A PAGE OF EXCLUSIVE FEATURES
A PAGE OF EXCLUSIVE' FEATURES The Coal Blues MnsfE government of the United States of Fl'America has presented .me with the full fi&doal report. It is - printed - in'etx volumes, Ej§|...
...2$eV'" ' " '" 4.44 "•¦ t""True-increased outptrt'per man and day is" JS^inly due to improved mining methods and Jfwne...
...A fair, day's wages for a fair day's work.' they ought to inscribe on their banner tbe revolutionary watchword, 'Abolition of the wages systpm.'" Marx thus connects up 'his value theories with his demand that the system which creates a surplus value should be eliminated...
...Then we creep out and sit in the nice safe sunshine and mumble through our toothless jaws about the greet stuff we pulled off in 1917...
...But I'm not going to read them MaW: They sre too depressing...
...Coal Commission's report, Hamr 4ffemand Wright show that in a certain mine »*> output per-man under ground per day doubled by the use of loading machines...
...They are trying to find dot what the "kid's graft is...
...Of coarse to such mentalities the thought that there are still some ideals left in this world is incredible...
...Nor anybody else...
...y°ag the...
...The value of laboring power 4s formed' of two elements—the one merely physical, the other historical' or social...
...Pat and Mike ?'then turned over and died again...
...Tn spite of-its callow-humor, "The Case, of Bituminous ..Coal" is a rattling good book...
...Here |§e the'figures...
...The trouble with coal, they say, feWa&t'that there is not enough, but that there Wtioo much coal...
...that they are applying paliativea, not caring the malady...
...The.saddest part of the book I'm quoting from is' the humorous style in which, the most depressing facts are...
...The .ultimate limit Is determined by the physical element, that is to say, to roamtarn and reproduce itself, to perpetuate itk physical existence, the working class must receive the necessaries absolutely indispensable for living and multiplying...
...What he wants is a remedy, and in all that noble array of facts on coal there isn't, a thing that looks even remotely like,a remedy...
...Hoovert has the floor...
...Hoover, they claim getsoM just about finish the coal industry, 'by sJftreasing the already existing cut-throat SsMmipetition between operators on the* one...
...Part of the surplus is taken by the landlord udder the name of rent...
...sNeithetdo .tw'fw^rs- Nor the people from whom they jMt Jhem...
...Efjfhave now a ten*foot shelf of coal MiteraSjrjH9 my library and the books are still eomSgTdt an alarming* rate...
...Instead of the conservative motto...
...other hand, there exists no taw determining the minimum of profit...
...Perhaps it's just that old age is creeping over us...
...Hoover's remedy...
...The last sentence may be deplorable English...
...Read them and weep: 1900-7-Tons 1923—Tons Abduction...
...Tha Rata, Of Profit On the...
...If Brother Hoover had* been in his _ he...
...It's human but it's dangerous...
...machinery...
...Insteaa of being sniffy and patronizing and god-awful superior let s hold out a hand of welcome for s change...
...Stiff tooftng for a remedy,J consult my ten fast shelf of coal facts...
...the anarchy of coal...
...There being otdy'operators aAd miners present the meett^ffhss none...
...Heaven knows we have nothingmuch to be up-stage about...
...Hoover's motion say *nv» " - jf^Ine ayes have it and So ordered...
...What does shake oar senile sensibilities is to find that they are so well informed about matters that were ss alien ts us in our college years as honor js alien, to f . banker...
...To be sure we had our radicals, even M those remote days, but* somehow the 1926 group appears to be more gure~footed, less ' -fanatic, if you please, but certainly mogdj human than the 1909 eorxtingeat...
...pure era in for ths capitalist...
...gj> .that won't' work, eHher.' Efficiency »: B*b stay...
...his base...
...If also fiappens to be deplorable truth...
...I 'VntrmsTD tor their accuracy...
...It is - printed - in'etx volumes, Ej§| 3)600,000, and wilt take me seven years SfjmA, providing my blinkers bold out...
...However, as capitalist Industry progresses, the demand for tabor fails to keep pace with the accumulation of- capital...
...e. *< . '* plfr...
...Nevertheless we sre convinced that there has rarely been such fertile soil for the sowing of the seeds of industrial democracy as is deep in our colleges today...
...There • are pictures, accompanied by unemotional but nevertheless stirring text,' of congested conditions in New York and Chicago, pictures of ¦striking miners being evicted in West Vir* ginia rainstorms, pictures of sweated child labor in Southern factories...
...tonnage W-that year would have been only 244,000...
...kjptioo made and seconded to prohibit efRty...
