Current Economic Problems: A Series of Readings in the Control of Industrial ...

upon-wageism. So the vampire patricians of ancient Rome sapped the plebeian and slave basis of their economic system and the Empire fell in 476.

6. No system of civilization can advance or live when a feasting, reveling class drinks from the toilers' veins while riding on their backs. The knell of its own death is now being rung by capitalism which hypocritizes religion; perverts morality; makes the law unjust; prostitutes education; promotes war; corrupts politics; practices robbery, swindling, and gambling as a business; betrays friendship; sends love out street-walking and makes marriage mercenary; calls attic lodgings, slum cellars, corporation shacks, and hobo hovels "homes"; offers little children to the moloch of commercialism, and in the mad scramble for its dope incentive-dollars-materializes the rich, vulgarizes the well-to-do, and brutalizes the poor. Such is the result of the economic determinism of capitalism.

367. "My Papa Is a Socialist"

BY HARVEY P. MOYER

My papa is a Socialist, my mamma, too, and I,

And if you'll wait a minute now, I'll tell the reason why;
I'm sure that when you understand, you certainly will see,
You'd better all be Socialists, and vote with pa and me.

You see this earth is long and wide, good things above, below, And there are lots of people, too, who want to make things go; Besides, we're all just quite alike, need food and clothes and rest, And if we all were Socialists, we all would share earth's best.

But now John D. owns all the oil, most banks, and railroads, too,
And then a few own all the land, so what can poor folks do
But tramp and starve and beg for jobs, and work and work and

work?

And all the wealth we make, but scraps, we give the wealthy shirk.

Now isn't every papa, most, the very biggest goose,

To give away most all he makes to men who don't produce?

So that a few rich families may all be living fine,

While all we weary working folks must suffer, want, and pine.

"From Songs of Socialism, p. 45. Copyright by the author. Published by the Co-operative Printing Co. (1906).

And then they do such foolish things, I often wonder why

They "strike" and lose their jobs, and let us freeze and starve and

cry;

When, if all joined the Socialists, in four years more or five
We'd all be wealthy partners in the world's great working hive.

For if they'd stop to think, they'd see how easy 'twas to make,
Together, all we'd want to have, and what we'd make, we'd take;
So that the children, all alike, our papas, mammas, too,
Would all enjoy earth's happiness, as Socialists want all to.

So papa is a Socialist, mamma, we children, too;

We want to make all children rich and happy, too, don't you? Good food and homes, nice shoes and clothes, we children want,

don't you?

So all of us are Socialists; please, won't you be one too?

368. The Capitalist's Ten Commandments 25

BY W. WILLIS HARRIS

I. I am Capital, thy Master, that brought thee out of the Land of Liberty into a State of Slavery. Thou shalt not become thine own Master nor have any other Master but me.

II. Thou shalt not create any wealth, nor any likeness of any wealth that is in Heaven above, or that is in Earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the Earth, unless I can make a profit out of it. Thou shalt bow thyself down under my oppression and serve me, for I, Capital, am a jealous Master and visit the poverty of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of those that create wealth for me, and show mercy unto the thousands of sycophants that love me and help me to share the spoils of Labor. III. Thou shalt not produce wealth for thyself, for I, Capital, will not hold him guiltless that attempts to do so in vain.

IV. Keep the Labor Days, and sanctify them; as I, Capital have commanded thee, lest I throw thee out of employment. Four-anda-half days thou shalt work for me, and one-and-a-half for thyself. But the seventh day is a rest day for Labor to recoup his strength. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy wife, unless they be menial servants or minister to my comforts. And remember that thou art my slave, therefore do not

"Adapted from Progressive Thought, II, No. 5, pp. 13-14 (1898).

attempt to enjoy thyself lest thou over-exert thyself and be unable to produce a profit for me next week.

V. Honor Landlordism and Usury, my co-partners, as I, Capital, have commanded thee, that thy days may be short in the Land in which thou art born.

VI. Thou shalt commit murder for my sake only.

VII. Thou shalt give thy daughters in prostitution and thy wife in adultery to me.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal, that being the right divine of Capital.

IX. Thou shalt bear false witness against thy neighbor-if he be a Socialist.

X. Thou shalt not desire the full products of thy labor, neither shalt thou covet the Land of thy birth, nor the stored-up wealth of past generations, nor the idleness, luxury, and privileges of the wealthy, nor anything that is in possession of the capitalist.

369. A Confession of Faith26

I believe in Capital, the ruler of body and mind.

I believe in Profit, His Right-hand Bower, and in Credit, His Left-hand Bower, both of which proceed from and are one with Him.

I believe in Gold and Silver, which melted in the crucible, cut up into bullion, and stamped in the mint, make their appearance in the world as coin, but, after having rolled over the earth, and being found too heavy, descends into the vaults of the Banks, and reascends in the shape of Paper Money.

I believe in Dividends, in 5 per cents, 4 per cents and 3 per cents, and also in smaller per cents, that are shaved from notes.

I believe in National Debts, which secure Capital against the risks of trade, industry and the fluctuations of the money market.

I believe in Private Property, the fruit of the labor of others; and I also believe in its existence from and for all time.

I believe in the necessity of Misery-the furnisher of wageslaves, and the mother of surplus labor.

I believe in the eternity of the Wage System, which setteth the workingman free from all the cares of holding property.

I believe in the extension of the hours of work, and in the Reduction of wages; and I also believe in the adulteration of goods.

I believe in the holy dogma: "Buy Cheap, Sell Dear," and thereby in the fundamental principles of our sacrosanct Church, as revealed by professional Political Economy. Amen!

2 Adapted from Progressive Thought, II, No. 5, p. 14 (1898).

F. SOCIALIST PROGRAMS

370. The National Platform of the Socialist Party"

The representatives of the Socialist Party in National Convention at Indianapolis declare that the capitalist system has outgrown its historical function, and has become utterly incapable of meeting the problems now confronting society. We denounce this outgrown system as incompetent and corrupt and the source of unspeakable misery and suffering to the whole working class.

Under this system the industrial equipment of the nation has passed into the absolute control of a plutocracy which exacts an annual tribute of millions of dollars from the producers. Unafraid of any organized resistance, it stretches out its greedy hands over the still undeveloped resources of the nation-the land, the mines, the forests and the water-powers of every State in the Union.

In spite of the multiplication of labor-saving machines and improved methods in industry which cheapen the cost of production, the share of the producers grows ever less, and the prices of all the necessities of life steadily increase. The boasted prosperity of this nation is for the owning class alone. To the rest it means only greater hardship and misery. The high cost of living is felt in every home. Millions of wage-workers have seen the purchasing power of their wages decrease until life has become a desperate battle for mere existence.

Multitudes of unemployed walk the streets of our cities or trudge from State to State awaiting the will of the masters to move the wheels of industry.

The farmers in every State are plundered by the increasing prices exacted for tools and machinery and by extortionate rents, freight rates, and storage charges.

Capitalist concentration is mercilessly crushing the class of small business men and driving its members into the ranks of propertiless wage-workers. The overwhelming majority of the people of America are being forced under a yoke of bondage by this soulless industrial despotism.

It is this capitalist system that is responsible for the increasing burden of armaments, the poverty, slums, child labor, most of the insanity, crime, and prostitution, and much of the disease that afflicts mankind.

Under this system the working class is exposed to poisonous conditions, to frightful and needless perils to life and limb, is walled around with court decisions, injunctions and unjust laws, and is