@prefix ns0: . @prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . @prefix geo: . ns0:identifierAIP "23a86f8a-2767-4988-bd4e-a1435b4efa55"@en ; edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:issued "2016-07-19"@en, "1922-10-02"@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/wclarion/items/1.0318923/source.json"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ BBSP! •>T*i00m*a\\mmmmmm*m^^ A Journal of CURRENT EVENTS Official Organ of THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF CANADA HISTORY ECONOMICS PHILOSOPHY No. 876. EIGHTEENTH YEAR Twice a Month VANCOUVER, B. C. OCTOBER 2, 1922. FIVE CENTS OIL FAMILIARITY with automobiles, motor boats, motor trucks; and vehicular traffic generally has made us acquainted with the importance of oil as a factor in everyday life. The war period has emphasized it still more in the general necessity of petroleum products for aeroplanes, tractors and ships of war. Oil—lubricating oil and fuel—has become an essential factor in peace and war. The old fashioned sailing vessel yielded place to the more efficient coal-burning steamship; the latter is now giving way to the oil-burning steamship and in some instances the oil-burning steamship is supplanted by the motor-ship. A given bulk and weight of oil will provide more heat than the same bulk and weight of coal. An oil-burning ship thus* obviously saves bunkering space over a coal-burner, and has more general carrying capacity. Added to this is the saving of labor costs for firing. Equal engine-room efficiency may be obtained by a smaller crew. Time also is a factor. An oil-burning ship of a given tonnage with a full cargo can carry enough oil fuel to suffice for the outward and return voyages both. The same ship as a coal-burner would require some sixteen bunkerings by the time she had returned to her home port. The oil-burner gives more heat for the same volume, it takes less room, it is cheaper. Thus ocean freight rates are subject to reduction and those shipping lines whicfc can secure access to oil supplies are ensured of s-uccess over those that can not. In the case of oil-burning warships, the smaller volume of fuel necessary increases their radius of action, and allows a greater gun carrying capacity. These facts are acknowledged on all hands and need no emphasizing nowadays. The importance of oil being recbgnized, however, the more readily understood will be the disputes between governments to which control of its plentiful supply gives rise. A considerable period has passed since Standard Oil agents presented free kerosene lamps to the Chinese; incidentally it may be mentioned that some two million of these lamps are now sold annually in China. The production of oil was then almost exclusively in American hands. The Standard Oil Company, by laying pipe lines and building tankers for sea and land transport, brought the producing companies under its domination as a marketing agency, and even today it is as a marketing concern that it functions chiefly, although not exclusively. The United States, according to various authoritative estimates, controls 80 per cent of the world's present output of petroleum. At the same time she is herself an enormous consumer. According to "The Manchester Guardian Commercial" (6 July 1922) she consumes over six times the amount consumed by Great Britain annually. She cannot continue to maintain her export trade in oil and supply her own needs without import. In 1921 she imported 125 million barrels of 32 gallons each, all but a fraction of which came from Mexico. Of her total consumption last year 25 per cent was imported. At the same time she exported something over 450 million barrels. Her potential supplies are limited and are estimated at seven billion barrels, which, at the present rate of consumption would last probably 20 years. While the possible exhaustion of her oil supplie. gives her anxiety, her present position as an oil producer gives her an enormous present advantage. British industry has heretofore depended upon a plentiful supply of coal; a well distributed string of coaling stations all round the world has given British merchant shipping an enormous advantage in trade, and British ships of war have been secure over all other nations' ships in fuel supply. The appearance of oil as a superior fuel in the past few years has upset this situation altogether. In December 1917 Clemenceau addressed a note to President Wilson stating that the French armies required a minimum stock of petrol of 44 thousand tons and a monthly supply of 30 thousand tons. The stoe*k then on hand had shrunk to 28 thousand tons and a failure of supply threatened to paralyse the operations of motor lorries and aeroplanes and the transport of artillery. Failure of supply, Clemenceau said, might compel the French "to a peace unfavourable to the Allies." He requested the immediate despatch of an American fleet of oil-tankers of 100,000 tons for permanent carrying use. The British fleet and armies were in a similar position. There was formed The Inter-Allied Petroleum Council which pooled all oil resources, superintended supply, distribution and consumption of all petroleum products. In the last eighteen months of the war this Council dealt with over 12 billion tons of oil supplied in the main by the Standard Oil and other American companies, Royal Dutch-Shell combine, Anglo-Persian and Anglo-Mexican oil companies. British home production was very small, being confined to Scottish shale oil distillation and tar oil substitutes for imported fuel. Oil supply is therefore essential to the conduct of modern warfare in every branch of operation on land and sea. In the years previous to the war the British commercial interests were not blind to the advantageous position of the United States concerning oil. They knew very well that in the event of war with Germany they could prevent U. S. oil supplies reaching Germany. At anyrate, the U. S. companies marketed their oil where they could. But before the war there appeared here and there at street intersections "Shell" oil supply stations. The Shell Trans port Company first took shape, not as an oil com pany but as a company trading in mother-of-pearl in the south seas. Tt gradually displayed an interest in Egyptian oil prospects and in the Straits of Mal- aca. By and by it promoted oil prospecting in North China, the Malay States, India and other places. Tt became interested in the Rumanian oil fields and acquired concessions in the Dutch East Indies. The importance of oil for fuel in merchant shipping gave rise to a general prospecting scramble around the Panama Canal zone. The Mexican Eagle Oil Company was formed in 1911, operating fields at Tampico, Gulf of Mexico. This is known as the Pearson group of interests, or the Cowdray interests, under the control of British capital. This group obtained concessions also in Costa Rica, Colombia. Venezuela and Ecuador. These were relinquished under pressure from the United States upon the states in question. The Shell Transport, however, Conducted its operations more skilfully. By introducing part of its shares on the New York market it interested American investors to the amount of nearly 25 million dollars. By forming commercial alli ances with separate American companies it secured the interest of American capitalists and now has establishments in Venezuela and Colombia, and operates from Trinidad. Besides this it has an operating interest in the United States, in California, Texas and Oklahoma. The Royal Dutch, the Netherlands oil trust also has holdings in various U. S. oil fields and in Mexico and Venezuela. Before the war this company had a working agreement with the Shell Transport, each granting to the other participation to the extent of 40 per cent, in all fields. Its main field lies in the Dutch East Indies, while it operates in Egypt also, and in Rumania and so also does Shell Transport. In the war period Allied sea power determined that it market its oil to the use of Allied governments, and after the war the wreck of German shipping resources induced it readily to enter into combination with Shell. Thus we have what is known as Royal Dutch-Shell. The magnitude of the oil operations of the Royal Dutch alone and before the merger with Shell may be realised when it is known that its fleet of oil tankers had a tonnage of 600,000. The Royal Dutch- Shell combined tonnage totals nearly 1,200,000 tons. The combined output totals approximately 15 million tons annually. The combine is in the control of British capital which controls also (as previously stated) the Mexican Eagle, besides the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and the Burmah Oil Company. The business managers are Sir Marcus Samuel