@prefix ns0: . @prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . @prefix geo: . ns0:identifierAIP "de20aeea-1e44-4227-bf7f-8a77f66d852a"@en ; edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:issued "2016-04-04"@en, "1910-05-28"@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/wclarion/items/1.0318784/source.json"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ HIS IB HOMIER 581. Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, May 28, 1910. •"Srt&r- ti.li THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF THE STATE Founded Upon Slavery and Continuing but to hold Slaves in Subjection. To the average worker the State appears tb be an Institution which is, always has been, and ever will be. To those who have studied the Socialist Philosophy, however, and delved into "prehistoric" history, the fact is easily apparent that the State is merely a class institution, originated for the purpose of protecting the property of one class from a class possessing nothing. When there were no classes no State existed; when classes are abolished, the State, as it Is known today at least, will disappear. During the periods of savagery and barbarism, before the State existed society was divided into communities of gens, each formed of persons whose lineage was traceable to one common ancestress. Each gens could elect, and depose at will, its official head during peace, and its leader in war by vote of both men and women, but the election must be confirmed by all other gentes. The sovereign power was a council consisting ot all the adults, male and female. Each member owed every other member in the same group, an obligation to help, protect and assist in revenging an injury. Strangers could come into. the gens only by adoption. When a number of gentes united into a separate group, they formed a phratry. Several phra- trles. formed a tribe. All property belonged to the gens, and was used by tbe members in common. During the period of savagery, subsistence depended on such game, nuts, frult< and so forth, as came within reach of the tribes. It was the time when the appropriation of finished natural products was in predominance. The struggle for existence was severe enough, therefore, to prevent, one man from procuring more than his own sustenance. In such an ■ order of society, classes were an impossibility, as everyone had to do their share of the work. If anyone was homeless or hungry, it was due to a scarcity of such ..things as went to produce their requirements, and everyone was affected. Looking back, this state of communism appears highly satisfactory in some ways, but the means of existence, the most.-vital question at all periods, were precarious. If there was a great drought, the supply of fruit and nuts was limited; if there was an exceptionally severe winter, game was scarce, so any means of ensuring a livelihood were warmly welcomed. Gradually It dawned on some that it would be a great deal better to domesticate and raise certain animals, and cultivate certain foods, than go hunting them. Thus we have the first great division of social labor. Some tribes devoted themselves to raising cattle, or the cultivation of food plants, and owing to a more assured subsistence, grew in numbers and waxed powerful. This new departure not only slightly eased the Btruggle for existence, but increased the work in the gens, and enabled one man to produce more than was necessary for his own sustenance. Presto! Enter Mr. Chattel Slave, flrst in the form of prisoners of war. "Now, Mr. Prisoner, you are no longer necessary to replenish our larder; lt is a great deal cheaper to put you to work and allow you to produce our living for us." Consequeuce—Ruling Class and Slave Class, and the foundation ot the State commenced. Up to this time, it must be, borne in ntmd, property, slaves, cattle, etc., belonged to the gens; but as production developed, and wealth accumulated, it gradually drifted Into the hands of Individuals, and individual exchange for consumption became the established form. The system of production for exchange was the outcome of the next great division of labor, viz.: Agriculture and handicrafts. This caused a distinction between rich and prior, as well as between freemen and slaves, which became more pronounced as the power of wealth began to be felt. Here, then, was another troublesome development. Classes within the gens, with a consequent diversity of interests, shaking tbe very foundations of the gentile organization. Meanwhile agriculture, commerce, etc., had been developing constantly. As Industry became more specialized, new crafts developing out of the old, the craftsmen discovered that more rapid progress and better work were the result of certain crafts collecting, probably at some point particularly suited for their social industry. So industrial centres were established, largely In places where sea trade, and sometimes a little piracy, helped In the acquisition of wealth. As property in these places accumulated, the population increased. Aliens, who did not belong to any of the gens, flocked In, drawn by a desire to increase their worldly goods. With the increase in their Influence and numbers, they demanded a voice In matters of government. A constitution, therefore, was introduced, which declared part of the business collective, and it was transacted as such by the citizens. Irrespective of their gentile connections. Now, the gens had been dependent upon Its members being exclusive inhabitants of a certain territory. Here then was another blow to the organization, and another material aid to the introduction of the State. Still further class divisions followed, viz.: Nobles, tradesmen and farmers, the nobles alone holding the privilege of public office. It was somewhere about this stage of development :that money came into use as a medium of exchange, • and with it, usury. The.old systems of barter had become Inconvenient. One tribe might have plenty of ostrich feathers, for example, to dispose of, and not require the furs which another tribe had to offer. In some cases, shells were adopted, but these did not prove entirely satisfactory, as they possessed no material value in themselves, and the recipient, was liable to lose in the transaction. Cattle were also used at one time, but proved in convenient, owing to their bulk and liability to "shuffle off this mortal coil." Money, it was discovered, deteriorated very little, and was valuabh In itself, and so, came into wide use According to Engels, money played ai Important part, at this time, ir stilling the liberty of the people, due probably to the fact that, as divisions of labor became more pronounced, and production for exchange better established, this new medium of exchange became much sought after, in order, to procure Buch things as were produced by some one else. Those controlling commerce and trade controlled the mon- These Incidents all assisted materially in making commerce and trade the ruling factors In procuring a living. The wealthy increased In power to the detriment of the old nobility, and ln time overthrew them, establishing assemblies in the industrial centers where all public business was transacted, and dividing the people Into five classes according to the amount of their wealth, and In such a way that the wealthiest class, although, small In numbers, possessed ln itself a majority of the votes. Even at this early period, you see, it was property, not people, that ruled. In short, the old gentile organizations were approaching their doom. The new groups formed by the division of labor first between city and country, and then between the various crafts, created new organs for the care of their Interests, which were strengthened by the division of the country into districts in which the residents were generally required to register their property and enroll their name. This was the flrst division of the people for public purposes by local residence. Due to this division the problem of a better organized military force was easily solved. Each district was required to furnish an equal amount of the required fighting power. With a standing army the property owning classes were better enabled to keep In subjection the slaves who at one time numbered more than the free men, and who did the labor on marketable products. Being now fairly carried out. of communism Into the second great plan of | government founded upon territory ami property, the chief function of the State became the protection of property, with the natural sequence—conquests for domination of other tribes and nations. This great change in the governing institutions was caused simply by the introduction of the elements of territory and property, making them a power, where before the inauguration of the State, they had been an Influence. The old system did not disappear immediately the new political system was established. The transition, though effectual, was gradual. The principal changes were, the propertied classes took the place of the gentes, and the assembly of classes took the place of the old gentile assembly. The old gentile mediums still retained certain of their powers. Morgan says: "They were superseded rather than abolished, and died out from Inanition. The final change was effected by the Romans somewhere about 509 B. C, I understand." Under a government of this kind It was essential that not only wars of plunder on outside nations should ensue, but internal strife as well. These, along with taxes levied to maintain the public power of coercion helped to Impoverish the people, with the Inevitable result: limited markets for products, on which the slaves, as has been already pointed out, did practically all of the work. With limited markets came unprofitable production. So long as the workers were slaves, they had to receive the cost of their subsistence, or deteriorate In market (Continued oa Pmyt I) HOW THEY DO IT IN FRANCE May 2, 1910. Doubtless this May-day letter from the City of Light—and other things- will reach the readers of the Western Clarion at a somewhat unseasonable date, but May-day in Paris' had a special significance this year, occur ring, as it did, in the nild'st of a'general election. The first ballot for the election of deputies took place on April 24th, and the final ballotings (which were more numerous than usual) will take place on Sunday, May S. It is not probable that the final ballot will greatly modify the result of the preliminary voting. So far the result, as telegrams have no doubt Informed you, Is an increase of two hundred thousand votes for the Unified Socialist party over the figures for the elections of 190G. The bastard "Hadicnl-Socialists" have suffered severely. In the "reactionary" departments the Radical government has gained upon the Clericals, and in what nre canlled the Republican departments the Radicals have lost ground to the reactionaries aud especially to the United Socialists. In the large towns the Radicals have also lost somewhat—not always to the Socialists—and tn Paris it is remarkable that all the retiring deputies of the right (reactionaries) have, with the exception of one, been elected out- ey, and compelled the people at large!right at the flrst ballot with Increased to come to their terms. The exor- majorities bitant rates of interest soon left those who had had to mortgage their farms, propertyless; and those who possessed nothing originally had to sell either themselves or their families into slavery. - Though at much later period, very much the same result was accomplished, when, during the reign of Henry VIII, land which had been common property for centuries, was fenced in by the ruling class and the families who had made their living oft it for generations and generations were turned away homeless, to become either thieves or vagabonds, for either of which they could be, and were, severe!