Montana news. [volume], July 20, 1911, Page 4, Image 4

About Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Capitalists Devoured-They
Like it and Crv for More.
By Silm Hood.
Everything Is rair in love war ant
business-especially in business.
Frank Coewey Jones, capitalist, of
Muskegon. Mich., was evidently of this
opinion especially in reference to bus
Iness. He, up to a short time ago.
was president of the American Elect
rio Fuse Co., a $500,000 corporation
of Muskelon; president of the Cham
ber of Commerce of that city; a 02
degree Mason; prominent member of
the Elks; director of the Packley Na.
tional bank, a leading figure in the
Merchants and Manufacturing Assoc
tation; prominent republican, and
generally was regarded as the leading
citizen of the community in which he
lived
In his big factory he emptoyed TSO
men, women, girls and boys whe..
the books show the "hands" received
wages all the way from $83 to $40
a week.
Jones occupied a comfortable resid
ence on Lake Ave., with his wife and
child and servants; he owned an auto
mobile, and was a man who enjoyed
Itfe frequently at the country club
gatherings and at other institutions
he capitalist game provides for its
successful members.
CtM Tr sfmmatosamtm leers
Now where is Jones? He is behind
the bars in the county jail In Grand
Rapids, Mich., his big factory is in the
hands of a receiver with liabilities of
more than a midlon and with consid
erable less than $820000 assets. And
although the amount of ball demand
ed for the release of the "millionaire"
manufacturer is but $12,000 Jones has
failed to find a friend with property
who would risk the amount required.
Friends galore when he was success
ful, but none with cash when he is
down and out.
And how did this transformation
scene come about so suddenly in this
"perfect" capitalist state of society?
Did Jones gamble in Wall street? No.
Did Jones drink ? No. Was he a .av
Ish spender? No. Did he neglect his
family? No he was devoted to his
wife and boy. Dia he neglect his bus
Iness? No. on the contrary he wns
full of tireless business energy and up
to-date enterprise. He possessed a
keen mind. His father chose a pro
fession for him that at its best is an
unmoral training-that of law. He
graduated with honors from the Unl.
versity of Michigan, and later through
a business transaction with one of
his clients in Chicago he got into the
manufacturing line His business
grew, and along with It his credit was
enlarged. His factory was doing a
bulness of $35,000 a month when the
erash came. It was conducted, as
every manufacturing plant is condut
ed, by dragging children from the
play ground and grinding them into
dollars. But everything is fair In
busineas according to the capitalist
mind.
An OpeM iWho
No labor unions were recognased In
the Jones factory. The president did
not permit any walking delegate to
may how long he should work "his"
girls, boys, women and men. That
was business-hls buinaees. As a re
sult wages were low except for the
slave-drivers In the various depart
ments.
But several reers ago one of those
capitalist depreg ons eme ea ong and
Jones needed money t to ide him over
a period of too much wealth In the
nation. Jones had his share of the
too-much along with the ret of the
eapitalists, but he couldn't find con
sumers with money to buy. So he
had to have money to keep his part
of the capitaAst wreck afloat He
had been trained in college to go out
Into the world and get money sad his
training included a disregard for con.
seiencelous scruples as to the manner
of getting It. Get It honestly It you
can., but get it. Everything is fair in
business. The capitalists don't may
that, but they practice that memthod
Just the same He laughed at these
suggestions and said he intended to
preserve his individuality. He per
slated that the game of competition
was a fair one, and he remained n
the struggle with such competitors as
the Weetern Electrle Co., the Bell
Telephone Co., the Cutler-Hammer
Mfg Co., and other equally as formid
able. The result was that his profits
fell, and In order to keep the business
going he fallsed the financial con
dition of his business and by repeated
misrepresentation of this character,
made necessary because of the losses
sutanlaed In the competitive game,
was able to borrow $730,000 from the
big thelves who have money they nev.
er earned to loan in n large slices.
