Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1912-10-31

more than a national problem, it is
problem of the world and of the
ages. Bue we in West Virginia must
solve our own problem in the same
way as the workers of the world are 4
solving theirs.
Let US analyze it. Why are we
who are willing and able to work.
denied the opportunity to work? And,
when, we do work, why are we. I'M
able to do more than merely exist
though we sweat blood and tears?
It is because some people stand be-
tween US and the earth and will not
let US work unless we pay them for
the privilege. They say they own
West Virginia, its hills and valleys,
its mines and minerals, its brooks
and rivers. -
And, since they own these things,
they. use them for their benefit, ana
not lump Of coal, not drop Of Oil,
not foot of gas, not pound of ore
is taken from the earth unless some
one makes Private Profit in the
taking. 3
No matter how many of us may
be suffering for the needs of life,
and no matter how many of us may
be willing to work and transform the
raw products into the things we need,
not wheel of industry will turn I'M
less some one makes a Private Profit
in the turning.
All the natural resources of the
state are shaped. and fashioned into
profits for the few. Their value pass
| es entirely over the heads of the mil
lion working people of our state and
lands in the laps of foreign owners,
capitalists of other countries, most
of whom never. even saw our land.
While we who live and work here
are denied even bare necessities,
those who boast of titles of nobility,
inherited or purchased, live in luxury
upon our labor.
Eighty million dollars worth of
coal, oil and gas are taken from our
and sixty million dollars worth of
| manufactured product, a billion and
half feet of lumber are produced in
the state in a year. And yet, with
all this, the share Of the workers is
only about $500 a year. In other
words the average West Virginia
worker produces about $4,000 Worth
! and receives back about $500.
The capitalist gets the difference.
That is why we are poor.
West Virginia, ranking second of
all the states in the production Of
oil, first in the production Of natural
gas, and high in the records OF All
: production, yet stands among tue
/, lowest in all that goes to make up
real life for theA workers.
Our state is. near the top in the
matter of profits for the few. i,
is near the bottom in the matter OF
protection for the many.
| Nearly seventy Thousand coal min
ers are kept in q state of practical
/ peonage, SO near starvation that when
they strike in the morning they must
be fed by charity at noon.
r. Hardly any workingman in i the
state is more than two weeks from
the poorhouse, and he lives from
week to week upon the credit of a
merchant. -.>.---
| And this deplorable condition exists
| in a state so rich-because \thef wealth
/ of West Virginia is being sucked up
to further enrich the already wealthy.
All the laws we have are made to
continue this unequal distribution. All
the legislators We elect are actuated
by a desire to perpetuate this I'M
just system. The owners Of the
wealth OF the state own the officers
of the law, nd there is no help for
the workers until they take posses
sion of the government.
/ d
We cannot take possession through
the old parties. We groaned under
! the dictatorship of Senators Elkins
and Scott, and we turned over the
state government and elected-Wat-
1-son and Chiffon We found that the
same interests that controlled the
Republicans controlled the Demo
Gratis, and that we had but jumped
from the frying pan intoY the fire.
Now they are telling us of a new
-partythat will end our ills. But we
see the promoters Of this new party,
loud in their denunciations of the
same old parties from which they
sprung, endorsing the state ticket Of
! the same old party. Thus we see
| that they are tarred with the same
stick, that the differences between
them are false differences, dlfferenceS
manufactured to deceive US and keep
/ us divided, or the differences of rob-
bers Quarreling about division Of
the spoils., w
NO, there is. no hope for US in the
old parties, or at the hands of the
Ireformers. Not one plank in any Of
their platforms promises to touch the
+, real evil from which We suffer the
evil Of Private Profit in. Public In
dustry. 40 f
Our only hope is to band together
the workers in one solid body, with
the definite Nabject in view Of giving
the wealth of the land to those who
produce 1t. It must be working
class party, because none but the
working class can see the benefits of
giving the workers the full social
value of their labor. Wemust cut
loose from all other existing parties,