industrial freedom (edison, wash.) 1900-11-27 [p ] · 2017. 12. 21. · they notice us the...

THEY NOTICE US

The Conspiracy,: of Silence '• is ; Broken by the- Capitalist Newspapers

Editorial from Louisville Daily Dispatch.

." Before '.the: returns from the recentelection are complete we have volumi-nous : discussion of plans for a reor-ganization of the democratic party.That last Tuesday marked the begin-ning of anew era in American politics,that it was a sprt of clearing up of theaccumulated debris of a number ofyears is beyond question. It has cer-tainly; prepared the way for more in-telligent ? and • logical political action.While the result is adverse to a changein public policy, it means great

• changes in the management and poli-.cies of parties r and in the political.alignment of a -great part of the peo-:ple.''Z*'-"'Z'"'- '! '

,•;.-" Classes *' and class struggles havebeen; a most important factor in theprogress of the world. The MagnaCharta was the result of the revolt of

' a class with common interests againsta common oppressor. Our own revo-lution was to Taj very great extent a

-class movement. 1 The tories were thewealthiest land at one time the mostinfluential element of the population.The French revolution was the revoltof the lower orders of society againstan ,insolent aristocracy. "We haveabolished (political classes, theoretic-ally speaking, at least/ Every manmay: vote and enter the struggle for

Eolitical place and power. But weaye developed classes inother spheres

\u25a0of activity. .; Classes have existed inall \u25a0•< civilizations \ known ' to '••' history,

: and \u25a0 the history of civilization is the} history of their struggles. jThesestruggle* have always originated inthe economic or industrial sphere andthey have been carried into politics

Ionly as a court of '_ last resort. The| great mass of. the people | have beenslow to see the close relations between

; industrial and political s power., andhow essential one is to "the mainte-

; nance of< the other. Class lines haveS untilI recently been too indistinct inthe.United States to be of much con-sequence in politics. The liberality ofour institutions and the extent and.fertility of our natural resources havemade it"easy for men to rise from thelowest to, the highest industrial posi-tion.. Our-wage earning class, thovery large, is just beginning to have adistinct class existence. For a longtime it was easy for a family to ceaseto bo wage earners after one genera-tion ol service. Not until recent yearshad the absorption of our great nat-ural resources proceeded so tar as tomake it necessary for the children ofwage earners to become wage earnersalso. But with the development ofthe industrial machinery, the wageearning force is reinforced from thechildren of the small capitalists, aswell as from its own offspring. Thuswe are rapidly becoming a nation ofwage workers. iJrZZ'CT?

That jthe republican party is the•dominant spirit of the nation, that itis the party of the great industrialand commercial interests of the coun-try, is beyond dispute. But for localissues and prejudices, the president'svictory would* have been as decisiveas the /democratic victory of 1852.But its present power does not insureits supremacy. It!may not be, andmost probably is not, "as near to itsWaterloo now as was the democracyin 1852,?but we know-from the pastthat'changes may come with greatrapidity. The republican party, he-•ginning as a radical, is now a con-servative, : but radicalism still exists.What shape it will take, how far itwill propose, to go, what it will beable to? accomplish, are question!that willmake the next 20 years themost interesting and most significantperiod in American history.

Prom the Boston Advertiser.The Atelegraphic returns showing

the vote in different sections ol thecountry, are not vet complete; butfrom ' the ; figures already obtained,it looks as it the socialists had gained

in votes, even in the presidential elec- -tion m which no less than 10 ticket^were before the 'people. Thoseg whoare m a position to watch the growthof sentiment among organized jlabor :say that the socialist ideas are spread^';ing rather than dying out; and itfl"the!north, at least", it may be added, the.socialist vote seems to come ratherfrom the republicans than from thedemocratic strength * * * t Whetherthe socialist movement will ever grow jto become an important factor ill!American politics must be still an.open question. '"\u25a0' The present rate of;,increase of the socialist vote .is jlarge,but it has small beginnings, arid asyet its totals are not formidable.rr-;'Prom the Boston Evening- Journal- -,

The social democratic party isgrowing apace in Massachusetts. ftwas not in existence at the last presi-dential election,. but it threw 8,262'votes for its gubernatorial candidate,^in 1899] This year its poll shows anaggregate of about 16000, or some-thingTike 40'Qp more than is necessary"*to give it a recognized patty standing.' ;'.It is not u^nkely that some part of lthis increase due to Byran's atti-tude, which increased' strenuous ac-tivity againsMiiin by socialists. It is fevident that the socialists organiza-tion must be .reckoned with hereafterby our politicians. It it be a menace*to good government, as many believe,**it should be met manfully arid) withserious discussion :l - u":.\:)j > : i -Z;program. It ii something that canno longer be laughed at., '

\u25a0"PROSPERITY"

A Few of the Many Item* That Stow the 'OldGeneral' Prosperity is Right at our Door

The Piano Harvester company, ofWest Pullman,' 111., :\u25a0 has shut downand locked out 900 men. The head-lines say it was caused ;by a "new Vscheme for -^cutting down t*wages. mFailing to convince workmen' of itsjustice concern closed down."

"Increases asked." "Charities offi-cials hearing requests for state aid.""Secretary Piddle hopes Revenues ofPennsylvania this year will not com-pel cutting down the appropriation-Committee receiving figures here.

