The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1917-03-29
THE MOST DEGRADED
THING ON EARTH

udiccs, cruclties and cowardcc, is
/ still with us, poisoning the atmos-
phcre from which the coming gen
Grafton must draw its conceptions of
social ideals.
The tendency of social evolution
is to let the slave be superseded and
eliminated by the machine. In the
slave market the wages offered the
lowest layer, the unSkilIed and most
of the time unemployed worker, does
not include the cost Of raising child
rem. The next generation of workers
must therefore largely come from
the homes of the better paid workers
of today and the small middle class.
These, being reared in better homes,
and therefore with greater expecta
lions in life, will offer a greater re-
sistance to their masters. They may
discover that the cruel inequality in
the division of the benefits Of civil
iZation is not so much to be credited
to the malice of the masters as to
their own imbecility in permitting
the natural resources of the earth as
well as the common inheritance of
Iall mankind the accumulated eX-
perience of the ages, the machinery
of production, remain in the hands
of small minority, to the detriment
of all the rest. They may discover
that the original title deeds to all
this wealth rest upon conquest and
violence, murder and slavery, that
religions, moral codes, legal formu
las, ethics and conventionalties and
all other rgmarole attached to this
hcllish system, are merely in exist
ence to confuse the issue and keep
the mass in mental bondage. and
therefore too stupid to utilize it's only
power, its physical strength 1t may
be that generation after generation
will have to be eXterminated as I'M
fit for freedom, until social STRAIT
um is reached that has sufficient in
tcligence to accomplish the revolu-
ton.
1t is certain that the working class
Of today is too slavish to be fit for
freedom Giant Labor is flat on his
-, back, and the cautious moves he
makes now and then to shift into an
G easier position when the old bones
, becomes unbearable, does not strain
y the mental cobwebs that cover his
sluggish form, cobwebs that to his
o fantastic mind present themselves as
unbreakable chains. He is afraid to
hurt his precious skin. What an ex-
ample he is of the depths of unfath-
+ enable degradation human intelligence
E can descend to. 1t is said that worm
4 will turn and fight. If so, then he
r ranks higher in the scale than the
. worker as a class. There is not
believe, an animal so timid that ii
>, will not fight to death for its freedom
The Spaniards had to murder more
i than a million Indians on Hayity anC
f on Cuba, who refused to become slaves
The rest of the West Indies have the
= same history to tell. They did not
o believe that a hell was yawning for
those who refused to submit to Christ
i ian dogmas and physical degradation
o Savages have souls, i. e. the spirit OF
4 resistance. The ancient slave owner
fol 1Nr occn,tal +ho4 clio, h.
n souls. He felt too strong to descend
q to falsehood. He told the truth The
4 great bulk of the workers have nc
q souls today. They are told that they
: have and they are awfully scared that
, they may lose them. Even a chicken
o has time to play during working
hours and never works in the dark
: But the worker can be made to work
>. for hours before dawn and for more
q hours after shutdown for more mis-,
o cradle eXistance, to sustain life
utterly void of anything and every
thing that can serve as an excuse for
G living He lives because he dare not
die. His eXistance is a detriment to
: himself and to every other worker
who is compelled to compete with him
in the slave market. If chattel slav-
G cry could have continued until now
9 it would have been necessary for the
master class to have killed the super
y fluous number in order to save the
p expense of their keep. AS things
stand, they are permitted to slowly
y starVe out of existence, serving the
q masters to the last, by menacing the
! security of their still employed fellows
y until their last breath.
The modern worker has not the
q same excuse for his stupidity as the
G slave. He can read, but he reads only
to become more loyal to his master.
He is citizen and can therefore vote
and even sometimes serve on the iurv.
But ne conscientiously votes into the
hands. of the master the whip that