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Page:Carl Sandburg - You and Your Job (1910).pdf/27

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YOU AND YOUR JOB
27

election day, when you ask for legislation that will help you, you are kicked away like beggars who don't know where they belong. The brass bands and the hurrah business is only to get your vote.

Good food, good clothes, more books, music, education and pleasure for all, is what we are trying to get. With machinery nowadays, one man produces more than ten men did a hundred years ago. There is enough for all. Therefore, let all have enough.

We are set for no small battle. We are bent on nothing less than capturing the government and using it for the best interests of the working class. To convince a strong majority of the people that we are right is a huge task, but we have with us not only all the fact and sentiment that cling around justice and mercy and the sacredness of humanity, but, working blindly and blunderingly with us in the industrial and commercial worlds, are forces of mass and power.

Better homes, better food, better clothing, more pictures, books, music, culture, are possible for the masses of the people. Calmly and thoughtfully we say labor is entitled to more of the good things of life. Never before in the history of the world was there such stupendous and overwhelming plenty of all the good things that mean material welfare. If you come asking for these things like beggars, you will be treated like beggars. Beg no longer, but study your cause, get into political action and