The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-01-24
tBy Harvey Higgins.)


refused exemptions: He WIS Il young
hack driver. with no one dependent
on him. but be was not eager TO
fight; he had been reading The
Masses. "wha, we I got TO fight for2"
he argued. "It's a rich mans war"
! II ia. But not in the sense that he
meant. -. 49,,
Az long as this country; al peace.
was supplying Europe With. food and
munitions the rich man gained. The
munition makers drew enormous, divi-
dends. The Steel Trust. the Coal
Trust. the Meat TFustr the railroad
and the shipping magnates, charged
all that the wartime traffic would
bear. and had no war taxes to pay.
II was to their interest 10 keep this
Nation out OF the conflict in, order to
preserve their gains. With our en-
trance upon tostilities, the Govern
ment obtained the power 70 tax prof
its. to fix prices. to. control the food
supply, to protect the poor from eI-
ploiistion ard deprive, the rich of the.
fruits OF exploitation. That power
has ben sought. for how many decades
In times OF peace. by how many 30
cial reformers7 The war won II. III
1t ia a rich mans wor. the rich have
been singularly deluded in procuring
IT,
And. in the matter of the draft.
they have been equally blind, The
first cnnscrirt'on act OF our Civil War
allowed the rich man 10 buy exemp- |
tIon by paying $500 for Il. There is
no such clause In the present law. In
the later days OF the Civil War the
rich man could buy exemption by pay
fng a substitute to tnke his place. He
can not do 70 in this war The only |
exemptions allowed .oday are allowed
to the poor man who naA dependents
or to the workers In the industries
and professions that are necessary to u
the life and efficiency OF a modern ma
ton In war time.
II Is a rich mans war. therefore. in |
the sense that the sons OF the rich are |
the most liable to die in Il. II Is a |
rich mans war In the Hense that the |
rich are chiefly paying for It with |
their lives. with their money. with
their time and service. and with the |
loss OF their special privileges. while
the workingmnn. the small farmer. the |
producer, the productive laborer and |
the poor are everywhere comparative |
ly exempt.
For the first time In the history OF
the world a war is being waged that |
falls rnost heavily upon the classes
who. In times past. have most profited
by war.
In thls country. az yet the results
of that new aspec, Of the conflict are |
most glaring'y evident But in Eng
land they are 70 .strikIpe, that they
amount to n revolution, There. II ia
the poorer classes that have gained
n material comfort, In political power
IN control of their conditions OF life.
in happiness and In freedom II is not
mercy that wages have been raised
that the cost OF living has been con
trolied. that the people have taken
over tho direction Of the railroads.
and OF the coal mines, and OF the
food supply. and OF the. organized In
dustries OF the nation It is not mere
ly that the workingman has been CIV
en- a larger place In the Government
councils and the Idle rich man q small
er place-his income taxed to tho
bone and his profits reduced to ex-
tinction- It ia. above all. that indus.
try itself has obtained a democratic
government of It's own. 10 that the
workingnran now sits with the employ
or at the board of business manage
ment and helps TO make the rules
under which he works and TO regulate
the condtons OF his labor.
The reforms for which British
socialists have been. struggling for so
years have been obtained overnight
a revolution that could not have been
effected In a century of peace has
been forced by three years OF war. The
conditions which forwarded that revo-
luton are the conditions that are 30
rapidly advancing similar revolution
here. Our socialists who. cry This
is rich mans war; let the working
man oppose It," are as blind az those
socialists in Great Britain who orig
ina'iy raised the sane. cry and simi-
iarly opposed their own advantage.