There is no doubt but what there is enough competition to render all the calculations of the trusts most uncertain. It is also possible that this residum of competition is sufficient to cause individual crises in the future but it is quite certain that these crises will be somewhat different from those which have gone before and it is worth while for us to begin to consider what new features are being brought into the problem.

Another feature closely allied with these we have been describing is that for the first time the capitalist class is beginning to be class-conscious, in the wider, far seeing meaning in which socialists use the word. There can be no doubt but what some of the rulers of the present society realize the existence of the problem of disposing of the vast amounts of surplus values taken from the workers. If they do realize this and can secure unity of action through governmental and private agencies, the questions of overproduction, crises, and relation to labor must be greatly affected. There are plenty of opportunities for the capitalist class to use any surplus at its disposal. The Panama and Erie canals, the irrigation project of the government, are but a few of the ways in which large sums of money can be expended in works that are not immediately productive of any surplus value in a form that will be troublesome to its possessors.

Any one who has seen European water-ways with their continuous banks of masonry can see that if a similar plan of improvement should be undertaken for the Mississippi and its tributaries, it would afford an outlet for billions of dollars and might easily defer any over-production crises for a generation.

These are but the most general suggestions of some directions in which the Socialist explanation of economic phenomena and evolution is being modified by recent developments, which are in themselves in direct accord with socialist philosophy.

There is need that these should be analyzed and explained that it may be seen whether these industrial changes produce any essential change in the superstructure of political tactics that has been built upon them.

THE WORLD OF LABOR

BY MAX S. HAYES

That slavery in some form is the ultimate lot of the working people of this country has long been predicted by those who have watched the evolution of capitalism. Every day almost some new evidence is given that this probable fate of labor is not mere speculation or the thoughtless assertion of some crank, but the facts speak loud enough. We all know how in industrial struggles strikebreakers are loaned about among employers like so many cattle?

For example, recently a convention was held in Cleveland by the so-called Master Sheet Metal Workers' Association (affiliated with the American Federation of Capitalism). A Cincinnati "master" re ported that there was a strike on in his place and requested assistance. The other "masters" in the convention promised to send him all the "men" he needed to pick his cotton-or rather do his sheet metal work. Such is the situation in all lines of industry.

Now, as economic power has its political reflex, as the Socialists say, we find that this principle of ownership of men by men is given expression by the courts. Not long ago a manufacturing concern in Michigan secured an injunction against a competitor restraining the latter from enticing its employes away by offering better working conditions!

But right here before me is the Wall Street Journal of Sept. 19. On the front page is a long article captioned "Property Rights in Labor." The Journal quotes liberally from a decision just handed down by Judge Jones, of the Circuit Court of the United States, in the case of the Louisville & Nashville railroad against the Alabama Railroad Commission to restrain the latter body from interfering with its employes. Judge Jones declares, among other things:

"An employer has a property right in the services of his workmen in his business. The employer can maintain an action against any one who entices his servant to leave him, or prevents the servant from working for his employer. This property is protected by the sanction of our criminal laws also."

Halt, you runaway nigger! Is this plain enough for you? The Wall Street Journal in its comments, adds that this principle may be applied in the relations of employers and trade unions, and wonders at the "master" "that larger use has not been made of this property right in disputes with organized labor when there is clear evidence of employes being enticed away from his employment."

The foregoing is something for you to think about. Mr. Workingman. If it's not clear enough probably the "masters" will furnish you with a diagram of what they intend doing.

It is not unlikely that the American Federation of Labor executive council will retaliate against the Van Cleave-Parry-Post outfit, who have brougt suit in the Washington courts to have union labor's "unfair list" declared illegal. Not only is the attack of the enemies of organized labor to be met and fought through to the United states Supreme Court, but counter action may be instituted charging the employers with conspiracy. It is claimed that plenty of evidence can be produced to prove that the Van Cleave bosses have blacklisted organized workingmen and thus boycotted trade unions, and that even the formation of the capitalistic federation of some twenty odd national employers' associations was a secret conspiracy. President Van Cleave, of the National Association of Manufacturers, the head and front of the movement to disrupt organized labor, is making a ridiculous attempt to thinly veneer the real purpose of the labor-crushers. Their sole object, they say, is to enforce industrial peace" and to protect the dear public, whose guardians they have appointed themselves. For that purpose they are raising a war fund of $1,500,000, establishing labor bureaus to furnish strikebreakers in times of trouble, and preparing lists of all union men and especially known agitators. It is further asserted that at their New York convention these capitalistic guardian angels agreed to quietly lay off their union employes wherever possible, beginning with the most "rabid agitators," and that the output of their plants is to be reduced rather than employ known members of organized labor. It is claimed that this campaign is now on in Eastern and Middle Western States.

The organizations that are affiliated with this American Federation of Capitalism (which should be its proper name) are: The Citizens' Industrial Association of America, National Association of Agricultural Implement and Vehicle Manufacturers, National Foundry Association. National Association of Employing Lithographers. Merchant Tailors' National Protective Association, National Wagon Manufacturers' Association, National Plow Association, National Erectors' Association, National Association of Master Plumbers, National Metal Trades Association, American Anti-Boycott Association, American Cotton Manufacturers' Association, United Typothetae of America, National Association of Master Metal Workers, Hardware Manufacturers' Association of the United States, Master Copper Workers of the United States, National Association of Cotton Manufacturers, and Carriage Builders' National Association.

