The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-07-31
The Wealth of Nations.
81 ARTHUR w. CALHOUN. ,

at Une economic layout or the
world and its division into rival politi-
cal units empires ready to battle to
the death for the privilege of plumber
ing the people of the world But the
workers need to have more than
general knowledge of the worlds re-
sources. If they are to inherit the
earth, they ought to know in detail
what it has in store for them.
AS good a book as any in which to
find the necessary information is
Commerce and Industry" by j. Rus
sell Smith, professor in economic
geography in Columbia University
The edition before me was published
in 1920, by Henry Holt & Co. l think
a new edition has come out this year,
and it might be better to get it for
the sake of the later census figures.
Smith is a pretty good sort for a
bourgeois professor. He is a Quaker
and has some ideas of his own about
the ways Of the world and the problem
Of control. Especially valuable is the
section on world commerce, with
which the book concludes. The work
ing-class student must beware, how
ever, of the authors notion that the
tropics will naturally remain a sub
ordinate region where the colored
races will live under the shadow of
the civilization maintained by the
white races of the temperate zones.
There is probably no scientific founda-
tion for the idea that the tropics must
be permanently subordinate. When as
much attention has been given to the
problem of making life comfortable in
the tropics as has been given to max
ing northern winters livable there will
be a different story to tell. 1t is al
ready too late for the whites to be
cOcky.
About half the book is given to the
resources and industries of the United
States. Before starting to study this
section the reader should ask himself
what basic industry is, and particu-
larly what makes an industry strategic
from the standpoint of the workers
Looked at in one way, basic industry
is one that furnishes materials or SER
vices essential to the carrying on Of
other important industries. 1t would
be a good idea as you go thru the
resources and industries to classify
them from this standpoint, listing first
the ones most essential, then the less
essential. all the way down to the
ones that do not matter much If the
workers are to fit themselves to take
control they need to take stock in
this way in order to know how to
divide their attention so that each in
dustry may be kept in proper balance
with the rest.
+ OOKED at In another way, an in
IL dustry is basic if a tie-up in it
would bring other important indus
tries to a standstill. The reader ought
to list the industries from this stand
point also, so that he would be clear
which industries are most pivotal
from the standpoint of the labor strug-
gle. Which ones would it be most i'm
portant for the workers to control
first? What are the prospects for
building up organization in these stra-
tegic realms What special tactics will
enable the workers to get a real grip
and build up their power at the key
points? You cannot answer these
questions unless you master the lay
out of resources and industries of the
United States.
After you have worked these prob
lens out to your liking, pass to the
foreigG lands. Better take first the
ones that your study of economic geog-
raphy taught you to assign to the
American empire. That will be Can
ada. Mexico, the West Indies, Central
and South America, and the Philip
pines particularly. Just what are they
worth TO the American capitalists?
What difference does it make to the
workers in those lands that they are
under the cloud Of American imperial
ism? Would they be better off under
an unhampered local capitalism? Is