Their general strikes are called panics. They declared one not so long ago, and there are already rumors of a still bigger one to come. Smaller strikes are declared every so often and they are called lockouts.

Our governing bodies should do their utmost to prevent strikes of any kind. The workers should not strike, for such procedure hurts society; and capital should not strike, for it hurts our society even worse. Some years ago a strike was about to break out in Wall Street, but the government stepped in and prevented it.

Why do they bring about a panic? To crush their competitors, of course. The workers call their strikes for the same reason. Can panics be prevented by legislation? Well, that is the equivalent of asking whether society has the right and power to protect itself against its enemies.

Inasmuch as strikes are injurious, they are enemies of society, be it workers or capitalists who do the striking.

What kind of legislation would be required? That is not easy to answer in detail, but one thing is certain: It would have to be based on the assumption that the government has the right to exercise control of accumulated capital to prevent it from operating against the interests of society. The study of the historical development of our society is a great aid in this matter. From it we learn what took place during the dissolution of feudalism and the inception of our present system.

At that time accumulated capital consisted of great land domains, including the people living within them, which were ruled by the mighty feudal barons. These latter were powerful enough to disregard the state; indeed, they constituted the ruling power and the kings and lawful governments were helpless 3against them. They declared "general strike" repeatedly, defying both people and government, and their purpose was to accumulate still more property. They were masters at exploitation and made robbery a science.

But if society is to persist, it must fight its enemies. Also in this case it did, and the Feudal System disappeared, but not the European nations. How were they saved? The government had to bring about a change in the conception of property rights. These were not allowed to operate to the detriment of the commonweal. The feudal barons were deprived of a great part of their private estates, without any compensation. The government stepped in and took control of the great accumulations of capital, thus protecting the state against abusive acts. Present-day's governments will have to do the same, and they have a perfect right to do so.

Our ideas of property are rather obsolete. If, as happens in Sweden, a single individual owns more property than is owned by the combined 4population of an entire township, or even county, this is considered quite proper. But such a condition is really in defiance of both divine and human reason. And the government should take a hand in correcting such an injustice. In fact, it will become imperative to do so if our kind of society is to survive. It is not even necessary to argue the case; it speaks for itself and is based on the logic of natural development.

And when in the course of progress we reach the point where we clearly realize the necessity of such a reform, it will be so self-evident that only those who possess excessive wealth are likely to oppose it, and it is not at all improbable that even their sense of justice will in time enable them to see the light and willingly submit to the necessary readjustments.

First of all, a change in our banking system is required, giving the government control of the circulation of money, so that it can prevent a small 5clique of powerful financiers from paralyzing our industry by inducing a panic.

It is only in recent years that it has come to be understood that a panic is planned and executed just as a war or a workingmen's strike is planned and conducted. This has not been generally known, because the most important things are often done secretly. But now since the government interfered and stopped a panic about to break out, more and more people are beginning to see that control of the great accumulation of capital is necessary. Capital must not be allowed to strike. And the procedure must be the same as was employed against the feudal barons of the Middle Ages to terminate their power, which they abused.

The government itself must wield the supreme power or it ceases to be a real government.