and Lord Cowdray, the political director Lord Curzon and the technical adviser Sir John Cadman, the last mentioned being a Birmingham University professor. He was chairman of the Inter-Allied Petroleum Council already referred to, which dissolved after the war. The total output of these companies is small compared with the operations of the Standard Oil Company but, as we shall see, they have hopes. The United States, while being the greatest oil producer at the present time is at the same time the geatest oil consumer. British capital has acquired control of the improved fields in Central and South America, India, Ceylon, Papua, the Straits Settlements and the areas we have already specified, and in some United States territories it exercises company control. The British government controls oil bearing territories in Palestine, Mesopotamia and Persia. Attempted American penetration of these areas, whieh has been unsuccessful following upon the armistice, has led to protests by the U. S. government. The U. S. government after the world war and the part U. S. oil played in it evidently expected "the open door." At any rate some of her pressmen and politicians seem to be peeved and even surprised that the door is closed. British capital has extended its influence not alone in endeavoring to control production but in marketing oil. She has drawn under her control French financial oil interests and controls the oil supplies marketed in France, for French commercial needs and for military and naval needs also. In the "Manchester Guardian Commercial" (6 July, 1922) Sir John Cadman, whose title as technical adviser to the British Government in matters concerning oil described him at H. M. Minister or* Petroleum and whose activities as chairman of the (Continued on page 7) PAGE TWO WESTERN CLARION The Origin of the World By R. McMillan. THE BEASTS OF THE CARBONIFEROUS. CHAPTER XVII WHAT a world of romance that quotation from Edward Clodd opens up! What a lot of things I want to tell you about. He mentions the despised cockroach as being abundant; and X laugh when I remember that, if long descent counts for anything, the cockroach is among the very oldest families in the world. I remember, too, that I once bred cockroaches. My mate and I used to get bottles full of them for selection; and one promising family of young cockroaches was roasted to death on a winter's morning through my mother's i'orgetfulness. My poor mother nearly broke her heart about it; but when she saw my account of it in the paper "Dreadful Tragedy in High Life," she was able to laugh at it. I remember, also, my first meeting with the footprints of the labyrinthodont at Storeton Quarry, and my wild excitement over it; and I feel as if I ought to tell you about it. You see, I had heard all this story I am telling you now—as far as men had made it out then—and it was all new to me. I had only heard it in sections, as it were—a bit from the astronomer, a bit from the geologist, and a bit from the biologist, and so on; but I had not begun to fit all the pieces together for myself. Besides that, also, it seemed a bit'incredible, and I thought it was a good deal of a fairy story. I do not remember being what you would call incredulous, but when X lead the story for myself on the stone books as I heard it in class I was amazed; which shows that I had not expected to find such clear proofs for myself. But I found them! I had been told that "once upon a time," in the old long ago, after the carbonic acid gas had been cleaned out of the air, living things began to creep out of the water and breathe the dense air on the land. They were a long time in learning to live on the land entirely, but they had all the time they needed for development. These amphibians, as they were called, lived part of the time on land and part in the water, as the frogs and the crocodiles do today. They grew to be very large. Great frog-like animals, nearly as big as bullocks, came up out of the water, and walked on the banks of the lagoons. Their footprints hardened in the sun, and when the tide rose again the marks were filled with clay and covered up with sand. By and by the loose earth was converted into solid rock by heat and pressure. Ages and ages passed away, and all the frog-like labyrinthodonts also; and men were born and developed, and the old sandbank was lifted high in a hill; and men made a quarry in it, to get sandstone to build their houses. One day, when a block of stone was being lifted by the crane, they found a thin, very thin, layer of clay, and the print of two big hands, with five fingers on each, or rather four fingers and a thumb. It was not really a thumb, but simply a big swollen finger. The men were ignorant, and said they were the footprints of the devil, and they were sore afraid. Nobody had ever seen such footprints, but the scientific men were greatly interested in them. All scientific men of the world were aflame with excitement, and the quarry was haunted by clever men who wanted to see if there were any more footprints. And there were! They found the big ones, larger than human hands, and they found the little ones, which were the front paws of the beast, and then they found the mark of the tail in the sandstone rock on the same level. As near as I remember now, it was an English bio- . logist who/)rnamed it a eheirotherium—from two Greek words signifying a beast with a hand. Afterwards they found a tooth in a German quarry, and the biologist who examined the tooth explained what sort of a beast the tooth belonged to. He said it was an animal like a frog, but nearly the size of a tow, and he called it, from the labyrinthine marking of a tooth a labyrinthodont. When I found the footprints of that ancient beast I was delighted, and had the big stone blocks mounted in oak frames, and they were finally presented to a great museum, where they abide even unto this day. I tell you this so that you may understand that I am not dealing entirely with things that I have read out of a book. I have seen many things with my own eyes, and have spent whole days and weeks digging and delving in the stone books among the unfailing records of the early life of our dear old earth. During the Carboniferous Ages these immense animals, born in the water, took to creeping out on the land, and gradually developed lungs, so as to be able to live on land entirely. So arose a form of land life. But you see that life developed first in the water, and that accounts for human beings containing such a large amount of water in their make-1 up. R will also account for their salt tears, and the large proportion of salt in their composition, for life began in salt Avater. How wonderful it all seems, does it not ? Through the long ages there developed in the low-lying swamps a vast amount of vegetable life, chiefly ferns.' They flourished so amazingly in the steamy, hot, choking atmosphere that all the world seems to have been covered with mighty ferns. They drank the carbon generated in the sun, and that carbon, once a gas, is now.diamond and graphite (lead pencil) and coal and oil, and many other wonderful things we use today. Carbon and oxygen are the chief components of the earth, and in the Carboniferous Age they were stored up to form— along with the ferns—Avhat we call "coal" today. The curious thing about it is the number of coal seams existing today, which show the enormous number of epochs or eras, or times of deposition. Let me quote Samuel Laing in his Modern Science and Modern Thought:— "The best idea of the enormous intervals of time required for geological changes will be derived from the coal measures. These consist o«f part only of one geological formation known as the Carboniferous. They are made aip of sheets, or seams, of condensed vegetable matter, varying in thickness from less than an inch to as much as thirty feet, and lying one above the other, separated by beds of rock of various composition. As a rule every seam of coal rests upon a bed of clay, known as the 'under-clay,' and is covered by a bed of sandstone or shale. These alternations of clay, coal, and rock are often repeated a great many times, and in some sections in South Wales and Nova Scotia there are as many as eighty or one hundred seams of coal, each with its own un- derclay below, and sandstone or shale above. Some of the coal seams are as much as thirty feet thick, ?nd the total thickness of the coal measures is, in some cases, as much as 14,000 feet." That means that every "under-clay" was once a surface soil, and every foo+ of coal represents at least fifty generations of ferns—sigillaria—and that means that these seams of coal each represent a long period of time;— "Starting on the foregoing assumption that one foot of