The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-01-14
CHAPT. XIII.
Prison visitors.

Deen locked up III ~ cell Will Coiiins
for mate, and with Rudolph occupy
ing an opposite cage that their con-
versation drifted upon the subject Of
religion. 1t may be that it was the
sound of church bells calling the po-
pulace Of the village to devotion, that
suggested the subject to their minds.
Jack was f.ily aware of the in
adiquacies and contradictions of his
parents creed. He had looked upon it
as natural plaything for illitera;e
folk, and therefore not worthy Of SER
ious consideration. Like the subject
of economics prior to the time he had
met George, it did not occur to him
that religion had any influence for
evil on the masses Of mankind. He
was naturalist with a strong leaning
toward the biological phenomena. He
was more interested in the philogen-
etic history Of man than in his soci-
illogical relations. But his eyes were
to be opened, and Collins was thoro,
if at times, rough teacher.
"There are churches at Anamoose,
here as elsewhere, they may be called
the cages by which, the concentration
of wealth may be measured; they ad-
vertise the fact that there are vested
property rights in the community. The
fiercer the exploiters the bigger their
Bibles. You will notice that the emb-
lem of the church is the cross, that
is, because she is a stranger to the
Christ. If Christ ever existed he died
like Parsons and Spies, because he
defended the rights of the poor. He
was member of one of the ancient
brotherhoods of Labor quinquin-
ais, or Lord and Master, if l read
history rightly. Just read your Bible
carefully and you will find much rev.
olutionary Technology in the pass
ages reputed to be the words OF
j Christ. But in order to understand il
according to the materialist concep-
tion you have to have some idea Of
the scope and extent Of ancient labor
organizations. We might call them
the pre-christian unions. They were
organized in all the ancient empires
Empires rise and fall as result Of
the concentration and redistribution
of wealth. It was organized labor
existing under the ancient military
despotism, that kept the germ o.
liberty alive and carried within it thu
promise Of the ultimate redemption
LAT the masses from the economic tyr
anny Of the rich.
| You may ask how it was that tn,
military over lords Of ancient times
permitted such organizations. Th'
ANSWER is that complete slavery no
only dwarfs the body but degenerate
the mind. A man whose highest in
centive in life is an effort to keep
lash from his back has no incentive II
mingle his brain with his labor, witt
the result that where the working
class has no such incentive to create
civilization does not advance. MAJ
must be sustained by production. TIL
tendancy is for population to increas
Igeometrically, while the resource
from which they must be fed do no
increase unless the tools Of production
!. are improved, and the knowledge o
agriculture advanced. Slaves do no
improve tools, neither do they advanc
the sciences.
In those days the masters did n
work productivity, hence accumulate
no experience Of useful nature. The
were unable even if they had bee
willing to improve the methods o
production and distribution. The mast
ers Of the world have never produce
anything but misery to the masse
9 and ultimate destruction for them
q selves. As early as eleven hundre
: years B. G. labor had begun to orgs
n nize. The exodus Of the Jews fror
Egypt, is the earliest recorded labo
!, walk out. Three hundred years late
! and we may suppose that during this
: time progressive organization ha
= taken place, the brotherhoods Of tn
slaves were legalized by three Of tn
foremost statesman of the worl,
Amasis Of Egypt, Solon Of Greece, an
y Numa Pompilius Of Rome.
It These men saw that nation er
h shaved is nation dying. They rea
y lied that when the population becam
It more numerous, and lived in cities,th
IS production in shop and field had
keep pace; they realized, that Il
Is struggle for existence had been take
,e from the masters and transferred
70 the backs Of slaves; that leisure woul
develop new tastes and habits ,
ID culture that would have to be graf
" flied with commodities which Il
g stultified brains Of cha'tle5 coull nj
supply. They were forced to reali,
that labor needed q nobler incenti,
to work than the whip in the hand
a a master; that they needed an ide
If which they might hope to attain thl