The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-10-19
What Human Life Depends On.

clothing and shelter. Only with
these assured are freedom, culture
and higher human development pos
siblc. To produce. food, clothing
or shelter, land and machinery are
needed Land alone does not satis-
~ 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
lie and liberty.
The Cause of Class Rule.
Today the machinery and the
land used for industrial purposes are
owned by a rapidly decreasing
minority. So long as machinery Is
simple n 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 its
operation the organized effort of
many workers. its influence reaches
over wide circles OF life. The owners
of such machinery become the domi-
nant class.
Mcn 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
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 Class as Parasites.
As the economic power of the rul-
Ing class grows i. becomes less use.
full in the life OF the nation. al
the useful york OF She nation falls
upon the shoulders of the class
who's only property is its manual
and mental labor power--thc wage
worker-Or of the class WHO have
but little land and little effective
machinery outside OF their labor
powcr-thc small traders and small
farmers. Tho ruling minority is
steadily becoming useless and para
site.
The Class Struggle.
n pliter struggle over the division
OF the products Of labor is waged be-
tween the exploiting propcrtied
classes on the one hand and the ex-
pIoltinS ~propertyless class on the
other. In this struggle the wage
working class cannot expect ADEQUATE
relief from any reform of the present
order at the hand of the dominant
class.
Inc wage workers are, therefore,
inc most antagonists of the rulin .
oiaSS. They suffer most from the
curse OF class rule. The fact that
d Few capitalists are permitted to
control all the country's Industrial
resources and social tools for their
Ah"ifi"ual profit. and to make the
production of the necessaries of life
inc OBJECT of competitive private en-
tcrprlSG and speculation is at the
bottom of all the social evils of orr
time.
'NctprouIction and IdIcncss.
In spite of the organization of
trusts. pools and combinations tho
capitalists are powerless to regulate
production for social ends. Indus
tries are largely conducted in n
painless manner Through periods
OF ~fovcrish activity the strength and
health of h workers are merciIess-
~ used up. and during periods Of en-
FORCED ldicnesS the workers are freq
"chtly reduced to starvation.
The climaXes of this system of pr,-
auction are the regularly recurring
lhdustrials depresslons and crises
which paralyZo the nation every m
teen or twenty years.
Labor's E~XpIoitatiun.
The capitalist class, in its ma
race. Tor profits, is bound to exploit
INC workers to the very limit Of
tAclr endurance and to sacrifice Tic =
physical, moral and mental welfare
10 Its own Unsuitable greed. Cari.al-
ism keeps the masses of rruc,,
IN poverty, restitution. physical ~
hahstion and ignorance. 1t drag;
their wives from their homes tn the
hiill and factory. 1t snatchcs tnei
childrcn from tho Fairgrounds AMI
scEools and Srinds their slender
oodlcs and uniformed minds. inro ,old
collars. 1t disfigurcs. mains ara
Kills hundreds OF thousands of work.
'h%nen annually in mines. on rail-
roads and in factories. 1t d-.vce
millions of workers into tbs ranks
OF the unemploy ed and force; iar-e
numbers Of them into b,-g:rv.
EaSrancy n all forms OF crime anG
vice.
Power of COr-uDfion