coal represents fifty generations of coal plants, and that each generation of coal plants took ten years to come to maturity, an assumption which is certainly very moderate; and taking the actually measured thickness of the coal measures in some localities at 12,000 feet, Professor Huxley calculates that the time reperesented by the coal formation alone would be six millions of years. Such a figure is, of course, only a rough approximation, but it is sufficient to show that, when we come to deal with the'geological time, the standard by which we must measure is one of which the unit is a million of years." You see, then, great scientific people all assume that the law never alters; that birth, growth, and decay were always the same; that cause and effect were always bound together, and that the uniformity of law is beyond all question. I believe that, and you may also, if your mind allows you; but I can only give you the facts on which to base your judgment. Let me tell you of one of the beautiful forms Avhich began in the Carboniferous Age and developed into wondrously ornamental forms and. tre- "mendous sizes in later ages. I mean the ammonite. I have seen tiny ones, as small as waistcoat buttons, and I have seen giant ones as big as a cart wheel; but they have all disappeared from off the face of the earth as living forms. We find only their fossils in the stone books today! Next Lesson: BIRDS AND BEASTS. Education in Filmland THERE Avas recently shown in Rochester, N.Y., a picture illustrating the process by which modern manufacturers turn out soap. The picture shows a vast mass of machinery that performs every process from the mixing of the formula in the great vats to the final packing of the finished product. Seven people are employed, three of whom are Avomen, from the chemist in the laboratory who makes the tests to the men who finally handle the packed product. Twenty-five years ago the same volume of production would have furnished employment for thousands of men. Here in our town, where the old Erie canal is being converted into a subAvay, the bridges are lined with idle men watching the automatic diggers and shovels doing the work, which, when the canal was originally dug, employed thousands of men with picks and shovels. Capitalist development has reached a stage where practically automatic machinery has displaced labor in most of the productive processes but which at the some time turns out commodities in a volume for which the purchasing power of the workers limited by their Avages, and the purchasing power of the capitalists limited by their powers of consumption, fails to furnish sufficient markets. As a result industrial crises ensue. These crises, increasing in frequency, involving greater numbers and extending over larger territories present a problem of unemployment which has become not only national but international. The development of machinery and the consequent education of the workers have been two of the great historical functions of capitalism. During the period of development masses of skilled labor were absorbed but now that machinery is approaching its automatic stage the highly skilled labor that was formerly necessary is being rapidly replaced by cheaper unskilled labor and that largely of women and children. The whole trend of capitalist production today is to crowd the skilled mechanic into the class of the unskilled, and the unskilled into the class of the unemployed. The report of Dr. Michelis, Italian commissioner of emigration, is a good illustration of the unemployment problem in the various countries of the world. For any political group to assume that they can control these economic conditions through legislation is simply taking advantage of them to play politics to the detriment of the workers. KATHERINE SMITH. r-sto***ata-**--*-siei-*aissf'MMM rusaji'lBi tmt**}'***. & >. **?***» WESTERN CLARION PAGE THREE Poincare's Moratorium \\\\ PREMIER Poincare has pointed the difference existing between Britain and France, and if there has been no rupture it would require the eye of spiritual discernment to discover an Entente in an agreement which disagrees with its basic principle. However, economic reality will out, and if the European prospect is neither peaceful nor fraught with the portents of peace, it is, at least, hopeful with the virility of necessity. A moratorium, commonly understood, is an agreement to defer payments until a more convenient season. It is, in effect, post-dating matured claims. But in French policy it means confiscation. For in return for the moratorium, France wants "guarantees"—control of German finance and customs frontier on the Rhine; special levy on Rhine coad; 25% share (Allied) in German industries and control of state mines and forests. Those "pledges" would seem to be a dodge to retain the upper hand in Europe; as such they bring France in direct conflict with British interest. By the Versailles Treaty, Belgium has first claim, and France the largest share in German reparations. That is why France and Belgium always act in concert. Since France, acting on treaty rights, incidentally supports Belgium interest. But the same treaty calls for Allied action in German affairs. That is why the treaty in exactitude becomes a treaty in delapidation—Allied action is never harmonious because Allied interest is never mutual. An Imperialist treaty naturally means Imperialist poAver. And Imperialist power is destroying every democratic element in Europe. It marches the proletariat in a dance of death, through the confusions and antagonisms of its own productive forces. The London Conference could hardly be expected to award such sweeping "guarantees" since in effect they would 'guarantee' Germany as a French dependency; and secure France in her aim of European hegemony. If the control of German finance and customs is to be effective, it must be controlled in the interest of France, if it is to be profitable, by a France supreme—at least in Europe. But a France supreme in Europe is a France in conflict Avith Britain and a French control of German resource is a French barrier to British commerce. If there is to be a quarter share in German industry— with the Horn's share probably going to France— there will be trouble in that arrangement for France, but it will mean more than trouble for Britain, while the levies on coal and the Rhenish customs, according to Belgium, interfere with Belgian trade, and turn its flow from Antwerp to Rotterdam. Hence the policy of "watchful waiting" is a policy of Avatching disaster, and may be brought to an abrupt termination by a fateful upheaval. It is this inherent conflict of interest which causes the awesome see-saw of European events and drives the two remaining European Great Powers in their desperate straits of rivalry. An industrial Britain could view with equanimity, the delimitation of an industrial Germany; but a commercial Britain cannot remain passive when that delimitation rudely blots out the whole of the European market. A Britain whose national traditions could curb the aspirations of an aggressive competitor was forced to relinquish its victim by a Britain whose Imperialism stretched to the ends of the earth. France, faced with the ruin of war and stagnation of peace, strives for redemption in the very terms Avhich brought about her ruin, seeing only in the general decay of Capital the particular destruction of French finance. In Britain the expediency of the Entente may be specific and alluring- but the expediency of commerce is more instant and commanding. The hostages of war may be very willing; but the spirit of profit is all compelling. In France the fear of isolation may be great, but the fear of bankruptcy is still greater. If the Entente is regarded with favor, it is inspired with greed of gain; and if the gain fails to materiali?.; its materialisation will assuredly I e attempted by other means. If France, for the salvage of her bonis, could make overtures to Soviet Russia, the same France, for its very existence, can make advan' s to its quondam foe. True Avartime acts and jrro testations, deportations, confiscation, black troops, military insolence, national hate- perhaps even Soviet Russia—may be all against it. But public memory is short, an.! dire need is cosmopolitan. And the expression of big interests is moving the idealist coteries. The salvation if France does not lie in reaction t Britain. Britain may extend that hope, but it is the sprat to catch the mackerel, lt is for salvaging of British Imperialism, an Imeprialism which cannot fail to check, to vitiate, to nullify every interest of France. Acting alone against Germany, France would reap a titter harvest of disillusionment; in concert with Britain, as bitter