Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-03-21
he introductiou Of machinery.

the introduction Of machinery.
But these victories Of the human in
tellect over the forces Of nature which
naturally should be q benefit to allan
unlimited source Of blessing TO the hu-
man race have often become . means
Of torture to the toilsrs.
How many wage earners has the in
PRODUCTION of machinery thrown out of
employment How many lives have
thereby been destroyed
All the advantage of all the in
ventions, machines. improvements,
and labor devices displace human la
Dor and steadily increase the army of
the unemployed, who, starved and
frantic, are ever ready to take the
places of those who have work, there
by still further depressing the labor
market.
1t is from this army that the capital
ist class recruit their special police,
their deputy sheriffs, their Pinkerton
detectives, and some of their minor
politicians.
EFFECTS OF COMPETITION
ON SMALL BUSINESS e
And the wage workers are by no
means the only sufferers. The small
employers, the small merchants, are
also feeling the sting of an unequal
competition.
For everyone of these uhen of bust
ness lives at war with all his broth
rem. The hand of the one is against
the other, and no foe is more terrible
to him than the one who is running a
neck race with him every day.
Therefore, in the factory as we'll as
in the store, the wages must be cut
constantly, and the sales must be ever
enlarged. The latest improvements,
the best labor saving machinery, must
be used and as little wages must be
paid as possible. The race is for life
or death, and ''the devil gets the hind
most"
The fierce competition lessons the
profits ON each article, and this must
be compensated for by a greater mum
Der of articles being produced and
sold that is, the cheaper the goods the
more capital is required to carry on
the business. Precisely, then, for the
same reason that the mechanic with
his own shop and working on his own
account has nearly disappeared in the
struggle between handwork and ma
chine work-for precisely the same
the small manufacturers, with
their little machinery, their small
capital, and their little stock of goods,
are now being driven from the field.
And the same Is the case with the
little store that must compete with the
department store or the mail order
house.
1t is that class that is yelling most
Ioyr61u o0ofncf thu anrNnrofinno tho
railroads, and the trusts.
It is that class that wants the Sher-
man law to be made ''more effect
1t is that class that would like to
turn the wheel of economic evolution
backward.
We cannot destroy the trusts with
out destroying II civilization.
Moreover, we do not want to de-
,troy them. The trusts bring some
into the industrial chaos.
They are the forerunners of a new
order. They have put the first
effective check upon the disastrous ev-
is of competition.
While competition grows more in
among the workers looking for
obs, and while it still prevails among
small traders and small manufac-
urers, the trusts have abolished COM
in the realm of 'big bust
Iess.
The trusts are undoubtedly a mile
tone in the industrial evolution of the
ace, The trusts spell progress and
re a tremendous benefit. So far, how
yer, they are mainly a benefit to their
wners.