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The Trust QuestionAnswered
CHAPTER I .
POPULAR MISC ONCEPTION OF THE TRUST S
THE SMALL CAPITALIST C LASS
Dur 'ing the past twenty years since consolidation inindustry has been so rapid , the newspapers
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of thesmalle1 capitalist class and their political mouthpieceshave voiced a demand for the destruction of the“Trusts ,
” and the return to the days of small productiorMr . Bryan , Mr . Hearst and many other politicians
representing th is class pol1tically, have denounced theseorganizations of capital as criminal conspiracies , andhave endeavored , like Mrs . Partington , to sweep backthe sea of evolution with a broom .
They desire to return to the days of small production ,and “free competition ,
” They style themselves“pro
gressive,” but are in reality standing for the most re
actionary position in American politics today. They desire to turn back the hands of time fifty years , to aperiod passed by us in our evolution , and to which it isimpossible to return .
It was a time of the greatest prosperity for their.
class , during which time they had sufficient economicstrength to control our political government , mold burlaw and morals to conform to the sl ightest desires oftheir Class .They believe this retrogression is possible , but we
find no precedent for it in history . It would be as
sensible to advocate the destruction of the railroadsand the return to the stage coach .
By means of organization and system in our industrial methods we have increased our output thirteenfold per capita during the last century . Not the leastof the labor saving devices was the modern industrialcombination popularly known as the “Trust .”
The declining political prestige of this class as theyare industrially and financially overwhelmed by the
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5 1 11 1 1 1 : -
_
t.
industrial combinations , i s weakening the voice of the‘
g‘
T ru st Buster .
The'
small capitalistt
claSS FIOst control ) of the Democratic party in 1 904
‘
and since that time has only found
expression in small“reform” movements , like Hearst
’s
Independence League , and“insurgent” movements from
states backward in their industrial development .
As this class has been hopelessly passed in our evolutiona
’
ry development , it is a W aste o f time to furtherconsider it.
THE LARGE CAPITALIST C LASS
In the year 1 860the banking and manufacturing capitalists of this country carried through a successful re~
volution at the ballot box , and with their newly organized Republican party wrested power from the slaveholding and trading classes , and captured control of thefederal government .This victory was won by a plurality vote , consequent
ly their opposition being in the majority , the slaveholding interests went in to armed
‘
rebellion against federalauthority .
The control of the federal government gave the manufacturing and banking classes an advantage in the
game of war, which the rebels could not muster sufficient force to overcome .
They Used the federal authority , backed by largearmies during the Reconstruction period , to ruthlesslybeat down any opposition at the ballot box and so keptthe South practically disfranchised .
At no time since 1 860has the small capitalist hadcontrol of the federal government . His “rights” havebeen trampled upon , and his code of morals thrownaside to make way for the interests of the large capitalist class and their ideas of right and wrong .
The demonitization of silver, the high protective tariff, the increase in army, navy , and consular service allto protect the interests of banker and manufacturer,were all progressive steps in the furtherance of the interests of the large capitalists .
The “Imperialistic” policy adopted by the Federalgovernment during the later part of the last century,as well as - the war of conquest upon the S anish , theannexation of islands for coaling station s , t e increase
5
in naval and military establishments and the colonialpolicy, were all in the interests of the banker and themanufacturer and at the expense of the rest of thepopu lation .
Today the interests of the banker and captain of industry dominate all our political , educational , religiousand social institutions . Our courts decide that theirwants are constitutional and that the demands of all
other classes are unconstitutional . Their will is backedup bv civil law and military forces .The consolidation of industry to eliminate the useless
waste of the competitive system , has enabled the largecapitalist to sell goods at a profit , and furnish them tothe public at a price below the cost of production by hissmall competitor .
The monopolists today are seeking for some kind oftrust regulation that will stop evolution , and are look ingfor a Joshua to make the sun stand still .They do not want the sun of their capitalist system
to set forever . They are trying to shut their eyes tothe fact that their system is but a transitory one between individual and co - operative production . Evolu
tion will not be stopped . Their political soothsayers inthe House of Congress very greatly resemble the Indians who tried to lasso the first locomotive that passedthrough their hunting grounds .
SOME SHORT - SIC HTED LA! OR UNION EDITORS
The merging of many factories under one ownership ,some of the factories being unionized and others underopen shop conditions , made it possible during strikesin union factories to run the non - union factories .
This gave the large corporations more power in fighting the trade union than the individual competing manu facturer possessed . The blacklist became a more ef
fective weapon against the union man as the industriespassed into fewer hands .The monopoly of the market by the trust removed
the fear of a competitor securing the business duringlabor troubles .The ability of the monopolist to fix the price of the
product and to eliminate competitors at will , made themonopolist more secure against any pressure broughtto bear by the labor union , through strikes or boycotts .
6
- A recognition of the g rowing power of private monopoly caused the labor union editors for many years toside with the small capitalist “trust busters” in theirfutile endeavors to return to small production .
The union label adopted by many unions was in mostcases a sort of compact between union and small capitalist to fight the “Trust . ”
The manifest saving of waste in production on a largescale made this a very expensive and abortive methodof checking the growth of large industry .
The labor editors’ most common misconception was
that to destroy the “Trusts” would reduce the cost ofliving . The facts are , however, that the
“Trusts” un
dersell their individual competitors and prevent furthercompetition by eliminating the waste incidental tocompetition and so make it impossible for any smallfirms to enter the field again .
The labor unions of the world are awakening to thefact that they must combine with all other workers onfarm and in workshop in a political movement distinctfrom and opp osed to all parties of the capitalist class ,large or small , that thev may use their overwhelmingnumbers to cap ture political power. When they usethis political p ower to emancipate themselves they willestablish Socialism .
The nation must own the Trusts , instead of theTrust” magnates owning the nation . To understandwhy we must do this we will review briefly the industrial history of the American people , and find why thisis the only solution of the
CHAPTER II .
OUR INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION
During the time the American Colonies were underthe control of the British government the Americanswere an agricultural and trading people .
At the time of the invention of the steam engine( 1 768 ) only two per cent of the American freemenwere wage workers , the remainder of them were selfemploying farmers , mechanics and merchants .A few ship owners trafficked in slaves , smuggled
commodities past the British custom officers , whilesome other budding capitalists distil led New England
rum from West Indian Molasses and used it for thepurchase of slaves in Africa .
The appearance of the steam engine , followed bypower driven machinery in all industries and partienlarly in the weaving industry, increased the output ofcotton to an enormous extent, where the power loomsand the cotton gin was in use . This eliminated thehandicraftsman very rapidly, and produced the capital~
ist and wage working classes .We find one wage worker - plus a machine able to pro
duce in one day as much as five hand workers haddone . They , unable to compete with the machine , arecompelled to sell their labor for a wage to its owner,competing with each other in the sale of their labor .
Those who remain outside the gates unemployed areunfortunately equip ped with stomachs that grow hungry about three times a day .
The hungry man ou tside the factory will work for anexistence wage in preference to starvation . He willnot work for less than a living , so the necessities of thehungry man outside the shop fix the wages of the manemployed within the shop at an existence wage .
Since the establishment of the wage system as thedominant system in industry, the average pay of theaverage worker is the average cost of living in everylocality .