disapointment. But in a Franco-German collusion France might, by the same stro'-o, achieve temporary success and hamper her final enmy—Soviet Russia, Avhile Germany might partially recover her commercial life, and political unity, and save her democracy from the rude hands of the "Red East." Thr- coal of the Bhine at. 1 the iron of Briey Avere in concord during the war; hy not to preserve the peace of profit? If the indiu ry of Silesia and the wealth of the German state is » be exploited, what else should it do. than revivify the leashed life of Austria and strengthen thc neAv "democracies" of middle Europe? And though Britain proved the German export duty a vain and costly thing, it does not follow that in the French rendering it should prove simibr. Indeed with German technique and French p(hcy, the situation (or the solution) is quite different— and need not involve, either customs or duties. In point of fact, with the dissolution of the London Conference, Europe has taken a decisive step forward and" has entered thc second phase of the Revolution. If we throw aside the probability of Avar betAveen France and Britain for tlie destii/ ' Europe, then we have a Britain whose prosperity requires a Germany restored on the i.ormal comity of trade, a Prance seeing her national decline in such restoration; and a Germany--and with Germany, Europe, commercially and socially mangled in the callous rivalry for control. Such a situation can hardly be of long duration. It is not a moment of morality; it is a question of power. Self centred in the continent of Europe: Avith Avide political influence: Avith an efficient military regime: with necessitous Europe for a market and necessitous Germany for a bargain counter; with a dangerous Communism in the East and a dangerous Imperialism in the West, there is plenty of indication of a "union of convenience" betAveen the commercial Republic of Germany and the financial oligarchs of France. BetAveen Britain and France there is variance on all points: on industrial reconstruction; on commercial restoration; on German Reparations, on Soviet trade; on Eastern oil; on debt repayment, even on the mandates and treaties of the war. But the situation is so complex r• Wi upJf, «■ ,-.*.. WESTERN CLARION PAGE FIVE The Farmer s Forum Editor's note: We present comrade Tyler's view of the farmer's status as a producer here as of interest itqj farmers in general. The Socialist movement in this country has shewn an interest in the farmer question—with particular reference to the position of the small farmer—for many years, and this interest has been manifested in the ■columns of the Western Clarion tune and again in articles which have attempted to analyse the farmer's position from the standpoint of Socialist doctrines and principles. That position can be understood, not by a cursory examination of ithe small farmer's position in general—that in general he is always working, and always poor, from which it has been at times deduced that he is to be classed as a wage worker and is exploited at the point of production— but by a thorough study of his status as a small producer in legal ownership of his land and at times employing wage- labor on that land. His position has never been better stated in brief spacfc than by "Geordie" in the Western Clarion of April lftth 1921. If our readers are now prompted to study the viewpoint there presented and to follow .up the references made, they will have taken definite steps ito a clear understanding of the position of the small fanner in relation to the bigger producer and 'to the world of industry in general. Comrade Tyler's figures may be better understood by then—for instance in the maitter of costs per acre of cultivated land. In addition to that, the position of disadvantage of the small farmer as against the bigger producers in marketing his product and the relation they both bear to transportation companies and the like may be understood also. _ Does Farming Pay? GREAT Avas the consternation of the apologists of the ruling class, Avhen they received the latest American census figures. For the first time in American history, the toAvnspeople outnumber the farmers. The drift is towards the city. Over 51.9 per cent of the population live in tOAvns having a population of 2500 or more and 48.1 in rural terrjtpry. Since 1910, the population of the country as a Avhole increased 14.9 per cent. From these figures, it Avould appear that quite a large number of farmers are becoming city thvellers. What are the causes for this somewhat surprising migration? In the first place, let us see whether fanning pays. It is a matter of eommon knoAvledge to those acquainted with farming conditions that cash earnings among farmers is small, so small as to be unbelievable to the city dwellers Avhose knoAvledge of farming consists of that gained from the stories of the huge profits to be made from a feAV hens, an acre of ground and the exhilarating atmosphere of the country. Detailed studies made by the U. S. Department of Agriculture on 8,710 farms located in twenty representative districts, Avidely scattered, during the period from 1910-1918 sIioav that there Avere more districts in Avhich the lahor income averaged less than $500 per year than there Avere districts Avhere it averaged above this amount, ln view of the fact that these areas were chosen because they Avere representative of specific types of farming, and further, that many of these studies Avere conducted for a series of years on the same farms, it is safe to say that they fairly represent the average income. Farming docs not pay in so far as the small fanner is concerned. Of course when the small farm is located near a huge city, conditions are vastly different. We must realize that according to most authorities on the subject, the small farm is usually •conducted at a loss. Even some of the so-called large farms are actually run at a loss. I was fortunate enough to be able to examine the records of one of the best conducted farms in the State of Michigan, a farm operated by experts, a farm that Avas considered as "the farm." This farm was run at a loss. Of course, I do not wish to imply that such is the case with all large farms. It can, hoAvever, be safely asserted that this was an exception. What I wish to bring out is that even large farms are sometimes operated at a loss. The following figures were secured from the dean of the Michigan Agricultural College. These figures show that the small farmer cannot successfully compete with the large farmer. Labor cost per acre. 30 acres or less 19.90 31-60 acres 8.10 61-100 acres 5.60 101-150 acres 4.24 151-200 acres 3.92 over 200 acres 3.33 Moreover, according to Ellis Rumley in his book entitled "PoAver and the PIoav," it costs a farmer approximately twice as much to work an acre of land with a team of horses than with a tractor. The gas tractor travels two miles per hour and there are machines today that plow as much as 70 acres in ten hours and only require two men, a boy, a team of horses and some gasoline. *] The use of the tractor and other expensive machinery, means that the small farmer cannot compete successfully with his larger rivals. Every new machine that is invented,intensifies this competition as it increases the amount of production per individual. With machine methods of production it is possible to produce all the agricultural products that the present restricted market can absorb on much less land than now under cultivation. As A. M. Simons, so well points out in his "American Farmer": "Thus the pressure must become ever harder and harder upon the small, poorly equipped farm. There will come years of prosperity for certain sections Avhen crops have been ruined in other localities, and there will be times Avhen market fluctuations will relieve pressure for a period. But so long as the amount of land is far in excess of the demand for commodities, there will be a constant tendency to crush the "unfit." Competition always levels doAvn, never up. The farm or factory that places its products upon the market at the lowest price is destined to survive and-thrive, and it is immaterial Avhether that cheapness be the result of improved methods of production, as on the machine equipped, intensively and scientifically operated farm, or whether it is the result of the acceptance of a loAver standard of life on the part of laborers, tenants or OAvners.'' We must also take into consideration the fact that the value of food products is determined like all other commodities by the average total world production. An American farmer has not only to f ear the competition of the farmers of Argentina but the competition of the Indian wheat groAvers Avith their very Ioav standard of living. No