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sc, per copy, $1.00 per year. People of Everett Vote For Municipal Ownership ALL THREE PROPOSITIONS CARRY At. last the way is cleared for the purchase of the present water plant of Everett from the Stone-Webster octo- I pus, and the securing of an adequate ! supply of pure muontaln water from Sultan Basin for general use from c Sultan Basin for general use and the development of electrical power. JL More than 1,000 of those registered || failed to visit the polls, about 5,390 of 'a the 6,758 eligible casting ballots. The result was never In doubt from the time the returns from the first pre cinct counted were received. Of the 40 precincts in the city, only onethe 29th —returned a majority against all three propositions. Wheat, Wages — And You! (By Carl Ulonska) There is a lesson that is being ; taught by every wheat field—every ' wheat harvester and binder lesson ; that comes from all those sunlit fields : of ripening grain, that lesson is being taught to every working man and woman, that lesson concerns and is of vital importance to YOU! That lesson which is being burned upon the minds of every worker of wheat is the power of the labor-saving machine in production and distribu tion, that wonderous geneii of making things, which plays so important a part in your every-day —that dom inating ~ factor upon which depends your job! The power of the machine in pro duction is being • illustrated so elo quently in the wheat-raising sections of Washington. In the' great yellow ■ grain fields of . Eastern Washington ' the harvesting is being done by means of "combines" — that cut, | thresh and tack the grain "on the fly." j These i "combines" cut swaths varying from 12 to 20 feet wide, sack the grain and leave it in "windrows" on the i ground. Today four men are required | to operate a combine. These four men thresh an equal amount of grain that by older methods required from ; five to ten times as many men. ' A Suspicious interest In Socialism I - (By Frank Mac Donald) Ji Not long ago any news of the Euro- j ■• . pean Sociialiist movement went onto j fl the floor of certain big newspapers i El and not into its news columns. So •* cialists might win victories. increase in party membership, produce notable books, and the fact was ignored with , constant regularity. It is changed now in a certain measure, and some news is joyfully and extensively pub lished. For example, it is quite nat ural that there should be differences I of opinion in the German Social De- [ mocracy as to war policy. That as the war drags along and suffering is more acute it Is inevitable that these differences should be sharper and keener. So it happens that the two parties to the controversy, the majority and the minority, the conservative and radical wings, have come to be called the "governmental" Socialists and the ("revolutionary" Socialists by the capi talist press, and this press, for the 'time being, is iin favor of revolutiion. In news stories and editorial articles it has pictured a tremendous split in I the German movement, with, what .seems to be the minority led by Com rades Leibknecht and Bernstein, stand ing for Socialism and the majority fighting for governmentallsm and war. The capitalist press is indignant that the majority has not gone with the minority. It Is amazed that the Unit pitated a revolution withiinliiiiiiiiiilliii ed Social Democracy has not pre cipitated a revolution within Germany and thereby speedily brought the coun try to terms and placed it at the mercy of its opponents. It would seem that for once the capi talist press of America, through the articles it receives by way of London, Berne, Amsterdam, and elsewhere, was firmly in favor of revolutionary So cialism and deplored any tendency that would tend to cause a split in the forces working for Socialism. But 8 closer reading of the articles brings Into sharp relief the fact that thes« stories are part of the campaign i NORTHWEST WORKER This Is not, as reactionaries would allege! "a socialistic experiment," nor a triumph for the Socialists of Ever ett. , It Is merely an Incident In the evolutlon of capitalism, albeit a nec essary transition step In the progress of society from Individualism to col lectivism. Municipal and state capi talism must precede, apparently, So cialism, or Industrial Democracy, — ownership and actual control of the machinery of wealth production and social utilities by the working-class. From this point of view, we may say of Tuesday's election, "Amen." What does this mean? Simply that with the use of modern machinery that wheat can be produced with less than half as much human labor, less than half the former cost — and this results In less jobs for you and more profits for the owners of labor-saving machinery. Your job and your wages are being lessened by im proved harvesters, binders and feed ers. Wheat and wages concern you In a vital way. Right now 200 men are seeking ! work in the harvest field at Colfax, 300 at Rltzvllle and a like number at Walla Walla. It signifies that no longer