"The doctor gazed at me and a wild look came into his eyes."

[timework@xxxxxxxxx (Tom Walker)]

An excerpt from "The Scarlet Empire" by David M. Parry (1906)

As a means of calming my restlessness the doctor took me on several
excursions over the country, and on one of these we made a visit to the
monument that had been erected to the Federation of Labor of Atlantis. Our
car brought us close to the base of this wonder of wonders. Imagine, if you
can, a pyramid of brilliancy seventy-five feet square at the base and
piercing the upper air for fully five hundred feet, and you will have some
idea of this marvelous work of man. So bright was its light that it was
necessary to protect the eyes with smoked glasses on approaching it. In
fact, it was a veritable sun, illuminating the land for miles and miles
around. I found on close inspection that it was a monolith of white
transparent marble, a material which I had never before met in nature.
Radium had been applied to the entire surface and the effect produced was
that of liquid fire.

To say that I was astounded by the spectacle but ill expresses it. The
doctor, however, shrugged his shoulders and instead of speaking in
admiration, shook his fist toward it and exclaimed:

"There is the monument that commemorates our damnation. But for the
Federation of Labor the Social Democracy would never have been. It was the
Federation that paved the way. It passed laws providing that the State
should fix wages and hours of labor. It declared what should constitute a
day's work in all industries, it limited the number of men who could be
permitted to learn the various trades and occupations, and it compelled
employers to hire labor whether they made any profit or not. The Federation
acted on the theory that the owners of capital were a curse and that if it
were not for them labor could live in luxury and work only a few hours a
day. It calmly argued that the less labor did the higher would be its wages.
The leaders of the Federation said that there was a certain amount of work
to be done in Atlantis, and that the competition among the workers for the
chance to do this work made it possible for the employers to reduce wages.
'Now,' said they, 'all that needs to be done is to get rid of this
competition. Let us shorten hours and let no man perform any greater share
of this labor than he can possibly avoid, and then we shall have a condition
in which the competition will be transferred to the employers-a condition in
which the employers will bid against each other to secure men to perform the
necessary work of the nation. This will result in the enrichment of the
masses instead of the few, as is now the case.'"

The doctor paused, and I made the remark that the same doctrine was believed
in by some millions of men on the earth.

At this he became much excited.

"If that is so," he declared with vehemence, "then your institutions of
individual freedom are in danger. The argument that the less men do the more
they will get is one of the most dangerous vaporings of ignorance. Let me
tell you briefly what happened when it became the cardinal principle of the
dominating political economy of Atlantis. The popular assembly at first
passed laws reducing the hours of labor to eight, then to six and then to
five. At the same time, wages failing to advance, many strikes occurred and,
the government falling completely under the control of the Federation, the
fixing of wages was declared to be a State function. Bills were thereupon
immediately enacted, raising them from twenty-five to fifty per cent. While
all this was going on the unions took care to see that no 'scabs' should
work, and that the young men would not be permitted to enter the labor
market. What happened? Did the workers get rich? No. It was found that
prices for commodities made by labor became so exorbitant that they more
than absorbed the increase in wages. A man who was earning fifty dollars a
week found he could not buy nearly as much with it as he formerly bought
when his wages were only twenty dollars. There was but one thing left to be
done and that was for the State to fix prices. The government began to take
up this work, and immediately there was a strike of all the employers in the
nation. The employers claimed that it was difficult to make a profit, even
at the high prices current in the market. They claimed that they had never
fixed either wages or prices and that government should not seek to do so.
They insisted that they could not be compelled to turn out goods at a loss,
and that when wages were arbitrarily raised and hours of labor reduced, the
cost of production was so increased as to make higher prices imperative. It
was true, they said, that the demand was limited at the higher range of
values, and that consequently production had been greatly curtailed, thus
making it impossible for many of the people to have their needs supplied.
But they did not consider themselves responsible for the situation, and,
while they thought that if any one wished to play the philanthropist and
make goods at a loss he was welcome to do so, yet as for themselves they had
no ambitions in that direction and would insist on shutting down business
entirely rather than permit the government to fix the prices on their products.

