Somewhere in his voluminous writings Karl Marx makes the arresting
statement that "all capitalistic organizations carry within themselves
the elements of their own destruction." (Solomon said long before Marx,
"The prosperity of fools shall destroy them.") It might be demonstrated
that the destroying element is "greed" for wealth and power, but it is
enough to call attention to the fact that the work of destruction is at
present in progress. Every morning our newspapers are calling attention
to the fact that political parties are destroying themselves through
lust for power and because they are dominated by the forces of organized
Greed.
Capital is at present in a parlous condition because it is suspected of
greedy profiteering and the plain people are in the mood to bring it to
book.
Labor, that was enabled to organize because of the work done by Capital
in centralizing industry for the purpose of increasing profits, is in
danger of destroying itself by its exactions, by general strikes, and
by making labor conditions in the cities so remunerative and attractive
that no one wants to stay on the farms to do the necessary but heavy and
mussy work of food production.
There are even those who point out that the churches are destroying
their usefulness by a rage for over-organization and financial
stability, but that is a question that no cautious man would care to
review.
Now the cities, those organized centres of humanity, appear to be
passionately intent on committing suicide. In this they are receiving
material aid from governments, but it seems useless for any one to offer
a protest. When a delegation of farmers recently waited on Governor
Smith, of New York, to protest against the adoption of daylight saving
legislation, he rebuked them severely for their class selfishness. No
one seems to realize that daylight saving is simply a gesture in the
progress of city suicide. The few laborers to be found on the farms
naturally want to take advantage of the daylight saving law, with the
result that they are idle in the morning hours when the dew makes
impracticable the cultivation of root crops, corn, etc., and the
gathering of hay and sheaves. And besides being idle at the expense of
the farmers in the morning, they are idle for their own enjoyment in the
late afternoon and evening when field work can be attended to most
satisfactorily. Besides, the farmer is obliged to do his own milking and
chores while his highly paid hired man goes to town to enjoy the movies.
The result is that farmers are forced to limit their enterprises to the
amount of work that can be done by themselves and their families. In
many cases it would not pay them to employ a hired man. Indeed, cases
have come under my personal observation where farmers found it more
practicable to sell their farms and hire out with farmers who thought
they could contend with the new adverse conditions. And presently these
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account