the owners of the tools in order to sell that power—the proletarian class.
Here was a radical departure from the old method of production and a new struggle began. Manufacturers and journeymen clashed—the serfs, demanding greater liberties and led by the new capitalists, rose in revolt against the barons—and in the ragings of this dual conflict the feudal system had its end. All classes in the old society were thoroughly embroiled in the warfare. Out of the welter of the conflict the Capitalists rose supreme—the old personal obligations disappeared and payments of cash adjusted every human relationship.
Marx, in that wonderful epitome and arraignment of Capitalism—the Communist Manifesto—gives us an illuminating view of the new Capitalist class and all who consider themselves students of modern conditions, should read that splended document.
CAPITALISM
Man set himself apart from the beasts and commenced his social progress when he discovered the use of fire. The separation of herding, agriculture and the handicrafts introduced the institution of private property; and the subdivision of labor in the handicrafts introduced the factory system of production, with its atendant capitalist and wage slave classes. Then came the discovery of the expansive force of steam and the invention of the steam engine. A new force had been found and, like the wild horse of the prairies, it had been harnessed.
Who can say what were the dreams of the ambitious capitalists when this fact came home to them? A new source of power, harnessed and ready to do the world's work! Could you have imagined the results? Look around you and see the answer.
The application of steam to industry stimulated every capitalist activity. The possibilities of the event were so vast that they set every known agency to work to take advantage of it. Experimentation was the order of the