Thieves Vems Tbheve.
lome of the creditors when the up.
heaval came were found to be nation.
at bankers. And these bankers may
they intend to make an example of
Jones as a warning to others not to
attempt in the future to rob bhem o
heir hard earned dollars. So the
arrested Jones and they probably will
make good their promise to keep him
out of the competitive dame for a
few years. Such wid be Jon's finish
In the capitalist strife.
Vcethme ate odac0 sm.
Jones ever since he left oollege has
been a bitter opponent of loelalnm.
He stoutly maintained that the cap
italist system was the men perfect that
could be devised. And the strangest
part of this capitalist tragedy is that
Jones from behind the bars at Grand
Rapids is still a bitter opponent of
Socialism and a stanch advocate of
capitalism And he promises when
he is released that he will reenter
the game of tooth and nalt, beak and
claw, fang and hoof, and he feels
confident, he says, that he will win In
the strife He doesn't agree yet that
the capitalist system is even partly
wrong. He has told me so slnce his
arrest and over his own signature
he has written that he 'doesn't agree
with me at all on Soetalism and
NEVER WILL".
To the student of real ife who can
view the lttntlea Em the sa ie
point of Socialism. Jones didn't fall.
He wasn't even pushed. He was
knocked down by the relentless blows
of competitive capitalism. And when
this Napoleon-maaufacturer was
knocked down and dragged behind the
bars. of a capitalist jail, and when
thesituation left him worth half a mil
lion dolars less than nothing; with a
loving and confiding wife to remain
out in the world to battle for heself
and child. Jones even then didn't real
ise there was anything wrong with
the system.
Capitalism efoelttg Ito Own.
And what does this lesson teach us?
It teachesus that capitalism is so
stupidly relentless and so unmoral in
its teachings and training that It des
troys it own adherents In high places
to such a degree that they themselves
are unconscious of the fact that they
have been devoured and are willing to
be sacrificed once more. Even when
ocked behind the bars they are too
stupid to see.
Jones doesn't realise that the com
petitive game so far as creating addit
tonal great captains of industry, is
dead; not dying, but is already a
corpse. And when Jones has been
sentenced to remain in bondage for a
term of years at the expense of the
public, and his family is being provid
ed for by other members of society,
who are permitted to be at large. just
Ice will have been satisfled according
to our peculiar capitalist ethics And
when Jones comes out of his retreat
he not only will find the system a
corpse, but he will find it, na my opin
ion , buried. He will not be permit
ted either to put himself up agaln to
be knocked down
Summing up this commercial episode
In this vaunted age of 1911 civlllsatlon
what does it illustrate? It illustrate
that Jones's case is just one more tf
themillion of nladictments against sa.v
agery of the system; simply one more
piece of evidence that the whole cap.
Italist monster deserves to die.
Vkstlm bhelw save V'Um Migher up.
And what a tragedy It is to realise
that the intellectual proletarian will
have to endure so much. not only to
save his own cla.. BUT THU CAPI
TALITSr AS WELI, and the capital.
its accuse themselves of poressing a
mortgage on brains!
If the Co-operative Commonwealth
could be ushered In snddenly-whlch
cannot be. about the first thing the
new order would probably decide to
go would be to open the dungeons,
slide back the penitentiary locks and
give every occupant-high and low
there a chance to be tree men and wo
men, a free chance todevelop their
lndividuality, and to be of serice to
themselves and the rest of soclety.
They are all behind the bars because
of the brutaUlty sad lnsanity of the
system-not because of faults of their
own. The equal opportunity Isn't
here-not in 1911.
In conclusion the writer is going to
make a confession. None other than
a class-conscious Socialist would make
such a confession. This recent Mus.
kegon victim of capitalist slaughter
is a brother of mine-same flesh aad
blood.
