Page:Alexander Jonas - Reporter and Socialist (1885).djvu/48

 man has no other interest than to give as little labor as possible for the scanty wages he receives, and he does not care whether his co-worker is lazy or industrious, whether material and tools are wasted or not; for, to look out for all this does not increase his weekly wages a cent over what the competition upon the labor market puts in his pockets. But, under a system of co-operative, social production, as we desire to introduce it, the contrary would be the case. For, under such a system every worker is a partner in the business, and he knows that any neglect on his own part and that of his fellow-workers would be detrimental to the whole. Therefore, everyone is interested in the doings of everyone else, and the impulse of doing what is right and advantageous is much greater than under the rulings of an arbitrary self-interested boss. And it is but natural that the quality of labor should be improved under such a co-operative system, not to speak-of the moral advantages it would offer, as it would raise the standard of morality; and the sense of right and justice would be more highly developed than among the oppressed and suffering wage-slaves of the present day. Therefore, you see that it is but natural, that not only the whole people, but also the individual worker would profit if the socialistic plan had been carried out.

And how are the prices for labor and its products to be fixed? To-day these things are regulated by supply and demand.

"Regulated!" Indeed, you call that "regulating?" Where the man who is laboring hardest gets the least, and the fellow who hardly does anything swallows the biggest and best pieces; where part of the products is depreciated by an insane system of overproduction, and the rest is made scarce and dear by being bought up, "cornered," by speculators, and kept away from the market until prices are so high that but few can pay them, and those who can't must suffer from want and starvation! No, Sir; there will be no "regulating" like that in a society organized according to our ideas. Of course, we will not be able to figure as closely as to avoid that even one pair of boots remain unsold, or that not even a dozen of apples will go to waste—and I mention this for the purpose of avoiding the ridiculous objections that are sometimes made in