Pamphlet
1925 · Chicago, Illinois
by MacDonald, J. A.; [Cartoons and illustrations by Art Young, Maurice Becker, and others uncredited.]
Chicago, Illinois: Industrial Workers of the World [I.W.W. / IWW], 1925. Second edition. Pamphlet. Good. 94 [+1 ads] pp. Octavo [23 cm]; saddle-stapled in illustrated tan card wrap. The cover wrap is age toned and brittled and has completely detached from the text, with significant splitting along the fold, though still holding together. The cover has two other large, closed tears and one small lost chip to its rear corner near the fold. Some age toning to the otherwise clean and unmarked internal pages. In her IWW bibliography, Dione Miles lists the 1923 first edition of this title (which is fifty-pages long), but there is no reference or entry for this significantly expanded 1925 second edition (see Miles 4312).
Divided into eight chapters, this pamphlet thoroughly explores "how mechanization creates unemployment," and features fourteen illustrations and cartoons by Art Young, Maurice Becker, and several other uncredited artists.
The front cover illustration ("Modern Machinery | Unemployment Dump") is by Art Young. Maurice Becker's "Education—Organization—Emancipation" is printed on page 9. Other notable illustrations are titled or captioned as follows: "The Sewing Machine Was Invented to Save Poor Seamstresses From Overwork. Does It?" (p22); "The Gift With A String To It | 'Charity Does Not Cure Unemployment'" (p24); "Iron Does Not Float!" (p30); "Driven Out By Machinery" (p33); "The Modern Creed | 'Plenty of machines and very few men.'" (p40); "Textile Capitalists are mad for workers' children. Why? Because the child can operate textile machinery—and children are cheaper than men. The machine instituted child labor." (p47); "Every idle stream or waterfall that is put to work [...]" (p54); "Unemployment—The Tragedy of Today" (p69); "The Middle Class Position" (p79); among others.
Cartoonist Art Young (1866-1943) "was born into a successful family of shopkeepers in the small town of Monroe, Wisconsin. Young chose graphic or cartoon art from an early age as his 'road to recognition' because, he recalled, painting could only have limited influence whereas 'a cartoon could be reproduced by simple mechanical process and easily made accessible to hundreds of thousands. I wanted a large audience.' [...] Born shortly after the end of the Civil War and dying in the midst of the Second World War, Art Young's life and art spans the Age of Monopoly, bringing fire and light to some of the most rebellious passages of US history. [...] When Art Young died in 1943 more than 500 members of New York's art, publishing, and radical community came together to celebrate his life and work" (Michael Mark Cohen: https://www.cartooningcapitalism.com/art-youngs-cartoon-history).
Maurice Becker (1889-1975) was a radical political artist and cartoonist of Russian Jewish descent who emigrated to New York with his family in 1892. Becker was affiliated with various radical political movements of the early twentieth century. Becker's work is noted and identified for its softer tones, lines, and shading as a result of his use of graphite and charcoal in his drawings.
Author J. A. MacDonald was also the editor (from 1916–1918) of The Industrial Worker, an IWW newspaper published in the Pacific Northwest.
Printed by Printing and Publishing Workers' Industrial Union No. 450, I. W. W. (Inventory #: 68594)
Divided into eight chapters, this pamphlet thoroughly explores "how mechanization creates unemployment," and features fourteen illustrations and cartoons by Art Young, Maurice Becker, and several other uncredited artists.
The front cover illustration ("Modern Machinery | Unemployment Dump") is by Art Young. Maurice Becker's "Education—Organization—Emancipation" is printed on page 9. Other notable illustrations are titled or captioned as follows: "The Sewing Machine Was Invented to Save Poor Seamstresses From Overwork. Does It?" (p22); "The Gift With A String To It | 'Charity Does Not Cure Unemployment'" (p24); "Iron Does Not Float!" (p30); "Driven Out By Machinery" (p33); "The Modern Creed | 'Plenty of machines and very few men.'" (p40); "Textile Capitalists are mad for workers' children. Why? Because the child can operate textile machinery—and children are cheaper than men. The machine instituted child labor." (p47); "Every idle stream or waterfall that is put to work [...]" (p54); "Unemployment—The Tragedy of Today" (p69); "The Middle Class Position" (p79); among others.
Cartoonist Art Young (1866-1943) "was born into a successful family of shopkeepers in the small town of Monroe, Wisconsin. Young chose graphic or cartoon art from an early age as his 'road to recognition' because, he recalled, painting could only have limited influence whereas 'a cartoon could be reproduced by simple mechanical process and easily made accessible to hundreds of thousands. I wanted a large audience.' [...] Born shortly after the end of the Civil War and dying in the midst of the Second World War, Art Young's life and art spans the Age of Monopoly, bringing fire and light to some of the most rebellious passages of US history. [...] When Art Young died in 1943 more than 500 members of New York's art, publishing, and radical community came together to celebrate his life and work" (Michael Mark Cohen: https://www.cartooningcapitalism.com/art-youngs-cartoon-history).
Maurice Becker (1889-1975) was a radical political artist and cartoonist of Russian Jewish descent who emigrated to New York with his family in 1892. Becker was affiliated with various radical political movements of the early twentieth century. Becker's work is noted and identified for its softer tones, lines, and shading as a result of his use of graphite and charcoal in his drawings.
Author J. A. MacDonald was also the editor (from 1916–1918) of The Industrial Worker, an IWW newspaper published in the Pacific Northwest.
Printed by Printing and Publishing Workers' Industrial Union No. 450, I. W. W. (Inventory #: 68594)
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