/ punished—very often by being sold Into life-long slavery. It ls well known that even a man who possesses nothing cannot live on nothing, and in both the above cases, when all the property these individuals possessed was "nothing," the industrial centers became the goal, where the possibility of a meagre livelihood existed. ( It ls worth noting that contrary to expectations raised by the surprising calmness of the election campaign, and the activity of the handful of anti-parliamentarians, there has been a considerable increase in the number of votes recorded. The period between the first and second ballotings is a time of bargains and arrangements of a somewhat sordid character. Day by day the papers contain notes of the retirement of "Socialist" candidates "in favor" of radicals, and vice versa—fortunately with Borne notable exceptions in the Socialist ranks. This bargaining throws into significant relief the action of the government over the projected flrst of May demonstration In PariB. The story, which has Its amusing side, is In brief as follows: At rather short notice the Union des Syndicate de la Seine (a section of the General Confederation of Labor) asked the government, for permission to demonstrate ln the Bois de Boulogne. The Tove»nm:nt refused and Immediate'.y mobilized troops and police in order to crush any attempt at demonstration; even issuing notices to the public to keep away from certain parts of the Bois in order that ihere might be no "innocent victim." In the face of this the Confercleration countermanded the demonstration, and a special number of L'Humanite was published on Sunday, May l at 11 In the morning urging the public not to go to the, Bois de Boulogne to give the government Ihe opportunity for bloodshed that it sought, but. to promenade on the grand boulevards. The result was a calm May-day honored by a most imposing and unnecessary show of armed force both in the Bois and on the boulevards, li was, indeed, not the proletariat of Paris but the government that demonstrated this First of May. Besides the police some twenty thousand troops were mobilized, and Purls was almost in a state of siege. Some dozen workmen who uttered "seditious" cries in the hearing of the forces of capital were Imprisoned, but there were no Incidents worth special mention here. It is evident that Briand, the ex- revolutionary who Is now at the helm of state, had his official eye on the political compass, and In order to regain at the second ballot the votes lost by hiB party to the "reactionaries" he endeavored to restore the confidence of the. bourgeosie in him by outdoing the "reactionaries In repressive measures. This, indeed, is the usual procedure of the renegade. It is sad to relate that in spite of this there are alliances or arrangements in some few quarters between "Unified Socialists" and these same sanguinary anti-proletarian Radicals, on the ground that the Republic must be preserved at all costs! Nevertheless the government has done well. It hns strengthened the hands of that, strong section ot the Socialist party which proclaims war a outrance against all capitalist factions, and it has shown the Parisians how helpless they are in face of the armed forces, and how hopeless ts their position so long as the machinery of government is not controlled by the working class. It can hardly be said that the second ballot possesses any good features from tbe Boclalist point of view. It Is the opportunity of the political trickster and makes for confusion. The Socialist can only be represented by a Socialist, ami I' Is r.o rdvantage lo KINGS MAY COME AND KINGS MAY GO To the Proletariat the 'Passiug of a King is of less Co nse quence than the Death of one of their own Class. portion and though changes continually ocur at the upper end of the social scale, your lot at the bottom remains the same. Ever you have to seek some master to sell him that which you have 1st histories. . so that you may buy bread to live upon. Ever you must fact the know' ledge that the struggle to sell your physical energy Is becoming more intensely bitter, and all the time harder to keep a. hold upon life. The new King may reign, but your standard of living will still decrease as it ls doing today. You may run to other parts of the empire and still you can not escape the galling chains of slavery. Not until you see that all the hubbub"' and comments are made to keep your eyes fixed upon your masters' affairs and away from your own, that the- press of your masters Is a valuable asset to them in putting forth prominent-- ly anything from the death of Edward! to the Jeff-Johnson flgnt, to keep your minds away from your misery. Oh, many and wonderful are their ways to keep you contented; They teach yo» from early childhood to be ready to- flght and tile for youf King anil country. That is patriotism. \\ They promise* you immortality ln another world if you are content and humble in this life,, well knowing that to achieve that you will cheerfully consent to be stripped ■ of all you possess. These and many other devices are employed, I say, by our masters, to keep you and I, fellow slaves, ln subjection. ' And, as I said before, until jjou see these things wttfa the eyes of one 'who is .commencing to think for. himself, you will never be - better off. * .„,.,, '"If by'any means' you get wise to the : skin game carried,on at' our expense, you will shed as Yf,by/magic, all the- old fetiches you sb long and bllndl>;; worshipped. No longer will king d'r country appeal to you; yoii will realise you have ho Interest In what you possess nothing of. .Your longing for im- . mortality will be superseded by a desire to make more of a heaven'on your, present, sphere of action by banishing from your fld'elst Pp'verjjf, want, crime, and war. ..'■,',. Kings, priests ' statetipiep,, men Of . war, will no longer lie to. you men of renown whose deeds were to be emu- -. ., : • o- . ■ ' lated. You will realize that there aro men in the ranks of the, wage slaves who every day are doing heroic deeds, who are fighting .for freedom as well and nobly as any wai'rlor of uld. You will see that here, o.i the industrial Held, deaths occur every day that coti- . cern you more than that'Of any parasite who ever graced or disgraced a king-worshipers have got your almost (throne. The death of the njan who the Once more the cry has gone forth to the English-speaking world: "The King is dead, long live the King." To the patriotic lovers of their masterB' country, it is a cry fraught with meaning, an historical event has occurred—one of the red-letter events ln our capital 1st historls. To the proletariat, however, or the class-conscious portion of. It, it Is a mere passing event, not to be compared even with the death of one of our own companion slaves. For what does the death of a titled personage mean to us? Merely this, one more parasite is off our backs and a new one takes his place. The death of a hundred such does not affect the running of the system under which we slaves bow our necks to the yoke of oppression. The same economic laws still prevail which decree the fat of the land to the mighty the ones who run the resources of the earth, and to us, the beings who make the fat, tbe lean ls given as our portion There will be, as is usual on such great occasions, a stately procession bearing the dead ruler to his laat abode and another to inaugurate the new King. Amid much pomp and display will these ceremonies be carried out. State officials, men great ln war, kings of industry and delegates of the army of the Lord, wlll parade their glittering costumes and dignified bearing be- fore the assembled gaze of the vulgar mob, who, as is common to the slave tribe, will take In with both eyes and store up ln their otherwise empty cra- nlums the details of these aforesaid pageants, to relate to their admiring auditors on future occasions when with awed looks the company will hear how Edward was buried and George crowned. The press will teem With accounts of the late lamented's goodness, statesmanship, his peaceful character, and all the other attributes common to a monarch, for they have a monopoly of the virtues. For though the tongue of caudal doth breathe forth many stories detrimental to his fair fame, all is forgotten. The clergy who would look askance on any other man of whom the same stories were told, "provided he had no great amount "of wealth, or was the possessor of no ancient name," will pray for the repose of his soul, as in the past they asked a blessing on his head. But be it far from us to tell tales of what he has done, or what he hns not clone; it concerns us not. Most likely any one of us placed In a similar position would have ben the same; environment would have told its tale on any one of us. But now when you unconsolable grief al the death or the thrill of excitement at the crowning of a successor, what does lt all matter? The splendid display you have wit- nosed, the laudatory accounts of their careers you have read; does not your stomach ache as of old? Your clothes appear as shabby, and the way of life, as usual, appear straight and narrow? Of what avail the advent of a new King to be the puppet of the gang of financiers who run the country?' Why, of nunc, my friends; your lot Is still that of the slave, your portion a slave's him. i" the event of ihe defeat of his candidate, to be given the choice of voting for one or other of h'is implacable enemies, for that Is all the second ballot really amounts to. Indeed, complaints regarding the working of the present electoral arrangements are almost' universal here. Mercel Sembst, the Socialist Unifie who lias just been elected outright in the quarter of Montmartre in which I am living, contends that what Is wanted is proportional representation Instead of Individual candidates. His plea is that It would promote the growth and stability of strong responsible parties, and obviate the confusion, Irresponsibility and trickery tbat exists owing to the scrutto tfarroa- (Cor,.lnued an P-*ae 4) other day was cooked to death by the steam from the overturned engine he was driving, or tho entombment of miners underground till they are claimed by death. The stories of the King and his *"ilBtreBBCsi will pale before the stories of how men and women are forced every day to barter for bread their most precious possessions —their honor and their virtue. And you will rebel;,'you will become one of us revolutlonlats to- the death*. You will say with Jack London: "These are our hands, they are strong hands, and they will unseat you, the mighty from your scats of power," Then, and then only, are you In a real movement for progress, for your own betterment. To win for King or country a battle; what Is that to winning a world for yourselves and be rewarded, not. with a broken life and a starvation pension, but the full enjoyment of the fruits of your labor. "Labor Omnia Vinclt" will at last be true. No more will a ruling class rule a ruled class, and flaunt their privileges and vices In our faces. Tliere is no class below the working class, and when we are free clans hatred will cease and brotherly love may reign. Yes, let the cry go forth, ye proletarians, "the King is -Mad, long live the devolution!" F. S. F, CLARION. VANCOUVER. BRITISH COLUMBIA. SATURDAY, MAY 2tth, 1910. Published ever* Saturday at _ the Socialist Party er desalt, at the OtBce of the Westers C8arlon, flack Block Basement, 18B Hastings Street, Vancouver, B. C. POST ORIOS ADDBESS, BOX 888. ■01.00 Per Tear, SO eeaU for Six Months, 85 oeerta for Three Montis. . Btrloety la Advance. Bundles of i or more copiee, for a period of not lean than three months, at -the rate of one cent eer copy per Issue. Advertising rates oa application. If you receive this paper, it Is paid tfor. In making remittance hy cheque, exchange must he added. Address all communications and make all money orders payable te THE WESTERN CLABIOH. ■ox 836 Tanoonver, B. O. 582 Watch the label on your pa- par. If (Us anmber is on it, •war s-ssacriptloB expires the SATURDAY, MAY 28th, 1910. •"THERE 18 NO GOD BUT ALLAH" "Gourock's" article on "Socialism; -Industrial and Political," is to our mind the best and least Impeachable -screed on industrial unionism we have .come across yet. It is somewhat un- aike the Industrial unionism ot the Industrial Union as expounded by De X*on, Stirton, St. John, Walsh, Bttor, •et al. Usually great stress is laid upon the Inefficiency of the "graft" unions, the fact that some of them jremain at work while others In the toame plant are on strike ("organized acabbery" it Is called), and on the -great advantage that would accrue if -all the workers were In one union bo lhat a whole plant or department of Industry would strike together; some -going the length, In cold print, of pro- founding the theorem of the workers, industrially organised and therefore -ever victorious, gaining the full product of their toll by a series of strikes for rises in wages, "dollar at a time till we have it all''; others seeking to attain the same end by a successive /shortening of the work-day. "Gourock," however, is "ower fly for tbat," and ls well enough grounded in economics not to lay any stress or ..even, we believe, to take very much -stock In the industrial union as an in- astrument for the enhancement of the - jprice of the commodity labor-power. Nevertheless, we do not think "Gour- ' -sack" will .be prepared to deny that lt ■■Sa in its aspect ss the most Improved "form of association of labor-power I ^pedlars that it can mainly be made attractive to "workers holding diverse ■ -political opinions;" Aa an instrument -for the socialization of Industry lt rwould be repulsive rather than attrac- •ilve to those workers who are not So- a-Ullsts, or near-Socialists, and are -therefore anti-Socialists. But these workers "Gourock" must have aa "it would be utterly impossible io other- arise form a cohesive organization." "Hence these workers must be got into zhe industrial union under false pre- -tences. If not, then how? Then, on the .part of the non-Soclal- ' ist worker, what is the "shop instinct" •to which this organization "appeals," -Unit .a desire for higher wages and shorter hours? Both being in economic terms attempts to sell a commodity .above its value, the former to attain a "higher price for a given "quantity" of labor-power, the latter to deliver a less -quantity for .a given price. Both economic Impossibilities and both, at best, ..reforms. For a" reform is a reform -whether