The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-09-27

railroads. oh. YES. It would mean u
commission. The trusts want to pro
tcct themselves and they would see to it
that the right Kind of Il commission was
appointed and if it was not the right |
kind they would make it right More
over. unless YOU would give that com |
mission arbitrary power it would amount
to nothing Why you can't regulate
somebody clsc's property. The only way
out is the socialists way as | suggested
The trusts are good thing for those
who are in the trusts They mean the
modern way of doing business. Business
has learned to walk. Therefore, the
trusts are good for the owners, so let's
all become owners. Let the nation own
the trusts. That is my solution, that is
the socialist solution.
The Change Coming.
The change is coming upon MS because
there are few people interested in keep
ing up the present system; the great
mass has no interest in keeping it up.
Under the present system we manufoc-
ture a few thousand yards of fine cloth
and a few people wear the fine cloth
and the many people wear the shoddy,
Under the capitalist system we find
palaces, we find stables and millions of
huts not as good as the stables and Il
few oilers live in the palaces and the
millions live in the huts. Now women
and little children have to go down into
! factories and slave for eight, ten and
! twelve hours so that a small minority of
the people could be in position to ruin
their health by doing nothing. Who is
interested in the present system? In
the past the ruling class had in its
favor that they We're strong, more able
and better educated than the working
class. A few knights could keep in sub
lection fifty peasants. Let's see if any
millionaire could hold down fifty of
them now. He can if he hires some of
you and gives you clubs to hold down
the others. Moreover they have tried
to tell the working class that this is
what God ordained and any man REBEL
ing was rebelling against God. And
they said unless you slave for the Lord
you will not only lose your life but
after you are dead you will go down
you know where-and they believed it.
But since we have the public schools no
one can tell our working men that UNI
less they believe that God ordained that
Mr.. Armour should make fifty million
dollars and his workmen fifty cents a
day or they would go down to. No
one would believe that now
The Worker and the Ballot.
All of the intellectual work of the
time today is done by the working class.
They print and write the papers, not
only do they do the press work but mem
bers of the working class are writing 900
out of every thousand of all books. Car
+negie wrote about "The Triumphant
Democracy" and that is a very rotten
product. And there is one thing we
have that no class ever had in history
we have the ballot We have the same
political tests as the ruling class. On
election day your vote is as good as
Judge Hanford's your vote is as good as
John D. Rockefeller's; and if your vote
is for John d. Rockefeller's man that is
not his fault; that is yours.
True and False Reform.
Listen, do not let the reformers mis-.
lead you. The political reformers are
of minor consequence, the social reform
ers are paramount. / believe in the
initiative as a social demand, and the
referendum and it is the production of
a German socialist of the reichstag The
trade unionists got it first, then the
grangers, then the peoples party, then
the democrats and now even the republic
cans stand for it. Originally it came
from the socialist party But let me
tell you, comrades, as much as | think
of the initiative, the old age pension for
old working men is of more value to !
me than the initiative. / believe in the |
but state insurance, when
out of work, is of greater Importance
than the referendum. / believe in the
recall. Didn't l recall Judge Hanford
But state help for women during the
period of motherhood is of greater I'm
Dortance than the right of recall.
A New Constitution.
OF the political reforms a new consti-
ution is of most Importance. Our con
titution was all right 1870 years ago but q
what would you say if child after it c
rows up to womanhood had to wear /
he same cloak it now wears? That is t
rhat You are doing. You still have the
anne political cloak and that has been v
orn into shreds by the supreme court 5
n one ease they cancelled the citizen O
hip papers OF a man; they won't do %
hat again. But Just let me tell you "a
ow ridiculous this an Is. There are b
mmbers of bills outside of my own BILL
hundred bills there that provide for ~