During the time when machine production was displacing the hand worker , and there was ready sale forALL machine made goods , the capitalist stated as adogma : “Competition is the life of trade .
They meant by this that the more people there wereengaged in their line of industry (provided there wasa greater demand for goods than could be supplied) ,the better opportunity they had for studying themethods of production and sale of the products . Itshould really have been called “emulation” instead of“competition .
Each capitalist continually reinvested the profitstaken from his workers in employing those workingmen displaced by labor- saving machinery , in buildinghis factory larger and making more machinery for
It was the wage working class who built all the factories , made all the machinery, discovered and applied
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new ideas in increasing output , then lost their title tothe factories , through not receiving their full pay , butonly a LIVING wage .
It was the wage system that robbed the workers ofpossession of the industries built by them .
The whole history of the development of our present industrial system has been the gradual displacement of independent self- employing hand workers bymachinery and wage workers . There has been a steadyloss of ownership by the worker of the tools he uses .The capital ist
,as his factory was increased in size ,
was compelled to seek ever wider markets for hisgoods . Commodities are only made to sell . No business man will intentionally allow more goods to bemade in his factory than can be sold by him .
It is the amount of the demand that controls theoutput . Now let us see what it is that limits the demand . We have found that the worker, under thiscompetitive wage system , only receives a wage suffic
ient to buy the necessessaries of life , which is but afraction of his total output .No matter how rich a capitalist may be , he is unable
to eat more than one meal at one time . He can onlywear one suit of clothes with comfort at a time . consequently there is a limit to his abil ity to consume .
The capitalist’
class receives all the worker producesover a living . It is a far larger amount than the capitalist class consumes . These goods would accumulatein the warehouses , overflow the market , and stop further production were it not for the fact that the capitalist continually uses his surplus to hire the workersdisplaced by machinery, to enlarge the factories andmachinery to displace more of the hand workers .
WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE POINT IN MOSTOF THE INDUSTRIES WHERE THE HAND WORKERS HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY ELIMINATED BYMACHINERY, AND WHERE THE MACHINERY ISSUFFICIENT IN THE WORLD TO SUPPLY ALL OFTHAT KIND OF GOODS THE WORLD MARKETCAN TAKE .
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At this time we find the capitalists dropping their olddogma ,
“competition is the life of trade .
”
Each capitalist , in his attempt to continuethe systemof investment of his profits in enlarging his business
,i s
.
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compelled to fight desparately with his fellow capitalistto prevent haymg his market taken from him . Thismeans expensive salesmen , advertising, adulteration ofgoods to lower the cost of production , and a greatly 1n
creased cost in selling the product . With this cu t
throat competition many firms are forced into bankruptcy .
The cost attached to the sale of the product addedno value to it , but must be charged to the consumer .
THIS W AS THE CONDITION OF BUSINESS THATFORCED THE ORGANI! ING OF THE “TRUSTS .
”
We will say,for example , that there are thirty firms
engaged in one line of industry . Each firm must senda salesman to every important ci ty to visit their ownand other factories’ customers .
The wages and expenses of these men often constitute 2 5 per cent of the price of the goods . Each
,
firmmust, if it intends to remain in business , maintain anadvertising system that will reach all sections of thecountry .
The scenery along the railroad lines is spoiled bysigns telling how much better one firm
’s goods are thananothers . T his adds nothing to the value of the goods ,but must be paid for by the customer, or the firm failsin business .
One company in a certain territory finds its marketencroached upon by competitors , so that the companyis forced to enter the others’fields .This makes the average haul of theproduct to its
market almost half way across the country . The expenses , freight and express charges must be paid by thepurchasers to make the business a success .
Each competing manufacturer has no definite knowledge of the amount of goods in any line his competitorintends to put on the market . This anarchy of production often throws a lot of unsalable goods upon the market, a part of which can not be sold at any price . Thischaotic condition of business was but a logical step inthe evolution of the competitive system .
At this stage of development , though the usefulworker received but 1 7 per cent of his product inwages , most of the remainder was frittered away in thewastes of competition .
Many capitalists during this period were not getting
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profits, but were actually losing what they had previously accumulated .
We will suppose , for example , that thirty firmsare engaged in one industry . We now see possiblytwenty of these firms arriving at the conc lusion thatsomething will have to be done to end wasteful competition . One of the most brainy men among them startsto organize a trust .They hold a meeting, form an organization similar
to a labor union , and enter into an agreement witheach other to fix a price below which none shall go inthe sale of their commodities . They also agree not toemploy working people blacklisted by some other firmin the combination . They agree upon other points thattend to limit competition between each other in the saleof their products . Each firm puts up security that itwill l ive up to its part of the agreement or binds itselfby some other method mutually satisfactory .
A trust has been formed . Each man retains individual ownership in his factory and individually takesthe profits therefrom , having no share in the profitsof the other firm s
,within the trust .
Time brought forth man‘
y weak points in this formof organization . Each firm had the incentive to giverebates secretly to the others’ customers , and so capture them from the rival firms . These unsatisfactoryworkings , within the trusts were the cause of the formation of the modern corporation .
The invention of the corporation was , next to thesteam engine , the most important invention during.
the existence of the capitalist system of wealth production . It was the creation of a legal individual whonever died , who could hold property, who shouldered allresponsibility, who could not be put in jail , who couldnot be hung, and who could do anything that any otherindividual could do . It was the method by which thebusiness man could retire from active participation inthe bus1ness , have the business carried on and recelve
an increased income from it .The capitalists at this stage of industrial evolution
ordered their lawmakers to make laws legalizing thi snew method of doing business .We now find these twenty firms that had combined .
in the trust, organizing a new corporation . They then
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appraise the plants of each firm and sell them to thecorpo 1 ation , taking stock in the new company for probably twice the value of their factories .They call this “watering” the stock and state in j us
tification that the elimination of waste j ustifies the increased valuation . We now notice some revolutionarychanges taking place in the conduct of their business .The new corporation sends but one salesman to eachcity formerly visited by a salesman from each of thetwenty competing firms Within the trust , so the wagesand expenses of the other nineteen salesmen are saved .
Another feature of the corporation is that they useeach factory to make the
.
goods for its own neighborhood and thereby cut out at the very least threefourths of the former expense for freight .In advertising we find one advertisement represent
ing the twenty consolidated companies . They may ad
vertise five times as much as each“
firm formerly didprevious to consolidation and still save three - quartersof the former total cost , in addition to covering thefield much more thoroughly than did their competitors .Any of the twenty factories where the cost of opera
tion is high , are closed down . The factories ,“where the
cost of operation ! is cheaper, are increased in size .
One superintendent now superintends a large factoryand gets about the same wages he received when. in
charge of a small one.
One engineer is all that is needed to Operate onelarge engine that gener ates five times the horse powerthat is generated by an engine in a small factory, soseveral engineers lose their positions .The saving in cost of management, superintendence ,
d esigning, accounting, time - keeping, cost of materialby buying in large quantities , better fuel facilitiesmake it possible for the large company to make goodscheaper than its competitors .They establish one central selling , agency which cuts
down enormously the former cost of that departmentof the manufacturing business .Lack of space prevents us enumerating hundreds of
other points where large production has an economicadvantage over small competitive business . But We
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HAVE COVERED ENOUGH TO SHOW THE READER THAT THE NEW CORPORATION CAN SELL
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AT A PROFIT, CHEAPER THAN THEIR SMALLC OMPETITORS CAN DELIVER THE GOODS TOTHE CONSUMERS .
