Open forum, vol. 2, no. 4 (January, 1925)

THE OPEN FORUM

Every Conservative is the Worshipper of a Dead Radical.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY 24, 1925

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

Few events of recent days have demonstrated

more dramatically the workings of economic de-

terminism than the striking contrast between the de-

feat of the Child Labor Amendment in Massachu-

setts and its speedy passage by the legislative bodies

in California. In Massachusetts the vote in a pop-

ular referendum was three to one against the

Amendment, notwithstanding the fact that beyond

question the liberal sentiment of the nation is for

it. In California, on the other hand, such was the

haste to pass the Amendment, and so obvious was

its overwhelming popularity even among the poli-

- ticians, that Governor Richardson would not allow

the credit of initiating the measure to go to the

women members of the Assembly, who might very

properly have claimed it, but insisted upon giving

the measure to his henchmen, that they might shine

in its reflected glory.

Back of all this play of the politicians, for and

against the bill, is the fact that Massachusetts, de-

spite all its talk of culture, is chained hard and

fast to the machinery of the big textile factories.

California is comparatively free from child-slave fac-

tories, therefore its freer action with regard to this

item of progressive legislation.

We are publishing herewith a striking indictment

j of that "Prince of The Church," the Cardinal Arch-

- pishop of Boston, who threw his weight against the

Amendment, caused the Mayor of Boston to reverse

himself in order to fall into line with his ecclesias-

tical superior, and was, probably more than any

other man responsible for the disgraceful course

of Massachusetts. This article is written by one

who knows the terminologies and tricks of ecclesiasti-

cism as well as the Cardinal Archbishop himself,

and who is quite as sincerely interested in the con-

quest of the world by a real Christianity.

This article deals with an institution of the

"schools." By "schools" I do not mean those fac-

tories of national patriotism and international hate

whether public or parochial, which thrive amongst

us. I refer rather to those medieval schools of phi-

losophy which were founded before the time of

Thomas Aquinas and which flourish even in our

own day! In these "schools" "Revelation" is en-

tirely disregarded and "pure reason," "the hand-

maid of Revelation," is used as the antena to snatch

from unwilling nature the truths about the uni-

verse. In the "schools," "Revelation" is disregard-

ed in furnishing the majors and minors of the syllo-

gisms, which so irrefutably prove that things are as

scholastic philosophy says they are. But "Revela-

tion" has been the chief arsenal of the conclusions

for which the ecclesiastical mind has shaped from

"reason," majors broad enough to include minors

from which the desired conclusions must necessarily

follow.

Thus since Revelation admits that God sanctioned

divorce and polygamy, the schoolmen will prove from

Teason unaided by Revelation (except for the mere

trifle of the conclusion) that divorce and polygamy

are against the secondary, but not against the pri-

mary principles of the natural law. Were it not

for the divine Revelation they would prove with

equal facility that both polygamy and divorce are

mes to the primary principles of the natural

aw.

In the disputations or public argumentations of

the early schoolmen, one of the holy philosophers

would be chosen as the "Devil's Advocate," who

would propound diabolical, immoral propositions,

which the defending philosopher would proceed to

demolish, using only pure reason and natural science

as his weapons.

By Leo Gallagher

Thus the Devil's Advocate might propound the doc-

trine in cosmology that the world is round. The

defending philosopher would quickly show the ab-

surdity of this heliocentric view of the universe by

showing that if the world were round the firmament

would have no basis on which to rest, or that the

waters of the oceans would immediately pour out

into space. ;

He would then show that reason was supported

be revelation (curiously enough) for in the Bible

we read that "the moon shall not give forth her light"

and in Joshua-that "the sun stood still in the

heavens," impossible suppositions under the helio-

centric theory of the universe.

If the Devil's Advocate wandered into the fields of

political science or economics, the defending philoso-

pher was always ready with his "Distinguo" and

"Subdistinguo" to show the fallacy of the stand taken

by Satan's supporter. Thus if he should assert that

glavery is against the natural law, or that a re-

public is desirable, the learned schoolman would, by

a subtle `distinguo, set him again on the road of

truth.

The point of my article is that we still have as we

have always had Devil's Advocates, and that though

they are `"schoolmen" they do not confine their ac-

tivities to arguments in the "schools."

