The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1917-10-22
"A'Rich Mans War. i"
by Harvey O'Higgins.)

on him But he was not eager 10
light; he had been reading The
Masses. What We | got to fight
tor?" ne argued It's rich mans
war"
1t is. But not in the sense that
he meant
AS long as this country, at peace,
as supplying Europe with food and
munitions the rich man gained. The
nuuition makers drew enormous
dividends. The Steel Trust, the
Coal Trust. the Meat Trust. the rail
'oad and the shipping magnates
charged all that the wartime traffic
would bear, and had no war taxes to
Say 1t was to their interest to keep
his Nation out of the conflict in or
Ter TO preserve their gains. With
our entrance upon hostilities. the
Government obtained the power to
ak profits. to fix prices. to control
he food supply, TO protect the poor
rom exploitation and deprive the
.ich of the fruits of exploitation.
That power has been sought, for how
'-Iany decades, in times of peace, by
low many social reformers? The
var won it. If it is a rich mans war,
ed i'll procuring it.
And, in the matter of the draft,
hey have been equally blind. The
irst conscription act of our Civil
Var allowed the rich man to buy eX-
amption by paying $500 for it. There
IS 10 such clause in the present law.
il the later days of the Civil War
he rich man could buy exemption
by paying a substitute to take his
place. He can not do so in this war.
che only exemptions allowed today
lre allowed to the poor man who
has dependents or to the workers in
he industries and professions that
are necessary to the life and effici-
ancy of modern nation in war
lime.
1t is rich mans war, therefore,
n the sense that the SONS of the rich
are the most liable to die in it. 1t is
a rich mans war in the sense that
me rich are chiefly paying for it
with their lives, with their money,
With their time and service, and
With the loss of their special privi-
a8es, while the workingman, the
mall farmer, the producer, the pro-
ductive laborer and the poor are
everywhere comparatively exempt.
FOR the first time in the history of
The world war is being waged that
.alls most heavily upon the classes
who, in times past, have most profit
ed by war.
In this country, as yet, the re-
suits of that new aspect of the con-
.iict are not glaringly evident. But
in England they are so striking that
they amount to revolution. There,
it IS the poorer classes that have
Eained in material comfort, in politi
al power, in control of their condi-
ions of life, in happiness and in
freedom. 1t is not merely that
wages have been raised, that the cost
Of living has been controlled, that
the people have taken over the direc
lion OF the railroads. and of the coal
mines, and of the food supply. and
Of the organized industries of the
nation. 1t is not merely that the
Workingman has been given larger
place in the Government councils
nd the idle rich man a smaller
income taxed to the bone
Ind his profits reduced to extinction.
It is, above all, that industry itself
has obtained a democratic govern
ment of its own. so that the work
ngman now sits with the employer
at the board of business manage |
ment and helps to make the rules
under which he works and 10 regu- |
late the conditions of his labor.
The reforms for which British |
socialists have been struggling for |
so years have been obtained over |
night. A revolution that could not !
have been effected in century OF
peace has been forced by three years |
of war. The conditions which for
warded that revolution are the con- |
,iitions that are SO rapidly advanc- /,
ing a similar revolution here. Our |
socialists, who cry This is a rich |
mans war; let the Workingman OPP |
pose t,"are as blind as those social |
lists in Great Britain who originally |
raised the same cry and similarly !
their own advantage.
We have already obtained, in this |
country, measures of State socialism |
that looked as far away as the mil !
,enium to our socialists three years |
ago. We shall have to carry the |
still more incredible reforms that |
nave Nci1 III IL VIC a. Z |
% defend ourselves as we'll as the |
English are defending themselves. |
We, too, shall have to democratic |
industry" as the phrase is, if we ex-
pect our workingman to reinforce !
our battle line as the British work
ngman has reinforced the British |
'front.'. And not only that. After the
war is over, our industry and our
~ aII
he same world as British industry
and commerce-to say nothing of the
French and German-if our work
ngman is not as loyal and satisfied |
md happy and efficient as theirs.
Dur revolution will have to continue,
because the life of the Nation in
peace, as in war, will depend upon
it.
\ rich mans war. A war that has
half the evils of op-
OF which the predatory rich
nave been accused. A war that has
'educed their power, curtailed their
contiscaIed their profits!
\ war that has made England, in
hree years, a radical democracy, not
only politically, but industrially! II
my socialist thinks that such war
5 rich mans war, he thinks SO be-
'ause his mind has ceased to func-
ion-because he has reduced thou
hit tea dogma and bleats a mechani-
al utterance like a toy lamb-be-
.ause he has taken his stand on the
economic formula, like the lamb on
is bellows, unable to change its note
lnder the pressure of any circum-
stances. baaing its invariable answer
o any conformation of fact.