St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current, 1912-03-15


is the other half. The initiative
and referendum will help to provide
the democracy, and when perfected
will be used by the people 10 pass
many socialistic measures without
recognizing them as such
Are you afraid to reach out and
grasp this power for fear of the
radical things you may do when
YOU get it2 With the pure dcmoc-
racy first provided, we expect to
take up one by one the manage
ment of the different industries as
fast as the majority of the voters
see fit to do so. Socialists, pro
gressives, standpatters, mugwumps
and muck .rakers will have an equal
voice. Are YOU afraid they will be
too radicalp
A great majority of the people
would now vote 90 assume the CON
troll OF the railroads and many 9th
er things if they had the power.
But the fellow who does not believe
in government ownership at all-he
says he does not, but he forgets the
for the time schools, roads, etc.
This fellow has an objection that
applies with some force to the mere
government ownership OF a few
industries. II is summed up in the
words graft and jobbery
frha trnyaVnutsuI utunuupg ihp
mail business and is numerically
jobbed in its contracts with the
railroads. Suppose the govern.
ment also owned aud managed the
railroads. Then the contracts with
private interests for supplies such
as coal for the engines would fur
nish the opportunity for graft. But
suppose the government owned the
coal mines aud all the other sources
OF supplies. where would then be the
opportunity
Graft in public affairs appears
only where a public industry meets
aud has to do with some
private industry. So in the
industrial as well as in the political
sphere-"The cure for the ills OF
democracy is more democracy.
Why have government owner
ship OF railroads and not of facto.
ries for iustanccp
When an Indian killed deer,
tanned the hide aud made a pair OF
moccasins, the wages he received
for his labor was the price he paid
for his moccasins, When Navajo
squaw drove stakes in the ground,
stretched her crudely spun warp
back aud forth over these stakes
aud then wove in the filling beating
IL up with stick, the price she
paid for the completed blanket was
identical with the wages she re-
received for her labor. With the
improved machinery aud co-opera-
tive methods of production today
the same amount OF labor will pro-
duce many blankets. yet II is doubt
ful whether the girl in the wooden
mill can earn as good blanket
with the same number oi days
work as the Indian put upon her
blanket. Now here Is where some
fellow OF feeble comprehension
jumps to his feet and shouts that
the socialist wants To go back TO the
Indians individual methods OF pro.
duction.
Not so! my simple friend Co.
operative production, as far as get
ting the work done is here TO
stay, and is proof OF our ConIen,
ton as to the advantages of coop
Grafton. Aud we wish To extend !
the cooperation TO the distribution
OF the product We demand that |
those who comparatively produce |
things shall co-operatively own
them. AT present those who pro.
duce many blankets in given time
are paid enough In wages to buy |
only a small portion of those blan-
kets. What becomes OF all the
Testl Does the mill owner get all
of them as prohtl BY no means
lie is only one OF those who add
profit and expense In the first
place the price he pays for his wool
and machinery is not the labor cost
not the same as the wages paid TO
those who have produced them
Ii has various profits and useless
expenses added by middlemen. Aud
the same is true of the blankets
when he dispoSes OF them. Manu-,
facturers, jobbers, wholesalers and
retailers, each must add, not only a
profit but much more for rent, adj
vertising, solicitors, statesmen, in
surance and all the Implications in
cidental TO competition,
We know that the simplest farm
products are often multiplied in
value between producer and con
sumer, The labor cost OF a ton
of coal on the cars, according to the
reports, is less than 10
cents, and all the rest goes TO pay
the freight.
Objects having complicated ele-
ments in their production are null
tiplied in value to an even greater ,
extent
We hear OF consumers leagues
and other leagues to avoid expenses
and profits OF middlemen, but they
do not hang together well.
Now we have a league already, / {
consisting of all producers and con