wonder the American farmers are demanding an embargo on Avheat. Is it any wonder why the small farmer is compelled to enter the industrial slaVe pens ? The folloAving clippings culled from a Detroit newspaper recently are fair examples of what the American farmer has to face, Chicago, Jan. 5. "Assertions that Argentina Avas offering wheat to Germany at 15c to 20c cheaper than U. S. wheat could be obtained had a bearish influence today on the Avheat market here. Prices closed nervous at 31/- to 4% net lower with March $1.89% lo $1.69% and May $1.64 to $1.64y4." London, Jan. 15: "Australia has had a record harvest says a dispatch from Sydney to the Daily Telegraph today. NeAv South Wales, alone, it is estimated, has a Avheat crop of 55,000,000 bushels of which 46,000,000 will be available for export." Even the famine, terrible as it is aids the American farmer. It is really to the advantage of the American farmer to have this famine continue as Avitness the folloAving dispatch. Chicago, July 29: "Reports that the famine in the Volga Valley of Russia had been relieved caused a slump in the early hours of trading but continued buying by the exporters rallied prices at the close." So great is the fear of foreign competition that American farmers are demanding an embargo on all incoming food products. According to John M. Glenn, president of the 111. Mfg. Assn. the farmer Avants to be protected from importation of Canadian wheat and this, of course, Avould mean he would get a higher price for his grain. All over the country, farmers of alt1 descriptions, cotton groAvers, tobacco growers, etc., are demanding the enactment of legislation favorable to their interests. Most of them realize that a further reduction of prices would spell their ruin. A number of them afflicted with anarchistic tendencies have organized themselves into bands of night raiders and tar and feather those who sell their crops lower than a stipulated price. But if farming does not pay, Avhy do so many persist in remaining on the farm? Yes, it is true that a large number manage to get "by"—Avorking the land with their wives and children but their position need occasion no envy on the part of the average industrial Avage Avorker. JOHN TYLER. OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURISTS. THE folloAving neAvs item appeared in the "Dauphin Progress" (Manitoba) August 25th. We present it here as of interest to agricultural workers generally and to those Avho have studied and observed the development of farm machinery in recent years. The success of such a machine as this in regular operation would obviously turn many thousands of seasonal agricultural workers adrift and further accentuate the unemployed problem. # # # # A party of men from Winnipeg, and Smith's Falls, Out., representing all the leading manufacturers- of harvesting machinery, are in Dauphin today as critical spectators of the demonstration on R. Cruize's farm, of the Clement Stooker.—the last link in the chain of appliances for economical handling of wheat from seed bin to mill by machinery. It is a far cry from the time Avhen the grain was broadcasted by hand, cut with a cradle, threshed with a flail, winnowed, bagged and carried to the mill in sacks, though many men iioav living have seen the development of the Avhole present system. Labor-saving machinery has taken the place of manual labor in every operation but one, making it possible for one man today to produce more Avheat than twenty men could produce fifty years ago. The seeder, cultivator, binder, thresher, high bagger, grain tank, and elevator system have all contributed to this end, but the operation of stroking by hand, necessitating as it does the annual importation of scores of thousands of transient laborers over thousands of miles of country, has always been the missing link in the chain of economical operations, the elimination of which would have almost as great an effect on the grain growing industry as did the first self binder. Many attempts have been made by inventors to fill the gap and during the past, twenty years, several machines have actually been placed on the market. The present machine, which is the first really successful one, is the invention of Lou J. Clement, an old-time farmer and implement man, but who has been for some years past employed in the Canadian National Railway shops at Dauphin. For more than twelve years, since be first obtained his basic patents, which insured the success of the machine, Mr. Clement lias been improving details and eliminating objectionable features, until today the machine answers every test, and can be put into the hands of the farmer with the assurance that it will put up a field of slooks that will stay put as long as necessary Avithout any manual intervention Avbatever. The machine, which is attached to a standard binder in place of the usual bundle carrier, requires no extra horses, and is handled by the driver Avithout trouble, so that Avhen the binder leaves the field after cutting' the grain remains untouched until threshing. The sheaves are placed on the ground in such a manner tbat tbe resulting stook stands firmer than the average hand built one, and the means by which this is accomplished, is the most important feature in Mr. Clement's machine, and the one which ensures its success in practical work iu the harvest field. »">/:*-j*Wlfcw/-4*r *a*m0m PAGE SIX WESTERN CLARION Concerning Value BY "GEORDIE" THE FUNCTION OF THE THEORY. FROM the consideration just set forth it would seem that the question now confronting us may he formulated something as follows:— What reason, if any, have we for saying that "Value is the cause of Price?": if so, "What is the mechanism by which value makes itself effective?'': if not, "What is the function of the Theory of Value?" If we take the market for any given commodity at any given moment we shall find that the supply of that commodity is for the time being a fixed quantity. Noav, it is the business of the seller to sell; they will sell if they can and in many eases must sell. The goods, therefore, Avill be sold and at such a price as Avill make the demand equal the supply. That is to say at a price Avhich Avill find purchasers for all the goods. We may observe in passing the influence of price in the determination of demand, 'if the price should rule so low as to -cause a withdraAval of goods from the market this would shoAV the influence of price on supply. In any case supply would equal demand. Noav this price is clearly arrived at Avithout reference to the value or to the cost or' production of the goods and this fact has given rise to the statement, first made by Bastiat, I believe, that "labor, once expended, can have no further influence on the commodities." The goods, when once exposed for sale are at the mercy of the market. The production and sale of commodities is, however, a continuous process. If the goods are removed from the market by purchase others must take their places, and the price which is realized must be such as to alloAV of a continuous Aoav into the market. That is to say the price must, on the average, cover the cost of production of the goods. On these grounds it was argued that Exchange- Value Avas determined by Cost of Production. Jt was also held that the average of prices over a long time Avould conform to the cost of production. It is a fact, however, that any change in the cost of production of any commodity (caused by the use of machinery or in any other way) Avould affect the market prices of all the commodities of that kind in the market no matter Avhat their cost of produc tion might be. This fact, together with the objection I have just mentioned, gave rise to the theory that Exchange-Value was determined not by Cost of Production but by Cost of Reproduction. This distinction, however, is merely verbal for, while it is true that at any given time the cost of production of any given commodity may vary iu magnitude from its cost of reproduction, if avc look at the process of production in its continuity it will be seen that the cost of production and the cost of reproduction are really the same thing. What does emerge from these considerations is the fact that a long time average of market prices does not necessarily indicate the cost of production of any commodity. In any event it is mere tautology to say that Cost of Production determines Price, seeing that Cost of Production is itself merely an addition of prices plus, of course, the average rate of profit. The Avhole question has been finally settled, so far as this point is concerned, by the statement, which is generally conceded, that the market prices of freely produced commodities will, in the long run, tend to coincide with their respective costs