The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-11-23
What Human Life Depends On.

these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human development pos
sibIe. To produce. food. clothing
or shelter, land and machinery are
needed. Land alone does not salts
fy humun needs. Human labor
creates machinery and applies 1t 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
iani used for industrial purposes are.
owned by rapidly decreasing
minority. So long as machinery Is
simple and easily handled by one
nan. its owner cannot dominate tho
sources of life Of others. But when
machinery becomes moro complex
and expensive. and requires for its
operation the organized effort of
many workers, its influence recches
over wide circles of life. The owners
Of such machinery become the conn
nant c!2ss.
nfcn arc Made Slaves.
IT PROPORTION rs 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
scs 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 as Parasites.
AS the economic power of the rul-
ing class grows IL becomes less use.
full in the life OF the nation. All
the useful work OF the nation fills
upon the shoulders o, the class
whose only property Is It's manual
and mental labor power--the wage
worler--or OF the class who have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside of their labor
powcr--the small tradnrs and small
farmers. The ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site
The Class Struggle.
bitter struggle over the division
or thc products of labor is waged be-
tween the exploiting propertied
classes On the one hand and the ex-
plollng propertyiess class on the
other. in tails struggle the wage
WORKING class cannot expect adequate
reilet from any reform of the present
orGer 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
few capitalists are permitted to
control all the countrys industrial
resources and social tools for their
ihulVioual profit, and to make the
Production of the necessaries Of life
the object of competitive private en-
terprise and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
"rErohUctdOn and TdicncsS.
In spite OF the organization of
trusts. pools and combinations, the
capitalists are powcrless to regulate
production for social ends. Indus
tries are largely conducted in a
painless manner. Through periods
Of fcrerish activity the strength and
h"nlth of the workers are nerciless-
~ used mp. and during periods of en-
forced iGleness the workers are freq
nehtly reduced to starvation.
IN" climaHes OF this system of pro-
auction are the regularly recurring
i'' hSiTidlS Impressions and crises
watch paralyZe the nation every fir-
teen or twenty years.
Labor's FNnloitation
The capitalist class, in its mad
race for profits. is bound to exploit
the workers to the very limit Vt
their endurance and to sacrifice tier
PHYSICAL moral and mental welsnre.
TO rs o"n Unsuitable greed. Capi:al-
Ism keeps the masses Of worl,iprr,,,
IN poverty. restitution. physical ~
naustion and ignorance. 1t drags
their wives from their homes tn the
MN and factory. 1t slIatches their
cAliiren from the Fairgrounds AMI
SCHOOLS and srfnds their slen.ler
nodIcs and uniformed minds in1o .oid
dollars. 1t disfgures. mains ARA
Kills hundreds OF thousands of vo.k
'n%men annually in mines. on rail-
rohds and in factories. It dives
millions of workers into The ranks
or the unemployed and forces large
numbers OF them i.;o be.g:rv.
NcSTancT and all forms of crime and
vice.
Power OF CORN 7tion.
To maintain their rule over their
t'i!ow men, the capitalists must KEEN
III their pay all org3ns os tn. public
powers. public mind and public con-
sc!encc. They control tho dominant
parties and, through them, the eIa,t-