Montana labor news., 1932-05-12
ROBERT G. NGERSOLL AND LABOR.

The ashes of Robert G. Ingersoll were buried in Ar
lington Cemetery, within sight of the Nations capitol, on
May a. The ashes rest in Arlington because of his mill
tary service in the Civil War.
The occasion will recall to older labor leaders the
glowing tribute that great liberal paid to the workers
in their age-old struggle for liberty.
He died IN 1899. The guiding principle of his phil
osophy was that no nation founded upon slavery, either
of body or mind, could stand
He clearly saw that the unequal distribution of wealth
constitutes the major element in the downfall of civiiza-
lions and the servitude of the toilers. Among his utter
ances one finds this crisp truth:
Whoever produces anything by weary labor, does
not need a revelation from heaven to teach him that
he has a right to the thing produced"
Ingefsoll passed away thirty years before the revo-
lutionary introduction of labor-displacing machinery and
the equally revolutionary increase in the wealth-produc-
ing capacity OF the workers created an unemployed army
millions. But he visioned even then the truth
so apparent today that machinery is not a social bless
ing when the increased wealth resulting from its use is
appropriated by those who own and control industry
without either reduction in the hours of labor of those
who do the work or increase in their wages to enable
them to enjoy larger and larger portions of the wealth
increase.
Here is what he said on labor-displacing machinery
and its relation to the workers:
"Just as life becomes more complex and as every
one is trying to accomplish certain objects, all the
ingenuity of the brain is at work to get there by a
shorter way, and, in consequence, this has been an
age of invention. Myriads Of machines have been
invented-every one of them to save labor. If these
machines helped the laborer, what a blessing they
would be! But the laborer does not own the ma
chine; the machine owns him. That is the trouble.
y = We have got into that contest between
machines and men, and if extravaganza does not
keep pace with ingenuity, it is going to be the most
terrible question that man has ever settled"
If I~ngersol were alive today he would substitute "pur-
chasing power for Extravaganza and wealth produc-
ton for ingenuity" so that the last sentence in the
quotation would read:
"We have got into that contest between machines
and men, and if purchasing power does not keep
pace with wealth production it is going to be the
most terrible question that man has ever settled"
The terrible question predicted by ~Ingersoll is here.
We have nearly nine million workers totally u%nemploy-
ed, depending for a living for themselves and their fam
lilies on the scanty rations furnished by charity organ
~izations, and many millions more working part time with
the consequent lowered living standards.
The terrible question is not only here, but it is I'M
solved. Those who own and control our business in
stitutions have no remedy of their own and refuse to
apply the shorter work week and work day demanded
by Labor to provide jobs for all the unemployed with
wages high enough to permit the workers to buy ever
increasing portions Of the ever-increasng amount Of
wealth which is largely produced by them.
The millions of jobless are living under an ~insuffer-
able form of slavery. This condition must be ended.
Ancient civilizations fell because larger and larger por-
tons of the population became slaves. If American civ
Iilization is not to take a similar course, unemployment
must be ended.