sought by political or "industrial" action. ' And "Gourock" hates ireform and so do we. But our dour Clyde-aider will have .none of tbat. He enlarges oa tbe possibilities ot the industrial anion for Socialism. Bat "Gourock," man, if -you take that tank you will no more %et the non-Socialist into your ithion -than you could iadace a U. P. man to join the Auld Kirk. You would havo ,to make a Socialist of him flrat, wouldn't you? Aad that takes too Jong, while one of the chief advantages of industrial unipoUm ia that it is a short cut tb Socialism; you get the -savage in there ao you can make a Socialist of him. Bat It you can't get "him till you have maVe a Socialist of Ihim, where are yoa at? As for the necessity of an economic organization to run the Industries when the workers ewa them, we admit the necessity but IBank the gods most -fervently that we do not have to organize lt. We bare a tough enough job merely to help make the workers want the works, without teaching -them how to run them. Capitalism Is -doing that. That is what it's here for. And right well lt has doue the job. If yet anything remains to be done in -this line, capitalism will do lt ere it -goeB. Production is completely socialized. The working class stoops to. its task ..and lo, there comes forth a tooth-pick or an Atlantic liner. The ownership passes from hand to hand, from land to tand. The working class knows nothing of It. Many-armed machine, lt grinds on. The chattel slave could not do It, nor the serf. The wage slave had to. Capitalism made him. Hy grevious blows, cruel lashings, it made the working class a vast social, co-ordinate disciplined army of production. It fitted it for freedom; trained it to operate all industries for lt, unconsciously to the end that lt might operate them for itself. It is hardly likely to get stuck for ways and means to individually enjoy what it collectively produces. We have read "Ix-oking Backward," and have decided not to enlighten the world with our opinion as to the proper method of conducting a co-operative commonwealth; not just yet. The thing Is to get there and the way is to want to in sufficiently large numbers. At present the mass does not want to; and we are bound up In that mass. The legislature, tbe judiciary, the executive, are the surface indications. The mass is the lead. One policeman will disperse a crowd, not because the crowd ls afraid of one policeman, but because behind him is the police force, behind them the militia, behind them the army of the empire, behind them the mass, most potent even in inaction; If it will not actively aid "the law" it will not obstruct it, but will stand idly by and see the crowd clubbed, shot, jailed or hanged. The crowd subconsciously knows this and moves on. But when that mass gets into action, good-bye law. What lt wants it will take. Talk about taking and holding the means of life. What has the capitalist elass for us to take? In the last analysis nothing but the power to exploit us, and has that by our consent as a mass. Once enough of us withdraw that consent, what will the capitalist class own? The capitalist class rules that it may rob; rules because the working class lets lt; to be free we must break its rule. Whatever action we take to do that is political action (not to be confounded with parliamentarism, Gourock). That is Socialism and no other, and is all the Socialism we know or give a damn about. HOME. Home is a heavenly place. Such a halo of sanctity has become woven around the word that the mere assertion that Socialism would destroy it is sufficient to rally cohorts to its defence. More especially does this home-thrust appeal to women, why, "God knows." It may be all very fine among the wealthy or even the well-to-do, whose homes are their private dwellings, where the household duties and cares are shouldered by hired slaves and slaveys, where they may eat, drink and be merry, entertain their friends, enjoy solitude or do what they will. But what does the workers' home hold that they should be solicitous as to its preservation, more particularly as regards the worker's wife? What is her home but her workshop? In the country, a shelter wherein she may cook and feed and wash, when she is not ln the stable or the Held, by day, by night, but a rude stall for sleep. In the city, when not a full-blown boarding house, with roomers inhabiting all rentable corners to holp pay the rent. While she lives in the kitchen and sleeps in the dining room with her lord and their brood Before she married perhaps, she slaved for some capitalist for a minimum wage and with uncertainty of employment. Married, she has ,i steady Job—for her board and clothes. Her job is steady enough, it that is any recommendation. To cook and wash dishes, sweep and scrub, wash and iron, mend and darn, day in and day out, except while tho Lord ia delivering her one of his "blessings." Slave? The man is slave enough, but after his day's slavery and his supper, he can throw up his feet and revel in the peratal ot hit favorite purveyor of fiction and perverter of fact. The wife hiin yet the dishes to wash, the brats to scrub and put to bed, the floor to sweep once more, stockings to dain and what not. He, whe he haa delivered up his quota of labor-power where lt belongs, ls, for the time, free. She is free only when she sleeps and ls free then only to store up energy for the next day's slavery. Destroy the home? Cheerfully, if Capitalism leaves us any to destroy. And the wife-slaves wlll owe us a hearty vote of thanks. years ago when he said: "In no other country was wealth so evenly distributed as In Japan. But as the result of industrial competition this was destined to be a thing of the the past and the country would soon have its submerged tenth. Neither legislation nor ethical teaching alone would be able to cope with the problem that we muBt sooner or later face." Going on express the opinion that the country was nearly ready to furnish a profitable field for the scavengers in the human garbage can whom the "General" represents. The question arises, why should Japan have thus "progressed?" Why not retain her mediaeval society? There under she was a people among whom wealth, if not evenly distributed, was not so unevenly distributed as now. The workers were exploited, lt is true, but not so severely as now. Peasants and artisans, they lived, if frugally, leisurely. Their masters, if autocrats, were imbued with ideals rather nobler than mere money-getting, had simple tastes and artistic instincts. Their ethical code was rather higher than that of our commercial pirates. Their religion, if judged by results, at least no worse than the white man's. Why change all this for so very much the worse? Why? This is advancement, progress, civilization. Look at Japan's army, her navy, the battles she has won by land and sea. Would these have been possible with her old sleepy feudalism? Look at her trade and commerce, her enormous output of manufactures. This Is what has made Japan "great." Has made her nobles millionaires and her millionaires nobles. In a few brief years Japan has made the pi-ogress that has taken other countries a century and more. The workers? What do they matter, and anyway il is for their own good. They can share in the benefits of a high state of civilization. True a lot of them have been fearfully impoverished. But that will work out to the betterment of the race through the survival of the fittest. Sure. And .then what a fine field they provide for the charitable organizations. Also, tell it not tn Gath, for revolution. It is safe to predict that whereas the advance of Japan from Feudalism to full-blown capitalism has been abnormally rapid so will the growth of the revolutlonry movement be despite all espionage and iron suppression. The wilder the orgle of Mammon the swifter and severer the' retribution. PROQRE88IVE JAPAN. The "Japan Times" tells us that "the modern growth of engineering and mechanical industry combined with the gradual advance of the prices of necessities has greatly enhanced the difficulty of living among the people of the lower classes. In consequence the number of suicides shows an annually Increasing tendency to grow, regretable as It is." So Japan seems to have gone along the path of progress to the condition torshadowed in Count Okuma's speech of welcome to "General" Booth three ONE THING AND ANOTHER. We are often told by apologists for capitalism that the workingman of today enjoys far more comforts and conveniences than was the case in the Middle Ages, when modern machinery was unknown. This is undoubtedly the case when the worker Is lucky enough to And a purchaser for his labor power, but while the skilled worker of mediaeval times lived as well as his "superiors," today between the mode of living of the beBt paid workers and the mode of their capitalist masters there ls a great gulf fixed. The worker produces far more now than he did then, but the amount of wealth which he is enabled to con' sume proportionate to the amount which he has produced Ib far less than it has ever been. He Ib exploited to a greater degree than ever before, and the exploitation becomes greater al most dally with the ever-increasing cost of living with which increase his wages do not keep pace. As long as exploitation remains, so long is the worker a slave; that he lives better now than he did in the fourteenth or in any other century, does not alter the fact of his slavery. Unfortunately the majority of wage-slaves have slavish minds, they hug their chains and cannot understand how industries could be carried on without the aid of the generous capitalist who "gives" them work. This mental attitude is the chief thing that stands in the way of the overthrow of capitalism and the freedom of the working class. To overthrow lt seems at times an almost Impossible task, but the efforts by the more enlightened to better conditions by way of labor parties and such like show that at least a goodly proportion of the working class is by no means content. They would temper their slavery by means of various reforms. Experience should by this time have taught the futility of these efforts, but evidently more experience ls needed. Such experience will be forthcoming, • • • C. J. Bonaparte waa Secretary of State In the Roosevelt administration, therefore some of the divine effulgence that emanates from the doughty colonel is reflected by the gentleman who had the privilege of forming a part of the great and only trust-busting cabinet warranted to bring any any every combination of "predatory wealth" to Its knees and let the fierce light of publicity beat on the dark doings ot the wealthy malefactors. That his administration failed to do this Is not to be held against the aforesaid Colonel, and his words are still held In veneration and awe, and rumor has lt that each word Ib worth even unto two dollars when it appears in a certain magazine; and therefore the words of Bonaparte, his satellite, are weighty and to be treated with respect. Mr. Bonaparte is how president of the National Municipal League, an association designed to promote better municipal government ln the United States. He has recently been lecturing in Eastern Canada, and there gave an account of the evils which it is the object of the league to remedy. The worthy Bonaparte congratulated Canada on being practically free from municipal corruption, this being particularly generous on his part ln view of the odorous revelations concerning the municipal affairs of Montreal and elsewhere. The bouI of Bonaparte Is vexed when he contemplates the enormous waste of the people's wealth entailed by corrupt government. As the average workingman does not own even his job, but merely obtains sufficient to live upon, his wealth cannot he wasted and it is none of his business how corrupt a government, municipal or otherwise, may be. It is the business of the capitalist, big and little. ' He lt is upon whom the corrup- tionists fatten, even as he In his turn fattens upon the worker. The whole system Is based on robbery, and corruption is naturally to be expected. Tne grief and indignation of Mr. Bonaparte and others of that ilk are rather amusing than otherwise. • e e Speaking of municipal government, brings to mind that a Socialist has been elected mayor of Milwaukee, and no doubt wonderful things will be expected of him. Whatever the new mayor may be enabled to do in the way of instituting playgrounda and other such reforms, things not to be despised but which are being inaugurated under capitalist mayors in many other cities, it is absolutely imposs- slble for him to forward the cause ot working class freedom one iota. The roots of capitalism cannot be affected by a municipality, however large; It takes a nation to do that. Capitalism being International, lt is doubtful if a single nation could abolish lt within its borders and hold Its own. However, the movement for freedom is also international; it is present whenever the capitalist rules. Energy expended by Socialists in municipal campaigns is wasted energy, for If the whole council, mayor and aldermen, and all the officials down to the office cat, were Socialists, not a thing could