The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1911-09-30
THE U. IS. CONSTITUTION.
BY John M. Work. ~s
The Constitution of the United States
s' Was Written in the Year 1887.

The Constitution of the United States
& Was Written in the Year 1887.
s. At that time not a single one OF
the great labor-saving. and comfort
producing devices = Of, modern times
had been invented. Not a mile of
railroad track had been laid on the
face of the earth. Not q rod OF tel
egraph or telephone wire had been
stretched. The marvels of steam and
the miracles of electricity had not
been dreamed Of. The postal system
was undeveloped. It took weeks to
get letter from g. distance of few
hundred miles. Newspapers and mag
azines were few and far between.
There were no libraries, no public
schools. There were but few stage
lines. The tools with which the
farmers and the mechanics worked
were primitive-almost barbaric
Household conveniences were rare
match had been devised. When the
fire went out, it was necessary either
to strike new one from a piece of
flint or go to neighbors house and
borrow supply of Goals. Manufacture
ing, commerce and retail business
were carried on on a tiny scale by
individual proprietors. Chattel slavery
existed in the south and the indenture
of bonded servants in the north. But
most of the people worked ION their
own hook" as the saying goes. The
w 1f ho or6 ho
itiveness of the tools made it prac-
ticable to put into operation the the.
DRY of every fellow for himself
Modern division of labor and compli-
cation of industry we're unl1eard of.
The people were largely independent
of each other.
Trainers of instrument.
The constitution was framed by the
well-to-do class. And it was framed
to fit their own interests under the So
cial conditions described above.
Manifestly, a constitution -: framed
to fit such conditions could not be
thoroughly adapted to fit the condi-
tiops of the present day.
For, since those days, gigantic
changes have taken place. The sim
pie agricultural tools have been fol-
lowed by the marvellous machinery
now in use. Individual production III
trades and manufactures, with tprim-
tive tools. has been followed by the
factory system-modern industry
with it's infinite division of labor ant
its prodigies OF labor-saving machin-
ery-so entirely wonderful in char
acter and variety as to beggar de-
scription. The stage coach has been
followed by the railroad train-a
change which 1t is easy to recite, but
which Is so stupendous that it re-
quires a mental effort to realize it.
The almost total lack Of co1f1munica-
ton has been followed by the tele-
graph, the telephone and the postal
system. The tallow dip has been fol-
lowed by the gas jet and the electric
light. Newspapers, magazines, books
and schools exist in numberless guam
tity and variety-though most of them
are available to only a few. The tri-
umphQ of chemistry, mathematics,
astronomy, geology, zoology, anthro-
pology, bioglogy, embryology, philo-
logy,, physiology, archaeology, the fine
arts, the liberal arts the industrial
arts, etc., etc., have opened up fields
of study, investigation and research
which afford the keenest pleasure to
the human intellect that has the cop
portunity to grapple with them. The
industries have developed into great
trusts and combines. employing myr-
lads of men and women carrying on
business on a hugh SCALE The. great
masses of the people no longer work
"son their own hook" They are no
longer Independent of each other.
Interests Interdependent.y.
They are interdependent upon
each other. 1t is no longer practic-
able to apply the theory of every
fellow for himself" We are now ca
pable Of giving every boy and girl a
! liberal education-but we do not do
it. Steam, electricity, the wonderful
:ly' improved agricultural machinery.
and, the perfect forest of labor savinr
machinery used in the mills. mines.
factories and other industries have
made us capable of producing. in a
fraction of our waking hours, enough
to provide every human being with
all the necessities and comforts If
life, including the leisure and the
means for physical, tnental, moral
and spiritual development. We do
not do 1t. But we must do it. In order
to do 1t. we will have to Introduce
Socialism. "$%,|
No Occasion to Worry.
These, in brief, are the reasons whv
we have outgrown a good deal the
United States Constitution. pr:
But do not worry.
This obstacle is not half as formi,
dable as It looks. q, IS. Il s.55 +
Among others there il one splen-
did clause in the constitution which
we have not outgrown. It is the one
winch lllt: gives congress the power Is
do anything that is for. the rs; Rlnenera.Ll
welfare ll1f Under that clause we j can
introduce Socialism ,w1thout: q con-
stitutional amendment.;$i S2fsft . 81
Again, the supreme court has IA
legal power to, declare law uncon-
. StttuftOna1 rar$o : 7..5'