of production. There is a tendency in certain quarters to revive this cost of reproduction theory and it appears to me that this arises from the loose Avay in which the phrase "cost of production" is-used hy some Marxists. It is, of course, permissible to use the term "social cost of production" but that is only another name for Value. On the other hand the phrase "cost of production" simply means what the Classical School meant by that term and is the same as Marx's price of production." This statement may be disputed as for instance:— "A close examination will show . . . that the Marxian cost of production, which forms a part of the price of production, is determined by its value according to the labor theory of value, whereas the ordinary theory of cost of production has no such determining element." I*. B. Boudin, Theoretical System of Karl Marx. p. 141 Now, this statement is expressly contradicted hy Marx himself both directly and by implication and, in any case, it is absurd. A "price of production" could not be so constructed and if it could it would be of no use. As a matter of fact prices are determined by the conditions of the market and tend, in the long run, to conform to price of production which is itself a fact of the market. That is, for competitively produced goods. Commodities produced under monopoly conditions are, of course, subject to the law of monopoly prices. In this latter connection it Avould be safe to say that 90% of manufactured goods are produced under monopoly eonditions. Yes, I know, there is no such thing as a complete monopoly. Such a thing is almost as rare as complete competition. It does not appear that there is any mechanism by means of which Value can make itself effective in the market. The price of production however includes as one of its elements the average rate of profit. The average rate of profit arises as a pro rata dis>- tribution of the total profit among the various capitals employed in production'. The total profit (including rent and interest) equals the total surplus value, and this again is a part of the total value produced by labor. This, however, is a fact of general significance. Prices cannot be explained by reference to the Theory of Value. They are to be accounted for by the laws of the market. What then is thc function of the Theory of Value? The function of the Theory of Value is to act as the basis of the Theory of Surplus Value. These two, as a matter of fact, go together. The Theory of Value is a very subtle, very profound and very elaborate way of saying that labor creates all values. If labor creates all values then it creates all surplus values. As Mr. Boudin very correctly remarks:— "The 'cumbrous apparatus' of the Marxian theory of value and surplus value was necessary in order to attain the principal object of the science of political economy, the discovery of the laws governing! the production and distribution of profits in the capitalist system." (Theoretical System p. 141) The function and the effect of the Marxian Theory of Value is to convict the capitalist system of exploitation of the Avorking class. The fact that it does so proves it. Social Confusion SOCIAL confusion, like commodity production, seems to be on the increase. Just as every new invention of machinery for producing commodities adds to the productive capacity of the Avorkers and hence to thc mass of social wealth turned out by them in a given period of time, so does the same invention seem to add to the mass of confusion prevailing in the minds of the members of present day society. The vast, changes in the technique of Avealth production rip and rend the settled communities into which they are introduced, and scatter to the fore- winds many of those who have fondly imagined that they Avere settled for life among those with whom they had lived for many years, and probably among Avhom they Avere born. Under the capitalist mode of production, goods are produced in the form of commodities, that is, they are produced primarily for sale. These goods must have a use-value ere they can have an exchange-value. So likeAvise is it Avith the energy and skill of the productive enterprise of the worker, whieh, like the basic method of production under the present system, takes on a commodity form. It must have a use-value ere it can have an exchange- value. That is, it must be of some use to those that buy it, ere it can be sold. Here comes the rub. This usd-value is not to be measured by the needs of society. Failure to grasp this fact is one of the big items tending toAvards the social confusion now pre- cailing. The ignorance here displayed is the root cause of all the bunk we hear'of justice, right, etc. Rather must its use-value be measured by the requirements of eapital, and this is something very different indeed, from that of social need. Capitalism is a competitive system, and its prime motive is profit. Without profit no capitalist will (or could for long), produce commodities. Under a competitive system he who produces the cheapest lives longest, and as each capitalist Avishes to stay in existence—not as a worker, but as a capitalist— he is forced to produce as cheaply as possible. This means the introduction of labor-saving machinery and the cutting down of the labor-time necessary for the production of commodities, for commodities as a Avhole exchange in the proportion to the labor- time embodied in them. When a community grows up around a given industry, it necessarily follows that in times of crises arising from over-production the workers engaged in that form of production must be affected by anything that stops production along that line. At such times we see a huge emigration of laborers seeking some other outlet for their productive activity. Why is this? It has been pointed out above that the introduction of machinery continually forces more and more workers into the ranks of the unemployed. In other words the use-value of any given line of skill steadily travels along its magnetic line until it be comes useless, and therefore of no value. Along with the annihilation of its use-value goes its exchange-value. The wages received by the worker are the price of his commodity which he sells to his boss for given stated periods of time. This price Avhich, on the average, corresponds to its value, is sufficient to keep the worker in good laboring condition from day to day just so long as the capitalist can use him. In other words, what the Avorker receives in the form of wages is just sufficient to bring him back to Avork Monday morning to start on another week of arduous toil. This explains why they emigrate in times of slackness. They do so in order to gain the Avherewithal to fill the larder. The introduction of oil burning machinery has played havoc with king coal's domain. Newer and better methods of ocean transportation have invaded the shipbuilding line. In fact, in all lines of industrial enterprise the result of the machine has been the same. It has accelerated the productive activity of mankind; it has brought periodical crises, arising from over-production, to an acute point; it has heightened the antagonism of private ownership and social production, and it forces more and more producers into the ranks of the unemployed. It scatters them around and keeps them on the move. Thus it breaks down the industrial unions which it creates, and it creates confusion and strife in the same magnitude. In a like magnitude it also creates the receptive mind that is open for newer doctrines other than those which capitalism carefully nurtur- (Continued on page 7) WESTERN CLARION PAGE SEVEN The Practice of Darwinism UT?' r kOR most men the truth or untruth of Darwin's theory of man's origin only comes within the range of their speculative thoughts, but for all Avho are investigating the problems of living matter Darwinism enters into their daily work. They depend on it, trust it as implicitly as a navigator does his admiralty charts. This is particularly the case with professional students of the human body who, as is the case with the Avriter, have to discover and to impart knoAvledge to generations of medical students. The reader will understand this aspect of Darwinism if J, give a few illustrative instances," writes Sir Arthur Keith in the '' Nineteenth Century.'' Study of Embryology. "Every one is familiar with the fact that children are occasionally born Avith thc condition of "hare-lip"; in the complete form a cleft proceeds downward from each nostril, dividing the upper lip into three parts. The surgeon can mend the deformity by operation but the aim of the anatomist is to discover why such a malformation should occur and, if possible, propose means to prevent its occurrence. For help he turns