y work on condition that he finds somebody who will
give him permission to work for just enough of what his labor produces
to keep him in working order.

No matter whether you have studied this economic question or not, you
cannot have failed to observe that during the past half century society
has been sharply divided into classes--into a capitalist class upon the
one hand, into a working class upon the other hand. I shall not take the
time to trace this evolution. I shall simply call your attention to the
fact that half a century ago all a man needed was a trade and having
this he could supply himself with the simple tools then used, produce
what he needed and enjoy the fruit of his labor. But this has been
completely changed. The simple tool has disappeared and the great
machine has taken its place. The little shop is gone and the great
factory has come in its stead. The worker can no longer work by and for
himself. He has been recruited into regiments, battalions and armies and
work has been subdivided and specialized; and now hundreds and thousands
and tens of thousands of workingmen work together co-operatively and
produce in great abundance, not for themselves, however, for they no
longer own the tools they work with. What they produce belongs to the
capitalist class who own the tools with which they work. A man fifty
years ago who made a shoe owned it. Today it is possible for that same
worker, if still alive, to make a hundred times as many shoes, but he
doesn't own them now. He works today with modern machinery which is the
property of some capitalist who lives perhaps a thousand miles from
where the factory is located and who owns all the product because he
owns the machinery.

I have stated that society has been divided into two warring classes.
The capitalist owns the tool in modern industry, but he has nothing to
do with its operation. By virtue of such ownership he has the economic
power to appropriate to himself the wealth produced by the use of that
tool. This accounts for the fact that the capitalist becomes rich. But
how about the working class? In the first place they have to compete
with each other for the privilege of operating the capitalist's tool of
production. The bigger the tool and the more generally it is applied,
the more it produces, the sharper competition grows between the workers
for the privilege of using it and the more are thrown out of employment.
Every few years, no matter what pa