can we of the working class be I told to go out West and grow up with | the country— to the fertile wheat fields and the fabled Arcadias of fruit. We i have gone to the last great Westwe have reached the last great frontier ( and the development of capitalism has followed us. There is no retreat, no escape, no possible hope of evasion—we of the working class are with our backs to the wall. What are we to do? I We have got to organize, to think and to fight for ourselves —to under stand the forces of capitalism in pro duction and distribution. hatred against Germany and all things German that has been waged here in this country for some time. There is no regard or solicitude for Socialism. But there are always two objects: one is \f> discredit in all possible ways the German people, and the other is to widen any breach in the Socialist movement and thereby weaken or destroy its powers. We know full well that either in victory or defeat, a united Socialist party would have a strong voice in the social readjustment that will take place after the war. This Is as pres ent and live a fear as German victory, and it must be guarded against. We in America have not made up our ! minds as to Germany's position by careful analysis and reasoning, but we have reached certain conclusions and adopted a position largely because we have had certain news placed be fore us and because we have read the opinions that have been prepared for us by others. As a furnisher of pre- digested convictions the capitalist press is without an equal. We meet it everywhere and we come across its influence at every turn. So systematic and careful has the campaign been, and so thoroughly Is it worked out that any expression of difference with asserted opinions is seized upon as being an evidence of "pro-Germanism." It is almost in creditable, but it is a fact, that even some Socialists have accepted "pro- German" as an epithet of ridicule and degradation. If you speak for peace, you are "pro-German." If you point to Lloyd George's declaration that bat tles are won not so much by the men in the field and the trenches as by the men in the workshops of the re spective nations, and conclude there from that, by shipment of arms and ammunition from this country we thereby enter into an active alliance, you must be "pro-German." But if we stop calmly to consider this matter we will find that underly ing it is something of vast significance for us. Socialist support and good will have suddenly acquired a value, but they must be anti-German to be the real thing. If you hate Germany, you love humanity; if you do not hate if (Continued on Page 4) DEVOTED TO THE INDUSTRIAL, POLITICAL, AND EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT 07 THE WORKING-CLASS Proletaria Bill Gomes Back With Some Socialist Fundamentals Comrade Ole: Glad to see you back. Glad even if you did not meet the argument. As It Is, Bill claims to be handling the subject of Socialism from the Marxian scientific standpoint brought up to date as correctly as wo aro able to trace It. We have hammered along for more than a half-dozen years (driv ing to make Socialists out of Socialist Party members, and others. Have found It unpopular always; yet we are happy to say that these scientific truths are gaining ground In the So cialist movement. They are displac ing the ear-tickling platitudes of law yers, preachers and other professional jawsmlths who are so apt In that line. Bill was raised on a farm and in a grocery. Has since been a farmer and farm hand in different latitudes; also a wage-slave in several of the'other big industries. Practically all of Bill's schooling was acquired in the indus tries of the country and chasing the job. He was not fitted for a capital ist. Most of us are not; even though the bug was planted In our noodles. It was Bill's experience to partici pate directly In every stage of the productive process through which at least two staple commodities (food and a shelter) pass from seeding to consumer and from stump to bunga low; both Including transportation, milling and wholesale and retail dis tribution. Being of an enquiring dis position and ambitious to become a bookkeeper or something, Bill kept both eyes open throughout his various occupational experience. This is how he learned of the bis steal that is in herent in the present capitalist system of economicsthe wages system. He was never "converted" to Socialism by any propagandist. He was advocat ing his crude idea of Socialism to his fellow-workers In a rice mill twenty years ago, before he had ever heard of Marx or such a thing as Socialism. When the science of economics and economic determinism with the expla nation of the class struggle was first brought to Bill's attention he was sim ply delighted to know that his crude ideas were not wholly a lonesome dream. The science of Marx and En gels made clear already acquired facts, their relation and significance. It did not take Bill long to dump what rubbish he had acquired from capitalist teachings. The rest was easy. Too many are slow In ditching the rubbish. What I want to show is that there are many, many Bills and Henrys who are passing through these industrial experiences in varying degrees. It is this contact of the workers with the latest evolved Industrial process and equipment as a whole, the unstablllty of employment and the resulting for mation of Ideas in the workers' minds which makes Socialism possible as a social force. Henrys become Bills but Bills do not become Henrys. The above Is merely a primary phase of economic determinism which will effect the workers in their his toric mission as a class. 