The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-04-20
What Human Life Depends On.


Human life depends upon food.
clothing and shelter. Only with
these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human developne emit pos
sjble. To fproduce 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 1t human
life and liberty.
The Cause of Glass Rule.
To-day the machinery and the
min GRITTY So long as machinery is
land nsed for industrial purposes are
owned by rapidly decreasing
simple and easily handled by one,
man, its owner cannot dominate tine
sources of life of others. But when
machinery becomes more 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.
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
SEES 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
thps become the helpless wage slaves
ofdndnstrial masters.
kSt Ruling Glass az Parasites.
Z AS the economic power OF the rul-
Ing class grows it becomes less use
ful in the life of the nation. All
the useful work of the nation falls
nppn 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--the small traders and small
farmers. The ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
Ba The Glass Struggle.
sfA bitter struggle over the division
of tho 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 adouuatc
relief from any reform of the present
order at the hand of tho 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
~ fT-,,,
control all the country's 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-
terprise and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
OvcrproduCtion and IdIcnesS.
in spite of the organization of
trusts, pools and combinations, the
capitalists are powerlesS to regula tie
production 70" social ends. Indus
tries are largely conducted in a
painless manner. Through periods
OF feverish activity the strength and
health OF the workers are merciless-
ly used up. and during periods of GU
forced idleness the workers are freq
ncntly reduced to starvation.
Inc climaXes OF this system OF pro-
duction are the regularly recurring
indnstrials depressions and crises
which paralyze the nation every fir
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 Their
PHYSICAL. moral and mental welfare
TO its own Unsuitable greed. Canital-
ism Keeps the masses of workiu:rlne Gil
IN poverty, restitution. physical en-
hauStlon and ignorance. 1t drags
their wives from their homes to the
mill and factory. 1t snatchcs their
children from the playgroun AMI
schools and grindS their slenInr
bodies and uniformed minds inro cold
dollars. 1t disfguros mains arl
Kills hundreds of thousands of wotK.
lngmen annually in mines. on rail-
roads and in factories. 1t dawes
millions of workers into tne ranks
of the unemployed and forces, large
numbers of them into bn.g.:l-v
Nagrancy and all forms of crime an,:
Vice.
Power of COrrIption
To maintain their rulo over tl,n;r
Fellow men, the capitalists must kc en-
IN their pay all organs Cr tn, Duhlin