ven-eights of
the wealth, and, being, I hope, neither fool, liar nor monster, I
denounce the system as brutally unjust. There is no sense and no
morality in mincing matters and being afraid to call spades spades.

It is because of this unjust distribution of the wealth of modern
society that we have so much social unrest. That is the heart of the
whole problem. Why are workingmen organized into unions to fight the
capitalists, and the capitalists on their side organized to fight the
workers? Why, simply because the capitalists want to continue
exploiting the workers, to exploit them still more if possible, while
the workers want to be exploited less, want to get more of what they
produce.

Why is it that eminently respectable members of society combine to
bribe legislators--_to buy laws from the lawmakers!_--and to corrupt
the republic, a form of treason worse than Benedict Arnold's? Why, for
the same reason: they want to continue the spoliation of the people.
That is why the heads of a great life insurance company illegally used
the funds belonging to widows and orphans to contribute to the
campaign fund of the Republican Party in 1904. That is why, also, Mr.
Belmont used the funds of the traction company of which he is
president to support the Civic Federation, which is an organization
specially designed to fool and mislead the wage-earners of America.
That is why every investigation of American political or business life
that is honestly made by able and fearless men reveals so much
chicanery and fraud.

You belong to a union, Jonathan, because you want to put a check upon
the greed of the employers. But you never can expect through the union
to get all that rightfully belongs to you. It is impossible to expect
that the union will ever do away with the terrible inequalities in the
distribution of wealth. The union is a good thing, and the workers
ought to be much more thoroughly organized into unions than they are.
Socialists are always on the side of the union when it is engaged in
an honest fight against the exploiters of labor.

Later on, I shall take up the question of unionism and discuss it with
you, Jonathan. Meanwhile, I want to impress upon your mind that _a
wise union man votes as he strikes_. There is not the least bit of
sense in belonging to a union if you are to become a "scab" when you
go to the ballot-box. _And a vote for a capitalist party is a scab
vote, Jonathan._

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Note: In