IT W AS AT THIS POINT THAT THE CRY OFDESTROY THE TRUSTS” WENT UP FROM THEDESPAIRING SMALL BUSINESS MAN . He realizedthat the large corporation would drive him out ofbusiness if some way could not be found to makeevolution stand still or turn backward .
The Democratic party in 1 89 6 , representing smallbusiness’ interests” under the leadership of theeloquent Mr. Bryan , started out on a
“trust busting”
expedition ! but , alas and alack , they had less fundsthan their more prosperous opponents , the
“ largebusiness” men of the country .
Mr. Bryan’s campaign fund was aboutwhile his successful rival was gently slipped into thepresidential chair with an expenditure of about
$ 1 7 ,000.000.
Mr. Bryan found that it took morethan eloquence towin political campaigns , but undismayed he made an
other bold start in 1 900.
It is painful to relate that the small capitalists wereharder pressed for funds for campaign purposes thanever before , while the large corporations had been doing very nicely in business and were able to set asidelarge sums for political purposes ! the '
consequence wasthat Mr. Bryan was second once more .
In 1 904 the small capitalists were unable to put upsufficient funds to retain control of the Democraticparty . The Wall street capitalists , tired of furnishinglarge funds to defeat their “small capitalist” opponentsconcluded that it would be wise to own both parties .They found the Democratic politicians , who were
weary of waiting for the spoils of office , very docile andeasily handled .
At the dictation of the large corporations the Democratic party nominated Mr . Parker for President, andalso at their dictation the Republican Party nominatedMr. Rooseveltu Then , as it mattered little which can
didate was elected , they put very little money into thecampaign fund .
At the last moment the large capitalists threwtheir money and influence to Mr. Roosevelt, as they
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feared that the election of Mr . Parker would carrywith it many congressmen who were opposed to thelarge corporations .In this campaign the small business men in the Dem
ocratic Party were very much dissatisfied and many re
fused to vote at all .During the next four years , when Mr . Bryan took a
trip around the world , he studied economics and politics en route . He discovered that the small businessman was passing in all the industrially developednations .
’
In the meantime he had been making large sums ofmoney in the Texas oil field in company with SenatorBailey . His pocketbook was growing corpulent and acontented smile was settling over his handsome face .
Mr . Bryan had lost all desire to slay, single handedan octopus , or roll evolution backward .
In the campaign of 1 908 we find the platforms ofboth the Republican and Democratic parties practicallyidentical , plank by plank .
W e also notice Mr . Bryan , with a contented purr,accepting the nomination for President . He was thenwillirg to run upon the same platform as the Republican candidate .
The small capitalists were uttering their last despairing cries through the medium of the Hearst papersand finding political expression in Hearst’s “
Independ
ence League .
”
In the campaign of 1 9 1 2 small business men will haveno candidates to vote for . to represent their class interests . They will be compelled to vote with the largecorporations - or wi th the working class .The field of battle is clearing . The class struggle
is on . The working class upon one side , the monopolist01 1 the other ! one equipped with numbers , the otherwith gold .
It is lucky for us that the force of numbers , if intelligently organized, wins both at the ballot box andupon the battle field .
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Some of the wealthy people believe that by keepingthe working people in ignorance and teaching “patriotism
”to the children that they will be able to keep up
the present class rule and the robbing of the workersindefinitely. As one means to this end we find them
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spreading the Boy Scout'
movement, the Y . M'
. C . A . ,
endowing colleges to control professorships , opposinglaws for compulsory education , encouraging the use ofchild labor, and making their influence felt in all relig iou s institutions .They know that ignorant people will never accom
plish self- government and democracy, but will alwaysbe dependent upon personal leaders and an aristocraticform of government .The wealthy insist that patriotism should be taught,
for the reason that patriotism means respect for, loveof, and obedience to the instituted government of thecountry in which the individual lives .Through contributing the campaign funds they con
trol the politicians , law making and law enforcing offi
cials , j udges to grant inj unctions against the workersand soldiers to carry them out .Sometimes they desire to have the '
strik ing workingmen shot, and need the militia or regular soldiers todo the work , as they do not like to do the bloody workthemselves , they have some foolish workingman to doit for them!The working class is now becoming too 1ntelligent to
hire out as professional murderers for p er
month , food and clothing. The workingmen do not l iketo take an oath to stop existing as thinking beings andbecome automatic killing machines , operating underthe orders of a superior officer to murder their ownbrothers and friends when ordered to do so .
The capitalists believe that if they only could teachthe workingmen militarism when they are youngenough that their minds would offer no resistance tothe murderous thoughts to be inculcated , they mightmake willing soldiers when they arrive at the age ofmanhood .
Today we find ministers , teachers and politicians atthe command of our capitalists organizing Boy Scouts ,Boys’Brigades and Boy Rifle Clubs in our schools andchurches, to teach our little innocent children (whoshould instead be taught love and brotherhood) , thatmurder is a laudable thing if done in uniform andunder the command of an ofli cer .
Through the ‘ donations of the wealthy class to theministers and churches they dictate the code of moral
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ity taught to the people . The legal steal ing of thecountry from the people and the continued robbery ofthe working class through the wages system is madeperfectly moral and honest .A man can be a Sunday school superintendent who
s teals one hundred millions of dollars yearly from theAmerican workingmen . He is a great bu siness man !his life is held up for the emulation of the SundaySchool children .
He has paid his workers so little wages that theycan not buy the surplus he has taken from them . Hecan not eat it . He then denies the
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workingmen employment, who then starve for lack of their productwhich has been taken by the capitalists .
When the children of these poor victims of thewealthy brigands cry for bread , a poor father in des
peration breaks the laws made by the brigand to control him also breaks the moral laws given out from thesame source to mentally
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control him by breaking intothe storehouse of his master and taking food out of thestore laid up by his own past labor and using it to feedhis starving children .
Other workingmen wearing uniforms seize him , aslick ! j udge condemns him to prison , the churchobediently sends him to hell , and all the other moldersof public opinion brand him as a thief, and his fellowworkingmen are taught to ostracize him .
It is legal , moral and right to steal wholesale fromthe poor, but taking food from the rich , when hungry ,is a crime .
When the Socialist advocates making all kinds ofstealing illegal we find the wealthy up in arms againstthem, and all their mouthpieces , parrot- like , from m in
ister to petty politicians , denouncing the Socialist .Karl Marx , when he wrote
“Das Kapital ,” before the
American Civil War, showed us why“Trusts must in
evitably result from the competitive system . He alsoshowed us why their combinations would grow intostill larger combinations , or,
mergers of many industries into one company, and then that the nation wouldbe compelled to take over and operate these industriesto serve the people instead of exploiting them .
We have already developed the merger of many indu stries under one corporate ownership . The Standard
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Oil magnates control more than one hundred Americanindustries .
