
teen or twenty years
Jnhnr's Exploitation.
The capitalist class, in it's mad
race, for profits. is bound to exploit
the workers to the very limit of
thelr endurance and to Sacrifices thea
physical. moral and mental welfare
TO It's own Unsuitable greed. CAPITAL
ism keeps the masses of workin.1ucn
IN poverty. dcStitution phvsicai OK
hanstlon and ignorance. 1t di.pss
thelr wives from their homes to th,,
mill and factory. 1t snatchcs their
'h1ldrcn from the Fairgrounds AMI
SCHOOLS and Srinds their slender
bodieS and uniformed minds inr, cold
uoliarS. 1t distigures. mains ara
Kills hundreds of thousands of work
inSmen annually in mines. on rail
roads and in factories 1t dives
millions of workers into the ranks
or tn" unemployed and force; large
h1n1D "rS of them into bo...1v
Vagrancy and all forms of crime anG
vice.
rover of CorruptiOn
To maintain their rule over their
Fellow men. the capitalists must keen
IN their pay all organs &c tho DuDl,r
powers, public mind and public CON
science. They control the dominant
parties and tbrplI,-b thn,,