they do towards the abolition of wage- slavery by any powers of government they possessed. SPARTACUS. Every Local of (he Sodallet Perty el I.OOAL MASA, B. O, HO. 84, 8. F. of O. a sheuld run a card under this heed SJfflaif*^jKnS?iiq „e?.Vy month In mgar e-vvry uveal oi ebc aw™*, . «.»y «. Canada aheuld run a cere under this heed $1.00 per month. Secretaries please note. Boimnow -axaovTmi ooMMiTT-n, Socialist Party of Canada. Meets every alternate Monday. D. O. Mc- atensie. Secretary, Box lit, Vanoouver. B. C. . COLUMBIA PBOYXWOTAX Executive Committee, Socialist Party •f Canada. Meets every alternate Monday. D. O. McKenale, Secretary, Bex III, Vancouver, B. C. Committee, Socialist Party of Canaan. Meets every alternate Monday iu -Laker Hall, Eighth Ave. Bast, opposite postofllce. Secretary will be pleased to answer any communications regarding tbe movement ln the prov- lnee. V. Oxtoby, See., Box 647 Cal- sary, Alta. MAJOTOBA FaovnroiAi. zxscu- tlve Committee. Meets flrat and third Tuesdays 111 the month at 120'' Adelaide St Any reader of the Clarion dewing- Inform, stion about the movement in Man itoba, or who wishes to join the Party please communicate with the undersigned W. 11. Stebbing, Sec. >i6 Oood St. -KA-Birnt-B PBovnroiA-L xxion- tlve Committee, Socialist Party of Canada. Meets every second and fourth Sunday at Comrade McKtn- non's, Cottage Lane. Dan Cochrane, Secretary, Box 1 Olace Bay, N. S. xooax yaboouybb, vo. i, a. p. ot Canada. Buelneae meetings every Tuesday evenlns at headquarters, over Edgetfe Store, 161 Hastings St W. F. Perry, Secretary. Box all. THE ORIGIN OF THE 8TATE. (Continued from Pegs 1) value. Under trade depression, this allowed no surplus value for the master class, so slavery became unprofitable and most of the slaves were discharged. This materially swelled the large army of propertyless, which play such an Important part in economic history. Religion had nothing to do with the abolition of chattel slavery, at any place or any time, although the many good Christian, patriots we meet try to convince us that such Is the case, neither morals or ethics had anything to do with us. Economic pressure, pure and simple, prompted the so-called "Christian" movements. When slavery was abolished, the system left behind the idea that all work was degrading. So, owing to production and. commerce being greatly decreased, the Roman Empire began to decline, and royal power became weakened. The peasants, also Impoverished, sought the protection of some local influential noble, or the Church, and in return gave up the deeds of their land to their patrons, receiving it back as tenants. In a few generations they '• ame serfs. In some countries ot. than that under the direct government of Rome, one of the causes of Feudalism was the settled state of the country, making it hard for a slave to escape, lt being no longer necessary to own and keep him— Chattel Slavery evolved to Feudal Slavery, the slave being attached to the land, lt being a cheaper method of production. During Feudalism the serfs discovered, as the Chattel Slaves had in the previous era, that the State was of no benefit to them. How could lt be? It had come Into existence through the Increase of private ownership interests, the protection of which, as stated before, became its chief function. Purely democratic Institutions disappeared simultaneously with the inauguration ot slavery, and long before the creation of the State, which started with political classes already existing. Their creation was a step preparatory to its own creation. Political classes are merely economic classes, with governmental prerogatives, which are used to keep down class conflicts. It stands to reason, then, that it will be the most powerful economic class—the one owning and controlling the most of what ls considered wealth at the time that controls the state. I think it is Engels that puts lt very concisely; "The antique State consisted of the Slave Owners organized to hold the slaves ln check; the Feudal State was the organ of the nobility for the oppression of the Berts and dependent farmers; the modern representative State is the tool of the capitalist exploiters of wage labor." Feudalism waa not abolished In favor of capitalism because the ruling XOOAX TA-SOOtrTBB, B. o*.. wo. -», Finnish. Meets every eecond and fourth Thursdays In tbe month at 151 Hastings St W. Saoretary. Wm. Mynttl Socialist "Han, Mara." ffl' p m ° Rosoman, Recording Secretary. Cyril LOOAX X.A-DT8KXT-B: BO. 10, 8. T. OP 7 „ Z!"!D*l* meetings every Saturday l.^i™* l5,„'?e**,*'Varte™ on First Av* lulu. Williams,Sec, Ladysmith, B.C. •LOOAX, MOY-IB. B. O., NO. SO—MBBSB *»- „ d/!ju'"-,,,Jr 1'-*° P'm- 'n MoQregor Itoratuy. HaU)* Mr8- V^Sv. local -aoaaiA-f-o. are. as, 8. p. o*r o_ meets ln Miners' Hall every Sunday at ISi P*-m-« B-, Campbell; Seoy., J* o. 5"*£.'I*- „.R?"",1,*n<1 Finnish Branch meeta In Flnlanders' Hall. Sundays at Ijl'-r- ""*"■• A Sebble, Seoy.. P. orioa 7*8 Rossland, B. C. ^^ LOOAL B-B-CBOB, 8. T. OT a, MBBTa every Friday evening at 8 p.m.. ™ Miners' Hall, Nelson. B. C. c A Organiser; I, A. Austin, Seey. LOOAL PBOEI-TX, BO. 8. 8. P. OT 0_ meets every Sunday at «:!io p.m.. la Miners' Hall. Matt Halldsy, Organ- leer. H. K.' Maclnnls, Secretary •60,?*S °*iM';'}mY- A****, *0. 4, 8. T. or C. Meetings every Sunday at a P',m- In the Labor Hall, Barber Block, BJlgntb Ave. E. (near postofllce). Club and Reading Room, Labor Hall, T. H Machin Box 647. Secretary, A. Mac doiiald, Organiser, Box 647. ,i"i>0A*? !■»»■»»■. u»-, WO. 18. a. P of C, meets every flrst and third Sunday evenings, Bellevue Town HaU. J. Oliphant, Secretary. LOOAX OOLBKAW, AXTA. WO. 8. Meets every Sunday night In ths Miners' Hall and Opera House at 8 p.m. Everybody welcome. Socialist speakers are Invited to call. H. J. Smith, Secy. XOOAX TIOTOmXA, WO. 8, ■. P. OP 0. Headquarters aad Reading Room, Room 1. Basle Building. 1818 Government 8t Business meeting every Tuesday evenlns. a p.m. Propoganda ¥eetlage every Sunday at Orand beat re. a. Thomas, Secretary. xooax wAWAnto, wo. a, a ». Of O., meets every alternate Sunday evening la Foreetere Hall. Bualneea meeting •t T:SS o'eloek sharp. Propaganda meeting commences at 8:00 o'clookl Jack Place, Rec. Secy., Box 82*. XOOAX TBBWXB, B. T. at O, HOLDS educational meetlnge ln the Miners' Union Hall. Victoria Ave., Fernle, avery Sunday evening at 7:46. Business meeting flret Sunday ln each month, same plaoe at 2:10 p m. David Paton, Secy, Box toi XOOAX OBBBBWOOB BO. S, 8. T. OT O, meeta every Sunday in Miners' Union Hall at 7:10 p.m. Buslnees meetlnge, let and Ird Sundaya of eaoh month. Geo. Heatherton. Organiser; R. J. Campbell, Secretary, Box 124. LOOAX VBBWOW, B. 0., BO. 88, 8. T. OT O, meets every second and lust Friday in each month, t'hus. Chancy. Secretary, Box 137. Vernon, B.C. X-OOAX, TBXBOB BVTBBT, B. 0., WO. 88, 8. T. of O Meeta every Sunday ln hall In Empress Theatre Block at 8:00 p. m. Angue Mclver. Secretary. XOOAX BBTB-Ij-ROXa, B.O.S.P.O.— Propaganda and business meetlnge at 8 a.m. every Sunday evening In tha Edlaea Parlor Theatre. Speakers passing through Reveletoke are Invite* to attend. B. F. Dayman. Secretary. W. W. Lefeaux, Organiser. wwwmm mm, B. 0., WO. IS, B. T. at C. meete every Sunday In Oraham'a Hall at 10:10 a. m. Socialist speakers are Invited to call. V. Frodaham, Secretary. LOOAL BBXOWTOW, AXTA. WO. 1. 8. P. of C. Headquarters Ml First St, Business and propaganda meetings every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. sharp. Our Reading Room la open to the public free, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. dally. F. Blake 64* Athabasca Ave., Secretary-Treasurer, T. Blssett, 821 Fourth St., Organizer. looax, wmnns, a. p. or o. quarters, Kerr'a Hall, no r-a Adelaide Btree opp. Robliu Hotel. Buelness meeting every Sunday morning 11 a. m. Propaganoa meeting Sunday evening 8 p.m. Everybody welcome. Secretary, J w. Hilling, 270 Young Et; Orfaulier, D. McDougall, 424 Jarvis St. XOOAX TOBOWTO, OBT., WO. 84, 8. 9. ot C—Business meetings 2nd and 4th Wednesdays in the month, at the Labor Temple, Church St. Propaganda meetings every Sunday at *f: It o'clook at the Labor Temple. Speakers' class every Thursday at 8:00 o'clock at Labor Temple. J. Stewart, Secretary, (2 Seaton St LOOAX OTTAWA, WO. 8, B. T. OT a Business meeting 1st Sunday la month, and propaganda meetings following Sundays at 8 p.m. In Roberts- Allan Hall, 15 Rldeau St. The usual weekly inside propaganda meetinga discou tinutd during summer montha. H.s. old- bum Sec. 123 Urummoud St. xooax eoBAXT, wo. *, a. p. op a Propaganda and buslnesa meetings every Wednesday at 8 p.m. In Miners' Hall. Everybody Invited to aftead, Arthur L. Botley. Secy., Box. 44*. xooax samxxw, owt., wo. «, a. p. of C., meets every second and fourth Wednesday evenings, at a p.m., *l King St E., opposite Market Hotel. V. A. Hiuta, Bee., oa West Lancaster street. XOOAX •XAOB BAT WO. 1, OT W. 8V— Buelness and Propaganda meeting every Thursday at 8 p.m. in Macdoa- aid's hall, Union Street. All are welcome. Alfred Naab, Corresponding Secretary, place Bay: Wm. SuUae*- land. Organiser, New Aberdeen: H. Q. Ross, Financial Secretary, offlce ln 5. N. Brodle Printing Co. building. Ualea Street ^ ^uun^%n\\sr> BLOSSOM BEST IN B C ,rv** class felt sorry for the poor serfs. Not a bit of it. The power of the Industrial capitalists had substantially increased, accentuated by the opening of new markets in America and the Orient. In opposition to this, the power of the landlord capitalists decreased. The invention of gunpowder was a sad blow to their chivalry, and caused them to realize that power must be sought through a different source to that which they had been using. Steam driven machinery, with Its cheaper production, and the closing ln ot the commons, largely tor Industrial purposes, along with the decreasing power of the landlord capitalist, drove the old time serf and his family to the town to become wage slaves, and to hunt for a job, and they are still hunting for lt, and will con- tnue to do bo aa long as they allow the capitalist class to control the State. The solution Is thelre and theirs alone. A remedy that ls often advanced by many so-called Socialists is Municipal or State Ownership. If the State conducts a business, hires its "hands" in the labor market at the prevailing wage—the coat of subsistence—and sells tbe products for profit, allowing the real producers—the working class —no direct ownership in the result of their own IaborB, whom does it benefit? Not the working elass. That is evident. The fight for Municipal Ownership is merely a fight between two factions of the Capitalist Class, those who directly control the government, and those controlling privrte enterprises. The State has always been the expression of the ruling class. Is lt not a logical conclusion, then, that it Is only by capturing and using the power ot the State that the workers can be made masters in the shops and factories, and become the owners of the tools of production, which are the principal form of wealth at the present period, and therefore the foundation of economic power. To sum up: It has been shown that the political class has for its basis the most powerful economic class; In other words, the political class Is merely the governmental expression of the economic class. The economic class is composed of those possessing the greatest amount of the thing which constitutes wealth at a given period—at one time, slaves, cattle, etc; later, land; and today the tools ot production. Surely, then, the answer is clear. WorkerB, capture the State! Use lt ln your own Interest. Abolish classes by the institution of a universal Working Class. B. M. EPPLBTT. Propaganda Meeting1 Sunday Evening, 8 o*Clock City Hall Vancouver B. C. SATURDAY, MAY 28th, 1810. THE WESTERN CLARION, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA. THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF CANADA Tb1' Page Is Devoted to Reports of Executive Committees, Locals and General Party Matters—Address All Communications to D. G. McKenzie, Sec., Box 836, Vancouver, B. C. NEW WESTMINSTER, B. C. Dear Mc:— We held a fairly good propaganda meeting on Saturday night. Dr. Curry spoke to about one hundred people, and we sold quite a few pamphlets. Conditions seem favorable tor a good propaganda season. On Sunday we held our first picnic And we spent a very jolly time at Brunette Creek. Our flrst act on arriving at the ground, was tbe unfurling of the red flag to the gentle breeze. There were about forty people there, ranging'. Intolerable. in age from six months to seventy years, and If facial expression Is any indication of psychic action, everyone suffered from acute agitation of the risible faculties. Only two incidents marred the pleasurable proceedings., One lady's lunch box was thought to be too much like a bomb, but, however, we managed to evade the police at Sapperton. Then again at tea time, we found that we were utterly unable to cope with the good things which bad been provided, and after struggling valiantly we were reluctantly compelled to acknowledge ourselves beaten. Bat In spite of this, it was unanimously voted by Infants, old men, youths, and