The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1915-09-17
THAT "FAR-REACHING
DECLARATION
Hurrah Labor Is Free !
At Least Gompers Says 1t Is

The current issue of The American
Federationist is aglow with the glad
Itidings of Labor's emancipation! Hur-
rah. Labor is not commodity
! Congress says it is not, and President
|GomDers SAYS the declaration that la.
Dor is not a commodity "demolshes
that structure of economic theory that
had been built up upon the concept
that human power to produce is
commodity to be bought, owned and
controlled by employers"
But let us quote Brother SamueIs
own eloquent declaration:
"Every real advance in human free
dom is a tremendous event in history,
For this reason we proclaim as one
of the great legislative declarations
of all the ages this sentence in the
| CLAYTON Antitrust Act: The labor of
human beinq is not a commodity or
article of commerce.
THE far-reaching revolutionary sig
nificance of that declaration is not
fully grasped by all 1t sweeps away
! legal precedents and legal philosophy
that have served to impede Labor's
efforts to rid itself of all vestiges OF
1.-THE conditions and relations that eX-
| listed when human workers were born
slaves and held as slaves. 1t demol-
fishes that structure of economic
theory that had been built up upon
the concept that human power to pro
Iduce is a commodity to be bought,
IoGned and controlled by employers.
THE principle embodied in this leg
tslative declaration will humanize le-
cal and economic theories"
Now. fellow Wage-slaves, your labor
power no longer being "commodlty'
YOU needn't look for an employer to
buy it (for the day, week or month";
any more. It's not for sale. Just pull
off your coat and use it for yourself
Don't sell it, piece-meal, to some 'pur-
chaser" or boss. You're emancipated
now Eth, what?
If YOU won't take GOmper's word Tor
it. let us quote a statement from an
article in the Federationist from the
pen of Hon. William B. Wilson, Sec
rotary of Labor. He says (p $500;
.In considering the Clayton anti
1870 49,. 49, doc1ar alton contained in
section 6 should be continuously borne
in mind that is. that The labor OF o
human being is not a commodity or
article of commerce" Labor produces
commodities, but it is not commodity
itself. It can not be a commodity un-
der any other condition than that OF
slavery or serfdom.
what is the labor of human pc
ling? 1t is the mental and muscular
rover developed within, part OF ana
inseparable from the individual i'll
whom it exists and is incapable OF use
EXCEPT in response to his will and his
only. If IS a part of man. They are
'one and ndissoluble.' If you class
labor as a commodity. then you class
man of whom it is an integral part
IS a commodity also. The thirteenth
amendment to the constitution OF the
limited States declares that neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, eX-
oo2t as punishment for crime, .
shall exist within the United States
ut becomes clear, then, that Labor
being a part of man and inseparable
from him. can not be a commodity, the
nropertv of those who desire to buy
and sell, without doing violence to the
constitution and to the fundamental
principles Of human liberty
THERE, THE CAT is OUT OF
BAG!
If Iabor-power is commodity, then
the MARKHAM economies must be up
held. the existence OF wage slavery
admitted. for, as Brother Wilson ad-
mtts. labor-power "can not be COM
modify under any other condition than
that Of slavery or serfdom.'
So there was nothing left for those
gentlemen who wish to see the pres
-4.- capitalist system continue with its
inherent unpaid labor and wage slay-
cry. but To- deny that labor, or strictly
speaking. Iaborpower is a commodity
The fact that congress decided that