Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1912-10-17
What's the Remedy.

What's the Kennedy
"a great crisis in the evolution of
civilization is approaching which holds
many pregnant possibilities for the
leading nations of the world.
The coming of the crisis is unmistak-
ably indicated by the labor unrest in
all countries in spite of the much
heralded prosperity. There Is pros
perity, according. to statistics, but 1t
is unfairly distributed. The already
rich are getting too big a share of it,
and the working classes too little"
That sounds good, doesn't it? The
real, human, intelligent, fair-dealing
ring? It Is the beginning Of an inter
view with a. prominent American,
prominent only because wealthy, in
Looks as if we might escape some
trouble and serious times if we had
only a few men like that, doesn't it?
But listen to what he says next:
"But don't infer from this that am
in favor of any doctrine for l1m1ta-
tion of the opportunities for acquiring
wealth." 80
Doesn't sound quite so good now,
does it? Doesn't sound the same at
all. does it? This is the common
ending of the attempt Of man of his
class to show how keenly he suffers
because of the universal Injustice to
the man who produces the wealth of
the world.
He starts out bravely to tell of the
causes of the terrible unrest and the
"crisis in the evolution OF e1Vil1zauen,
blu he is never able to get beyond that
point, a point to which even the bind
est and most class conscious plutocrat
will go along with him. Nobody now
trleA TO deny these killing conditions,
or The distressing injustice.
whole world agrees upon that now.
1t is when the remedy is proposed
that there comes parting OF the
ways. All agree that conditions are
wrong, all over the world; all agree
that they cannot last, and all agree
that they soon will be changed. But
they want to change them by letting
them stand just as they are.
This particular man has many mil
lions of dollars. He got them as an
inheritance from his father. He never
tested his individual abilities in com
petition with other individuals except
as far as they fell within his inherit
ance. He was given . splendidly or
ganized business in the hands of the
most capable men. These men did
the work for him as they had done for
his father, and they did it well.
But this man himself did nothing
except offer an occasional suggestion
The real workers were poor and re
main Door. He adds more millions
because they kept the organization the
father built, and put into operation
running smoothly, and probably. why
should he want change, injustice OF
NO Injustice to the man who 1abors?
Forgetting for the moment that
there is no such condition as "a crisis
in evolution" the feature of this, inter
view that strikes one who has eyes to
see. and ears to hear. is that this man
and others of his class refuse to
sec to it is themselves. who are forcing
this, terrible unrest and crisis, not in
evolution, but in our social, political
industrial and economic structure as
it stands.
f. The remedy will not come in the
shape Of anything the exploiting class
: will give to the exploited. The exploit
ers never give enough to % any sooo
They call it reform, but it's merely 9
small, temporary patch upon the eco
/ nomic body that doesn't stick. q,
The. remedy for the injustice ano
the suffering win be exactly what the
exploited ones are strong enough tc
take. It will never be offered to them
nsey must take it, and they'll. gel
only what they are strong enough to
take, se
Tho remedy win never come from
above. but below. The remedy viii
come from wheer the suffering exists
: and where the injustice does its work
I That Is below, not above.
.The unrest Is just the exploited
making up their minds to take It
wien they get It figured out they will
take what belongs to them because