Probably the most distinguished Devil's Advocate

of the present day is William Cardinal Archbishop of

Boston. Some months back, after eating a hearty

breakfast, the weighty Cardinal (he is a man of

considerable avoirdupois) sat back on his cushioned

throne and between puffs of his good cigar decided

that he would show his flock (flock-sheep-unthink-

ing obedience) the iniquities of the child-labor

amendment. The Cardinal could plainly see that if

child labor were abolished the natural God-given

right of the child to life and liberty would be inter-

fered with and the natural right of a parent to con-

trol his child would be usurped. The amendment, it

is argued, is based upon the fallacy that the States

have failed and will fail in their duty of correcting

local evils! It is entirely unnecessary as the States

are so admirably handling this matter at the pres-

ent time, and any possible present evils will quickly

be remedied by the States themselves.

ment is but another step in the complete bureaucra-

tization of the national government, destined ulti-

mately to overthrow our whole theory of adminis-

tration and so eliminate the States as agencies of

government, and destined to lead to a complete

bolshevization of the State iself with its concom-

mitant evils of minimum wages for men and women,

mother's pensions, compulsory education. The amend-

ment would make it impossible for a strong and

healthy eighteen-year-old boy to help his starving

mother, and would, by enforcing idleness upon him,

make him an easy prey of the devil, who goes

about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may de-

vour. Then, too, the amendment would increase

taxes, and,-but let this point not be stressed,-de-

crease income. Though all these arguments may

not have been used by the good Cardinal, they may

all be found (save only the last which, appeals only

to the subconscious!) together with many others in

his learned dissertations or in those of his Jesuitical

and non-Jesuitical satelites.

It is one of the great tragedies of life that those

who profess to be leaders in the footsteps of Christ

and who thus obtain the following of the unthink-

ing herd, should prostitute their office and use their

influence to support the most reactionary and un-

social theories of their time. Just as in the days

of the nobility, the churchmen were the chief aids

of those immoral parasites in their efforts to keep

the ignorant and superstitious masses contented

The amend-.

with their degraded lot, so now, with promises of

"pie in the sky bye and bye" euphoniously called

eternal reward for the suffering and tribulations

which are, according to the divine plan, they opiate

their followers into accepting and thus perpetuating

unbelievable evils and miseries for millions upon

millions of their fellow beings. Within the span of

our own lives we have seen these dignitaries active-

ly oppose every piece of important legislation intend-

ed for the improvement of human conditions and

we have observed their silence in the great strug-

gles between humanity and intrenched greed. They

have opposed woman suffrage, prohibition, federal

aid to education. Their voices were not heard in

the titanic struggles of the coal miners or steel

workers against admitted injustice.

And now as though intent on not being outdone

by any of the Devil's Advocates. of the past, as.

though purposing to be known for all time as the

Devil's Chief Advocate General, we find the Holv

Prince of Boston onposing the most humane and

constructive legislation of the present day, the Child

Labor Amendment.

--_ e-_-__---

"Wwe have too often been disposed of late to set 1 a

ourselves up as a judge of other peoples' institutions.

To speak plainly, it is not only presumptuous, but it

is always fruitful of unhappy results."

-Senator Borah

$$ -_-_-

"What is defeat? Nothing but education-nothing

but the first step to something petter.-Wendell Phil-

lips.

--_--- -_4-_-_-_-

THE COMING DAY

Our eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the

day

When all shall give their honest work and take their

honest pay,

And poverty, the social Curse, be wholly swept

away-

That day is marching on!

CHORUS

Glory, glory, hal-le-lu-jah! Glory, glory, hal-le-lu-jah!

Glory, glory, hal-le-lu-jah! That day is marching on!

We have seen it in the writing of a thousand men

who know,

We have heard it in the meetings where the crowd-

ing workers go,

We have felt it in the people's heart, where all great

movements grow-

That day is marching on!

CHORUS

The day when every man on earth shall find his

fullest power,

When mother love shall ring the world and bring

a nobler hour, :

When every baby born shall live and blossom like

a flower-

That day is marching on!

CHORUS

The end of fort and battleship! The end of gun and

sword!

The end of shame and misery and vice and crime

abhorred!

The time for us to build on earth the Kingdom of

the Lord!

That day is marching on!

