The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1914-05-01

lie should not, therefore, be compelled
to pay Mr.. Morgan for SO arranging
matters that certain profit goes to
him rather than to somebody else
That kind of work" does not consti.
tute public service and should not be
paid for by the public.
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1t is all nonsense. Lots of bust
ness firms can and should pay
wages as good and even better
than MIR. Ford pays. The reason
they do not can be found in this
article. If you work for a living,
look and see for yourself. Here it
is now.
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Yet it is the only kind of work these
gentlemen do. To do this work" is
the only excuse they have for owning
the countrys industries. If they were
to get out, the industries would go on
The men who are making steel would
continue to make steel The men who
are digging coal would continue to dig
coal. The men who are weaving wool
would continue to weave wool. Moth
| ing would happen except that a few
grafters would no longer be permitted
to fatten at the expense of everybody
else. What Ford has done for his 25,-
600 employees would be more than du-
plicated for every other working man
and woman in the United States. Ford
is giving only half of his profits back
to the men who originally created
them. Socialism would hand over the
other half Socialism would leave
nothing for the mere owner-for the
man who did nothing but stand at the
pay window with club.
Men like Henry Ford would be taken
care Of. Men like Henry Ford are as
easy to take care of as they are scare.
In the New York Times interview that
have quoted he said: 81 don't ex-
pect to leave much of fortune when
die" He knows how little money
can do toward the making of happi-
ness. Yet he knows how necessary
it is that everybody should be able to
receive for his labor enough money to
enable him TO live comfortably. 81
believe it is better for the nation" he
said to the Times, and far better for
humanity, that between 20, 600 and 30
600 men and women who work for me
should Be corcented and we'll fed than
that z few niLlionaries should be
made"
The needs Of all the rest of the peo-
pie are as great as the needs Of Ford's
employees. He beieves-and quite
rightly-that he has helped humanity
by giving half of his profits to his en-
ployes. I believe humanity would be
helped still more by giving all Of the
profits that now go to capitalists to
the working men and women who are
creating them. That is what Social
| ism stands for. 1t exists for no other
purpose. 1t has plan for putting its
program into effect. The trusts can
be paid for with bonds. The bonds
can run so years. The profits from
ho &c he r.
! for the trusts. The cost could be
spread over more than two genera
tons. Nobody would feel the burden.
On the contrary, prices could immedi-
ately be greatly reduced without re-
ducing wages.
That is what we need in this coun-
try. We need to widen the margin
between income and necessary expen-
diture 1t does no good to increase
wages if the cost of living be also in
creased so much that nothing is left
of the increased wages. Nor does it
do any good to reduce the cost of liv-
ing if wages be so reduced that the
worker can pay only for the cheaper
living. The people of this country
will never be any better off until the
cost of living can be tremendously re-
duced without reducing wages at all,
or until wages can be tremendously
| increased without increasing the cost
of living at all. Which brings us to
the paltry promises that the other
political parties make-and don't keep
How miserable are the promises of
the Democratic party-empty though
they have proved to be-beside what
Henry Ford is actually doing. The
Democratic party promised to reduce
the cost Of living by reducing the
tariff. If anyone can show that the
cost of living has gone down since the
Underwood tariff law became effective