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men are unemployed. Many machines are so simple that the child operates them while the unemployed father carries lunch to the little slaves.
Another point to be noticed is that the employing capitalist who owns the means of employment decides the question of whether he will use labor power or machine power. His decision depends on which is the cheapest and most profitable for him. The machine will produce more in a given time so the capitalist orders the machine. Besides, the machine never gets discontented, never strikes, never asks for an increase in wages, never objects to the number of hours it works and it is always on hand when wanted. From every point of view the machine is preferred by the employing capitalist. He decides. The worker has no voice in the matter. The worker is powerless to reverse the decision of the capitalist who decides to substitute machine power for labor power. So that this labor power becomes a drug on the market and the worker finds difficulty in selling it. It becomes cheaper every day. As the masters continue to buy machine power the demand for labor power decreases and the price of labor power also decreases. Cheap labor power means cheap wages and poor men. So the machine, with its mighty power to produce wealth, takes the place of men, and while piling up untold wealth for the capitalist employers it reduces thousands of workingmen to poverty.
Now do not think that 1 am against the machine, John: The machine enables men to produce vastly more wealth than we can by hand. The machine contains possibilities of happiness and plenty for all when it is used for all. Today the machines are the property of employing capitalists and the owners take all the benefits. If the machines can produce more than plenty for the few they can produce plenty for all. Capitalist ownership of the machines is a curse, for such ownership enables the capitalist to thrust the workers aside and take the increased production of the machine. The machine is not to blame. It will work for us and produce the increase for us when we know how to use the machine for the good of all.
The Farmer.
The farmer is largely in the same condition as the wage worker. You farmers in the southern states, especially, have a terrible struggle with poverty. The