maidens, that these social gatherings should become a regular bi-weekly -institution during the summer. We in Westminster heartily advise all the locals tn the party to cultivate the Bocial spirit, as it as necessary a part of propaganda as the the study of ultra-scientific theories. Yours for the revolution, ARCHIBALD HOGG. spector of persons, and where Britons never will be slaves. Even after the day's work was done; after their stomachs had been tortured with different kinds of animal and vegetable matter In various but advanced stages of de- cay.when they were about to retire to the miserable bunks that would have done splendid duty in the hands of the Salvation Army, but nowhere else, then would they give vent to their feelings, and the boss would catch several kinds of hell (behind his back) because their living conditions were so SOCIALISM: INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL WAR IN THE CAMP Editor Western Clarion,—I am be glueing to think there is a season of the year ln which the average working plug is more easily brought to his senses—and Socialism—than In some other seasons. Maybe I am wrong; usually I am; but wtll bet the beer I am right this time. We all know that with the approach of spring come many changes to the things of this earth. The blue grouse throws off his habit of roosting silently in the highest trees, and kicks up all kinds ot trouble with his brethren. The wily and elusive garden snake changes his skin for a better one—one more suited to his needs. Likewise a sudden change comes over the wage slave; he begins devising ways and means of wringing from his master a little larger bundle of fodder for the faithful services rendered the aforementioned master. Usually the language, and logic spewed forth by this rebellious hireling is not of the kind to arouse a sympathetic chord in the breast of one who reads and understands such literature aa the Western Clarion. Far from it. But that is the time to get extra busy on the creature, as Spring ls bringing her annual change, or rather her annual period of fermentation of the-brain, to this slave. So to bring him to an understanding ot bis place in society today, to show him how the trick is done; in fact, to knock some holes in his nut so the light can penetrate therein, we must be at him now. This mental spasm will not last long, and tn another 30 days he will be the same meek and docile being he was last winter when he eagerly ate the filth put before bim, took without a murmur the miserable wage the master held out to htm, and ln every way showed his servility to the class that tolerates him on the premises—providing, of course, that he deliverers the goods in the shape of profits, to the owners ot this particular means of creating wealth—to the owner of these tools of wealth production. Just after the election ot last November I found that if a buyer for my labor-power was not found—and that pretty quick—I would have to seek shelter ln a cosy C. P. R. box car o' nights, or go without sleep. The -problem of food was even more perplexing—lt such a thing could be possible—for those days and nights were not warm ones. Sleeping under one's own fig tree would not be a pleasant experience at that time of the year. But I competed, very successfully, with other sellers ot the commodity labor- power, and secured the market for a time at current prices. Soon after arriving amongst the other slaves already on the ground, delivering up their energy at so much per day, week or month, I began to seek for the signs that betoken the presence of an understanding as to why we were housed aa swine and fed as worse. Nothing doing. All hands perfectly willing to deliver to their masters four-fifths of the wealth created by their labor, aided by the giant tools bought with the profits wrung from the lives ot other slaves at some previous time ln some other industry. All agreed on the point that this was a wonderful era, where all could die well fixed, where the law was no rs- Now, Mc, perhaps you would think that a little propaganda plaster applied would bring out the bile and leave the patient clean ln mind and body, ready for the injection of the revolutionary serum. So did I. But a sad disappointment was in store for me. Any remarks, suggestions or allusions were greeted with jeers and the guilty one was made very uncomfortable for his Impudence. Jim Hawthornthwaite once told me, "Don't get discouraged, old chap; get mad Instead." Good dope; I took lt. The fight has been on for five months never once showing the least sign of progress being made. Last Sunday night some dust from the tail of the comet blew In this way, and the first whiff drove the cobwebs from the corner of one brain. The shock was awful. Since then the camp has been but turmoil and strife. Socialism is the only topic, and is being fought out in every corner. The landlady says she ls saving money as the boarders are too busy talking to eat. Their master's voice in the shape of a steam whistle breaks in on an unfinished meal. For the flrst time since my arrival here has the Clarion been ln demand. Everybody wants to read It but none will dig up the price, hence 'tis up to Jawn to furnish the amunitlon until such time as the mental change goes one step further. Then they can be safely left to fight It out amongst themselves, and the education will be all the more through I heir own efforts of a more lasting nature. For the enclosed send me a bundle of five Clarions per week, and when this Is eaten up we hope to raise more. More later. Ever thine, JAWN PICKENSHOVEL. ROBBERY OR WHAT? In trying to find out whether nonproductive wage-earners (so called) are being robbed or not, it might be as well it we had a little more light thrown on as to what are non-productive wage-earners and what are productive wage earners. And while we are about it, it would not do us any harm to get a good working definition of what a parasite really ls. I have known, for Instance, gardeners working for both capitalists and also for highly paid wage slaves of the capitalist class the value of whose production ln the market would not be equal in value to their wages. And, mind you, some of these are highly skilled horticultural- lsts. Are such men parasites? Are they socially necessary? The $10,000 or 120,000 a year wcge slave thinks his gardner necessary for it enables him to centre all his energies on how to further lessen the cost ot production of some other commodity. Have these men no part in the class struggle? Have they not as much to gain as the miner and hod-carrier? In fact, have they not, in common with all wage-workers, yet to attain their manhood? A slave Is not a man except to distinguish him from other animals. and what difference Ib it to him whether he produces surplus value or not? What he does produce does not belong to him and if he did not produce anything he would still be a slave, for wages presupposes slavery and that ls the most accursed thing ever seen on this planet or any other. Are they robbed? Are we robbed? A good deal depends on tbe point of view. If an upholder of the present capitalist system, no; neither non-productive wage-worker nor productive wage-worker. Why? Because, If you consent to either an Individual or a class to take away from you that which you have produced and give you back just enough to keep body and soul together you have no legal, moral, nor any other right to any more. If a Socialist, forced to give to the master class that which you have produced and only kept ln such servitude by the armies and navies, police, sheriffs, laws, judges, etc., of such class and ever striving to break the bonds that bind you and your class, then I say yes, emphatically yeB, you are being robbed whether coachman or hod-carrier; robbed of the opportunity to at tain the full sstature, morally, physically and Intellectually, of a man. W. H. MOORE Much discussion is taking place among the class-conscious working classes of the industrially developed and "civilized" countries of the earth aa to the relative merits of the political organization, and ot the revolutionary industrial union, as a means towards the flnalNemancipation of the workers from the bondage of capitalism; and to the establishment of Socialism, or a system of social ownership of the means of wealth production, instead of the present system of class ownership by a privileged few. , If by a friendly discussion among the various exponents, extreme and otherwise, of these two "weapons- leaving all personal animosities and "pet hobby-horses" aside for the nonce, since an individual or his individual opinions, no matter how strong hla personality may be, can count but little In retarding or accelerating the march of the proletarian army towards its goal; the question at Issue being & social question, not an Individual one—if, I say, by a friendly discussion we can arrive at the swiftest and surest and safest method of accomplishing our aim, then much suffering, misery and degradation can be saved the oppressed workers. Let us take, first of all the political issue and inquire into the function of the state and what its capture would mean to us. The state Is no "realization of the ethical Idea," but arose from economic necessity. In the ancient gens, the division of people was by kinship, but as trading relations began to develop along the Mediterranean and members from the various gens began to congregate together at the various trading points, economic necessity demanded a new form of organization, which accordingly arose in the mark commune" and ln the state, which the old "sea pirates" required to retain legal possession of their plunder. Thus arose a public power of coercion divorced from the mass of the people, and causing "policed nations." Though developed to a somewhat more complicated form, the state, the "policing" power, holds good today, and lends a character of perpetuity to the possessing class, and the "right" to exploit the non-possessors. But, In the meantime, capitalism has developed into a completely international form, having no boundaries except the earth, and no god but gold. (Though but a difference of a letter, still, an "1" of a difference. The state ls essentially in its character a government of boundaries, a relique of the old "mark commune." Members of parliament are selected and elected from divisions of the nation marked by imaginary boundary lines and including within their precincts miners, farmers, mechanics, lumber-jacks, railroadmen, etc., and the host ot petty larceny parasites who fatten on tbe sweat ot their bodies. The representatives sent from these jurisdictions are, ln the main, lawyers, the nature of whose calling amply testifying to the "people" who selected them. This form or organization with its three phases, the Legislature, or lawmaking; the Judiciary, or law-interpreting; and the Executive or law-enforcing; may serve fairly well the needs of the capitalists ln so far as the "policing," national or International, is concerned; but that lt is Incapable of effectively organizing industry in actional form, Is only too apparent in the cordance with the growing interna- necessity for the formation of trusts, combines, etc., on the Industrial field for the more effective and economic management of the Industries—even though this be to the benefit of the large capitalists alone, and to the detriment of the smaller fry, or petty bourgeois, and more so to the workerB, at present. As Engels says: "The state Is Irreconcilable to social production." And again: "State ownership does not do away with capitalism." On the accomplishment of Socialism, the state will automatically pass out of existence, being useless. The state Is merely a barricade lying between the Increasing misery, degradation and blind rage of the workers on one hand, and the increasing power and smug self-complacency of the "great captains of Industry" on the other. Tear down the barricade and there still remains the "power behind." This power is an industrial power, though it may also manifest itself in political supremacy Looking over into the United States, for example, tt is quite apparent that it is the huge "combines" who control the government; which is as it should be, according to capitalist philosophy, vulgar or otherwise. The state being then the capitalist executive police department, controlling relations among themselves In "their" country, and with foreign capitalists ln "their" country; holding the army, navy and police departments at their bidding; and the workers, body and soul (whatever soul or part of a soul they may possess); It is only too palpable and plain on the face of lt that we must endeavor to build up a sufficiently strong organization to seize control of this "policing" force, and aid the workerB In thlr efforts towards the formation of an Industrial organization capable of running tbe various Industries within themselves; of controlling their vari ous, relations with one' soother, in accordance with "supply and demand," and of absorbing within their ranks the unemployed of "low and high degree." In the meantime, however, the political movement can only grow so far; and must then "mark time" for the industrial organization. It isn't within the nature of politics to "take and hold" the Industries ot the country, since, as before stated, industries are daily asumlng a more international character; and thus, like "strikes"—, the manifestations of the class struggle on the industrial field, as the parliamentary struggle is on the political field—it is merely good propaganda, and serves to discipline the workers, draw the class line tighter and imbue them with the spirit of social ownership. The politics of any given period are but the reflex of the industrial conditions of that period; and It is absolutely necessary for the industrially dominant class to be politically dominant for the effective and efficient manipulation of the industries to their profit. This was exemplified in the rise of modern capitalism; taking England, its historic field, for an example, where Its varied steps were progressed through, one by one, quite ln accordance with the conservative and practical nature of the Britisher. When the rising tide of modern industry broke the power of the old feudal barons, the "captains of industry" were left In control of the industrial field, but being ot a modest and unassuming character (for which they are still noted), somewhat rough and unlettered, and having but a slight knowledge of French, the then diplomatic language, they were quite content to allow their "superiors," the old aristocracy, to hold the political control. However, as their industries expanded and the need of a "foreign" market for their surplus product began to make itself felt, they found themselves hampered by the adverse legislation of the aristocracy, and were consequently forced to seize the political control. This they obtained with the aid of the workers (who are always ready and willing to fight anyone's battle but their own), by throwing them a few "sops" In the way of "shorter working hours," and a fair wage, etc.