The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-10-23
BULLETIN OF THE SOCIALIST
EDUCATIONAL BUREAU.
study Course.

article appeared During that month
they have been trying to put the bu.
reau out of business. lt has got under
their skins badly I have "a nice little
injunction here 10y me that / consider
a jewel and a decided distinction. II
tells me not to teach nor attempt To
teach school for SO long. Il is signed
by Judge Ralph c. Bell, and will be a
very interesting document hundred
years from now.
But now let us get down to business.
| shall try to appear with a lesson
once every two weeks unless they de-
eide to get me into Jail and refuse me
books and paper.
Chapter IL in Oneals Workers In
American History Is the story of the
first real estate deals made in Amer
lea. But before getting at the abb
stract of title we have some minor
matters to consider There is that
man Columbus. They have made a
saint out of him lately and have been
very good to him. You remember how
he was actuated with a burning de-
sire to save the souls of unknown
heather in unknown lands. You re-
member his deep piety. oh, yes, and
then some more.
Let us get map of the old world
and study the trade routes mentioned
by your author. You can trace the
old trails yet across many a desert.
Some of the routes mentioned in the
first of this chapter are still trade
routes. Let us notice that these trade
routes cut across political boundary
lines just as knives cut cheese. A
new thing was shaping itself within
the crumbling confines of feudal So
ciety. The feudal economy was based
on land and the labor of serfs at
tached to the land. 1t had metes and
bounds. But this new thing moved
over land and sea. 1t crept across the
desert in great caravans. 1t moved in
wagons, in pack trains, in strange leg
o-mutton boats. 1t searched the re-
hottest corners of the known world
for things that would sell at a profit.
It was the rising bourgeois society.
Like the great roots of a tree we see
it feeling it's careful way through the
darkness sucking from everything it
touches the one thing that it wants
profits.
Great trade cities began to grow
here and there. A new art, new lit
erature, and new ideas of govern
ment began to shape themselves in
these trade cities. There was even a
rumble now and then of new relig-
ious organization. But every one of
these innovations when carefully ex-
amined shows the student that they
were simply new developments fitted
to the needs of the rising bourgeois.
Then came the crash. In 1453 the
Mohammedan Turks succeeded in cut
ting right through the arteries of trade
that fed these rapidly growing cities.
There was a panic. 1t was a little
taste Of direct action not originally on
the merchant program. Something
had to be done. Not only were goods
from the Orient needed, but here and
there in the cities controlled by the
lords of trade hand manufactures were
being carried on quite extensively.
Wage slavery was rising from the soil
soaked with the blood of serfs. The
surplus must be got rid Of New
trades routes must be found and ne
cessity is the mother of discovery.
They tried the northern route and
ran in among the Arctic ice. They
tried to round Cape Good Hope. They
tried everything and urged on by the
dream Of great profits they at last
loaded three ships with prisoners and
placed over them Columbus. This
hardened old man stumbled across
America Read page 26 carefully and
note the brutal character of this saint.
The complete annihiliation of a race
is terrible to contemplate, and yet that
If we are going to have a ruling
class we have just got to devise some
way of getting possession Of the land
by that class. Possession of the soil
of the new world by the ruling class
was won with remarkable facility.
Along the seacoast all the land was
given away by kings who had never
seen a foot of it. Workers fooled into
emigration TO this land cleared it of
stumps and Indians and then, becom-
ing disguised, pushed inland and
cleared more land Of stumps and In
dams. This land in turn was seized
by the over lords. Then the pioneers
moved again and the process was re-
peated.
AN INVITATl