When one industry has been tru stified for the reasonthat competition was impossible any longer, we findthe profits taken by the large corporations amount tomuch more than the aggregate profits of the individualfirms before the consolidation .
They can not invest these profits in the same line ofbusiness , as there was already more than enough factories and machinery before consolidation was forcedupon them ! it was this fact that first caused the formation of the trust .They use their profits to buy up and organize an
other industry then , unable to invest further in thatindustry, they must use the profits of the two indu stries to buy up a third . We find their capital ihcreasing with
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greater speed as time goes on ! it is likea snow ball rolling down a mountain side , gaining speedand weight on its way .
If the system continues a few years longer, one com r
pany of men will own the earth and the rest of us willbe enslaved to these masters of the bread .
So it is easy to see that no matter how hard thecapitalist class work to keep us in ignorance or howcarefully they try to preserve dogmas both as to property , morals and ancestral institutions , hunger, ifnothing else , will drive us to make very revolutionarychanges in our governmental institutions .
We cannot remain stationary even if we desire to .
W e can not retain the present status of society, no matter how hard we try . We can not retrogress in oursocial development .The inevitable trend of evolutionary forces are
sweeping onward into the very gates of the C o ! operative Commonwealth .
CHAPTER 1 1 1 .
In the last chapter we have found! First : The competitive system was a natural development from theold system of private ownership of the privately usedtools into the private ownership of the collectively usedtools .
Second : That the economic advantage of the capital
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Tenth : A study of this question forces us to the conelusion thatthe only class that can bring order out ofchaos . and that has both the power and inclination tobring about a change for the better, is the workingclass . Their overwhelming numbers make possibletheir victory, either at the ballot box or upon thebattle field .
For the last few years they have not only done allthe work of theworld , but as hired managers they havesuperintended it . They are fully equipped to take overthe industries and use them in producing for USE instead of PROFIT . When they themselves receivetheir full product there will be no unsalable surplusclogging the wheels of industry .
, , Self- perservation will force the people to adopt Socialism .
CHAPTER IV .
WHAT IS SOCIALISM !
Socialism is the next stage in social and industrialevolution after private monopoly . It will not come as a“scheme” or “plan” to be adopted by society, but willgrow out of the needs of the people . It will come inspite of the dogmas of doctrinaires . It will come inspite of the mistakes and ill - j udged propagandamethods of its friends . It will come in spite of themany cranks and faddists who have attached themselves to the Socialist movement and have tacked onto our propaganda their little pet schemes .All the manufacturers’ and merchants’ associations
in the world , with their labor spy systems attemptingto pervert and destroy our movement , can do littlemore than check for a time the adoption of Socialismand the overthrow of class rule .
Socialism is coming in spite of the blunders of friendsand theopposition of enemies ! why ! Because nothingelse will enable the people to live and make furtherprogress .What is Socialism ! C o - operation by the entire na
tion in ownership and operation of the industries ofthe country . We must have everything that is usedtogether owned collectively .
We want things used privately to be owned privately .
1 9
We must establish a perfect democracy both in control of government and our industrial system .
The control by the whole people is even more important than having the nation merely own them .
The ownership '
of some industries by the governmentunder the control of political parties dominated by capitalists is not Socialism , but state capitalism .
State capitalism is j ust as obj ectionable to the So
cialist as private capitalism ,because its power over the
people is greater . All its co - operative advantages areappropriated by the capitalist class .
The Postofli ce Department is a fair example of statecapitalism .
Mr . Taft , as the representative of the Republicanparty, which is financed by the capitalist class in all itscampaigns , is endeavoring in his managements of thePostoffice Department to further the interests of thecapitalist at the expense of the workers .He is increasing the amount of work expected of each
employe and shouldering the work of each employe discharged upon those retained . The reason for this iseasy to comprehend . Capitalists do not work in thePostoffice, but they send the bulk of the mail , in carrying on the correspondence incidental to their business .They want cheap postage . Mr . Taft intends to give
them penny postage , provided he can increase theamount of work done by each employe without increasing their compensation .
All schemes of state capitalism are merely efforts onthe part of the capitalist class to cut down the expensesof hiring labor to perform some social function for allthe capitalists that none could do as economically ifeach individually employed this. labor .
The Socialists desire above all things to overthrowthe capitalists
’control of political power and their pri
vate ownership of the industries,which they have
made legal by their use of this political power.The Socialists desire a system of industry under
which the people will own and operate all the collectively used tools of production , distribution and communication . They desire to pay themselves their productvs
l
f ithout dividing up, as we do now, with the capitalistc ass .
We Socialists are tired of dividing up .
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The workers have dug the mines , built the factories .made the machinery , constructed the railroads , but theworkers own none of these things ! they are divided upamong a few wealthy men . The capitalists will onlylet us use these necessary things provided we will agreeto go on dividing with them .
When we work with these tools of production ownedby the capitalists they take our product from us anddivide it, then hand us out of the pay windows sufficientmoney to buy an existence for ourselves and a smallfamily , then divide the remainder of our product amongthe capitalist class and the parasites who hang uponthem .
They use some of this product collected through asystem of taxation in maintaining the police and soldiers to keep their workers submissive to their lawsand their j udges’decisions .They contribute voluntarily sufficient money to domi
nate colleges and religious institutions , so that theircode of ethics and morals shall be taught the people asperfect j ustice and absolute truth .
It is quite an interesting system , and it has workedfor more than a hundred years .
It is only breaking down now through its inabilityto find someone to buy the surplus products extractedfrom the workers . As a system of production it wasmore effective that any system previously known tothe human race . It has made possible the productionof thirteen times as much wealth per capita as we wereable to produce one century ago . It has not failed inproduction : it has only failed in distribution .
As the productive power of the worker increasesby the elimination of the waste of competition
,his buy
ing ability remains stationary, held down to the barecost of his living, by the competitive wage system .
The capitalist, himself unable to consume theprofits , finds his own business failing for lack of amarket for the goods .The capitalist system has outlived its usefulness and
must pass into history, as each previous system hasdone , when the evolution of industrial methods hasnecessitated a change .
During the past twenty years the corporations haveeliminated much useless labor.
2 1
Socialism will do away with'
muchmore useless work .
Today the publicly owned Postoffice permits no lostmotion , or doing of unnecessary work , but the capitalistclass is almost the sole beneficiary . You will noticethat but one postman delivers all the mail on your ,street
,while possibly twenty grocery wagons during
the day will deliver groceries each to a few of the families in the block . Each of their different teams mustbe maintained , when one team and one driver could dothe work possibly more efficiently . This additional costmust be charged to the consumer. This is but one ofthe thousands of instances where labor is wasted underthe capitalist system .
The system of consolidation in business , to eliminatethis waste , only benefits the capitalists and throws theworker out of employment . With Socialism , as the system would be co - operative , it would lessen the labor ofthe entire people and increase the income of each . Today it is not necessary to spend time or money ad
vertis ing postage stamps . Postage stamps do notfluctuate in value . If there is only one two - cent stampleft in the ofli ce its price is still two cents . There areno bargain sales in postage stamps .All the people wear shoes . A great deal of the time ,
labor and money is wasted telling the people truthfullyor otherwise that one manufacturer’s shoes are betterthan the rest of the shoes on the market .When we buy shoes we are liable to find paper substi
tuted for leather . The manufacturer has the incentiveunder this profit system to deceive and swindle thepublic .