—Headlines in Pittsburg Dispatch.

Torre Haute, Intl.,''Nov. 14-.—Morethan 200 hoisting engineers and 7000miners in the state will be idle to-morrow as a result of the failure ofthe Indiana block and bituminouscoal operators to sign the scale pre-sented to them to-day by the engin-eers.

Out in Mingo Junction, 0., themorning after election, the NationalSteel Co. gave the dinner pail a cutby reducing wages from 20 to GO percent, basing the scale upon 12 hoursof hard work. At the same time theJ. I. Case Plow works of Racine, Wis.,gave their employe voters for pros-perity a reduction of50 per cent.

"Steel trust may face new Home-stead riot." "At Steubenville, ()., '

wages are cut one-third and men re-fuse to accept." "Plant to start to-day." "Non-union negroes whobroke tip Amalgamated elsewhere,are being imported." "Mills underheavy guard."—Headlines in NewYork"World.

Chicago, 111., Nov. 10.—A flat in-crease of one cent a pound was putupon beef, pork and mutton yester-day by Chicago pork packers. TheChronicle to-day said: "In one yearthe additional cent will yield to theChicago packers, basing the estimateupon last year's business, the follow-ing sums: Dressed beef, $15,000,000;dressed pork and pork products, $20,---000.000; mutton, $4,000,000. Totaladdition to incomes $39,000,000.

No notice of increase in wages. .The, tide of MeKinley prosperity

set in right after eleceion". Ale ; didn'twait long before he commenced to

give the voting kings what they voted

for. On Nov. 7th (funny it didn'tcome Nov. sth) the.C.-M.; & S. P.railway reduced its; force of sectionmen 75 per cent. The same day theC. & N. .W. gave its beloved track-men a nice good reduction of 15 percent. v The .same day , (one day afterelection) the Clinton, lowa, packinghouse dropped 90 working mulesfrom its pay roll to enable them toget their share of prosperity. Theyhad voted for it and the companywanted them to have it. On Nov.12th Curtis Bros. Sash factory atClinton, lowa, gave its beloved em-ployes a neat reduction of 10 percent in wages. One ,of the ownerswas running for \u25a0 congress on therepublican ticket. •' He. voted for pros-perity (for Curtis) and so did hisemployes. They both got what theyvoted for. —Appeal.

THE CLASS STRUGGLE

"My third reason I found in the tac-tics of the social democratic party, is aclass struggle. The stronger must win.It is our business to use our strength.The policy, of the party is clearand wise. Some concessions are fromtime to time offered to us, the objectbeing, by granting some slight relief,to the working class, to pacify it, todeter it from demanding all. But un-der the banner of socialism the work-ing class, accepting what is offered itit is acceptable, rejecting it ifit is de-ceptive, remains firm in the persuit ofits great aim. . Such concessions tolabor are like the concessions a high-wayman might offer to his ' victim.The capitalists offer •us one-tenth,that they may the more securely keepthe other nine-tenths of'what theyhave already taken from labor. Butthese concessions have had no more

i effect than the other policy of threatsr and violent repression. The social*f democratic • party keeps to its path,L.the class struggle* uninterrupted and'unseduced. \ Thus again it has putthe capitalist parties on the defensive,exposed them in their true light asrepresentatives of class interests.Thus our party has become the centerof intellectual.'political, and in generalof public life. By the sharp empha-sizing of the class struggle it lias madesocialism a cordial principle in poli-tics.

"I saw and understood how theclass-conscious labor movement hasalready achieved great reforms, inmany" fields in the interest of theworkers. But-this, I am convinced,has not weakened the class characterof the social democratic party an iota,it has rather strengthened it and giventhe workingman greater insight.The socialist party takes advantage ofall lawfully guaranteed rights. Ifitis prevented from so doing, then thebourgeoisie itself becomes the law-breaker, renders the struggle more se-vere and more evident, and by mak-ing martyrs brings further success tothe militant party.

"Must not every thinking man andwoman be stirred to see how boldlythis party strives for so loftyan ideal?There is a mighty pulsating life, a fear-less forward movement, a vigor andperseverance, which qualify it to real-ize the solidarity of the human race-Paul Gohre, German Socialist.

The capitalist class numbers six percent of the population and owns 83percent of the wealth.

The middle class numbers 19 per centok the population and owns 15 percent of the wealth.

The working class number* 75 percent of the population and owns threeper cent of the wealth.

Which class do you belong to?How have you been voting? Don'tyou think that ifyou would vote withyour class for one ofyour class therewould be a radical change in condi-tions?— Public Ownership.

If union men won't honor the unioncard on the political field how dp theyexpect people to honor iton the indus-

trial field? Is a union card good fornothing but to sell the product ol or-ganized labor? Or docs it commandthe support of organized labor inevery line of human savor? Unionlabor has either got to do what itasks all people to do or else go backon; its own principles.Appeal toReason.J.L. ' . , —— 3THE lITE-W

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* SOCIALISM is thdcomin* Issue In politics," You may he for it or against it,but in either case

you need to understand it, and so yon need to read

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Northbound, leaves Taeoina3 p. m., Seattle1* p. m, Z.Z„Z .''.TUESDAY. THURSDAY * SATURDAY

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