The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-01-26
PROFITS, MILITIA, HE'LL.

mechanic made glad his dusty shop with
anccdotc and song. Want was
unknown and pauperism unheard OF.
And crime of rare occurrence"
Yes, when "A woman had woven her
little bit of cloth it was all her own.
There was no profits in the process; no
blood squeezed out of some one else; no
militia connected with the operation, and
no hell; but simple life and happiness
for the worker.
Let us now come back to the press
dispatch and the present day. EYolu-
ton has worked wonders in the last two
centuries We find in the textile indus
tries of today that with the automatic
power loom one person, we are told,
watches and keeps running something
like twenty or twenty-five of these
looms Each loom weaving in the ag-
gregate | am told, one hundred yards
of cloth a day. Which means that one
person watching the power loom today
weayes as much cloth as required seven
or eight hundred people to weave in the
same length of time with the old hand
loom What a marvellous contemplation!
One person doing the work of eight hun
bred people of former time And ac-
cording to the press dispatch of this
article, receive wages upon which they
cannot exist. If the people could live
by weaving three yards of cloth day,
how is it that they are starving and
fighting when they weave twenty-five
hundred yards day? The whole ques-
ton resolves in that one word "SUR-
PLUS"
With the evolution of the machine, the
ownership has also evolved. The TOOL,
the MACHINE, instead of being the
property of the worker, has become the
property of class-the capitalist class.
Practically the same multiplicity in
production that we find in the textile
industry, applies also to most all indus
try. The workers produce things so
rapidly when they do work, and only
receiving a small part of it in wages,
soon piles up that enormous surplus,
throwing millions out of employment.
Millions of hungry would be-workers;
fighting with each other; scrambling
like demons among themselves for the
opportunity to work. Some strike, and
in the case of the press dispatch of this
article, because they can not endure the
hardship and oppression; and others
from among the hungry hosts of idle
ones take their places; and then the
fight, and then the militia-and hell.
Yes, it is all because profits and div
idends from the sweat and blood of men,
women and children, must go to an idle
and useless class who do nothing more
than OWN-through our stupidity-the
great limitless machinery of production.
NIilitia-why not-when the workers
are Strengthening each other? Why don't
they cease to fight each other, and unite
at the ballot box and capture the gov
eminent and through that source get
back the ownership of their tools-the
machine? 1t was good for the primitive
fathers to own their own tools; it is
good for the OWNERS of the tools now,
and they are going to use the militia
every time the workers engage in
scrap about it, too.
To put a stop to that 'scrapping,"
'bayonet charging" on the workers, we
must get back the ownership of the tools.
But Just imagine for a moment those
textile workers of Lawrence and Haver-
! hill walking down the street, one with
spinning frame on his shoulder; another
with a power loom in his pocket; and
still another with a spooler in his
satchel, etc; all as their individual prop
erty. Oh, mo- The tools have become
Socialiszcd. We can only become the
owners of them socially r. collectively;
common property OF all the people, and
economically managed. In other words
socialism.
Therefore fellow workers, let us get
together just once and have an under
standing. Let us unite in this class
struggle and claim our own-the right
to live as human beings and not as ami
mails.
There is no sentiment in this move
ment, but let us take a lesson from the
poet:
Look at the roses, saluting each other
Look at the herds an at peace on the
plain
Man. and many only. makes war on his
i brother;
And laughs ia his heart. at his fellow
in pain
Shamed by the beasts chat go down on
the plain
AL socialists should register 90 once
. for 1912 THE vote ou tine charter for
=. Commission Government wiLl BE- taken