When we buy postage stamps we know exactly whatwe are going to get and that they are the cost of carrying the letter to its destination .
Is it not perfectly logical that we as a nation canmake and distribute our shoes to the consumer at thecost of doing this public service as easily as we carryour mails !
Today the shoemaker and other workers employed inthe production and distribution of our shoes must makeand handle seven pairs of shoes before they receivewages sufli cient to buy one pair ! then , as the capitalistclass are not equipped with feet like a centipede
,and
can not wear out the other pairs of shoes,the workers
22"
are thrown out of employment . There are more shoesthan can be sold . The people then in childlike wondersay,
“Why is it that shoemakers’ children always gobarefoot ! ”
Did you ever stop to think why the food we buy contains so much adulteration and poison It is due to theprofit system . It pays the capitalist to substitute somecheap adulteration or use some poisonous preservativein it to conceal the fact that he is furnishing food thatis unfit for human consumption . Under Sociali sm thepoisoning of the people’s food will discontinueWhen your wife prepares j ellies and cans the fruit
for the use of your family during the winter she makesthem as pure and as edible as possible , as her own lovedones are to consume them .
When the whole nation , working collectively underSocialism , prepare their food supply, they will notpoison it for the same reason .
The last census reports showed that there were morethan one million of our most beautiful girls living inhouses of prostitution . Did you ever stop to considerthe reason for this ! It is one of the by- product of thecapitalist system .
Single men compete with married men for employment . The average cost of living for ALL sets thewage . The wages resulting from this competition arenot sufli cient for the married man to support manychildren .
The young boys and girls go to work at an early age .
to earn enough for clothing, as the father’s wage is not
sufficient to buy enough for all .The competitions of the young girls partially support
ed by their parents brings the average female wagesconsiderably below the cost of living of this girl ifthrown on her own resources .
Census bulletin number one hundred and fifty , issuedby the United States government , shows the averagewage paid to females in New York city to be per
week, the average cost of their living to be perweek , and as a direct result girls are in housesof prostitution in that city .
You can moralize , resolute and form societies for thesuppression of vice , and send ministers with antediluvian intellects to prosecute these girls , have them
23
arrested and fined , a nd add still more to the torturethat society has already inflicted upon them , ,
but youwill find prostitution steadily increasing .
i t is disgusting to see some “holier that thou artpeople upholding the capitalist system and putting intheir time bounding the poor victims of it .Socialism will prevent both physical and mental
prostitution .
Under Socialism the nation will give access to themeans of producing wealth to all the people .
Society will pay the individual the full social valueof his product undim ished by profit for any parasiteclass .
With two or three hours work a day a girl could oa1 na good living and buy all the pretty clothes she needed .
No girls would want to follow the disagreeable life ofthe prostitute , which kills them within five years , andmake that five years a nightmare from which death isusually a welcome relief.And an even more disgusting form of prostitution is
that of the intellect of writers , preachers , college pr‘
ofessors , politicians and other public men who , for thepayment of money, l ie to the general public , the working class in particular . They declare the present system j ust, ethical , divinely moral , impossible of change ,desirable , equitable , and a lot of other things that it isnotIt would be amu smg if it were not so disgusting to
see a j ournalist who voted the Republican ticket editinga Democratic newspaper, or a professor of economicsin a Rockefeller university, teaching the Adam Smithschool of thought to the students when his own investigation had exploded the ideas he was inculcating .
It is painful to see a Christian minister throwingaside all the teachings of Jesus , discarding all thoughtsof love and brotherhood , and conforming to the moralcode of his wealthy church members , defending capitalism with its lying cheating, adulteration of food , war ,prostitution , merciless individualism and its completeantagonism to the morals and ethics of the . LowlyNazarene .
The demands of the commercial and manufacturingcapitalists for markets causes them , from time to time ,to plunge nations into war. They always send their
'
24
working people to fight their battles . The intellectualprostitutes employed by the capitalists tell the peoplethat wars are j ust
,necessary
,patriotic, and in the in
terest of ALL the people .
Christian ministers , purposely forgetting the teachings of Jesus , acceptd salaried positions as chaplains ofeach regiment , upon both sides during the war, andeach cheers his side on to battle , each declaring thatGod Almighty is upon his side in the fight .They give divine sanction to the wholesale murder .
Stop for one moment and form a mental picture ofJesus , who turned the other cheek when smitten onone , urging men on to wholesale murder, to further thecommercial interests of a group of parisitic capitalists .
The prostitution of unfortunate girls contains nodegradation compared to this .Socialism will make the people co - operators , instead
of competitors , abolishing all classes , and throughfurnishing a market for all the goods by payment tothe producer of his full product, will effectually end allwar, remove the cause of intellectual prostitution andplace the world in harmony with the co - operative teachings of Jesus .The morals and ethics of the new society will reflect
the material interests of all the people , not of a dominant predatory class as at present .The incentive to lie , cheat , adulterate , steal and to
intellectually befog the people will be destroyed .
In but few years our children will visit some landlocked bay, where some of the present- day warshipswill be preserved as relics to show the children thebarbarous tools of murder used by their ancestors forthe destruction of life and property before the peopleemerged from the savage system of capitalism .
They will look back upon us as little better thansavages , steeped in ignorance and superstition , alwayswilling to murder each other to secure a little loot .They may be amused at the way we bowed down
before king, potentate and ancient institutions that hadlong outgrown their usefulness .They will consider us a superstitious people who
worshiped our ancestors and allowed ourselves to begoverned by men who had been dead for centuries .When we consider the rapid industrial development
26
o therwise they are voiceless in the making of the lawsand under no obligation to obey them .
If we take the women into partnership in the raisingof families and the maintainance of the home theyshould be taken into full partnership and allowed tovote upon the laws made to govern our social relationships .
The Socialists consequently advocate universal‘
suf
frage . The Soc ialist party is working to bring all toolsof social production that are used collectively underpublic ownership and control . We desire to have allthings that are privately used under private ownership .
The Socialist party desires to establish freedom ofspeech , freedom of the press and freedom to follow anyline of religious thought that the conscience of eachindividual dictates .The Socialist does not desire to destroy any church
nor to establish a state church , but considers religion amatter of each person’s own conscience .
The Socialist party is not a religious sect, fad ,scheme or Utopian dream , but a political party , organized f or the purpose of bringing about a political revolution . It desires to abolish class government andestablish one that is democratic in its operation and
that it is so constructed that it will remain so .
We have built within our party the machinery ofpopular self- government . We have succeeded in establishing a sy stem within the party by the use of whichleaders are not necessary .
Through many years of experience we have improvedfrom time to time this system of self- government untilit now works smoothly and effectively .
Our party raises its campaign funds by a dues - payingsystem . In most local organizations of the party thedues are
‘
2 5 cents per month, 5 cents of which is expended by the national committee , 5 or 10cents bythe state committee and the remainder for local campaign work for the local organizationBoth state and national committees are elected by
referendum vote of the membership, and are subj ect torecall before the end of their term by this method .
Theplatform and party rules are passed upon by themembership before they become the law of the party .