1. Well, Ole, you fell in when you retorted that "the wages system is admittedly a failure, and unionism is nearly as much of a failure, say you. Correct." Is that your line of argument? I did not say that; could not and will not. It is merely your Inference. The wages system is a cuccess and union- Ism will be more of a success when It arrives at maturity. The wages system has succeeded in LARKIN TO SPEAK HERE TUESDAY! James Larkin who is to speak in the People's Theatre, Tuesday even ing, Aug. 81, has been a red card men-, ber of the Socialist Party for twenty seven years. He has looked out over the world and seen no lines between him and his brother workers. Color and race he does not recognize in tne great class struggle—it is class and class he sees opposed on the firing line of life. Jim Larkin speaks out from the shoulder. He is an orator, not the kind of orator that tries to cover up the iniquities of the present system, but whose blood boils when he speaks of these things and the words come out of his mouth red hot and sting ing, for he sees the poverty and mis- EVERETT, WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1915. fulfilling its historic mission aB a so- clal-economlc system of society. If unionism Is the strongest social-eco nomic germ developing within the present system, It will supplant the wages system and become its succes sor. If It Is not, then It will be com pelled to germinate through another phase of exploitation (perhaps gov ernment ownership) before It becomes triumphant in abolishing the steal of the wages system and substituting in dustrial democracy as an economic system. Then unionism, growing Into an advanced Industrial stage, will also have become a success In fulfilling its historic mission. But very, very far more of a success Is its utility to the human race. We cannot have class unions free from the control of the capitalist class until the working class learns what It must learn and become class-conscious. Ole tells us that "unionism reached its height of control In the first, sec- ond and third centuries, A.D., and from | then on labor has taken the losing side of the class struggle." Impossible! Unionism could not have possibly reached its height of control in the hand tool stage of in dustrial development such as had then been reached. What was there to "control" at that time, anyway? A primitive system of production where . modern Socialism would be Impossi ble. Chattel slavery and a commun ism that could not withstand the alp . of Ignorance and the development of serfdom and the wages system. I think that I have already made it plain that when I write of unions of productive workers and unionism I am referring to an entity in its entirety from the germ of its inception in so ciety to the fulfillment of its historic mission as a social-economic force, or system. . You appear to confine your thinking and writing to one or two of the birth days in the childhood of unionism: for such only could the hand tool stage calendar. Again Ole tells us that "unionism beats nothing and does not and can not free the worker." On the economic bedrock of indus try it must either be union or disunion for' the workers. Which are you ad vocating, Ole? On the political field the manifesta tion MUST agree with the industrial status that determines political action and be either union or disunion, for the working class. Where are you at? ,What Is your conception of So cialism or industrial democracy? Dis union? i 2. We are informed that land has no exchange value, due to labor, as do other commodities because bank ers infest the country and because land cannot be reproduced. Why do you not claim that no commodity has any exchange value, due to labor, be cause the earth cannot be reproduced? The raw material for ALL commodi ties is the virgin earth and nobody claims that the earth can be repro duced by human labor. It is the UTILITY of ANY object for human needs that Is produced by labor, even though we were savages knowing no other value that use value for the virgin earth on which we trod while gathering wild fruit. The mere picking of wild fruit is the labor ex pended by which that particular raw material is utilized and gets a value. We only ask that you follow us from the simple to the complex. It is the utility of land, canals, dams :ery on the one hand and the riches and unearned ease on the other, He is a revivalist, for he makes you want to get up and do something to end this damnable system that breeds