The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-05-25
What Human Life Depends On.


these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human development pos-
sible. To lproduce, food. clothing
or shelter, land and machinery are
needed. Land alone does not satis-
fy human needs Human labor
creates machinery and applies it to
the land for the production of raw
material and food. Whoever has con-
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 more complex
and expensive. and requires for it's
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
other classes decreases, their power
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 self-employing workers
thus become the helpless wage slaves
OF industrial masters.
Ruling Glass as Parasites.
AS the economic power of tho rul-
Ing class grows it becomes less use
1ul In the life OF the nation. All
the useful work of the 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--tho 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 propcrtied
classes on the one hand and the ex-
plotting propertyless class on the
other In this struggle the wage
working class cannot expect adeuuat,
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 tho
curse of class rule. The fact that
few 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-
terprlse and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
oduction and Idlcncss.
IN spite of the organization of
trusts. pools and mbinations, the
capitalists are powerless to regulate
production for social ends Indus
tries are largely conducted in a
planless manner. Through periods
OF ieVerlsh activity the strength and
health OF the workers are mcrciless-
~ used up, and during periods Of en-
forced ldlcness the workers are freq
uently reduced to starvation
The ClimaxeS of this system of pro-
uuct'on are the regularly recurring
lndnstria1s depressions and crises
which paralvze the nation every fir-
teen or twenty years.
Labor's Exploitation.
The capitalist class. in it's mad
race. Tor profits, is bound to exploit
the workers to tho very limit Of
their endurance and to sacrifice Their
physical. moral and mental welfare
to its own Unsuitable greed. Capital-
ism Keeps the masses of workiurmen
IN poverty. restitution, physical ex-
nanstlon and ignorance. 1t drags
their wives from their homes to the
mill and factory. 1t snatchcs their
children from the Fairgrounds ami
schools and grlnds their slender
Dodles and uniformed minds in,o cold
dollars. 1t disfiEures. mains and
Kills hundreds of thousands of work
ihsmen annually in mines. on rail
roads and in factories. 1t Il ives
millions of workers into The ranks
of the unemployed and forces large
numbers of them into b,.y.:lv,
'agrancy and all forms of crime ant:
vice.
Power of Corruption.
TO maintain their rule over their |
fellow men. the capitalists must keep |
10 their pay all organs ce the public |
powers. public mind and public con