The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-05-11
What Human Life Depends On.


clothing and shelter. Only with
these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human development pos
aible. To produce, food, clothing
or shelter. land and machinery are
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 Glass Rule.
Today the machinery and the
minority. So long as machinery is
land used for industrial purposes are
owned by a rapidly dccreaSing
simple and easily handled by ono
man, its owner cannot dominate the
sources Of life of others. But when
machinery becomes more complex
and expensive, and requires for its
operation the organized effort OF
many workers, its influence reach es
over wide circles of life. The owners
of such machinery become the domi-
nant class.
Men Arc Made. Slaves.
In proportion as the number Of
such nlachinc owners compared to all
other classes decreases, their power
in the nation and in the world in
crcases. 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 1t becomes less USE
full in the life of the nation. All
tho useful work of the nation falls
upon the shoulders of the class
whose only property is its 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
farmers. Tho ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Glass Struggle.
bitter struggle over tho division
of the products of labor is wagcd be-
tween the exploiting properticd
plotting propertyless class on the
other. In this struggle tho wage
WORKING class cannot expect adequate
relief from any reform Of the present
order at the hand of the dominant
class.
The wage workers arc, therefore.
the most antagonists of the ruling
class. They suffer most from the
he,
few capitalists arc permitted to
control all the coun:rys industrial
resources and social tools for their
individual profit. and to make the
production of the ncccssaries OF life
the object of competitive private en-
terprisc and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
Misrepresentation and IdlcncSS.
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 periods
of fererish activity the strength and
health of the workers are mcrciless-
1y used up, and during periods of cn
forced idlencss the workers are freq
uently reduced to starvation.
The climaNes of this system of pro-
duction are the regularly recurring
1ndustrials depressions and crises
which paralyZc tho nation every fl
teen or twenty years.
Labor'S Exploitation.
The capitalist class, in it's mad
race, for profits. is bound to exploit
the workers to the very limit of
their endurance and to sacrifice tile,r
physical, moral and mental wclrnr:
to its own Unsuitable greed CAPITAL
ism keeps the masses of workin rncn
IN poverty. dcstitution, physical ex-
haustion and Ignorance. 1t diags
their wives from their homes to the
mill and factory It snatchcs tneir
children from the Fairgrounds ami
schools and grinds their slenIer
bodies and uniformed minds in.o cold
uoliars. 1t disfgures, mains ana
Kills hundreds of thousands of work
1nGmen annually in mines. on rail-
roads and in factories. 1t dives
millions of workers into the ranks
or the unemployed and forces large
numbers OF them into boys::rv
NaSrancy and all forms of crime ant:
vice.
Power of Corruption.
10 maintain their rule over their
follow men. the capitalists must keep
in their pay all organs CO the publ
powers, public mind and public con