...Mar* maintained that there were some peculiar features which distinguished the -value of laboring power or the value of labor from the values of all other coinmodtties...
...When a young* man like Powers Hapgood, for "example, comes out of Harvard 'and instead of turning into a go-gettiggMdesman, joints the United Mine Workers of ^America end goes down and works at the face of gthe...
...In fact it seems quite sensible to mm and he or she is willing to take off his or her coat snd pitch in andsheip...
...Assuming that the country's *2»-tequirements of 550,000,000 tons could jfffiyic from mines doing that well and that tfge mines worked 300 days a year, only WW) miners would be required to produce BJtte coal needed in the country...
...This historical or social element, entering Into the value of tabor, may be expanded or contracted, or altogether extinguished, so that nothing remains but the physical limit...
...One* of the text-books is called, "Economic Life," and is edited snd compiled by Tugwell, Munro and Striker, three liberalminded, gentlemen...
...When, a fellow is sick in bed it don't help him to read that he is sicker than he feels...
...0)h...
...By many millions they^bavs been aosepted ea truths which Should not be disputed...
...We * hand the job to you...
...There is very little yon can tell them about anything...
...Or thinks he Jgg...
...His remedy is wrtmedy at all.-"Its very success w6uld be j9l failure...
...The idea of production for the service of all rather than . the profits of a few does not striken the current undergraduate as a wild Utopian dream...
...212,000,000 564,000,000 *ne capacity...
...When a -kid fresh from college comes around and wants to help we usually adopt a supercilious attitude that ill befits us who have done so little towards bringing in a new social order.' "Children must be seen and not heard" we drone and harness Pegasus to a dray, licking envelopes or writing address lists...
...It Is sate to say that no one can study Marx aa h? deserve* to be studied— and, let us add...
...worse still, quoting an article by Walter gfrwDake, they give an instance of a mine Pfwaining an average production of 750 Sg * day with a working force of (SO inside SJJR- outside...
...2guming that to be the general effect, they Ifgmate that 396,753 inside,and outside men f*std have produced all the coal consumed l^theyear 1922...
...year without having something happen %to your insides...
...Nobody, pta remedy and those who think they: have ptanedy agree that- it would make things gnFrotn all I can make out the future of coal |f at black as the picture of the darky huntMf a black cat in the cellaret midnight...
...However, this doss not follow...
...It.la not mere physical life, but, it U the satisfaction of certain wants springing from -ths social conditions in which the people sre placed and reared up...
...He shall have it...
...It is coal data, ' ^tsjurjl jneans that when it is favorable to the Mkiftry it is taken from the prospectus of a> NifijSBtnpany which is trying to sell more :$W£( When unfavorable it is lifted from fttfif brief of a coal operators' association *ssk| is tryinjg to show that the industry fXpoor to pay...
...as he has heretofore NOT ^>een studied ta England and America—without recognising .tbe fact that, perhaps with the exception of Rlcardo, there baa been no more, original, no more powerful, and no more acute intellect In tbe entire history ot economic science.1* Kidding the Kids We Ain't So Good Curuselves MncieaA smuseanemx-'eyy tsWtuW 'at ^^^co^s^rn^Ttrypg^ : expressinterestm\^rh^ormo^omoot And r m the next bgeath diey nrnr .ftrn rftfleWgfsj for Ijreedireg nothing pttt *rmh twM oiy/sy5 hcnmeHi and party petters...
...279;000,000 970,000,000 3g>f<>f miners...
...Every generation likes to think that its successors wilt do better...
...Hoover is off...
...WtnU'-'is the opinion- of the meeting con,cernjng Mr...
...Othertrae he ia...
...The ray of cheer is that the industry isn't as Ss as it will be...
...In 1920, for instance, only 38100,000 tons were produced with the aid gritting machines, while 377,600,000 tons • Jljfte produced in 1923 by this method...
...Guess I'll present my ten-foot shelf of coal to the society for the prevention ,of cruelty , to >animals, the old ladies' home, or the asylum for feeble-minded youths, or something...
...f>Mr...
...This development tends to turn the scale against the worker end In-favor ot the capitalist...
...Concttfeton 'The foregoing theories of Marx have furnished much ot the theoretical basis for ths modern socialist movement...
...IS efficiency -throws some four hundred thousand coal miners on the scrap pile like so much rubbish, let them suffer in due humility...
...The present undergraduates are f*oi Irgsgj Of course, from the prevalent vogue of ao» preme sophistication...
...Which brings ns to our moral...
...Anybody trying to stick sestets on coal has to be some sprinter...
...SBcratiness of coal...