You are invited to j oin the local organization in your
27
locality,and you will at once be given full voice and
vote in the internal affairs of the party .
The old political parties run quite differently . Theyare autocratic in their control . There is a mater1alreason for “boss control” in all the old parties . Withtheir form of organization nothing else is possible .
Every party requires finances to conduct its pro
paganda .
Both Republican and Democratic parties expendmore money in each campaign than the aggregatesalaries of the ofl‘icials to be elected .
The candidates could not furnish these funds and
live . Where do they get them !The business interests contribute the needed money.
Some give to one side , some to the other, while many
give to both , desiring to have friends at court no matterwhich way the election goes .Why do hard - headed business men give funds ! Is it
because they are generous ! Hardly . They desire le
g islation to protect their interests and , of course , haveto pay for it .What are their interests To hire labor cheap , to sell
the workers their product at a high price ,”
to chargeusurious rates of interest on money loaned to poor people, to secure high rentals for their properties , to havethe protection of law, j udge , policeman and soldier in alltheir struggles against the working people over thewage question . They desire to legalize their code ofmorals , and force the res t of the people to obey them .
Republican , Democrats , Prohibition , Progressive , andall reform parties not using the dues - paying s ystemare dependent for their campaign funds upon the capitalist class .To receive these funds they are careful to nominate
men acceptable to the capitalist class .
Every man elected to office by these parties knowsthat he must stand by the capitalist class
,or his career
as an office- holder is ended . He may be a nice man,a
temperate man , a good friend , a loving father, and agood husband , but to hold his meal tickethe must be agood servant to the capitalist class and take their partin every struggle against the laboring man .
You never read of any governor of any state,Repub
lican or Democratic, calling out the militia to shoot the
28
employer during labor troubles . You never hear of aj udge , during a strike , issuing an inj unction against anemployer. I t is always against the poor striker . Younever hear of a legislature passing laws to protect theworking people from the greed of the employing class ,unless the Socialist vote has grown to dangereou s p ro
portions and the capitalists hope , by granting incensequential reforms , to satisfy the people and check therising tide of revolution .
No reform short of abolishing capitalistic ownership,
and control of the people’s means of getting a living is
of m uch real value to them .
Nothing short of Socialism will solve the unemployedproblem which now confronts us .
SOCIALISM IS THE ANSWER TO THE TRUSTQUESTION, AND THERE IS NO OTHER POSSIBLEANSWER .
Your place is inside the ranks of the Socialist party.
You must take your place with the men and womenworking for the establishment of a social system thatwill contain no prostitution , child labor, poverty ,misery, degradation , adulteration , cheating, lying, war ,hypocrisy , starvation and deceit , but will build uponthe ruins of the failing capitalist system a social orderthat is co - operative instead of competitive , and with agovernment administered by the people and for thepeople instead of a plutocracy industrial and political asat present .
VOTE FOR SOCIALISM , TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBOR AND ENLIGHTEN HIM UPON THIS SUBJECT .
READ MORE BOOKS DEALING WITH SOCIALPROBLEMS .
SUBSCRIBE FOR SOCIALIST PAPERS ANDHEAR THE WORKERS’SIDE OF THE EVERY- DAYQUESTIONS THAT COME BEFORE US .
JOIN THE SOCIALIST PARTY “LOCAL INYOUR TOWN .
THERE W ILL BE SOME MEANING TO THESONG,
“MY COUNTRY,
’TIS OF THEE , WHENTHE SOCIALISTS WIN .
THE END.
AMERICAN PANIC S
A HISTORY or AMERICA’S INDUS
TRIAL DEVELOPMENT, AND THE
S I! INDUSTRIAL"
DEPRESSIONS,
W ITH THEIR CAUSE AND CURE
(Written Dec .
CHAPTER I.
THE CAUSE
In ancient times , when there was starvation in theland, it was caused by failure of crops, war or lack ofindustry on the part of the people .
It is only within the past one hundred years that apeople have starved for the reason that there was toomuch food produced .
The so ! called “panic of plenty is of modern dateand is pecu lier to the capital ist sys tem of wealth production .
The chattel slave never had to starve because hehad filled the storehouse with food .
The feudal serf was sure of enough to eat and a placeto sleep when he had good crops upon the ! aron’s land .
At the time of the American Declaration of Independence only 2 per cent of the American people werewage workers employed by capitalists
,while today
most of the people are in the wage - working Class .The capitalist class today own practically all the meansof producmg the thing s we need to eat and wear, andif they do not own all the farms
,they own the means
of carrying the farm products to the consumer, whichfor their purpose , is equally effective .We will date capitalism as a system in th is country
from the Revolution of 1 776 . About that time thesteam engine was invented . Many power- driven mac hines also appeared that made it possible for one man
,
plus a machine, to do the work of several men who did
30
not have a machine to work with , but were dependentupon the old hand methods .
THE HAND WORKER,WHO HAD WORKED IN
HIS OWN SHOP , COULD NOT COMPETE WITH THEFACTORY PRODUCT AND EARN A LIVING . THISDROVE HIM '
T O THE MACHINE OWNER TO SEEKEMPLOYMENT .
As each -machine displaced several hand workers , hefound several men looking for the same j ob .
The competition for employment among those whoowned no machines kept their wage s down to theaverage cost of existance for people of the workingclass in that neighborhood .
Some workers who formed labor unions to modifythis competition , succeeded in raising their wages a
little above the average cost of living . Some workmen who were so skillful that their place in the shopwas difficult to fill also received a little more than the
As some skilled workers received a little above theaverage ,
‘
we see . some unskilled men (am ong whom
existed the s trongest competition for employment andloss unions) getting less than a decent living ,
Every year the workmen increased their product ion ,more machinery was made , but the workers
’ share ofhis product remained a bare existence .
The capitalists - retain the balance of the workers’
product in shape of’
profit, rent and interest .The Capitalistic Class use what they need , of the
su rplus the workers made , but still have a large amountleft that they must invest .SO , THEY EMPLOY THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN
‘
DISPLACED ! ! LABOR - SAVING MACHINERY,
PA! THEM OUT OF THE SURPLUS TURNED OUTBY THEIR MACHINE - WORKING EMPLOYEESAND SET THEM MAKING MORE MACHINERY TODISPLACE MORE OF THE SELF- EMPLOYINGHAND TOOL WORKERS OF AMERICA .
This process has been going on , since the beginningof the last century, at a rapid rate . It has taken aboutone hundred years to transform America from a nationof independent self- employing individual workers intoa nation of wage slaves , owning no means of wealthproduction and dependent upon the Capitalist Class
31
for the chance to work . They now work together inlarge industrial establishments in which the work iss ubdivided till one man does but a small part of thework on the fin ished product .They collectively produce about thirteen times as
much per capita as the workers of the year 1 800didwi th their more primitive methods .Now mark carefully these facts that I will prove
to your satisfaction in this little bookFirst , the working class produce all the wealth .
Second, the working class receive only an existence ,though they have learned how to produce many timesas much wealth as their ancestors .Third , The wealth the worker produces , but does not
get in his pay envelope , goes to the Capitalist Classin PROFIT, RENT and INTEREST .