CHORUS

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Man and His World

By Robert Whitaker

II

THE SETTING OF HISTORY

THE LITHOSPHERE, that which we commonly

call "the dry land," is the third great factor in the

setting of human history. As everybody is supposed

to know it is only a little more than one-fourth of

the surface of the earth, in round numbers about

fifty-five million square miles out of a total area

of the globe of about one hundred and ninety-seven

million square miles.

Very little of it is "dry land" in fact, and that lit-

tle is of very limited use until its dryness can be

overcome. Much of what passes for dry land is per-

manently under a coating of ice and snow, or in

such a state so large a part of the year:as to be

as poorly available for man as the desert itself.

The great land masses of the world, meaning by

this the land above water, lie north of the equator.

The wider portions of the continents, except in the

case of Africa and South America, are in the colder

zones of the earth, and are still sparsely settled by

man; Where Africa is broadest the Sahara Desert

occupies a region larger than all of Europe, and

where South America is broadest civilization is

mainly confined to those portions which are high

above the sea.

_From the viewpoint of the world as a whole the

elevations and depressions of the surface are very

slight. The "roof of the world,' the Himalaya

Mountains in Asia, rise to about five miles above

the sea. The deepest ocean bottom known to man

is about six miles below sea level. Eleven miles of

variation seems considerable measured against man

or his works, but measured in relation to the total

body of the earth it is so inconsiderable that the

earth appears from this measurement smoother than

an-`orange, and as smooth -in. fact as.a- billiard ball.

But it is not so in relation to man. Elevation

is one of the most immediately effective factors in

respeet to climate. From the point of view of tem-

perature four hundred feet upward may equal a

whole degree of latitude from north to south. The

inequalities of mountain surfaces also have much to

do with the difficulties of transportation and travel,

and thereby affect the life of man in a marked de-

gree. Asia and Europe are in fact one body of land,

but the Ural Mountains, though by no means a lofty

range, have been so operative for centuries in limit-

ing the movements of man as to create a continental

divide which is emphasized. in `the distinctive conti-

nental names. Mountains have been barriers where

rivers have been highways, and even to this day

these upheavals of the earth's surface, however slight

they seem when the whole volume of the earth is

considered, are very decisive factors in the shaping

of the doings of the most civilized of men.

Asia and HBurope together have an area of ap-

proximately twenty-one million square miles. Of this

amount Asia is reckoned. as having, with its ad-

jacent islands, seventeen million square miles, and

Hurope three million eight hundred and fifty thou-

sand. Africa is connected with Asia, except for the

artificial interruption of the width of the Suez Canal,

and was formerly, probably within the period since

man has lived upon the earth, connected also at

the point where the Straits of Gibralter admit the

Atlantic to the Mediterranean Basin now, and pos-

sibly throughout wide reaches of that basin. Africa

has an area of eleven million two hundred and fifty

thousand square miles, making a total for this one

connected land mass which we know. as the "Old

World" of thirty-two million square miles. Aus-

tralia, "the island continent," adds to this another

three million square miles.

"The New World," that is North America and South

America, together have: about half the area of Asia,

Europe and Africa, that is some sixteen million

square miles. North America is the larger of the

two by more than half a million square miles, the

measurements as given by the different authorities

varying to a surprising degree. Both continents are

marked on the Pacific side by an almost continuous

mountain range from the Arctic Circle to Cape Horn.

The Himalayas and, the high mountain ranges of

Africa are also on the Pacific side of the Old World

land mass. The significance of this fact has been

indicated already in the description of: the world's

waters.

The location of the world's land masses in rela-

tion to the poles of the earth and the equator, in

relation to the great seas, and to each other; the

elevation and depression of land surfaces in respect

to the ocean level; their exposure to climatic va-

riations and air currents; the character of the soil,

and the mineral wealth which is to be found under-

ground; and the range and practicability for man

at the various stages of his development of the

routes from coast to coast and from the seaboard to

the interior, these are some of the main factors

which we have to consider if we would understand

the active and compelling part which the lands

of the earth have played in determining the times

and seasons and variations of the civilizations of

men.

When we speak of the ATMOSPHERE, the HY-

DROSPHERH, and the LITHOSPHERE, air, water,

and land as the SHTTING of human history the

figure is hardly adequate, because it is too passive in

its implications. This is the stage on which the

drama of man's. life, individual and collective, has

been. played. But the stage is alive, as much alive

in a way ag man himself. Every country's history

and every country's present status is the reflex of

the physical environment within which its story has

been set; and of the shifting responses of that en-

vironment to the evolutionary progress of man. The

human action has been much more rapid and variable

than that of Nature. But always that action has

been determined in great part, both in its visible

origin and its measurable outcome by the lines which

his physical environment have laid down in advance.

