The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-11-11

, engaged in the very unproductive work of killing itself off as quickly and in as expert a manner as poss- ible
 That labor is not producing any food, but it has to be fed; and the wealth of the nations that is con- trolled by the Powers which keep Labor at the entertaining and un- productive work of killing itself off, will see to it that it is fed.
 There is where the United States comes in. The wealth of the Powers where labor is so unproductive is turned over to those who control the Labor in the United States engaged in prductive or other industry. And they buy the product of that labor with liberal payments which assure the interests in control of American Labor Power a very handsome pro- | fit. Accordingly the money is enga- ged in buying up the product of this American labor in the form of wheat and flour and other food supplies, with the result that the supply Of is so decreased that there is insuffi- icient on hand for the domestic re- quirements.
 So to meet this demand in a shortened supply, the workers must compete against one another and hence they send the prices soaring.
 That is precisely what the work CTS are up against and what they will be up against just as long as they are not organized to arrange differently.
 Various propositions have been put forward to meet this situation and one which is now being heard is that of an embargo against all food especially wheat and flour ex- portation.
 Without doubt such step would tend to reduce the evil conditions which now exist. But they who ad- vocate this policy do not strike a, the root of the evil.
 The evil lies in the ability of pri. vate owners to control, own and spe culate in the food requirements oi the nation. The evil lies in the fact that our economy is controlled by private propreitorship in every. thing and that proprietorship only exchanges with other proprietorships at profit. In other words human labor is engaged in production fol profit and not for use.
 If flour slumped tomorrow to such low price that it were profitless ir the market, a pound of it, no matter how urgent the human need, would not be raised. The wheat lands are cultivated because in growing whea, handsome profit is realized. The farmer engaged in the wheat culti. vation never considers the fact that his acreage will feed so many hung. ry units in society; the broker never rejoices that in buying the contents of the elevators he is bringing closer to a consuming public the gratifica ton of their food wants. TG each of these the all absorbing sub ject is the amount of money to bt made and hence even in theil minds every person who handles tho wheat is a contributor to as higf a price as possible.
 Accordingly until this private con trol of the nations food supply i. smashed, the question of high prices is one that is likely to be always with us.
 l It is proposed to increase wages tt meet the increased cost of living This would not settle the question fbut it would make it less insistent among those who areenow unable te get what they require. But an un fortunate fact in this connection is that wages always lag behind soar ing market in other commodities and so far have necessaries gained upon the wages paid that there is now fifteen per cent difference ir favor of food supplies in relation tc the price of labor to that which pre- vailed five or six short years ago.