Fourth , The worker, if he spends his entire pay , canonly buy a small part of his entire product, and , asthe rich man cannot really consume very much morethan the working man , he must invest the balance byemploying the displaced hand workers in making morelabor- saving (or labor- displacing) machinery . If hedoes not do this the number of men unemployed cutsdown the purchasing power of the people till the factories would shut down for want of a market .Fifth , THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM MUST KEEP
E! PANDING OR FAIL . Its method of expansion isto displace the hand worker who was self- employedupon his own tools and raw material by a wage systemunder which a few men own all the means of life , andthe workers pay them all that is produced over an existence for the privilege of using the tools .
Sixth , IF , FOR ANY REASON , THIS E! PANSIONOF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM IS CHEC KED , APANIC ENSUES , AS AN UNSALABLE SURPLUSPILES UP AND THE WORKERS ARE LAID OFFAND BEGIN TO STARVE V THE ENTIRE BUSINESS WORLD IS IN A DEMORALI! ED CONDIT ION UNTIL AN E! PANSION O F THE MARKETCAN BE MADE .
THESE DEPRESSIONS DO NOT COME ATREGULAR PERIODS , 'AS MANY PEOPLE ASSERT,
! UT WHENEVER FOR ANY REASON THE E!
PANSION OF THE SYSTEM IS CHECKED .
32 :
Eighth. That all the panics up to and including theone of 1 89 3 were still within our national bo undariesand that the present one of 1 907 i s the
,
final world paniccaused by the world markets
'
bécom ing clogged .
"
Ninth,This panic will remain chronic until the Capitalist System, which is now rattling to pieces, issupplanted by the system of National C o - operation inwhich the nation conducts the work of production forUSE instead of PROFIT .
Tenth , Social ism IS the only cure for the unemployedproblem we now face . From now on there will be fluctnations up and down in the number of unemployed!but the tendency will always be towards a greater number Of Idle men .
Eleventh , When the farm er takes his crops to theCapitalist buyer, he also has a falling market, as theworkers of the industrial cities are the people who usually consume the major part of the farm products , andabout one - third of them are out of work, and all areliving on shorter rations than usual . The farmer thenbuys less of the manufactured goods , and the marketsags away more and more .
In the next few years this question must be settledby the workers either sinking to the level of India orrising to an Industrial Democracy under which theworkers will receive F ROM society an equivalent ofwhat they render TO society, and the reign of the Capitalistwill have passed j ust as the reign of slave holderand serf owner passed away.
C HAPTER II .
THE F IRST PANIC , 1 81 9 TO 1 82 5
T o give the reader a clearer idea of the CapitalisticPanic we will look into the industrial history of America and find the cause and remedy for each of the sixindustrial depressions that have assumed any magnitude .
The first of theseoccurred In 1 81 9 . A period of greatprosperity for the Capitalist Class preceded this panicas it has all others since .At the close of the Napoleonic wars , which had oc
cupied the European States for some , years, many of ,
the discharged soldiers , most of whom were'
craftsmen ,
34
All the presidents of the United States have been inentire sympathy with the Capitalistic Class , andthough each represented usually some special sectionof the class , yet all did their best to relieve the situation when the capitalistic system threatened to breakdown .
CHAPTER III .
THE SECOND PANIC , 1 837 TO 1 84 5
When the market reached by the canals and thewagon roads had been developed
,the expansion of the
capitalistic system was again checked and the greatpanic of 1 837 was on .
The United States Bank failed as well as many of
the State Banks .Eight States became bankrupt .Money nearly disappeared and many riots occurred !
including the Anti - Catholic riots of 1 844 , which werenot so much on account of the religion Of the Irishimmigrants as it was the fact that there were notenough j obs for the native Americans . STEVENSON’S LOCOMOTIVE SAVED THE CAPITALISTSYSTEM THIS TIME .
The bu ilding of railroads , which started at thisperiod , resulted in giving employment to the unemployed and opened a wider outlet for the manufacturer .
Capitalism again could expand , and prosperity wasagain in the land .
.What is known as prosperity is a time when mostof the workers are employed at living wag es and thecapitalist is increasing his ownership of the earth .
Business now boomed and the annexation of Texasand the war with Mexico , which added a great deal ofnew territory to the United States , together with thegold discoveries of 1 849 , kept things prosperous .Any who wished could now get free land , and a lot
of new land was settled .
CHAPTER IV .
THIRD INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION , 1 85 7 TO 1 861
The market of the northern manufacturer was seriou sly interfered with by the growing ill feeling between the slave States and the northern States .
35
In 1 8 5 7 the’
Border Wars o f Kansas had shownthe wiser ones that the question of chattel slaves orwage slaves would have to be settled by an appeal toarms . This caused a check to expansion in the manufacturing world .
The anti - north feeling In the slave States causedthem to buy all they could in England , where incidentally the prices were low, but a protective tariff madeabout equal .As Capitalism was checked in its expansion the
wheels of i 1 1du'
st1 y again became clogged and anotherpanic was on . Banks failed as usual and made thes ituation Orsc . The depression lasted till the CivilW ar broke out.
This war kept all available men employed killing eachother . At the end of the war there were many richmen who had used their control of the powers atWashington to manipulate the currency , bonds , etc . ,
as well as army contracts , so that they were now ingood shape to engage in manufacture on a large scale .
The disbanding of the armies gave them the men whoneeded work, so they started to repair the waste causedby the war .
Large industry now made its appearance . Railroadswere now built in excess of the country’s needs . Everybusiness was on the boom , but the market of the Southwas ruined by the war and the “Carpet Bag” government that followed it.
CHAPTER v.
FOURTH PERIOD OF DEPRESSION , 1 873 TO 1 879
The Franco- German war had lessened the productivepower of both those countries , and this had reducedthe shipment of merchandise to America . During thetime from 1 870to 1 872 was a period of great prosperityfor the American capitalist . They were at this time expending their profits in railroad building .
Railroads were run from “nowhere” to no placeand were not paying dividends up to the promises ofthe financial sharks of
‘
Wall Street, so the people lostconfidence in them as an investment and they fell invalue . T his stopped railroad building and threwthousands out of empolyment.
36
Jay Cook was the large banker of Wall Street at thattime and had large amounts of money loaned on railroad securities . When the crash came it caught himand he dragged many of the country banks down withhim . As they had been in the habit of sending theirspare money to this bank in New York for loan purposes you can easily see how this failure involved thewhole financial system .
A period of depression which was very serious forfour years had settled over the country .
The withdrawal of the Federal troops from the conquered South allowed conditions to improve there .
When the Southern people got rid of the “Carpet Bag”
government a market was opened in the South by theSouthern capitalist buying machinery to make hisformer chattel slaves profitable as wage slaves . Theexpansion of capitalism, as it replaced the former slavesystem made the buying of manufactured goods betterin the North . Again Capitalist “Prosperity” was inthe land .
It was during this period that the Corporation wasinvented .
The Corporation , as it had no soul , never died , andremoved the cares of business from its owners , provedone of the greatest helps to the expansion of the Capitalist system . The factories grew in size , more mineswere opened , new and larger machinery was installedand America became the highest developed capitalisticnation of the world , with almost no trade abroad .
