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Hellraisers Journal, Monday May 4, 1908
Cities Across the Nation: Despairing Men Search for New Masters
From the Appeal to Reason of May 2, 1908:
Slaves Looking for Masters.
—–In every city of the country there are to be found many sad and despairing men, trudging from place to place, or standing in small groups in earnest conversation. These men are not tramps, hoboes or loafers, but the involuntary idle; men, honest and industrious workingmen, who have lost their jobs and now wander and wonder where and when employment is to be found.
These men are of the wealth producers of the nation, but under the existing competitive system the markets of the world have been overstocked and orders countermanded, and as the employers of labor could no longer employ them with profit, the mill, shop and factory were closed down to await more favorable market conditions, while the unfortunate employes have been set adrift.
But what of those dependent upon the idle workers for food, raiment and shelter? Ah, me, that is not a matter of concern to the employers. When times become extremely severe and threaten revolt, the wife or daughter of the employer, “out of pity for the poor,” will attend a “charity” ball gowned in five thousand dollars worth of silks and diamonds, presenting a ten dollar ticket of admission. Beyond this the employers have little or no interest in their slaves.
When the shop and factory again need labor power, when it can again be employed with profit to the employers-the owners of the machine, the gigantic tool of production-they well know it will be found at the gate knocking and pleading for permission to enter…..
