Las Vegas optic. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1908-1921, 1912-09-02
new PARTY PROGRAM LEGALIzES
MONOPOLIES and SUBORDINATES
The WORKINGNAN TO THE TRUSTS


would be very awkward for the work
ing men to resist that process sue
cessfulIy because 1t would be danger
GUS to strike against the authority
OF the federal government.
Moreover, most Of the employers.
at any rate, practically all Of the most
powerful Of his employers, would be
wards and proteges Of that very gov
ernment which is the master of us all.
The government is to set up a com
mission whose duty it will be, not to
check or defeat it. but merely 10 regu-
late it under rules which it is itself
to frame and develop. So that the
chief employers viii have this tre-
mendous authority behind them;
when they do they will have the lie
ense of the federal government to
act, including the right to pay the
wages approved by the government
@And it is worth the while ot tee
working men of the country to recall
what the attitude toward organized
labor has been of these masters OF
consolidated industries. whom the
federal government is to take under
its patronage as well as under its con
troll. They have always been the stout
opponents of organized labor and they
have tried to undermine it in a great
many ways. Some Of the ways they
have adopted have worn the guise Of
philanthrophy and good will and nave
been used, for all know, in perfect
good faith Some Of them have set up
systems Of profit-sharing, Of conpen.I
sation for injuries and of bonuses and
even pensions, but every one of these
plans has merely bound their work
ingInen more tightly to themselves.
Their rights under these various ar
rangemenes are now legal rights,
They are merely privileges which
they enjoy so long as they remain in
the employment and observe the
rules Of the great industries which
employ them. If they refuse to be-
weaned away from their independ-
ence they cannot continue to enjoy
the benefits extended to them.
when you have thought the whole
thing out, thefore, you will find that
the program Of the new party legal
ICES monopolies and Systematically
subordinates workingmen to them and
to plans made by the government
both with regard to employment and
with regard to wages. BY what
means, except upon revolt, could we
ever break the crust Of our life and
again become free men, breathing an
air Of our own, choosing the living
lives that we wrought out for our
selves?
Perhaps this new and all-conquer-
ing combination between money and
government would be benevolent to-
us, perhaps it would carry out the no
BILE program Of social betterment
which SO many credulously expect Of
it, but who can assure us Of thaty
Who will give bond that it will bel
general and gracious and pitiful and
righteous? What man or set of men
can make us secure under it by their
empty promise and assurance that it,
will take care Of us and be good?
Democratic leaders turn away
from any plan to legalize monopoly
and give federal commission leave
to say how much Of it there should
be because they know exactly what
that would mean. What they propose
is the restoration of freedom. What
we need is the regulation of competi-I
tion and the prosecution Of what has
created monopoly When you have
regulated monopoly you have in effect
restored it"
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