I am not ashamed for myself that
my brother Is to be branded with the
penitentiary curse. No, I'm not
ashamed of that. I am ashamed
though of a system that claims so
many victims high and low, ana I
hang my head lower In shame when
I have to admit that I am the son of
the same father of a man who haso't
exhibited brains enough, up to the
present writing, to realise that the
monstrous capitalist diaorder ha.
knocked him down..
(inace writing the foregoing Jones
was sentenced to serve a term In a
state institution at Ionia, Mich. The
sentence was from tour to fourteen
years. The capitalist Judge recom
mended that this victim of capitalism
be denied the priv.ilee of being any
use to his family or to society at large
for a period of ten years Thus will
Justice be served under capitalism.)
Milwaukee and Isolution.
Sclentific Socialism, as everybody
knows, Is based upon the prlnolples
of evolution.
But just as sure as serfdom evolved
from slavery, and capitallam from
serfdom, and as surely as the soclal
let system must also evolve from the
capitaliset system, just so surely the
political development, the procem by
which the working clas shalI seize
the retain of government, must also
follow the natural lines of evolution.
"Pronm the lower to the higher next.,
Not to the top Is Nature's text."
The Socialist party must galan its
first victories in the cities. naet in the
states, until finally It will get con
trol of the national government.
It is exactly along this natural
course of evolution that the oiotalist
movement of Milwaukee has proceed
ed. First a few Socialist aldermen
were elected In Milwaukee, then the
labors of the earnest ploners were
rewarded by the election of some So
cialist memebers of the legislature.
then the Socalists swept the city and
elected the mayor, and at luast apped
the climax by sending a Socialist to
the halae of Congree.
But evolution cannot stop. The
moment anything-whether a plant.
an ainimal, a race or a movement
ceases to develop further, that mo
ment beglns to die.
Now the Milwaukee comrades do
not Intend to let their movement die,
and therefore they are determined to
go on developing.
The text step In the development
of the Milwaukee movement must be
the establishment of a ookialist daily
peper in Milwaukee.
The practical union of the repub
Ilicans and democrats In an anti-Soc.
lalist combination, and the deadly
enmity of the capitalist papers, has
made this step a necessity, It Mil
waukee is to hold what she has
gained. In order not to go back
ward, she must go forward.
But as the course of Milwaukee's
development has carried her Social
ist movement into the field of na
tional politics, through the election
of a Socialist congressman, it there
fore results that the Socialists of the
entire nation must interest themselves
in her ture evolution-In the start
lag of a Milwaukee Socialist daily.
The Milwaukee Socialists are ask
ing their comrades throughout the
United States to do this very thing
to Interest themselves in our daily in
the most practical manner, by taking
a financial Interest In Its euecess We
do not ask them for donations, but
for aloan, in order that we may
start our daily on the right basts and
at the right time--hat is NOW.
This loan wil be fully secured by
valuable propery. It will Oonslat "
10,000 ten-dollar bonds, paying 4 per
cent Interest, after the first of next
December.. If you want to know more,
write to Comrade H. W. Bistorlus
Brisbane hall, Milwaukee. Wis He
will Ie* glad to answer yotar ques
tions.
But do not iorget that the process
es of evolution are concerned with
this next stop of the Milwaukee Soc.
IlIsts. And while It to true that
these processes without all right
would work themselves out all right
in time, in the course of a thousand
years or two, we do not wuat to wait
a oouple of amlleniaums. We want
to hurry up the course of evolution.
And it is our mrnnd and delightful
privllege to push it along.
That is what we are trying to do
In Milwalmkee ,Nor willt the oomrades
of this entire country fall in that meost
glorlous task.
E. H THOMAS.
WOCIALIW GROWTH INII
DENMARK.
(By National oetallet Preum)
Copenhagen. Denmark. July 15-In
probably no country of the civilized
world Is Uoolaltim growlng faster at
the present time than in the little
country of Denmark with a popu
latlon of slightly over 2,500,000
Although Socialist agitation has
been going on from soap box and
platform for the last thirty years,
without a doubt the greatest force for
the growth of revolutionary sentiment
has been the Socialist daily press.