—quite old friends of ours still. The workers must flrst also, I believe, seize the industrial control, which being of itself of an international character, and their being no foreign markets to exploit and oppress by means of army, navy or other "missionaries," the political state wlll naturally collapse, being obsolete. Phoenix-like, from Its aahes some form of organization for the control of "mor al order," etc., may arise, it is hard to foretell. The workers do not want the reflex or reflection of anything. They want the Bubstance, not the shadow. They want the social ownership ot the means of wealth production; and with them the earth. Quite a modest demand. We wlll now look at the industrial side of the question. With the rise in capitalism, and its Increasing power over the lives of the workers, a crying need for some sort of concerted action on the part ot the workers began to make Itself felt. Their hours were unbearably long and their wages In exactly inverse ratio. Unions began to appear—craft unions—and they served the purpose fairly well, for a time. But as the isolated industrial plants joined hands under one company, the unions also had to combine in federations and confederations, still, however, retaining their old craft character. These also proved Inadequate to meet the increasing concentration of capital ln the combines, trusts, etc., and so arose the Industrial union which embraces all workers, male and female, no matter what branch of industry they may work at, even that ot legalized man- killing, known as war. The organization of the industrial union ls as follows: 1st, we have the general administration; 2nd, industrial district councils; 3rd, industrial unions; 4th, the branch unions, which again are grouped either according (1) to sub-departments of a given industrial plant, (2) to working-places in same Industry cloBely adjoining each other, (3) or "language" branches, where unavoidable. The Industrial plant branch unions are specially adapted for workers under trusts and combines. It will thus be Been that the main Idea is a concentration of the workers ln one vast army, Irrespective of sex, color, religion or politics, thus enabling them to maintain, at present, a constant though undoubtedly unequal struggle against capitalism's tendency to lower their standard of living, and also In this guerrilla warfare drawing the class lines tighter; but with the ultimate Idea of building up within the shell of the present society an organization capable of taking over and running the Industrie of the world ln the interests of the workers alone. This ls the "Inductive method," or the method of learning by doing; and lt Is more easily grasped by the indifferently educated proletarian, since he is ln contact with the struggle In the shop, where he can readily grasp ItB significance. The realm of abstract or concrete theories Is beyond him. He ia incapable of the concentration necessary to grasp their significance. In the plan of administration thus offered for the future control of industries, each industry will have its representative who will sit in the executive board, and so do the workers' bidding, ln the administration of things, aa opposed to the political government of persons. This organization, however, as an "organization," can recognize no particular politics; but, individually, its members may, and, being organized along class-conscious lines the vast majority will through time undoubtedly become adherents of Socialism. It would be utterly tmposible to otherwise form a cohesive organization advocating some particular creed, with the workers holding so diverse political opinions. These separate organizations ot the workers—the industrial union and the Socialist party—will undoubtedly come together as time ripens, and debate their policies; but as the industrial struggle must, for the present, be fought along national lines, this time will vary ln the various countries. The French Syndicalists and Socialists have already met In debate. Summing up, the political movement is purely "destructive"; the industrial movement "constructive." The industrial field alone offers a plan of administration. Political action tends .to swing more or leBs to reform, owing to the legislative nature, and reforms are utterly useless. Tbe contaminating parliamentary atmosphere to have a deteriorating effect on revolutionary tendencies, as has been too often noted in tbe swinging of onetime revolutionaries round to the most conservative of conservatives. The industrial movement aids ln counterbalancing this effect. Reforms ot any description "only skin and Aim the ulcerous place, whilst rank corruption, mining all within, infects unseen." They but leave ub "still voting for Andy Jackson." Leibnecht says, "to parlla- mentarize Is to compromise," and Marx himself laughs at "Parliamentary cretinism, that disorder of parliamentarians, through which they believe the whole world hinges on their decision." Strikes, too, are clumsy and useless, except as discipline. Whether a strike be won or lost, It Is a Iosb. A win may relatively help in maintaining the standard of living; but as wages riBe, so also does the cost of living, Com. Watts of Winnipeg say's they are not coming fast enough. He wants two hundred Clarions a week and means to use them it he can get them. So if you have a dollar to spurs, send it ln for the purpose of increasing his bundle till lt buries him. ^sB • • • Reaching after the belt ts Comrade W. Anderson of Dewberry, Alta., from the top of a pile of eight. • • • Com. Peter F. Olsen ls again creating a disturbance and sends ln a couple from Garden Plain, Alta. • • e Local Mara's bundle Is paid for by Com. C. H. Lake. • • • A couple more added to the Toronto list by Com. J. Stewart. • • • Send the Clarion to this wickedly poor wage-slave, says Com. Colling- wood of North Battleford, Saak. • • • ' Com. Bryce catches a Y. M. C. A. In Moose Jaw, and Coin, Wellerman thinks that the distribution of a bundle at Sarnia Tunnel Y. M. C. A. is up to him even If we do swear. e • e Com. H. H. Stewart renews his bundle from Newcastle, N. B. • • • Three slaves and the boss of the camp are gathered ln by Com. Edwards among the coast loggers. e • • John Pickenshovel needs a bundle now, as one copy won't go round quick , enough. e • • Renewing Windsor's bundle and sending in a sub., Com. Lome Wilkie says:— I have only now started in what I believe to be a systematic way in distributing papers, by having a newsboy call Saturday evenings and get papers, bo on Sunday mornings when delivering Sunday papers to leave one at addresses which he furnishes me with, and after leaving copies at same addresB for three weeks, I will call and try and get them to subscribe." see Com. Drury's soap-box stunt ln Political action ls only the forerun- Brant-ord br0Ught forth two more subs ner of the industrial movement. It is "the voice crying in the wilderness." "Political unity" will latterly become the slogan of industrial unity, because political and industrial unity are necessary for our aim. Political success alone, however, would be useless, If Industrial power were not ready. The workers must build from the bottom up; not from the top downwards. There will then be no danger of the formation of a bureaucratic state. The Industrial movement appeals to the workers' shop instinct. They are in it themselves and see its workings, and do not leave all the burden on tbe shoulders of a tew parliamentary representatives. The only strike which will ever be of any consequence will be the "general strike or lock-out" of the entire capitalist class. Some Socialist movements are troubled with a kind of state capitalism, which ie the most virulent form of capitalism extant, since it concentrates the political and industrial power in one hand and can exert the power of exploitation and oppreslon more sharply and Intensely than can private capital. Deville defines the state as "a public power of coercion created and maintained in human societies by their division into classes, a power which, being clothed with force, makes laws and levies taxes." "Capital," we all know. Both the state and capital must go, and with them wage slavery, a system so beautifully automatic that only the state is needed to gull the workers and keep them squabbling over the fight of "ins" and "outs," and wasting much precious time. We must then form the embryo of the new society within tbe shell of the old. Individuals must unite ln their trades, even that of nun-killing and clubbing; trades ln their industries, and Industries in their class. The workers' cause, like their misery and degradation, Ib a common one; and by united action alone can they hope to free themselves. "Come what, come may" then. Come Socialism in any form she will; be lt political or Industrial, neither or both, and I will welcome the jade with open arms, so long as she come "pure and undeflled" from any manner of patchwork reform. Yours for the Revolution, GOUROCK. per Com. Davenport. • • • 'Two more wage-slaves want to learn something," says Com. D. McDougall of Winnipeg. • • • Com. Wayman is not going to have Montreal run behind Portland, Me., so sends her up four notches at one lick. tea Singles.—R. MacLachlan, Allen Brady and F. Schroeder of Vancouver; J. Rutherford, South Wellington; L. E. Walter, Van Anda; A. W. Munro, Nelson; I. A. Austin Nelson and J. Galitzky, Hedley, B. C; Miss Annie Mcintosh, Boularderle, N. 8.; Hugh McMillan, Brldgevllle, N. S.; Wm. Nesbltt, Tessier, Sask.; Walter Rich, Caneadea, N.Y.; and Jos. Effler, Grand- view, Man, TESSIER, SASK. Editor Western Clarion: Comrade,—As my subscription expires with No. 579, find enclosed $1.00 for renewal. I have tried hard to get people here to subscribe and read Socialist papers, but unless one pays for their papers they don't seem to want to part with any money for anything but old party organs. The good times that we have here ln this new country won't last always, and then they wlll perhaps want a change a little more radical than from one of the old parties to the other, for really there are only the two halves of one great capitalist party. Success to the Clarion and all other Socialist organs. Tours for the Revolution, WM. NESBITT, SR. NORTH BATTLEFORD, SASK. Re suspension of J. P. MeGuire. At the usual monthly meeting of North Battleford Local the action of the Dominion Executive In dismissing from membership of the S. P. of C. all who do not endorse the class struggle was unanimously passed. Fraternally, H. COLLINGWOOD. MANITOBA CAMPAIGN FUND. Local Calgary, third time $3.00 W. .1. Iloughen, Valley River, says hard cash Ib scarce 2.00 Maud Falrbalrn, donates to every fund 1.00 ATEIMTS , ROMPTl^SECURED! - wr»IW. the business of Manuiarturers, BncHi.--™andotheni who reallae lhc advls-Ml- KofbaHm thrlr Patent business lran«o-ted bv Bxoeltfc Prellminaryadvice fret. Charges gjuaUt Our Invent-i's Adviser MtttMB 5n7,„t Marion & Marion, Nevr York We Dldg, ■ioulic-1: "Uil Washlniflou. D.C, U.8.A. Track Markb Designs .... Copyrights etc Anyone sending a sleet r-h nnd description may quickly asrcrl-ntn our upltuon free whether an Invention ts prnlmbly imicntnlilo. Communlca. tlonaetrlotlycnutldoutlnl. HANDBOOK on Patents sent free. Cfldost agency forsocuruiit patent*. ■ 'moms taken thrnuuh Munn A Co. receive special notice, without charge, la tbe Scientific jfttericait A hanfltomrty illortmtwl weekly. Urwt Hr- cnlrUt'-i of my Mumttf)d journal. Terms for Caiuv •*., $3.15 & ye-it, foiUge pre|ml(L Bold by i» *-»_.