While the telegraphers' strike has held the attention of the organized workers of the continent during the past months. the struggles of the bookbinders for an eight-hour day, of the ore miners of Minnesota for recognition and an advance in wages, of the machinists on the Erie railway and in half a dozen cities for better conditions, of the building trades in Washington and a number of smaller places against the open shop and numerous other local contests, such as the street railway men and others in San Francisco, brewers in New Orleans, etc., have all added to the intensity of the class war that is raging between the organized workers on the one hand and organized capital on the other.

The telegraphers made a magnificent contest from the start for a comparatively new organization without funds and lacking the experience and discipline that come only with years of hard knocks. This is especially true when it is considered that the telegraphers were confronted by three as rapacious corporations that ever existed

on this earth. The Western Union management looks upon the operators as being mere slaves who deserve no consideration whatever. The wages paid and hours worked by the telegraphers are nothing short of scandalous. The Postal Co. is a despicable ingrate. It came into the field as a competitor of the W. U. and was largely built up on its representations as a friend of labor and an enemy of the old corporation. The Associated Press, perhaps the most dangerous bunch of this hydra-headed monopoly, is too well known as an agency that deliberately garbles or suppresses news to require any description. In most national contests a good percentage of the union membership is employed by fair concerns, and thus are enabled to assist their fellow-workers on strike by paying liberal dues and assessments. But with the telegraphers only an insignificant fraction of the membership was employed on private wires and the strikers were forced to depend upon other trades and sympathizers from the beginning of the fight. This deplorable situation once more demonstrates the necessity of the American Federation of Labor accumulating a defense fund or inaugurating a plan to levy assessments indefinitely if required.

Anticipating the general strike of the bookbinders on Oct. 1, för an eight-hour work-day, employers in a number of cities locked out the unionists, secured injunctions and pursued the usual methods to discourage and weaken the organization, just as was done with the printers two years ago. The pressmen, who are closely allied to the bookbinders made their demands, through their international officers, for the eight-hour and the closed shop at the recent convention of the organized employers, known as the United Typothetae of America, at Niagara Falls. The journeymen were coldly turned down, the employers refusing to treat with them, and it is quite probable that the pressmen will now make common cause with the bookbinders. The Typographical Union, also allied with the binders and pressmen, hit the United Typothetae a blow from which the latter body will hardly recover. In a two-years' fight, during which the T. U. spent over $3,500,000, the union enforced the eight-hour day practically all over the continent and nearly disrupted the United Typothetae. The binders and pressmen ought to be able to put the finishing touches to the Typothetae-unless the American Federation of Capitalism can inject new life into one of its constituent parts by tapping its $1,500,000.

A feature of the machinists' strike on the Erie railway is the charge of the corporation management that they had paid $10,000 a year to a "representative" of the union (or a total of $22,000) to be immune from strikes. The capitalistic press quickly spread the news broadcast that the union had levied the blackmail. The fact is that neither the international or any local union received a penny of the money. It went into the capacious pockets of one George Warner, formerly a New York business agent, who was secretly employed by the Erie railway as a "labor commissioner," just as the Fuller Construction Co. once employed Sam Parks and as the Roebling Co. to-day has a number of skates on its pay roll. Warner, on his part, claimed that he had been paid the money to work against the passage of the Erie canal bill by the New York Legislature, that he had "double-crossed" the corporation by using the funds to boom the canal project, and that the whole scandal was raked up by the Socialists to destroy his usefulness because he had "consistently fought the reds" for a dozen years. Howsoever that may be, the fact is that the machinists' convention in St. Louis the past month did not like Warner's style of pitching and he was ousted as a delegate,

whereupon he began to yell louder than ever that the Socialists were after his scalp. This is a favorite trick of all crooks when their perfidy is discovered. They believe that when they whine for sympathy and holler "stop thief" at the Socialists attention is diverted from heir villainous conduct. But that scheme is played out, although the Socialists may welcome the enmity of such people. The scheme is ausgespielt for the reason that the Socialists and their sympathizers are becoming altogether too numerous, and the body of workers has confidence in them whether or not they agree with or understand Socialist principles.

The struggle on the Minnesota ore range threatens to become as extended as the contest in Colorado. The Western Federation of Miners recently organized the iron ore diggers, and the United States Steel Corporation, which controls the range almost wholly, was determined to crush the movement. The miners, feeling the increased cost of necessities most severely, demanded a small increase in wages the total amount any day would hardly equal the value of a dog collar for Mabel Gilman's husband. The men struck and soon the brutal methods of the Colorado labor-crushers were introduced. After taking his $4,000,000 bride to their Parisian home, President W. E. Corey, of the U. S. Steel Corporation, returned and issued orders. Miners were evicted and credit refused them. The Western Federation established a commissary department and then the meat trust was influenced to withhold provisions. The farmers agreed to help the miners, and now it is reported that the trust intends to establish stores throughout the range and sell foodstuffs at cost in order to kill off the miners' co-operative stores and at the same time encourage the men to return to work and accept the lower cost of necessities in lieu of a raise in wages. This latest move if it is carried out, will be a terrible blow to the small-fry capitalists who have done the corporation's bidding throughout the struggle. They will be ruined and nobody will shed any tears at their unenviable plight. A press censorship also exists and it is almost impossible to obtain any news of what is occuring on the range.