Not a city of more than 10.000 in,
habitants in the kingdom built on is
lands and pentinuls, Iso without doubt
Its daily working clas newspaper,
*- --
genere l a ai as0 otsihe by the
Psa, asmtm eer ase, atives. Twen.
te dean benluMt newspaper.
are new In spersem ti Denmark.
The graeilt et these Iolalist ram.
publYed I3 OsWahahgen every morn.
ily new ag b i*s lo l Demokraten.
Ins eeept Mior]nin with laIres of a
to t pasge Althakgh first publlshed
in 1181. Lt smppreter tonled for years
through Ihrhips and flaaInuel priv
tlon and against goverment prose
cutioa until thy had placed the paper
on a flanaeiJy iate bea.l. The Soc
lallat were net, however, foolhardy
enoughk to attempt the establlhment
of othe dslis mawui 'Soeeli Demo
krstea" was as assred finanolal
T-day "Selull Demoktarena's" otr
culatlr . a early 16.000 daily and its
Inflmxee I atreager than alt of the
capltaliU newOpapers In Denmark
combined. Its deloeet competition Is
"PolitlUhO" the organ of the govern
meat. with a elreulatlon of only
40,000.
Last Decembe! sa American print
agn press of the meet modern type
was 1Msajed sad the form of the
paper changed to a smaller ale. with
more pages. Many features were
added. One of the Incidents worthy
of mentoen with the changing of the
style (but not the polley) of the paper
was the eanvaglr of the city by the
young eedaltsts and the socaliJst wo.
men the first two pundays in Januas y
6,000 additional rsberlber were
aIst week USolal Demokraten mov.
ed Into its new structure. The occas
Lon was e*lebrated with a big demon.
Stratlo.
A WOMAN'S PLACE.
By Hebert H. eHwe.
Chapter III.
No woman ever entered a Marathon
race, and in the dim past fleetness
of toot was an Important factor in
solving the question of the supremacy
of contonding hordes Not only in
the pursuit of wild animals which
furnished the chlet source of food
supply, but in the constant strife be.
tween oontending tribes, the quick.
agile, and sure-footed had a distinct
advantage.
When attacked by superior numbers
flight was the only recourse of the
warrlpr. If the tide of battle ran the
other way, pursuit of the enemy and
overtaking and dispatching him set
tled the question of the survival of
the fittest In favor of the man with
the best developed feet and legs In
this regard, woman, whose physical
structhre was adopted to her child
bearlng and child nursing functions
was at a disadvantage as compared
to men.
Other forces were at work which
tended to reduce woman's position in
the tribe. The hasards of the chase
and war would naturally result In a
higher death rate among men than
among women, and as the ratlio of
births between the sexee was nearly
equal, this it not corrected would re
sult in a tribe containlng a much
greater number of women than men,
women was, in those rudetimes, the
spoell of war, and was the property
of any man who could capture her
and bear her away. The presence of
a large number of womn in a tribe
resulted in the ncursions of neigh.
bouring tribes, and conflicts for the
pesession of the women were con
seently frequent.
Yeesomially speaking, woman was
of M value thean man, and further.
more was the cause of strife and eon
fllet between tribes. Here we have
an enplanatien of the crime of female
Ifatntleide practiced by these savages
who were the progenitors of the rao..
To tribes surrounded by enemies,
sons were a source of strength both
in defense and in the quest of food.
while daughters were a weakness.
They ate but did not hunt, and they
were a constant temptation to sur
rounding trbes.
Promiseuity, polyandry, and group
marriges were the natural conse
queoes of such a social system, and
woman, bandied about from man to
man in her own tribe and between
tribes, seeing her Infant daughters
murdered, must have welcomed the
change to a monogamous family even
though she still was regarded as pr ,
perty sad a slave.
