The Alaska citizen., 1911-09-25

| form of production does away with the very conditions on which the old form was passed. In times of old the owner of the simple tool apprO- priated or took for his own use his own product. while now-and ii is important to grasp this fact fully the owner of the tool. of the ma chine. appropiates the work of others. He appropriates this work without jury and without yer dict
 Private Ownership of the Machine
 Means the Exploitation of the Worker.
 And so We see plail ly that the pri- vate ownership of the means of pro duction. which was formerly the means of securing the product to the producer. has now become the means of exploitation. and. consequently, of servitude.
 The development of the tool into the machine separatin the work man from his product. In this way comparatively small number of capitalists obtain a monopoly of the means of production.
 We are often inclined to depre- cate the resistance Cf the work ingmen to the introduction of ma Chinery.
 But these victories of the human intellect over the forces of nature which should naturally be a benefit to all an unlimited source of bless ing to the human racc-haVe often become means of torture to the toilerS.
 How many wage earners has the introduction of machinery thrown out of employment, How many lives have thereby been destroyed!
 All the advantage of all the new inventions. machines and improve mentS now goes mainly to the small class of capitalists. while. on the other hand. these new inventions. machines. improvements and labor devices displaCe human labor and steadily increase the army of the unemployed, who, starved and fran tie. are ever ready to take the places of those who have work. thereby still further depressing the labor market.
 It is from this army that the capitalist class recruit their special police. their deputy sheriffs, their Pinkerton detectives, and some Of their minor politicians.
 Effects of Competition on Small
 Business Men. And the wage workers are by no means the only sufferers. The small employers. the small merchants, are also feeling the sting of an un- equal competition
 For every one of these men of business lives at war with all his brethren The hand of the one is against the other, and no foe is more terrible to him than the one who is running a neck race with him every day.
 Therefore. in the factory as well as in the store. the wages must be cut constantly. and the sales must be ever enlarged. The latest i'm provements. the best labor saving machinery must be used, and as lit tie wages must be paid as pOssi- ble The race is for life or death. and the devil gets the hindmost.'
 The fierce competition lessens the profit on each article, and this must be compensated for by greater number of articles being produced and sold; that is, the cheaper the goods the more capital is required to carry on the business.
 Precisely. then, for the same req son that the mechanic with his own shop and working on his own account has nearly disappeared in the struggle between handiwOlk and machine work fer precisely the same reason the small manufactur CTS. with their little machinery, their small capital and their little stock of goods. are now being driven from the field.
 And the same is the case with | the little store that must compete with the department store or the mail order house.
 It is that class that is yelling most loudly against the corpora tions, the railroads and the trusts.
 It is that class that wants the Sherman law to be made more ef- fective." It is that class that would 1 like to turn the wheel of economic l evolution backward.
 We cannot destroy the trusts with out destroying our civilization.
 MOTSCNeT, we uO llOl Wdll to destroy them. The trusts bring | some system into the industrial | chaos. They have put the first ef- fective check upon the disastrous | evils of competition.
 While competition grows more in tense among the workers looking for jobs, and while it still prevails among the small traders and small manufacturers, the trusts have abol- ished competition in the realm of big business"
 The trusts are undoubtedly mile stone in the industrial eVolu- tion of the race. The trusts spell progress and are tremendous benefit So far. however, they are mainly a benefit to their owners.
 Let the Nation Own the Trusts.
 What we must do, therefore, is to extend the benefits of this owner ship to the entire nation.
 The national ownership of the trusts must be our next great step in evolution The Sherman law ought to be repealed and law en- ind, |