"But the labor leaders ridiculed the arguments of the employers. They
declared that the high prices were due to their rapacity and greed and they
loudly called for the extinction of the whole tribe of capitalists. For a
while there was pandemonium and anarchy, but the government, being in the
hands of the Federation, remained firm against the employers. Many of the
latter were thrown into prison and their plants confiscated. Then the entire
capital of the nation was declared to belong to the State, and the employers
were invited to go to work or go to jail, some choosing one alternative and
the rest the other. It was announced that the Golden Era had at last dawned,
and the people were urged to be patient until the State could get the
factories and farms and fisheries in condition, when it was promised there
would be universal leisure and luxury. But alas! after many centuries the
people are still waiting for the fulfillment of these glittering promises. I
do not doubt that the labor leaders did their best, but under their
management the industries of the country woefully failed to turn out enough
commodities to supply the demand at the prices fixed. Something was wrong
and it was decided that the medium of exchange, that is money, was the root
of the trouble; so money was abolished and credit cards were issued to the
workers instead.

"About this time the principle was established that no man should have more
of the products of labor than another, and a host of enactments were put
into force regarding the use of the cards. Then all occupations considered
as unnecessary were abolished and the workers were divided into regiments.
Still the goal of luxury seemed as far removed as ever. The men in charge of
the factories were not only incapable, but they could exercise no discipline
over the men, since the latter believed they were as good as their bosses
and were entitled to judge for themselves as to the amount of work they
should do. This condition could not last. Those controlling the government
finally saw that before the needs of the people could be supplied the
commodities must be actually produced, and they also saw that unless the
people worked it would be impossible to produce the commodities.
Accordingly, the government resorted to the expedient of increasing the
forces of the walking delegates. This move not only strengthened the power
of the government, but it also provided the instrument for compelling the
people to labor. The term 'walking delegate' was dropped and that of
'inspector' substituted. It was then carefully figured out by the inspectors
how many shoes, how much clothing, and so forth, must be produced to supply
the needs of the country, and calculations also were made as to how much
work each man would have to do, in order that the needed product be created.
These figures were laid before the nation, and at the same time it was also
announced that if any man did not perform the work required of him he would
be severely dealt with. There was a great hue and cry, but it was found that
the government was too strong to be easily overturned. Serious resistance to
its will was easily crushed, and the people were forced to work under the
lash of the inspectors. Thus did the ignorance of the Federation beget
socialism, and thus, instead of leisure and luxury, did it bring forth
slavery, poverty and vice. Do you wonder then that I should curse that great
organization, which, while standing for the sacred cause of the masses,
propagated those false ideas that led to universal misery and damnation?
Yonder monument represents the triumph of the fiends of hell, and if I could
but destroy it I would not count my life as having been lived in vain."

I was surprised at the feeling displayed by the doctor, but on reflection I
realized it was not without good cause. I could not forbear thinking,
however, that an employer on earth would be considered highly intemperate,
did he speak half as strongly about the unions there. Then I wondered if the
doctor really would carry his vindictive feeling to such an extent as to
destroy the monument. So I said to him:

"Doctor, if you are so bent on destroying it, why don't you do it? "

He gave me a puzzled look.

"I don't know how," he said.

"You surprise me," I replied. " There are plenty of substances that will do
the work. There is gunpowder, for example; also guncotton, nitroglycerin,
picric acid and many other explosives."

"But we have nothing of the kind in Atlantis."

"Then make them," I said.

"We have lost the art of making explosives. Their manufacture was
interdicted centuries ago as a matter of self-preservation on the part of
the State."

"But you have a laboratory," I suggested.

The doctor gazed at me and a wild look came into his eyes.
Tom Walker
Sandwichman and Deconsultant
Bowen Island, BC