*-•■ "MteTt. fftee, 8* F BL, WUfa Ing too, D. 0. Xm\\ TH» WlShC** CtAJQOK. VXNCOtJVfeiX ftRTTISH COLUMBIA SATURDAY, MAY WaVt, 19,0. TARIFF REFORM, FREE TRADE OR NO TRADE? The increase in the number of working men rallying to the cry of "Tariff Reform," and the near prospect of an else than sewage. The men Were pale, worn, not well set up and they were all anxious faced. "Chicago has its poor and plenty of them , , ... . Ll*e |8 jjgjd, many workmen go to other general election during which iae wa]1 that cry will be greatly heard, are the „Mr DavleBj the cWet factory in. reasons that the "fiscal question" ' again dealt with in these columns. The enormous extent of unemploy- gle, where if you gave a cent banana work at the Labor Bureaux were more ment and misery among the Workers | tQ a (arally of flve ,t would be the than -our t0 each vacancy. mi. lytvvico, luc ,.uici jovluij ," 33 unemptoycu *:uiv,in-o ... «..."..«..,. ... ispector of Illinois State said 'I can take December 1908 the Official Labor Gaz- you to places where life is just a strug- ette showed that the applicants for after a glorious 60 yeara of "Free Trade" provides "Tariff Reform" with a ready audience to receive Its plausible policy. The Why and the Wherefore. Why ls "Tariff Reform" advocated by various sections of the capitalist class? The answer is found if we recall that "Free Trade" was adopted when Great Britain was the chief manufacturing nation of the world, but economic development has brought countries, then mainly agricultural, into competition with her for the world market. Certain sections of the capitalist class, therefore, are feeling the effect, and see in Tariff Reform a policy for keeping their trade with the profits it brings. To achieve this they are, by means of their "Tariff Reform League," baiting for worklng-clasB support by saying that Tariff Reform means the end of unemployment and poverty. Great Britain, they say, is the only Free Trade country. Every other country has "Tariff Walls." And they point to the conditions ln these countries to show the effect of Tariff reform. But if we examine the conditions in these countries we.find the facts offer us little inducement to favor Tariff Reform. Is Great Britain solitary In possessing a working class suffering from poverty and unemployment? Look at Spain, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Austria—countries whose conditions compel tbe admission that the workers are no better placed than here. What of France? Mr. Harry Marks, the Tory M.P., for Thanet, gave in the House of Commons (April 28th, 1909), some interesting details of French wages. Tailoring: the men average 4 francs (3b. 4d.) per day; homeworkers get Is. 3d. to ls. 8d. for a day of 12 hours. Lace trade: men, 4 francs 76 cent, (about 4s. Id.) per day; women 2 francs (about ls. 8d.) per day. Cardboard box trade: men 3s. Id. per day; women Ib. 3d. for a day ot 12 hours. Ths Fraud of Tariff Reform. When the Trade Boards Bill was before Parliament recently, Tariff Reformers declared that it was useless while goods made under sweating conditions abroad were imported into England, thereby naively showing the fraud of Tariff Reform claims. But America and Germany are the "trump cards" of the Tariff Reformer. Of American unemployment this may be said: The only States that officially collect and publish figures are New York and Massachussetts. This latter State, after official enquiry issued a return showing ln March, 1908, 16.18 per cent, and on December 31st, 1908, 10.98* per cent of trade unionists unemployed.:. . ,- ■ The- Department of Labor of the State ofcvNew York reports in the September; 1908-'"Bulletin" 30.2 per cent to a family of five lt would be the |greatest treat that they have had for week.' In the sweatshops the places were wretched, furniture waa lacking, the finger of poverty was there." Wages in America. As to wages he points out that: "After working out calculations, based on tbe increased cost of living unionists reporting -we're unemployed The New York correspondent of the "Dally Telegraph" reports in'that paper (April 2lth, 1908) that after very careful inquiries he put down the number of unemployed ln the U.S.A. at 3 millions as a moderate estimate. The same paper for January 21, 1909 states: "In NeW York this morning 3,000 men applied for work at clearing away about tne anthracite mines, i.e., one in snow, and as only 1,000 were needed, four of the total employees, and thoiis- the applicants fought among them \"""■" thonl nrp ■"■"*l°uslv under U 1906, the terrible struggle for existence there. The official Income Tax returns of Prussia show that out of a population of 38 millions, 21 millions have an lnctme of less than 17s. 3d. per week per family. Official returns state that there are 33 unemployed colonies in Germany. In than four to each vacancy. The "Daily Telegraph" (17th Feb. '09) states that the census taken by the "Free Trade Unions" showed 101,- 300 unemployed ln Greater Berlin. This was done by a house to house visitation. This paper also points out that in November 1908 the Berlin municipality called upon the unemployed to re- Uttbeu un me niviicno^u. lw. v, ,,,,,.&, j^y caueu upuu mc u»«.»».»..",,~- — -- I am convinced that the American port themselves on the 17th and they _1 , 1., .... Kn+.n«. n** Anannlollv . . ,l^1 ./.AAA .l.'.l en ahopworker is no better off financially than the English. 'The ruck of the girls" (ln departmental stores) "get badly paid, as low frequently as 10s. 6d. per week, and this in a city where living is twice as expensive as in London. "The average wage for all Chicago— poor women who get a penny for sewing trousers and managers of firms who get £20,000 a year—is about 38s. per week. 'The skilled workman Is not required. What is required is, firstly, the man who can devise fresh labor-saving machinery, secondly, the laborer who will do one little routine thing year after year, and do it expeditiously. "Wages can only be reckoned by their purchasing power. Therefore, while the American workingman earns more than the Briton he has to work harder, and he has to pay more for the necessaries of life, in the case of rent about 3 times as much. "I find taking America as a whole, that in the last ten years, wages are on the decrease while the cost of food is on the increase." The reward of toll In after years is thus indicated: 'It is a life of strained nerves. It explained many of the grey hairs I saw on boyish heads. It explained why I saw hardly any grey beards. Where are your elderly workmen? I asked a Philadelphia manufacturer, once, twice, three times. Ot the third time he said, Have a smoke and we'll take a car ride along to the cemetary.' "Practically every railway company refuses to engage a new man If he is over 35 years of age. "The British working man may think these conditions frightfully hard. So they are. If a man falU out of work say at the age of 38, his chances of getting work are practically gone. "The American workingman is soon played out, that ts why you seldom see an old man In big Industrial concerns. "Employers, If trade unions are in their way, set about to smash them. "The American employer can often snap his fingers at his men because if there Is any trouble others can be brought in. Bleeding the Children. Regarding child labor.he says: "Of recent years the New England manufacture*; has been hit hard by the great cotton industry—due to the in uuv lllc ,,„„....— — , troductlon of Northern capital—which p-0yipent was the real trouble then - cent" has: sprung up in the South, in .Georgia the capitalist class would fare badly. and in the September 1909 edition ^ ■ N(jrth anfl gouth Carollna, The Though unemployed,'they live sump- states that 17.5.-per cent of the trade )ahnr )s chea men only get about tuously. This indicates that the real state that 40,000 did so The "protectionist" "Morning Post" (20th January, 1908) says: "The unemployed question can and undoubtedly must be discussed in part at least, without reference to fiscal policy, because it results in part at least, from causes unaffected by tariffs or their absence. Unemployment Is found lu the United Kingdom under Free Trade, and it has not been banished from other industrial nations by their tariffs. Germany is the classic home of experiments for dealing with the unemployed—by labor colonies, labor registries, vagrancy laws and relief works. German official reports recognise a problem indistinguishable In character from those we are familiar with here." After this comparative survey a more scientific examination is necesary. The same issue of the "Morning Post" says: "The universality of unemployment makes it necessary to look for its explanation not only to the differences but to the common features of the industrial systems of all countries. "In so far as unemployment Is an Incident of modern industry it is an incident of individualistic industry. Noils there any difficulty in showing how individualism in industry leads necessarily to unemployment or the constant fear of unemployment. So long as the workman depends upon a private employer whose business fluctuates or may cease altogether, so long as competition exists to produce strenuous fits of over production folowed by stagnation, so long as whole trades may be revolutionised or destroyed by new inventions—the constant possibility and the occasional realization of unemployment must remain. If the solution of the unemployed problem means the guaranteeing of absolute continuity of employment to every man at all times at his own or something like his own trade, it does mean nothing less than I the ending ot industrial competition land ths superseding of the private capitalist by a single universal employer." We are constantly told that "the one thing needful" for us Is "more work," to obtain which the commerce of the capitalist class must be Increased. ■ Thus trying to get the worker to identify his interests with his master's. But unemployment by itself Is not the plight of the worker. If nnem- , Reform both show their fallacy snd they go to pieces in face of this fact, that no alteration of fiscal methods |can prevent the use of the mightiest in- dustial weapon (the machine) that the capitalist has in rendering workers relatively superfluous, cheap submissive, and in drawing into the vicious circle of modern factory life, the woman and ihe child. The very development of capitalism itself—whether tariffs exist not—-extendB and intensifies this process. _ Capitalist society, under Free Trades or Tariff Reform, cannot assure an existence to the makers of its wealth The private ownership of the inBtru nienta, together with the results of production, has shown that if social de velopment is to proceed, Socialism must be Instituted, i.e., a system of society wherein all those who labor shall jointly possess and use those things which are necessary to satisfy the wants of all _ , Both Free Trade and Tariff Reform i involve the sale by the worker and Ihe purchase by the capitalist of value creating energy—the source of the wealth of capitalist society Economic development lias made trade an anachronism, and the next step ln social evolution, that ts Social ism, means a system where trade "free" or "protected," is rendered impossible by the fact of the common ownership of the means of wealth pro ductlon Socialism therefore—a society where in we have the free and equal association of the wealth producers, operating Ihe means of production that they com monly own .making everything for use and for use alone—is the next stage in Social progress. Onward! Speed the day!—A. Konn. in the Socialist Standard HOW IT IS IN ALASKA. As the transportation companies will as per usual endeavor to lure the workers here by the dissemination of untrue reports as to the conditions in this part of Alaska, Local No. 240, W F. of M., takes this opportunity of warning all workers against being de luded by such, false reports and asks the co-operation to this end of all organized workingmen As far as actual conditions are concerned matters were never worse ln .the history of this camp. All the rich 'mines are practically worked out and although extensive prospecting Is all the time being carried on no new dls- 'coverles of value have been made. On the other hand there are hundreds here out of work; some of them I bave been Idle for twelve months, and some have worked for several months last summer and have not been paid a cent. Wages have been reduced all along the line. The reported new strikes ln the Idlterod and Squirrel River Countries have proved to be the worst kind of fizzles and anyone rush I lng to these camps will be Bure to suffer nothing but hardship for their pains. The majority at present employed are working on "bed rock'* which means that they are promised their wages after the grocer, banker arid coal man get their share: It is safe to say that not one-fourth of those at present working will ever be ___. _ paid their wages. There are enough aDor is ciiuu-j—.men u.