The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 29, 1924, Page 11

How Little? This question is net a favorite one amongst the bourgeoisie, except when put to one of us out-of-job stiffs in search of a master. To ask a mer- chant how little he'll take for one of his choice adulterated wares, is to in- sult him terribly and to ineur his bouncer’s ill will forever, so that it becomes dangerous for us again to enter his emporium of bargains and the arts. Also to inquire in a dulcet voice in front of a theater box office how little is the price of admission is to méet with haughty scorn and an up- tilted nose. So with our contributions to the churchly collection box as it swings close te our gaping eyes of a Sunday morning. We are supposed to put in all our wad or the biggest part of it and no questions asked or an- swered. When we are arrested for indulging too freely in free speech and blocking the bootleggers’ traffic, we should not ask how little, judge? That would be contempt of court besides our other crimes and misdemeanors. However, we are forced too often to put this unwelcome query and to those we love best, owing to the h. c. 1. and the L. g. w. (low going wage). Friend wife goes thru our pants and finds the usual vacuum there and then kindly requests us to get busy and fetch in a weekly wage of sin and misery, so that she can clothe and feed the family, purchase school books, pay renf, car fare, gas and light bills, water rent, and the month- ly dues of the Workers Party, and the campaign stamps and literature, with a quarter for the open forum; we scratch our heads and say: Just * how little can you get along on? And when she replies that it takes ten dol- lars and forty-nine cents per diem to run our small shebang of six souls and keep us in good standing in.our party, we groan and ask: “Now ,just where in h-—— do you suppose we are -go- ing. to raise that amount from now on -to-the revolution?” Mother replies voluminously and profusely that if she had to depend on MO. eh Rie ee alone, the head of the family, she’d never get to see half or a quarter of that much. All she wants . . .all she expects . . . all she is looking for, is for me to get a job, any sort of a job, whereby I can earn wages, regular wages, so she éan knew what to depend on and she with the help of the older children, her needle and her dogs, dig up the rest, “All the ten dollars and forty-nine the mud; I have been in Michigan, In- diana, and IHiinois when the blizzards down the lake and the ther- mometer struck 20 below zero; I been in Kansas and Nebraska the and none in sight; I have been valleys, Death Valley and Hell’s Half nes cyclones made us hunt for | = You can see he does not read “The National Labor Daily” = » 1113 W. Washington Blvd. in a second-hand wardrobe for pen- nies that would cost dollars on Broad- way; drive Lizzie thru the wholesale vegetable and fruit market and col- lect a week’s supply of edibles for half or quarter what they cost at the neighborhood stores, go along the rail- road track and load up old ties thrown away by the section boss, for our fuel, pick up books and magazines cast off by thriftless members of the bourgeoisie, and settle down to mak- ing over furs, furniture and fol de rols for foolish folks, who pay us well for their silly fancies, including our high-bred Pekingese dogs. You see, when it comes to a show down, we are loaded for the bourgeoisie; we buy by the rule, how little? and sell by the formula, how much? No; you'll not find our names on the income tax list, or on any other one for that matter. We pay enough indirect taxes to keep a couplé more small children in board and round, and 80 we feel we are doing our share to- wards supporting the bourgeois gov- ernment and the Wall Street hounds. It is a waste of energy to have tu do all the small contemptible tricks and turns we are forced to in order educated bunch and full of creative power and might be of hugh service to our country if allowed to exercise our talents free from the petty wor- ries of sordid bourgeois cares. But, no! We must stoop to the smallest subterfuges and devices to raise enough money to live in comparative comfort*and decency, and expend all our time or the most of it in employ- ments beneath contempt in order to get along as well as the better sort of domestic animals do. If we did not put up a heroic and heart-breaking struggle against odds, we would be submerged instantly. The moment We.lose courage we are gone. While we seem to boast on how little we can get along on, yet we realize that is nothing to brag about. One’s living should be gained almost without thot or effort in these prodigious days of mighty machine production. One should be able to live well and even tuxiously on a couple hours’ work a day; and have the remainder of his time for art, science, literature, music, philosophy and the higher walks of human life. Russia is slowly forg- ing ahead in that direction; and when she begins to show the world how to raise our $10.49. We are a well- to live, how well she can live and Px ' Her | NA = HE has no interest in Labor. scious ranks of his class. Of course— = He knows nothing about it. = He has never joined the con- This Worker Leads a helluva life! For him the world is the blah. has news every day of the work- ers’ world. He is well informed. He is in the ranks of the Labor movement. FPATES & S.50-6 montis $200 NEW SUBSCRIPTION TO BUILD THE DAILY WORKER THT MEE Hit PH ae LUBE TTT This Worker Gets a “kick” out of living! For him the world is worthwhile. “By Robin E. Dunbar how much she ean spend and still have a surplus, then the conundrum of our needing more than we can raise in spite of all sorts of ingenious makings, and savings in order to cling together as a family, will solve itself. The bourgeoisie can't be ex- pected to embrace Russia’s example; they'll have to be forced to do so by us Communists; who are only ask- ing ourselves how little? now so we can answer to the roll call of how much? hereafter. BOOKS FOR THINKERS SCIENCE, LITERATURE ECONOMICS, HISTORY, Any Book in Print at Once. Jimmie Higgins Book Shop 127 University Place NEW YORK CITY A Workers Party Book Shop the International Learn ™* inernetiors' IDO 16-page pamphlet, giving outline of language, shewing its superiority over Esperanto, etc., sent free. The Workers Ido Federation m 5, 805 James St., N. PA. - &. Room 5, J PITTSBURGH, HE Of course— He has heaved this brick back to THE DAILY WORKER Chicago, Ill.