In very recent times a foe has arisen which threatens to be a greater menace to the liberties of the masses of the people than were the foes by which they were originally enslaved. I refer to the money power, or plutocracy.
During the last few years, through the application of scientific methods to industry, and through mechanical inventions by means of which the power and efficiency of labour have been greatly increased, the accumulation of wealth has reached a point never before witnessed in the history of the world, yet strange to relate, along with this enormous increase in wealth there has been a corresponding increase in poverty and crime. This immense wealth has not been shared by those who produced it but has gone into the pockets of those who exploit labour for profits. Along with this enormous increase in wealth is observed a general lowering of standards both in private and public life. There are in this country alone ten millions of people who are deprived of the necessary food, clothing, and shelter to insure a healthful existence. In the public schools of New York City it is reported that six hundred thousand children are victims of malnutrition. In winter thousands of hungry men and women go up and down the streets of our large cities begging for an opportunity to earn a living. Our jails and prisons are filled to overflowing. Our almshouses and insane asylums are insufficient to meet the demands. Imbecility and other forms of mental degeneracy are increasing at an alarming rate. Epilepsy and other congenital diseases prevail among all classes and conditions of the people. Five-sixths of the children born are diseased at birth.
The basic principle underlying our present economic system is profits. To secure large profits labour must be cheap and plentiful, and that labour may be cheap and plentiful an enormous population must be produced. In order to produce this enormous population women must be enslaved. Although existing conditions are such as to make life a curse instead of a blessing, the cry for “babies, more babies” is heard on every hand, and this notwithstanding the fact that a large proportion of the children born die before the age of five because this environment is unfavourable to life.