The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-30
Frederick Haskin's Letter

eapaadesee g q III

ject In the simplest Language. They
are manufactured and sold cheap
ly so that they are within the reach
OF any worker. Among the subjects
treated are literature, science, So
Geology, history. politics, labor and
finance. The aim Is not to change
mans vocation or to help him in
crease his earning capacity, bat
simply to provide him with a gen
eral educational background which
will enable him to use intelligently
the vote which he enjoys.
perhaps the greatest cause Of
modern industrial unrest, declares
Spencer Miller, Jr.. secretary
treasurer of the Workers Educa-
tionaI Bureau of America, lies in
the fact that in the highly sp&ial-
ICED modern industry a worker
does not get any creative sstisfac-
ton out of his work. A man may
be trained to fasten on the same
bolt to the same piece of machiR-
cry as soon as the law permits him
to leave school and he may stay
at that monotonous work for so
years.
his relation to the industry Of
which he is part and 10 sense OF
the industry's relation to society.
He stores up resentment, naturally,
because he has no creative outlet
whatever. He does not share in
the adventure and enterprise of the
organization for which he works.
This suppression OF his creative
impulse has been responsible for
the psychosis the laborer has de-
veloped. It is manifested through
out the industrial world in dissat-
isfaction and discomfort.
Incubus of Feudalism.
1.-THE work of the bureau and OF
the workers universities is to pro-
vide these men with the cultural
background which will enable them
to use their creative energies. The
modern industrial world suffers
from an incubus of the old feudal
system, perhaps not so much in
America as in Great Britain, but
even to a great extent here. Over
there there is no free land, indus
try is highly centralized aud the
workers are struggling under an
inheritance
Under the feudal system and
the early trade systems man was
apprenticed to a certain work at an
early age and he was kept at it
throughout his life. In former
times this man could find a certain
creative satisfaction in his work
because he had the entire making
of it. But with the development Of
industry, specialization came about
and men were trained to do only
one infiniteSimaI part in the crea-
ton of a finished product from a
factory. They had no education
and no training to make them use
their leisure in creative pursuits.
They knew nothing about what was
going on in the world
so il came about that when
they were granted political priv
ileges they were not equipped TO
use them intelligently. That is US
ually the case: the form is usually
achieved before the substance. We
had the form of democracy, but we
had no real democracy, because
workers were not equal to the
bourgeoisie and higher bourgeoisie
What is actually working out
with the workers colleges is that
among the 30,O00,0OO workers in
the western world there is now q
vast number of them who are TAX
ing courses which give them
sound knowledge of the fundameh-
tails of history. sociology, finance,
industry, politics, labor, literature,
and art. The colleges are nut 70
cationaI; they have nothing to do
with quick means to monetary SUE
cess or higher wages. They are
cultural solely and simply. They
are founded on a belief that .ss
workers can and will enjoy a high
er and better life and that the
whole of society will profit by it If
creative outlet is given to the man
who works with his hands"