„j e,^,, „„„„.. lmjuolJ. This Indicates that the real men at present here to do all the sum- 23s.-a week of 6G or 70 hours. In some troUble is the lack of. the necessaries of mer work that may be opened up and places there are no regulations as to |ife aiready produced by the workers anyone coming here, apart altogether the age of child workers, and little but owned by the masters through from the hardships that they are sure ones of 8 or 10 are .to be found .by the their possession of the instruments of ^^^mMmmM*BaaBm' hundred in the Southern mills working production, the workers being only al- these long hours for us, per, week. -> ■'- .,=o ihpBC\\ on condition Child labor Is one of the blackest spots on American Industrial life. "There are 40,000 boys employed selves until the police reserves arrived." Mr. Sam Gompers, speaking for the American Federation of Labor at Washington, February 10th 1909, and basing his remarks upon branch reports, said: "I am sure lt is not an exaggeration to say tbere arc now In this country and have been with very little variation since October 1907, nearly 2 million wage-earners unemployed." In The Land of The Millionaries. "The Times" (October 2nd, 1908) said: "Economic laws have tended to assert their sway until the total number of unemployed, entirely or in part, in the whole country, cannot be less than 3 to 4 millions.." The conditions of life for the work- era were recently Illustrated by the struggle at the works of the Steel Trust at Pittsburg and the tramwork- er's strike ln Philadelphia. Wc will now quote from a book written by a prominent Tariff Reform journalist and politician (the Tariff Reform candidate at Leicester at the re cent election) after personal investigation into the industrial life of America ("America at work," 1903, by John Foster Fraser.) Regarding poverty he says: "I went Into some of the poorer dls trlcts. I have seen our slums in Eng lish towns, foul and loathsome, but never quite as bad as I saw In Pitts burg. The Pittsburg slums are dread ful; the houses wheezy, unsteady, filthy. In one street I saw a lake stretched half across the way of little ands of them are obviously under 14 and 12. The employer evades responsibility by getting an affidavit from the parents that the child has passed the legal aye, and the parents, eager for an extra half dollar a week, lie readily. Children of 12 are to be found In a Pennsylvania mine, a cruel thing. "I had a long talk with Mr. Davles about the employment of children. He told me that there were lots of children under 12 working In Chicago. When I refused to believe him he took me to his office and brought out report after report of inspectors who had found children of 12 earning the poor 4 shillings a week amid the horrors of Chicago slaughterhouses. The law of Illin- lowed to use these on condition of kind of a proposition parting with the wealth they produce o work on the men already here, will be run up against the very toughest Year after year the Nome Miners' ois State is that employers shall not ir)g of severai piantB under one control, . , ,.. ~~,~i«,'. ,.i,;l,l,.ATi „„,lor 14.1,. ... .. .. i~ ««.l .l„,,lw..,li«„ parting with tne wemm u,CJ , The ever increasing amount of wealth Union has sent out similar warnings produced by the working class and the which have been disregarded with the attempt of each employing unit to Sell »»»--» cv,»t hundreds came here who to as large a number of buyers as possible, alongside of the Increasing insufficiency of the workers' wages to enable them to buy back their product causes Industrial crises, which we see are the result of the workers having done too much work. It Is also erroneous for the Tariff Reformer and Free Traders to claim that an Increase of trade means more employment In that trade. Dozens of trades could be named where the output has increased although the number of employed Is less or the same as with a smaller output. This is accomplished- by means of wages-saving devices, more perfected machinery, the splitting up of processes and speeding up; also by the marg- knowingly employ children under 14. Some of the porkpacking firms repudiate responsibility by flaunting the signed declaration in Mr. Davles' face. But Mr. Davles told me of the cases of boys obviously under the age of 14 that had been enquired into by the inspectors, quite 98 per cent, were found to be under age." The extracts that' we have given above can be supplemented, but enough have been given. Before leaving the case of America it may be as well to state the unemployment |n America ls said by Tariff Reformers to be due to extensive Immigration, but this claim recoils on those who make it, because the majority of the immigrants come from lands where Tariff Reform exists. Germany is the pet illustration of the i Tariff Reformers. We saw by means of the Berlin Sweating Exhibition in thus eliminating waste and duplication The "Daily Hail's" Special Commissioner into the "Problem of No Work," said (6. 10. '08): "Constantly, too, I have had labor-saving machinery Indicated to me as a cause of much unemployment. • * * Almost everywhere the tendency is to employ fewer hnnds and to require less technical ability. I heard an echo of this at Ful- ham. Local gasworks have been turp- ins men off for some time past. Coke can now be broken and retorts can now be emptied by machinery. Men with 20 and 30 years' references from the Gas company have been applying to the Distress Committee for a few days' digging or dirt shovelling. Anything (hat will give them a chance to to earn somthing. It is the same with a very large number of men following trades connected with the building." The policy of Free Trafes and Tariff result that hundreds came here who were obliged to undergo all kinds of sufferings and privations on account I of the lack of work; many, in fact, were sent outside at the government .expense but many more were compelled to stay here and endure all kinds of misery In this arctic climate during the winter. Everything herein stated is absolutely true and any and all who may .have been inclined to Invest their , bard-earned money in steamboat tickets to these parts would be far better .advised to stay where they are and [not allow themselves to be the victims bf the imaginative press agents of the transportation companies. Our urgent advice is to stay away. Yours fraternally, COMMITTEE LOCAL 240, W. F. M. Nome, Alaska. HOW THEY DO IT IN FRANCE. (Continued from Page 1) Idlssement. Every reason he gives, however, is an argument for Socialist jeducation rather than for proportional 'representation. From the Socialist point of view, indeed, it is sheer superstition to attach so much importance ito the mere form of election. But of this more anon, or I shall miss the not too frequent post. With the editor's permislon, I shall deal ln my next with the final results of next Sunday and with the programs and attitudes of the |various candidates; not forgetting the part played ln the present campaign by the vote of the last Chambre which raised the deputies' remuneration to 15,000 francs each per year. P. C. WATTS. 1 Paris, France. PLATFORM Socialist Party of Canada We, the Socialist Party of Canada, in convention assembled, affirm our allegiance to and support of the principles and programme of the revolutionary working class. • Labor produces all wealth, and to the producers it should belong. The present economic system is based upon capitalist ownership of the means of production, consequently all the products of labor belong to the capitalist class. The capitalist Is therefore master; tha worker a slava. So long as the capitalist class remains ln possession of the reins of government all the powers of the State will be used to protect and defend their property rights in the means of wealth production aad their control of the product of labor. The capitalist system gives to the capitalist an ever-swelling stream of profits, and to the worker an ever-Increasing measure of misery and depredation. The interest of the working class lies in the direction of setting itself free from capitalist exploitation by the abolition of tho wage system, under which is cloaked the robbery of the working class at the point of production. To accomplish this necessitates the transformation of capitalist property in the means of wealth production into collective or .working-class property. The irrepressible conflict of interests between the capitalist and the worker is rapidly culminating in a struggle for possession of the reins of government—the capitalist to hold, the worker to secure lt by political action. This is the class struggle. Therefore, we call upon all workers to organize under the banner of the Socialist Party of Canada with the object of conquering the public powers for the purpose of setting up and enforcing the economic programme of the working class, as follows: 1. The transformation, as rapidly as possible, of capitalist property In the means of wealth production (natural resources, factories, mills, railroads, etc.) Into the collective properly of the working class. 2. The democratic organization and management of industry by the workers. 3. The establishment, as speedily as possible, of production for use Instead of production for profit. The Socialist Party when in office shall'always and everywhere until the present system is abolished, make the answer to this question its guiding rule of conduct: Will this legislation advance the interests of the working class and aid the workers In their class struggle against capitalism? If lt will, the Socialist Party is for lt; if it will not, the Socialist Party is absolutely opposed to It. In accordance with this principle the Socialist Party pledges Itself to conduct all the public affairs placed ln Its hands in such a manner as to promote the interests of the working class alone. Books of all Kinds The Mistakes of Moses 50c The Riddle of the Universe 25c Merrie England 20c God and my Neighbor, Blatchford 20c Ayesha, or the Return of She, by Rider Haggard 75c Decameron Boccaccio 75c Maria Monk 75c All books sent postage paid. Send for catalog. The People's Book Store 152 Cordova St. W. Attention ! Wanted! All Socialists throughout the Dominion to subscribe for the International Socialist Review through the Manitoba Provincial Executive Com. By so doing you can kill two birds with one stone; we will get a commission for organizing pnrposes and you a magazine with the following book offer: tfl 35 Rt'ts Review 1 year and .soc book $1,50 Sf-ts Review * yenr and i oo book $i 70 K^ts Rt-vlew 1 year ntul I 50 book J2.00 gets'Review 1 year ami 2.00 book Catalogue sent on request and subs must be sent direct to W. H. Slebbiups, 316 Good St. Winnipeg. Man. Prov. Ex. DENTIST W. J. CURRY Room 501 Dominion Trust Bldg. To Canadian Socialists On account of Increased postal rates we are obliged to make the subscription price of the International Socialist Review in Canada $1.20 a year instead of $1.00. We can, however, make the following special offers: For $3.00 we will mail three copies of the Review to one Cana-" dian address for one year. For 70 cents wc will mail ten copies of any one issue. For $3.00 we will mail the Review one year and the Chicago Daily Socialist for one year. CHABLES M. KEBB ft COMPANY 13* West Kinzie St.; Chicago. TNE CAFETERIA A good place to eat 305 Cambie Street The best of everything properly cooked. Chas. Molcahey, Prop. Experienced Graduate Norse Wishes positicn in small hospital. Apply E. JOHNSTON, 358 Harris St., Vancouver, IF YOU HAVE UKRAINIAN neighbors, send for a bundle of "Rofetttchyf Narod" the organ of the Ukrainian comrades in Canada. 50 cents a year 135 Stephen St. "Winnipeg, Man. Demand Cigars Bearing this Label Which Stand* for a Living Wage Vancouver Local 357. 666 TO HOUSEKEEPERS qii you would like to spend less time in your kitchen and woodshed, and have much more time for outdoor life, recreation and pleasure, look into the question of doing your cooking with a Gas Range. Telephone yonr address to our office and we will send a man to measure your premises and give yon an estimate oi coat of installing the gac pipes, Vancouver Gas Company, Limited."""@en, "Titled The Western Clarion from June 18, 1904 to June 1, 1907; titled Western Clarion thereafter."@en ; edm:hasType "Newspapers"@en ; dcterms:spatial "Vancouver (B.C.)"@en ; dcterms:identifier "Western_Clarion_1910_05_28"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0318784"@en ; dcterms:language "English"@en ; geo:lat "49.261111"@en ; geo:long "-123.113889"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "Vancouver, B.C. : The Western Socialist Publishing Co., Limited"@en ; dcterms:rights "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the Digitization Centre: http://digitize.library.ubc.ca/"@en ; dcterms:isPartOf "BC Historical Newspapers"@en ; dcterms:source "Original Format: Royal British Columbia Museum. British Columbia Archives."@en ; dcterms:title "Western Clarion"@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; dcterms:description ""@en .