liars, thieves, prostitutes, lunacy, leg alized murder, child slavery and hy pocrisy. He is a revivalist, for he wakes the sleeping brain of the Henry Dubb and makes of him a fighting unit of the greatest movement the world has ever known. No man or woman can listen to "Jim" without coming to the conclusion that the new system of society that is advocated by the Socialists is workable and desir able. No man or woman can hear him without going away with the words "Collective Ownership of the THE 4. Ole says Bill missed the point altogether on the taxation question. IWe are sorry to disagree with you; .somebody did miss it both coming and going, but we plead not guilty. When the other industries were un developed the Republican party ap plied one phase of your method and envoked "protection" to help the half starved (?) capitalist. We are fa jmiliar with taxation; it is an old, old procedure. They do the taxing who i have the power. The workers are aft er this power, but we have better use for it because we can see farther than the grand-dad who Invented taxation. You would start with the farmer, j would you, to arrive at industrial de mocracy? Since the industry of agri culture is In the rear of industrial de velopment and centralization, it looks like a poor place to start. The work ers in other industries have already started some time ago. Why not take a cue from the start that has already started? The workers in the highly-developed ' industries will be able to hold the key .and dykes that is produced by.labor, directly and Indirectly, the same as utility Is produced from all other raw material by labor. To deny that land has value due to labor Is to deny a fact and attempt to set up a theory In conflict with the law of value. It must be remembered that even though bankers may be busy, and stock jobbers working for i monopoly, the law of value is still working. Monopoly has Its limitations and recessions because of the law of value. Land Ib no exception. 3. To claim that all are exploited who are unable to obtain a full-fledged llvllhood by their activity Is equiva lent to your claim that the individual productlng huxter is exploited. The industry of agriculture Is the only big Industry where there is yet an open season for a myriad of tiny investors. Most of them will fall, of course, just like they did in other Industries in times gone by. Agriculture, while one of the great est industries in Importance, is in the rear. Other industries such as trans portation, mining, . steel, etc., are far ahead In development and the work ers In these industries will therefore set the pace becau.se they are wage workers. We will Inform farmer Eddy that he is not exploited. He is free to become a wage worker If he does not like his lot. Why should he kick about something that is not understood .when he enjoys the freedom of enter ing the wage slave market, job or I jobless? to the situation by reason of the fact that they are already organized in production, thus enabling them to function in the interest of the exploit ed workers when they get wise. The farmers will trail behind because un organized in production. Yet it is' possible for the farmer to be of great assistance, politically, In the revolu tion, if he understands. A good many do understand. They know where they are at. It Is our business to put the farmer wise to revolutionary ac tion instead of trying to cook up im practical schemes to prolong his de lusion. The farmers will simply do as they have always done. That is, they will adjust themselves to the prevailing economic system, be it the wages sys tem or industrial democracy. PROLETARIA BILL. Patronize YOUR advertisers. means of wealth production" imbed ded in their brains unless they be im beciles. When Larkin had finished speaking in the San Francisco Dreamland Rink three weeks ago the audience arose in mass and thanked him for his won derfully Inspiring address. You must hear Larkin yourself and you must get others to hear him for knowledge is power, and no opportunity should be missed that will give us and others the knowledge and fighting spirit to get up and do things that will some day place in our hands the keys to the mills, mines and factories of the world. Tickets on sale at Headquarters or Hill's Book Store. Day Labor Plan Super ior to Contract System COMRADE SALTER'S REPORT August 21, 1915. Honorable City Council of Everett, Gentlemen: please find re port showing total cost of labor, ma terial and incidental expense in con structing the sewer in the alley be tween Highland and State Street, from the center line of 20th to center line of 19th Street, or L.I.D. No. 308: Labor „ $ 675.98 Team ....; 6.00 Pipe, fittings, sand, cement.. 123.05 Manhole ring and cover.. 10.00 Brick 8.00 1 case blasting powder 5.25 1 roll fuse .75 1 box caps 110 Lumber 5.40 Sharpening picks, 65 hrs. at *? 37% c . ............ 24.27 Rental, wear and tear on tools 5.00 Industrial insurance ■•■ 37.03 Interest on warrants..... 19.00 Fixed estimate 150.5$ Grand total $1,070.83 ■ - .■-..