...Efficiency wills it...
...Iri spite of their surface sophistication they are youngsters with the greatest of all assets—¦ the curious mindl Maybe* we are cherishing a fond delusion about it all but it is our bunch that When they get out into the world and round about, they are going to do things to said world that will set s lot of staffed shirt old-timers on their horrified ears...
...Tbe matter resolves itself Into a question of the respective powers of the combatants...
...at cheer up, the worst is yet to come...
...NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS OF THE POOR FISH Wark Harder * * * Be Polites to the Bens * * * Don't Listen to Agitater's ** * Work Hard Whom Am ¦Mom U Uohmg . * * * Stop Comploining Spend Leas Monoy * * * Join the Glths * * * Be Kind to JAndmits * * * Work Herder * * * Keep Smithing ALWAYS RESPECT PWIQENT COOLDGE -:- Rent, Interest and Profit THE HISTORY OF SOCIALlST THOUGHT By HARRY W. LAIDLER...
...But it was many, many years ago thst we first heard that wise crack, "You can always tell s He» Vard man, but you can't tell him anything* So if s not surprising to find thst the young men and women of our colleges are snper> - sophisticates looking st life from beneath lifted brows...
...304,000 600,000...
...There was never a time in its, .history whan it moved slower, never a time when it had less idea whej-£ it was moving to...
...Some of these criticisms will be later considered...
...It would make him think of green meadows, moonshine and water tanks—anything but tryingto make a living by mining, or if Hamilfotrand Wright are right the merry sound Of the whistle will be heard less and less as time goes on...
...living wages...
...taken from the real life of factories, fields, workshops and mines...
...part goes to the money lending capitalist as interest, so: that ¦ there remains to the capitalist as such - only industrial or commercial pront/"Rent, interest and industrial' profit ere only different names (of different parts o% the surplus value of the commodity, or the unpaid labor enclosed in it, and they are equally derived froni this source snd from this source alone...
...Hoover, 9ext backward in using machinery, in stsndrnt&i&k practices, and in adopting quantity Itiiitfrrj* of production...
...The danger is of course that , we win sit back and say, Go'to it, lads...
...So are machines...
...E^few", according to Hamilton and Wright, ¦Mr...
...Increased 'efficiejney, such pa: is proposed by Mr...
...Wblcfe tnsJirs it ^rather 1tsrd the young men and women /who take lite and theroaelveg a hit sorfcosly and are genuinelv snxioug to he ot ooeao mm in the world...
...The actual rate of profits ta only aetUed "by the continuous struggle between capital end tabor, * tbe capitalist constantly tending'to reduce wages to their physical minimum afad .to extend the irorkJpS day- to-4ts chygtcar mexluiuiii while, the working man constantly presses in the opposite diaectlon...
...in favor of Mr...
...The maximum of profits Is limited by the minimum of wages and the physical maximum of the working day...
...Now obviously you canft be exposed to % book like this for an entire...
...H|s remedy is" to tsaaar dot rulc-of-thumb procedure, guessnSfk,'about-that-much and- maybe-so's, and ^wrowfrom metal'mining and factory ma:s^ip«ls.T timr clocks, efficiency engineers, blue feints and the other paraphernalia of mass jiotlaction at the expense Of the masses...
...The attitude of the organized labor movement is fully as bad...
...There are too many mines, PCr...
...aad disqualify themselves for the initiating of any larger movement...
...But, aa Professor X. R. A. Sellgman remarks: "Whethc: r not we agree With jian' analysis of industrial society...
...present state of the labor movement in America...
...You can't study -the origins of private property, the life of the group, human behavior and the like as those Columbia Frosh are doing, without beginning to ask questions...
...K^veryone is writing'about the evils of coal...
...Hoover deserves attention...
...And then »y go on to show that the hydra headed pfcnster efficiency is already gnawing on the Rials'of King-CoalJ.arid that it is this very jeficiency that is destroying the inefficiency |smeh allows the industry to live at all...
...They ought, therefore, not to be exchaslvety sbsbrbed in these unavoidable guerilla fights...
...The result of this hard-boiled attitude of labor towards the intellectual is best shown in tbe...
...We met* quite a number of the lstssˆ crop of collegians at the annual conference of the League for Industrial Democracy thse.lsst week and :we are here to say that, by and Urge, they struck us as vggtly.sap*xior to the output of, let us say, the year...
...Ths general tendency of capitalist production Is, therefore, to push tbe value of labor more or'ism toward the mintmum IfmnV Some might argue that, m view of this ten> •dency, the workers should remain passive and fail to*resist the encroachments of capital...