to embryology and finds that toward the end of the second month of development the upper lip is formed by the union or fusion of three structural elements. . If union fails the condition known as "hare-lip" results. He has then to answer the question, Avhy should tho human lip be originally cleft in three parts? "A suggestion is given as to the direction in which a search should be made by the simultaneous changes taking place in the neck of the embryo; gill furrows are then disappearing. A search among living fishes shows that in one type, which has retained many old and primitive characters, the upper lip, is divided into three parts by a cleft descending to the mouth from each, nasal opening. "ITare-lip" represents the persistence of an evolutionary change which occurred long ago at a very distant stage of man's history. "At the present time investigators are entering the second part of this problem and are seeking an ansAver to the question: "Why should this stage occasionally persist?" Another puzzling occurrence Avas solved in a similar manner. Some children are born Avith congenital malformation of the heart, by far the commonest form being the interpolation of ' a- small additional chamber on the right side of the heart. A study of the development of this organ in the human embryo has revealed the presence of an extra chamber, which in normal circumstances becomes gradually merged into and absorbed by thc right ventricle. The extra chamber, which makes a transient appearance in the human heart, persists as an active structure in the hearts of sharks and rays. How are Ave to explain the occurrence of this fourth chamber in the heart of thc human embryo and its occasionaly retention in the child unless avc accept the validity of the DarAvinism theory? "We may take another instance from a discovery recently made by Professor Dendy of King's College, London. He found that certain remarkable fibres which pass along the spinal cord of fishes arose in connection with a peculiar plaque of cells situated in a passage of the brain. He naturally wished to knoAv what had become of this plaque and its fibre during the evolution of higher vertebrates. He was able to demonstrate that even in the brain of man a rudiment of the plaque is still preserved, although no one had noted its presence before. Guides to New Facts. "DarAvin's theory is an engine of discovery; it guides men to the observation of new facts. For the brain surgeon Darwin's teaching is not a theory but a basis of practice. He has found by experience that knowledge gained from a study of the brain of anthropoid apes can be directly applied when operating on the brain of a child or of a man. Physiologists have found that the "functional areas" Avhich exist in the brain of anthropoid apes are represented—and are often elicited by disease or as the result of accidental injury—on corresponding convolutions of the human brain. The correspondence becomes less as we descend the ape scale. Again, when a peculiarly human disease has to be investigated it is found that of all living animals only the anthropoid apes show a high degree of susceptibility to human disease. "When the chimpanzee is kept in confinement it becomes the subject of that peculiarly human affliction appendicitis. Nearly tAventy years ago Professor Nuttall of Cambridge showed that the blood of anthropoid apes is most akin to human blood in its actions. Whatever may be the view of Darwin's theory in popular imagination, there can be no doubt of the strength with which it has become established in the minds of men who are adding yearly to our knowledge of the structure and function of tho human body. His contention that man can not be regarded as having arisen as an. independent creation may assuredly be taken as fully proved. But when we are asked to explain the exact nature of the evolutionary machinery which has shaped human beings out of apelike forms Ave have still to admit— an admission which Darwin insisted on in all his writings—that Ave have much to discover. New Light on Evolution. "It is true that no one has succeeded in producing a new species—one which has been proved to be incapable of breeding with tbe parent species—but he would be a bold prophet Avho declared that this was nature's secret and man would never find it out. One discovery of recent years, the discovery thai the development and growth of all parts of the body are regulated and co-ordinated by a "hormone" mechanism, is likely to throw a new light on the manner in which new and useful characters come into existence. Hormones are substances throAvn into the circulating blood by the ductless glands of the body. In our hospitals medical men are now investigating the remarkable transformations of body and mind which folloAV disorders of the ductless glands. A fuller knoAvledge of the action of hormones can not fail to throAv a neAv light on the machinery of evolution." OIL. (Continued from page 1) Inter-Allied Petroleum Council have already been referred to had this to say of criticism levelled against British oil grabbing policies:— "I have had to listen to, and do what I could to counteract, a lot of wild talk on this subject in the United IStaites, and the gist of it was that we in this country were the first of a vast cons-piracy to shut Americans out from the remaining oil fields of the world. The main heads of the indictment against us, so far as I could make out, were (1) that we had made the San Remo agreement with France with very little regard for American interests; (2) that in the mandate territories, particularly in Mesopotamia, we clearly intended to keep in our own hands whatever oil might be discovered; (3) that the British Government had itself entered the oil business and was responsible for the extremely enterprising activities of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company; (4) that several of the self- governing Dominions had-placed an embargo on the development of their petroleum deposits by non-British subjects; and (5) that while this policy of barring out was being followed in the near East and throughout the Empire, British companies were acquiring oil concessions in Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ecuador, Niacaragua, and so on— countries which Americans had come to look upon as being exclusively within their own sphere of commercial influence." Now it was not intended that this article should run to this length and our story is not all told yet. So we had better let this suffice for the time and take it up again next issue. E.M. SOCIAL CONFUSION (Continued from page 6) ed in their minds during childhood and youth. It is this capitalistic education that is the prime cause of the social confusion prevailing. The mass of society is left in total ignorance of any constructive knoAvledge of the laws operating in capitalism. Hence the product of the destructive social phenomena and a social mind left in utter ignorance of such can only result in confusion. Thus Ave have it. The driving force of the machine—Avhich has brought into being social production—on the one hand, and an individualistic, reactionary ideology arising out of the teachings that are to the interest of the individual form of ownership hoav prevailing on the other. Coir duty is plain in recognition of these facts. We must accelerate the work of the machine by eliminating the individualistic mode of thought among as many of its victims as Ave can. In the meantime our advice is, step in and do- something other than merely uttering pet phrases. Eliminate the confusion in your oavii brain and then go forth as a good specialist and begin the process of confounding the confusion existing in the minds of others. J. C. POINCARE'S MORATORIUM. (Continued from page 3) "upsurge of the intelligence" of the West, or until .in issue may be forced upon her necessitous waiting. Humanly speaking, "intelligent comprehension" may he a sIoav process. Man,—even in the age of steel and jazz—resists innovation as stubbornly as his ancestors of the prime. But "an issue" may fall upon us like a bolt, from the blue. Hoav far the spirit of Communism extends in Europe, I cannot say. But I do say that the conservatism that can be patient and long suffering in the red Avilderness of modern Europe can be moved to the example of Communism only when the pressure of circumstances leaves it no other opening; only when the force of events has stripped it of its fateful illusions of liberty; and its hope in the "sacred" institutions of political democracy has been detroyed in the iron rivalries of competing Imperialisms. Primarily, therefor, movement is in the hands of the master class. Unfortunately. For our masters may blunder, and we shall suffer for their blunder- ings. The exigencies of class needs and ambitions shall force conclusions—considerate, if given time, hut precipitate if occasion serves. That is thc danger—or the hope in the European situation, aud in due time it shall motivate our apathy. If the ethic of "have" calls forth the jimver to hold, it would stem obvious that the need of "must" would indicate the force to take. Hut forceful or not, or direct or not, is not our concern. The most avc can do is to try to exercise the substance of class confusion, to preach the gospel of "understanding;" to Avalk, not fearfully but knowingly, through the tangled revisionism of time aud party; and to prepare to the utmost possibility, to recognise and grasp, When it comes—as it will come—the crucial opportunity Avhen moving circumstance shall transform thc crisis of class need, into the foot-stool of social humanity. R. ECONOMIC CAUSES OF WAR By PETER T. LECKIE. NOW READY. Preface by tht author. 