The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-05-04
What Human Life Depends On,

SlDle. 10 produce, 1909, clothing
or shelter, land and machinery are
needed. Land alone does not satis-
fly 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 decreasing
simple and easily handled by one
man, its 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, it's influence reaches
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
Eucn machine owners compared to all
other classes decreases, their power
in the nation ana in the world in
crcases. They bring ever large mas
ses of working people under their
control reducing them to the point
where muscle and brain arc their
only productive property. Millions
of formerly self-cmploying workers
thus become the helpless wage slaves
OF industrial masters.
Ruling Glass as Parasites.
AS the economic power Of the rul-
ing class grows it becomes less use
full in the life OF the nation All
the useful work of the nation falls
upon the shoulders of the class
whose only property is its manual
and mental labor powcr-thc 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. Tho ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Class Struggle.
a bitter struggle over the division
OF the products OF labor is wagcd be-
tween the exploiting propertied
classes on the one hand and the cx-
plotting propertylcss class on the
other. In this struggle the wage
working class cannot expect adcuuatc
order at the hand OF the dominant
class.
The wage .55woTkcl,s' arc therefore,
the most anita Sonsts of ITO I'll Ting
class. They suffer most from the
curse of class rule. The fact that
few capitalists are permitted to
control all the country's industrial
resources and social tools for their
Individual profit, and to make the
production of the neccssaries Of life
the object OF competitive private en-
1erprlSe and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our
time.
Ovcrproduction and Idicncss.
IN spite OF the organization Of
trusts, pools and combinations, the
capitalists are Dowerless to regulate
production 70" social ends. Indus
tries arc largely conducted in a
painless manner. Through periods
of feverish activity the strength and
health of the workers are merciless-
lN used up, and during periods Of en-
forced idlencss the workers are freq
uently reduced to starvation.
The climaNes of this system OF pro-
duction are the regularly recurring
industrials depressions and crises
which paralyzc the nation every III
Teen or twenty years.
Lnbor's Exploitation.
The capitalist class. in its mai
race, for profits. is bound to exploit
The workers to the worry limit Of
their endurance and to sacrifice t!el.
physical. moral and mental wclcnrs,
to its own Unsuitable greed. Ca}iital-
ism keeps the masses of wortinmmcli
IN poverty, restitution, physical OK
haustion and ignorance. 1t drags
their wives from their homes to thu,
mill and factory. 1t snatchcs thcir
children from the Fairgrounds ana
schools and %rnds their sIcn.Irr
bodies and Uniformed minds inr, cold
Kills hundreds Of thousands of WOO L.
1nGmcn annually in mines. on rail
roads and in factories. It DIVES.
millions OF workers into !ha ranks
OF the unemployed and forces large
numbers OF them into be@I4lA-.
Fagrancy and all forms of crime unG
vice.
Power Of Corription
10 maintain their rule over. tlrair
fellow men. TIL" capitalists must kCc3
III their pay all organs Cs tho uuil,i
powers, public mind and public con
science. They control the dlnlilian.
parties and, through thrm the clc.t-
cd puhlic oiiicials. They select tho
executives, bride legislatures ana