...Tbe, taw of supply and demand must also be taken Into account in determining tho kind of wagee settlements actually made...
...would have" prayed for ram.: No, efgsy won't do...
...F*The coal industry,* says Mr...
...i. i^The coal mines," continues Mr...
...morgue ' and greemd'-me withi **Have you- heard- the story about the two Irishmen...
...Hoover, "is jfe'.worst conducted of all our industries...
...On tbe other hand/ they should not forget that in assisting such encroachments) they are fighting with effects, "that they ere retarding -the downsrard movement, but not changing Its direction...
...Is altogether pocketed By the employing capitalist, or whether the latter is obliged to pay portions of it, under the name of rent and interest, sway to third parties...
...And as asking questions is the beginning of wisdom, small wonder that these Tatter-day students seem a lot.wiser than their predecessors...
...Hoover has a remedy...
...Hopver's: ideal of a coal mine is a subPtehaneau Ford plant in which the miners per- " jgarm a given number of jerks, twists and' apwms while nursing the "automatic conveyor rwaiebTsdelivering coat from the face to tbe ksfi-of the suffering public...
...If humanity 'Mpaats^ete...
...the result of his surplus labor, or unpaid labor...
...f» Noah saw the deluge coming he built rk...
...D. (Cestinued front Last Week) Division Into Rent, Profit and Interest . Of course, the whole of the profit' is not...
...Being an engineer of reputation and Searetary of Commerce, Mr...
...Each chapter .starts- with a-funny quotation from .some comic opera which is "followed by data that Is enough'to wring tears frqm a granite tombstotte.^ The effect "on me was as if my buddy had risen from his marble slab in the...
...But let us not enuht the authors...
...Let's stop throwing cold water over these hot young enthusiasms...
...Every miner ought to have one in his home...
...queer" snd to be shunned...
...If they did this, they "would be degraded to one level mass of broken wretches past .salvation...
...The greater the demand for labor on the pert ot tbe capitalist In proportion to the supply of available tabor, the more favorable WUl be tSe wage settlements...
...If I read all-these Sgppn I'd know more about coal than King ES^imself...
...coal, a lot -of pot-bellied, lick-spittle sons of -itches who call themselves "labor leaders" stick out their'snouts end begin, to* sniff .around...
...Besides this mere physical element,'' Marx continues, "the value of tabor ts In every country determined by vthe tradttlo'nat standard of life...
...They are instantly suspicious and make things ag difficult for Powers end his pals as they -can...
...JrW the mines had worked 300 days instead lEonly 142 as they did in 1022, the number ft-»inera required to produce the...
...licAKetrtsr f nls...
...Besides, New Year'is coming and how in . . blazes can a fellow get into the happy, season's spirits by reading about the coal industry...
...Carried...
...fiflput per miner ' . ' ¦ t; ••' Pfc*.working day...
...with, c&aencyt se much the worse for h.umanity...
...Adam Cosaldigger...
...My eyes light upon— ' The Case of Bituminous Coal By Hamilton and Wright...
...They are not derived from land such or from capital as such, but land and .capital enable their owners, to gpt their respective abase* out of the surplus value extracted by the employing capitalist from ths laborer...
...the iS|te<>of coal...
...By comparing the standard of Wagee or.values of- labor In different countries, and by comparing them in different historical epochs of-the ssms country,* you will Snd that the value of labor itself Is not a fixed'but a variable magnitude, even- supposing the values of all Other magnitudes Vamain constant...
...the rate of profits...
...It has pictures (think of it, brothers and sisters, pictures in a text-book on economics...
...For the laborer himself it is a matter of.subordinate importance whether that surplus value...
...By many others, they have "been subjected to severe critical analysis, and to a considerable modification In the light of more recent economic developments...
...1909 when we - were thrust from the portals of Cioktmbis ^upon s none too enthufuagtk world...
...An immense scale of variation is thus possible in...
...ft The facts and figures presented in the fallflwttr ~JMJSf«j nri taken from this book...
...dfie and the miners on the other...
...Suppose the employing capitalist ta .to use only his own capital and' De bis oarn landlord, then the -whole surplus veins wousi go- late big ow* polks*, li • Value of Labor Power— Phyeical and Social Returning to the vflue .of -labor power...
...The freshman class at Columbia, Ion ex* ample, is nqw t&king a course » Contemporary Civilization that could no more have been given in our time than a course in Celtic Mysticism...
...machines and coal as it is...
...Every college man must necessarily go into a', business or profession...
...the crime of coal...
Vol. 2 • January 1926 • No. 53
