The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-08-24
WHY WE ARE BITTER

year. Not only that, but one rom
pany distributed n stock dividend -,
100 per cent 10 it's stockho)dors
1hat means that every stakeholder
received as a gift a certificate for
Suditlonal shares 20 tho number he
had held before.
IN the panic year OF 1907 ,ho
Dartmouth mill paid S66 Der share
IN dividends. Don't forget. rept,a
reader, that in that same year, had
1t not been o the Salvation Army
and other charity organizations
many OF the textile workers Womb
have starved to death.
According to social workers who
nave made a study OF family budgets
the minimum requirement in the
united States for a decent living for
a family of five is $3.50 a year, vet
the United States Census Bureau
shows that the employees engaged in
the manufacture Of wooden goods
cceive only a yearly average OF
1896:
In 1905 the total value Of the out.
put OF l,l45 textile mills was $780,
467,7O4. The total wage paid that
same year was $36,2O5. 1916. Accord
ing to these figures labor received a
little more than one-tifth of the out
put, while the owners received the
other four-fifths.
Now, do you understand why the
textile barons a pay $66 Il share
IN dividends? Can you not see why
Their wage slaves are forced to livs
I'm houses of cheap construction, I'M
derstand. why it is necessary for the
workers to appeal to charity when.
ever the mills work short hours, or
are shut down until the .'ovcrpro.
duction' is sold?
THE WORKERS STARVE BE-
CAUSE THE MILL OWNERS ROB
THEM OF FOUR-FIFTHS OF THE
WEALTH THEY CREATE.
This criminal combination of tex
tile barons is specially favored by
law. 1T enjoys the full sweep Of
legal privilege. The law was MACS
TO suit it. Caught between the up
per and the lower milIstoncs, the
Textile Barons above ami Starvation
below, the wage slaves are ground
to powder without pity, without
grief, without limit. Statesmen
come and statesmen go, but the
IN bic system grinds on forever.
AXE the steel industry for an
other example.
According to Secretary Nagcl of
the Department of Commerce and
Labor one-third Of 8 1000 men en-
ployed in the steel industry work
seven days a week. One-fourth OF
10000 work eighty-four hours or
over Il week. Think of an industry
that brutally forces its men to work
twelve hours a day, seven days
week!
The steel and iron workers are
worse off than the slaves of ante
bellum days, for the b~eggarly wage
gives them neither the comforts or
the security of the BLACK field hand
who got his board ard lodging from
a master, whose tinaa-ial interests
demanded that good care be taken
of the worker he owned and exploit
ed.
And now Il word about prostitu-
ton.
The following is a part of the re-
port OF what the Chicago Vice Com
mission found:
The first truth that the comlnS-
sion desires to- impress upon lHe
citizens of Chicago is the fact that
prostitution in this city is Il COM
merciaiized business of large propo'..
tions with tremendous profts Vi
more than $4,000, 900 per veal
controlled largely by .aen, not W.
men. Separate the male eXploi'e'
from the problem. a we "'"',
E1iZe its extent and b g its lasran'
outward expression.
In just OPPOSITION with this group u
professional male eNHloiters stana
~ostenslbly respectable citizens, oo.n
men and women who are opeh''
renting and leasing property i"
eXorbitant sums, and h Il sharlu='
through immortality o. investments
the profits from thia business
business which demands a SupPN '"
5000 souls from year to year "
satisfy the lust and CRED OF men -
this city.
Who is responsible Tor this conut
tion2 Who? There "In be nut ON
answer. And that is. CAPlTAi''2".
What is the proper name 10 XIV