The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-07-20
What Human Life Depends On.

these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human development pos
slble. To lprOduce, food, clothing
or shelter, land and machinery are
needed. Land lone not salts
fly human needs. Human labor
creates machinery and applies it to
the M for the production of raw
material and food. Whoever has con-
troll of lane 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 purposes are
owned by a rapidly decreasing
Simple and easily handled by one
man, it's owner cannot dominate the
sources of life of others. But when
machinery becomes nor 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 domi-
nant class.
Mcn Are Made Slaves.
In proportion as the number of
such machine owners compared to all
% Wv 'roNS llCll Do"El
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-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
full in the life of the nation. All
the useful work of tho nation falls
upon the shoulders Of the class
whose only property is it's manual
and mental labor power-the wage
worker-or of the class who have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside Of their labor
power-thc small traders and small
The ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Glass 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-
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.
The wage workers are, therefore,
the most antagonists of the ruling
class. They suffer most from the
curse of class rule. The fact that
a few capitalists are permitted to
control all th~
resources and social tools for their
individual profit, and to make the
production of the necessaries of life
the object of competitive private en-
terprlse and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
OvcrprOductiOn and IdIencsS,
IN spite of the organization of
trusts, pools and combinations, the
capitalists are powerlcss to regulate
production for social ends. Indus
'rles~ are largely conducted in a
painless amer. Through periods
of feVerish activity the strength and
health of h workers are merciless-
~ used up. and during periods of en-
forced lien the workers are freq
uently reduced to starvation.
lhe climaNes of this system of pro-
uucilon are the regularly recurring
1ndustrials ~depressions and crises
winch paralyze the nation every fir
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
thelr endurance and to sacrifice tiier
physical, moral and mental welfare
TO It's own Unsuitable greed. Capital-
ism Keeps the masses of workingmen
IN poverty, dcstitution, physical ex-
haustlon and ignorance. 1t draS rs
thelr wives from their homes to the
mill and factory. 1t snatchcs their
children from the AMI
0 and grinds their slenIer
oodles and uniformed minds inro -old
collars. 1t disfigures, mains ana
k1lls hundreds of thousands of woik-
1ngmen annually in mines, on rail-
roads and in factories. 1t olives
millions of workers into the M ks
OF the unemployed and force; large
numbers of hem into bn:y.1y.
F~agranCT and all forms of crimo and
vice.
Power of Corruption.
To maintain their rule over their
1ellow men. the capitalists must keen
n h~t -