America had a very small army, a smaller navy, weakforeign policy, a poor system of foreign consuls , noworld influence , no colonies , and so very naturally whenexp ansion reached the national boundaries it waschecked and a serious crisis came in 1 89 3 .
CHAPTER VI .
FIFTH INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION, 1 89 3 TO 1 89 7
During the years 1 89 3 to 1 89 7 America experiencedthe most serious period of depression in her history .
Factories were running short time , some closed altogether, and many w orkers starved to death . Souphouses were established all over the country to keep
37,
ab solute starvation f rom overtaking a large numbero f the working class .
T hen we noticed the government as usual respond~
ing to the needs of the C apitalist C lass by adopting aworld policy Of expansion . Troops were sent to Chinato open the Oriental markets , war with Spain wasfomented , colonies established in the PhilippinesHawaii
,Porto Rico , etc . , and a strong and aggressive
foreign policy established .
Consulates were established in all countries wherethere was any c hance of getting trade , with instructions to report any opportun ity to sell American goodsand to act as agents of the Cap italist Class in establishing a world market . The capitali st system Of thenation again expanding and the panic was over .
Again prosperity was in the land for the rich man ,
but the worker only got his living as usual .WAGES INCREASED F ROM THAT TIME TO
THIS ABOUT TEN PER CENT BUT THE COST OFTHE NECESSITIES OF LIFE INCREASED ABOUTF IFTY PER CENT . (This was written in 1 907 Theworkers now had steady work , but had to work harderto get a living than before . Most of them were in debtwhile steadily working
,but the Capitalist Class was
piling up property .
The Boer War also increased the sale of American
g oods abroad .
The Russo - Japanese War also gave the capitalists ofthis country a large market in the Orient .The tru stification of industries and the improvement
ofAmerican machinery made it possible to undersellall competitors , so we now find this country dominantin the world market .All the European countries who wer e up to this time
s upplying the new countries with manufactured goodssank into a chron ic state of business depress ion . I
Our principal rivals in the world market , Englandand Germany , have been undergoing a depression forsome time with a permanent unemployed army .
AMERICA AND JAPAN WERE THE LAST TOGET GAUGHT IN THIS WORLD - WIDE DEPRES
SION OF 1 907.
CHAPTER VII .
THE SI! TH AND LAST INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION
OF 1 907.
China is now developing very rapidly as an industrialnation with wages below ten cents per day , workingwith modern machinery .
They can produce for the world market muchcheaper than any other nation in the world , so all therest are checked in their expansion and are failing .
In the spring of 1 907 the salesmen of the differentmanufacturers found that the retail trade was notbuying as much goods as usual , although the manufacturer had made up the goods , so of course hadtrouble in meeting his notes at the bank . A financialstringency resulted .
A panic shook Wall Street, on March 1 4 , and forseveral weeks the large financiers dumped millions ofmoney into the loan market so the manufacturer couldrenew his notes . The papers talked prosperity and thefactories ran on the hopes of a large fall trade . In theFall the saiesmen found the buying of winter goodssmaller than the spring trade .
Every man engaged in business borrows to increasehis capital , to the limit of safety , . so when the wintertrade failed to come up to expectations , he was in abad way . All banks , seeing the storm coming, commenced to narrow their loans and reach for all thecash they could get .This added to the strain , and again we see a break
down of the financial system caused by the industrialdepression .
The government , ever watchful of the capitalist in g
terests , dumped millions into the New York banks tosave the large capitalists from failure. We do nothear of them sending any tons of coal to the workingmen whose families were freezing thi
‘
siq inter , or evenloaning any money to the working class that have produ ced all th ewealth there is in the country .
But we must not complain of this , as the Republicanand Democratic Parties do not represent the workingclass , but do represent the Capitalist Class that paysboth parties’can”
paign expenses .
39
T here is only one party in America that standthe working class interests , and that is the SocialistParty . They are a dues - paying p alitical party controlled and financed by working men and women , witha program that embodies the hopes and aspirations ofthe working class put into an organized political movement.The Socialist Party is the worldwide political move
ment for the liberty of the wage slave .
We will deal in the next chapter with the remedyfor panics .
CHAPTER VIII .
CONCLUSIONS
Let us sum up the facts we have found by studyingthe history of industrial development and the panicsthat have occurred during its growth . We come to thefollowing conclusions :First , The wages of the working class are held down
to the existence point by the competition of the workers who own no means of wealth p roduction .
Second , All the wealth produced by the workersabove their cost of living goes to the Capitali st Class inthe shape of PROFIT , RENT and INTEREST .
Third , As long as the Capitalist Class can invest alltheir surplus profit which they cannot consume , all theworkers are employed and the capitalist holds title tomore and more of the machinery of wealth production .
Fourth , THE SYSTEM MUST CONSTANTLY E!
PAND IN THE SAME RATIO THAT SURPLUSVALUE IS PRODUCED BY THE WORKERS , MINUSTHAT AMOUNT ACTUALLY CONSUMED BY THEIDLE CAPITALIST CLASS .
Fifth , When anything occurs to impede the expan
sion of Capitalism a breakdown occurs with many failures and much suffering .
Sixth , ALT EVIOUS PANICS WERE RELIEVED
! ! AN OUTLET BEING FOUND IN AN E! PANDED MARKET .
Seventh , Our market expanded beyond the nationalboundaries between the panics of 1 89 3 and the presentone of 1 907 , and we have now glutted the world market .Eighth , Our present depression will be permanent
40
Mi slight fluctu ations up and down , but mostly down ,and ou r unemployed problem will last as long as the I
Capitalist -System endures . When this edition goes topress the “ are about six millions wage workers out
of work , with twenty millions of people dependent upo‘
x“ CI
them for support , and many starving .
Ninth , The United States Government may find apretext for war with Japan in hopes of creating a
market in the Orient , but , even if Japan is conquered ,it will not do much good , as both that country and s
China are rapidly growing into exporting nations withcheaper labor, that is as skillful as any in the worldwhen g iven a little training, and they are now evenmaking their own machinery , and have stopped buyingfrom the United States .
Tenth , THERE IS BUT ONE REMEDY FOR THEINDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION AND IT IS ONE THATTHE REPUBLICAN , DEMOCRATIC , OR NO OTHERPARTY FINANCED BY THE CAPITALIST CLASSWILL EVER APPLY . THE CURE IS SOCIALISM .
The nation must take over the industries and runthem on the basis of national co - operation , giving tothe workers the entire product .Then there will be no unsalable surplus , no starvmg
i n the midst of plentyWe W ill commence to live a full life . We now only
exist , with actual starvation an ever - present possibility .
Let us establish an Indu strial Democracy , where theHome , Life , and Liberty of ALL the people will besafeguarded .
Join the Social ist Party and help us to free the wageslave and make America a free country .
THE END .
PR IC E O F T H IS ! O O ! IN VAR IO US QUANT IT IES
3 i .ng .e Cop i es , Po stpa id 10Cents Eachg20to 9 9 C c p ies . Postpa id 5 Cents Each
100to 9 9 9 C o ! i es , Postpa id 4 Cents Each
1030C oni es, Postpa i d 3% Cents Each ~
Cash w ith o rd e r.
H . H . CALDWELL,
2 1 62 2 8th Ave . , Oakland .
5 08 8 0
