The Socialist Pitch: Why Your Job Isn't Yours
W.W. Smith, a local iron moulder, makes a fiery case that workers are voting against their own interests by supporting party-line politicians who represent the interests of the 'match trust' and the law-industrial complex.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
To Organized Labor, I issue this short message: Do you know there are 710 lawyers and judges in the national congress and senate? This is a fact, according to a statement of Mr. Barber, president of the match trust. And do you know that those lawyers and judges in the legislative halls of this nation serve one trust or corporation or another? I am sure you are conscious of the fact that the interests of the trusts and corporations are NOT YOUR INTERESTS. All lawyers, especially those who seek to represent you on the capitalist ticket, believe in the sacredness of private property. It is therefore quite natural that they serve the interests of the big and little trusts. The property of these trusts consists of mines, mills, factories, railroads, and all the other things that constitute YOUR JOB; the things that you and I find it necessary to fight over. The property interest in these jobs has only one purpose: to take from you and me a part of the product of our labor in the form of dividends and profits. Socialism will give you the ownership of your job in 'our time' when you want it enough to vote for it.
“You can't vote for the judge and vote for your own interests, no more than you can vote for W. E. Humphrey. Each of them favor the ownership of your job for profit and exploitation.”
In 1910, Everett was a hub of militant labor activity, and socialist organizers like W.W. Smith were articulating a critique of wealth inequality that remains a core part of the city's political DNA. The tension between professional political classes and the working-class power base—the central argument here—continues to frame discussions about Everett's economic future.
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