The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1915-04-23

|
one thing in civilization worth preserv-
ing: not, of course, the individualism
of the wage-earner, of the mechanic,
poet, or philosopher; but the unre-
strained ''individualism of the bust
ness man." the ruthless exploiter of
the useful workers. The factory, mill
and mine Operatives including
seven or eight millions of women and
children, are to be sacrificed for the
larger interests of the race"
Mr.. Carnegie, being an agnostic, has
adopted the care Of the race as a sub
stitute for the care of individual souls,
once a popular and effective method
of fostering the spirit of submission
and pious resignation among the ex-
plotted.
Carnegie's Antdote for Poverty
| Mr.. Carnegie contends that if the
multi-millionaire would but admins
ter his superfluous wealth during his
own lifetime on such benefactions as
are represented by the gifts of Peter
Cooper, the Pratts, Senator Stanford
and others, we would then have the
true antidote for the temporary I'M
equal distribution of wealth, the re-
Cancellation of the rich and the poor
reign of harmony" etc. Doubtless the
application of Mr.. Carnegie's views,
especially the acceptance of his advice
regarding a high tax on legacies,
would be a great and much-needed
step in advance. But even if the
larger capitalists of the country could
be induced to follow the gospel" ac-
cording to Carnegie (Which is,of course
utopian), much of the suffering due
to economy in the matter of wages"
to lack of steady employment at good
wages, would continue since, as
Professor Charles Booth freely ad-
mits, ''our modern system of indus
try will not work without some I'M
employed margin, some reserve of
labor" Unfortunately for the wage
slave, this reserve" is growing con-
stantly larger, and under the present
systemless system, must continue to
increase. The census of 1890 showed
that but 15 per cent of the workers
were suffering from enforced idleness
during part of the year; in 1900 % per
cent of the wage-earners were unem-
ployed for a part of the year; while
three years later this unemployed
margin" rose to 49.S per cent Of the
millions who depended upon the re-
quirements Of capitalists for sub
sistence. These statistics Indicate"
says, Hon. Carol D. Wright, then
Commissioner of Labor, that the in
crease in production has been accom-
published very largely through the utili-
zation of new and improved machinery
without corresponding increase in
the number of wage-earners and
wages paid" The same authority
tells us that of the six to ten millions
who lacked steady employment, 3 per
cent only were idle through fault of
their own.
Obviously, an industrial regime Git
could not be accurately described as
"system") which produces such
fruits as have herein been alluded to,
must be 'hewn down." root and
branch. It's evils are inherent and in
eradicable. Once a necessary step in
economic evolution, the bourgeois
civilization and industrial regime are
no longer adapted to the needs OF
society. The absurdity of socialized
production and individual, capitalistic
appropriation; of cooperation in the
workshop and anarchy in the market;
of poverty, ugliness, and idleness in
land of boundless wealth and inef-
fable beauty, infinite in resources,
physical, moral, and esthetic, can not
much longer maintain.
The industrial despots who are at
tempting to crush out the right of
Labor to organize in its own protection
are but adding fuel to the flame Of
social unrest. The Socialists have no
better aids than the practical" union
smashers.
NnkNiNrc tAfll RE tlCEEtlI