In the formal tribal state, the idea
of paternity could not have had a
place. The children of a woman were
brothers and sisters to one another,
and aeo to all the children of their
mothers sisters and all relationshipa
were traced through the maternal side
only. This was the se~s. The ident
ity of the father was unknown and
was a matter of utter Indifference
Dut the obeane from the collective
life of the tribe to the individual lif
of the famlly the oustom of tracing
ktlnship through the maternal side
was altenrd to traclng it through the
paternal ide. The establishment of
peermat pgase of abode and the eult
vatln ofl the solt was followed by the
acaumulatis of wealth, and it was
U 0I6 that the Ip0..lea sad be.
qsablrg of rthea .eald be eaSo3e
r seeasd women. Rose the e.d.
rea took their name from the tathef
and ahbeltod wealth from hia, while
the mother was powerien to resist
In the family group, around the
hearth-steoe grw up and developed
the family ndustries through whihob
the members of the household were
fed. ciothed d and sheltered. By a
slow proesm of evolution certan teau
tell to the lot of the wqmen. while
others beeame olamed as masculine.
The mlantenance of the fire was of
the first Importance. Approaching
maternity. and the care of small child.
rem naturally kept the woman at home
and so keeping the fire alive and pre
parlng and cookinlg ood became her
duties.
Grtnding corn into meal in the old
hand querns then in use and baking
It lnto broad also became her task as
wed as curing and preparing the skins
of analmals and thereby providing
suitable ralment for the family. Wick.
er-work is undoubtedly the oldest and
mot uiaversal industry. It was pro.
bably woman's Ingenuity spurred by
her needs that first led her to Inter
weave twigs and rushee into baskets
to aid her in carrying her burdens
Are you a Reader of
THE MONTANA NEWS
You are interested it its EDITORIAL POLICY.
You read it for things that are NOT found in other
papers.
You read it because it is a SOCIALIST publice
tion. You are iaterested in the SOCIALIST
and LABOR CIRCLES.
POINT OF VIEW.
But you ought to know and you want to know
more.
You want to know all the NEWS of the Socialist
You want to know and you onght to know the
significance of current events from a Socialist and
Labor standpoint.
To get this news you must read a DAILY paper
with the SAME EDITORIALS AS THE MON
TANA NEWS.
There is such a paper.
That paper is the
CIICAGO DAILY SOCIALIST.
It is different from other Daily papers. It is
different IIECAUSE
It tells the truth.
It is a workingman's paper.
Its business is human Progress.
It is PUBLIISHED FOR THOSE WHO
DARE TO THINK.
If you are a Progressive Socialist, and want to
keep in touch DAILY with what goes on in the
World of Labor-want to feel the pulse of the en
tire Socialist and Labor movement of America
Send in your subscription.
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CHICAGO DAILY SOCfALIST
207 Washington Street Chicago, Illinois.
rnr"
.r.
rn-Ir
dipt
TýýN r. cwr rPllr
-S .m
" O NIT, SISASS,ILL.
or L sitoring tood for future oomnump
tion. This Is probably the orgtn of
the first creative Industry sad which
lowly developed into weaving of
toetiles by means of which the whole
human race Is clothed.
The need of some utenail to carry
water from spring or brook to her
home brought into exisotence the so
and most Important Industry, the In
ventlon of pottery. It is hardly pro
bable that a wicker basket liled or
covered with clay and dried li thesue
answered the first crudo needs of the
primitive housewife. Whether through
ooaccdet or design It la undoubtedly
to the credit of women that fire-bars.
ed pottery was givel the world.
But the spinning of the alnimal anad
vegetable fibree, such as wool. Ilnen.
cotton and lik,. Into yarn which was
woven and knitted nlato garment with
whleh to clothe the human family.
was probably the most Important ef
all the sedentary occupations which
narrowed woman's sphere to the four
walls of the home.
(To be continued.)
Keep your ee on the Montaan
News, the Dreadnought of the work
ag elass.