-■ Included in this total is an amount of $28.62 covering the cost of stand pipes ordered by certain property own ers; consequently the amount of the final cost, for the matter of compari son, with the estimated cost of $928, is $1,070.83 less $28.62 or $1,042.21. In other words the estimated cost per lot was $29.00 and the actual cost per lot is $32.57, the cost of stand-pipes not being included in either case. JOHN R. LAWSON By Katherine Oummer, in The New York Call Against the far horizon where the sky Already shows a new day's dawning light, There stands a man. Here in the glromy night Of dark misunderstanding we descry " } - ; \A A murder. But when the sun is high Then shall we see a hero who dared *ight - A tyrant power, who dared claim the right > To life, and seeking It, yet dared to die. The shameful glory that the world will, give To murderers of war, not that we ask He suffers living death that men may live, He needs a higher honor. So our task Must be to keep his faith and tribute pay By willingness to give ourself today. DEBS COLLEGE HEAD Eugene V. Debs has been elected president of the People's College at Fort Scott, Kansas. The college is the one organized effort of the working class to control education through correspondence departments. SUCCESSFUL GIRL MAYOR. An English suffrage paper men-1 tlons a small town in Southern France j that has a woman mayor, 22 years of ; age. She was a school teacher and | also mayor's secretary, and when the war broke out volunteered as a Red Cross nurse. But the mayor was called to the colors, whereupon the city council, instead of electing one of their members to serve in the position, urged the young teacher to act as chief executive. The girl mayor is said to be handling the posi-' tion with extraordinary skill and to. the complete satisfaction of every body in the town. DEFENSE OF THE HOME. In the House of Commons, on April 29, Mr. King said that a little girl, Dolly Hammett, aged 9 years, has been taken away from school, and employed at shaving the soldiers at Budbroke Barracks, Warwickshire.-— Woman's Dreadnought. I OPPOSE LEASE SYSTEM. BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Farm ers' Educational Co-operative Union of Alabama convention unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the abolishment of the convict lease sys tem and the placing of these convicts | upon the public roads. This question Is now being considered by the state legislature. Although this Job cost $114.21 more than the engineer's estimate, it still furnishes striking proof of the super iority of the day labor over the con tract system of public work construc tion. ,A 7 'a - \7Aj In making comparison it must be borne in mind that, when the job was first submitted to bid, no bids were forthcoming. The second time a reg ular contractor, Mr. Synder, bid $1, --365, or $437 more than the estimate. Another bid of $940 was submitted by a group of men who expected to do the work in co-operation. ': | This piece of work has been pro nounced by some of the oldest sewer men as one of the most difficult ever constructed in Everett. The fact that 65 hours, or over 8% days, were re quired to sharpen picks proves this contention. Had the job been awarded to Tom Constantino and his associates, they would have received $1.85 per day for their work. v.-^i/,*. ,V.,.--, Every man within the district who applied for work was hired. ,1 That with the fact that the city paid from 40c to 60c more per day than regular contractors reflects to the credit ?of the day labor plan. ?{£»l)_3S The experience and data secured is of great value to the public works de partment in estimating on other work that may be undertaken by the city Respectfully, J. M. SALTER, ' Commissioner of Public Works. LECTURES HELD NEXT WEEK Carrie W. Allen Sun. 29, Aberdeen; Mon. 30, Ethel; Tue. 31, Mossy Rock; Wed., Sept. 1, Sandy Bend; Thu. 2, Kelso; Fri. 3, Charter Oak; Sat. 4, Hazel Dell; Sun. 5, Portland. ~:< Carl Ulonska Sun. 29, Tacoma; Mon. 30, Richmond Beach; Tue. 31, Pinehurst; Wed., Sep. 1, Granite Falls; Thu. 2, Edgecombe; Fri. and Sat. 3 and 4, Mount Vernon. This completes Carl Ulonska's tour. Emil Herman Mon. 30, Winlock; Tue. 31, Cowlitz Bend; Wed., Sept. 1, Otter Creek; Thu. 2, Chehalis; Fri. 3, Littell; Sat, 4, Centralia. W. R. Snow Thu., Fri., Sat., 26, 27, 28, Colville (Stevens County Encampment); Sun. 29 .open; Mon. 30, Medical Lake; Tue. 31, Colockum; Wed., Sept. 1, Cash mere; Thu. 2, South Lopez; Fri. 3, open; Sat. 4, open; Sun. 5, Arlington (2 p.m.); Sun. 5, Everett. Bruce Rogers Sun. 29, Spokane; Mon. 30, Prosser; Tue. 31, North Yakima. THE FIRING LINE Get the habit. Following are the names of the comrades who get on the Firing Line every once in a while. Following their name is the number of subscribers they have put on our list: Carl Ulonska 7, Frans Bostrom 4, Frank Cort 3, F. Craig 3, Mrs. Ander son 3, Proletaria Bill 2, F. G. Crosby 2, Mike Kronholm 2, Adam Hill 2, A. B. Caswell 1, E. H. Fellows 1, Chas. Millward 1, K. H. Hodglns 1, H. Han son 1, Joe Forsell 1, J. Hendrickson 1, A. Oberg 1. j Maynard Shipley took 31 subs at Arlington. No. 242