132 PAGES. Per Copy, 16 Cents. Ten oopies np, 10 eenta each. Port Paid. PAGE EIGHT WESTERN CLARION I; ■ The Clarion Mail Bag BY SID EARP THE revolutionary movement in Canada is very quiet these days. It may be that the prospect of another Avorld war in which the working class again will attempt to annihilate itself on behalf of interests utterly opposed to it, has had a depressing effect upon the correspondents of the "Western Clarion," or perhaps they are busy Avorking for that slender stake upon which they hope to exist through the coming winter. AnyAvay their ink has dried up and their Avriting paper has played out, except in the case of a few loyal hearts to whom may fortune come with bright smiles. Comrade Ashton of the Winnipeg Local writes Avith a vieAv to getting in touch with Jack McDonald and Sam James sends in a reneAval of his "Clarion" sub. We hold the opinion that the city of Winnipeg is capable of being made a centre of Marxian thought and revolutionary activity without equal on the' North American continent. We urge all comrades to Avork Avith this object in vieAv; to build up a movement that Avill be a force to be reckoned Avith by the opponents of a revolutionary Avorking class. As an intelligent, constructive task, Capitalism offers nothing finer, or with greater scope than to work for its abolition. To the revolutionist comes that real joy of life and labor, Avhich the development of the mighty machine has all but stifled in the mind of man. From Alberta a few letters have been received including one from a farmer comrade in Mayen- thorpe. He speaks of the hard struggle to live and sends a renewal of his sub. A comrade writes from New Lindsay renewing "Clarion" sub and expressing best wishes for the success and furtherance of their efforts to those Avho make the paper so educative and enjoyable. F. Cusack sends a bright letter giving & few impressions of the slave and slave minds that he meets on and off the job. He says he Avill consider himself a greater hero than O'Leary, V.C., if he is able to stick it until Oct. 1st. A comrade in Salmon Arm, B. C. Avrites for "Two Essays on History," and "Evolution of Man" Avhich have been forwarded. Writing from Vernon, B. C. Comrade AndreAVS expresses dissappointment- that the mail has come in without his "Clarion." He Avants to get every copy as he is keeping them on file for future reading. He considers the article "Leaving Home" to be very good and should be a great lesson to all slaves. A cheering letter comes from James Island containing two subs, and expressing much pleasure Avith Com. Lestor's articles on "Rebelology," also the "-Mail Bag Articles." Wm. Braes sends a short note from Cumberland with two dollar subs. P. Danluck notifies us of change of address to Read Bay, B. C. Avhere his paper will be sent. G. Dart Avrites from Sardis, enclosing a sub and one dollar to the Maintenance Fund. Subs also co™ from Allenby and Westminster. Com. Herman writes from Victoria, in which he expresses the hope that the Local there Avill become more active this winter, lie sends subs for himself and McGregor. We should like to hear more neAvs from Victoria. John Kirchnian sends notice of change of address to Burke, Idaho. An or>- der for various literature has been received from Sydney, Australia. Local Vancouver is not having such big meetings as in previous years but an improvement is expected from noAv on. The recent war scare brought many people to the Sunday night meetings at the Star Theatre, who have been absent for a long time. Tavo exceptionally fine lectures were delivered by Comrades Harrington and Pritchard. Charles Lestor speaks every night weather permitting, at his old stand on the corner of Carrall and Cordova St. An effort will be made to arrange for the usual study classes in the Headquarters. All local supporters are invited to attend the next business meeting, Tuesday Oct. 3rd at 8 o'clock, 163 Hastings St., West, room 12. A WAR OF RESTITUTION. All the wealth the capitalist class possesses has been produced by the working class. In taking it the working class Avould but be taking it back. Wealth is not a fixed and indestructible quantity. It is being constantly destroyed and reneAved. Even the most stable portions are being constantly worn out and replaced. The Avorkers of one generation may be said to produce with their own hands practically all the Avealth in existence at the end of their generation, so that in taking it they would actually be taking the very things they themselves produced, things taken from them without any compensation. They Avould therefore OAve compensation for them to none. And, indeed, there can he no question of compensating the capitalists. S. P. of C. Manifesto. Literature Price List With the story of Allied policy toward Turkey fresh in our minds there can be but one view of this threatening Avar; it-is the product of Allied intrigue in Asia Minor, and if the Near East becomes the scene of a neAv war today it will not be because Moslems are conducting an offensive, but because England, fearing for her prestige in Mesopotamia, in Palestine, in Persia, and in India, is using military and naval force to prevent the. realization by the Turkish army of things which are Turkey's and which were promised to Turkey by the very pdAvers which England is now seeking to unite to keep that promise broken. When the entire British Atlantic fleet is ordered to the Dardanelles it is rather obviously not to defend their neutrality; it is to maintain the present British overlordship of that strategic capital. —"The Nation" New York. PLATFORM Socialist Party of Canada "Wa, tht Soolalist Party of Canada affirm our alias- lance to, and support of tba prlnolpl*** aad pro-rmmai* of Mia revolutionary working- olaaa. Labor, applied to natural resources, prod-Mas all wealth. Th* present •oono-mlo *y*t*m ta tmaai apon oapitaliat ownership of tba maana of produotion, oonee- quamtlr, all the produota of labor belong to tha oapitaliat olaaa. Tha oapitaliat la, therefore, maater; the worker a slave. So long aa the oapitaliat olaaa remains ln poaaeaalon of the rains of government all the powere of the State will be used to protect and'defend Ita property rights In the meana of waalth produotion and Ma eontrol of the produot of laibor. Tho oapitaliat aystem gives to the oapitaliat aa ever-- •welling stream of profits, and to tha worker, aa ever- Inoreaalng measure of misery and degradation. The Interest of the working olass lies in setting Itaelf free from oapitaliat exploitation by the abolition of the wage system, under which this exploitation, at the point of produotion, ls cloaked. To aooompllsh this necessitates the traaeformatlon of oapettaJIst property in tha means of wealth produotion Into socially 00-atrolled i omlc forces. The Irrepressible conflict of interest between tha i Itallat and the worker necessarily expresses Itself as a struggle for politieal supremacy. This Is aha C3aas Struggle. Therefore we oaH upon all workers to organise under the banner of the Socialist Party of Canada, with the objeot of conquering the political powers for the purpose of setting up and enforolng the economic programme of the working class, as follows* 1—Tho transformation, as rapidly as possible, of oapitaliat property In the mamas of wealth production (natural resources, faotor- torles, mills, railroads, ato,)i into oolleottve means of produotion. I—The organisation and management of Industry by the working olaas. t—The establishment, as apeadUy as possible, of produotion for use Instead of production for profit MANIFESTO — of tht — SOCIALIST PARTY OF CANADA (Fifth Edition) Per copy 10 oenta Per 25 copies __ |2 Port Paid Cloth Bound Per Copy Positive Outcome of Philosophy $1.85 A. B. 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