And it has been man's relation to this setting of

the outer world, his increasing adaptation of him-

self to his world environment, and his enlarging play

upon that environment, with its vital response to

his more apt activities, which has made up the great

body of actual human history rather than the exag-

gerated hero figures arid the dramatically empha-

sized incidents with which our written records have

loved so much to deal.

Once we get the natural setting of man's story

fairly in mind as to its main lines and its com-

pelling character we are on the road to a coherent

conception of that which is the next step in the

analysis of human history, a perception of the pro-

cess itself by which man's reactions to this environ-

ment external to himself has pursued its steadfast

course from the moment when the human being

first departed from the ways of the animal world

round about him.

ht

Mourn not the dead who in the cool earth lie,

Dust unto dust.

The calm, sweet earth that mothers all who die,

As all men must.

Mourn not your captive comrades who must dwell,

Too weak to strive;

Within each steel-bound coffin of a cell

Buried alive.

But rather mourn the apathetic throng,

The cowed and meek;

Who see the world's great anguish and its wrong,

And dare not speak.

Ralph Chaplin.

a

Gandhi Speaks

The first message of Gandhi to the public sinc?

his release from prison is as follows:

"Here is my message: `There is no. escape for

man or woman, black or white, or for the East or

the West, except through innocence - (non-violence)

and truth.'

Yours sincerely,

i VES, GANDHI. .

(Quoted from The New Orient.)

It is not often that I buy a copy of The Los An.

geles Times, but now and then I do penance that

way. So it happened that coming down from Santa

Barbara to Los Angeles, Monday morning, January

12, I culled these choice bits from that museum of

capitalistic antiquities. Even Artful Arthur could

hardly surpass this.

MIND IN BUSINESS

"Today business conditions are about as favorable

as they could be. But they can be changed com.

pletely and instantly by a mere change in mental

attitude.

It is a certainty that business will be active dur.

ing the early part of 1925, but as to what will take

place during the remainder of the year there is prob.

ability, but, of course, no certainty. The heavy vote

of confidence in the existing order which people reg:

istered last November, the recent rise in the prices

of farm products, the large number of car loadings,

great activity in building, impregnability of our

credit position, the belief that sanity will rule at

Washington-these and many other kindred signs

or symptoms all point to continuance of prosperity

throughout the whole year.

So also do the corresponding symptoms abroad.

The acceptance of the Dawes plan, the elections in

England and Germany and many other overseas

events indicate that there, as well as here, is prom-

ise of better days. When people generally get tired

of driving and feel that they would rather take it

easy than strive for more things business activities

decrease. Both prosperity and adversity come more

largely from attitude of mind than from anything

else."

Sure! All that Sitka, Alaska has to do to take

population, prosperity and priority away from Los

Angeles and become itself the metropolis of the Pa-

cific Coast is to import a few Christian Scientists,

or the mental expert who wrote above editorial.

Sure! What have everyday facts got to do with

business, anyway? Capitalism is just a mental dream,

a nightmare, perhaps.

And here is another choice bit, from: the same

editorial page:

"Every village has at least one deep thinker whose

wife takes in boarders."

The fact is that most of our so-called "deep think-

ers" have somebody behind them who "takes in

boarders," or does some other humdrum piece of

hard work. Our whole cultural life, indeed, rests

upon the folks who are doing the boarding stunt for

all of us. But we hardly expected THE TIMES to

recognize the fact even in this limited way.

And this is really quite shocking, coming from THE

TIMES:

"Among: those who always will have something to

look forward to are the Russian royalists."

We are not particularly interested in the Russian

royalists, but it would make "the flings and arrows

of outrageous fortune,' though they were ten fold

as numerous and outrageous as they are, quite en-

durable if we could have reasonable hope that the

American royalists, whom THE TIMES represents,

were soon to join those who would "always have

something to look forward to," a la their Russian

prototypes.' There is no worse Brisbunk imaginable

than that Russian royalists, or any other. kind of

Old World royalists, are any worse than the bunch

who infest America today under the guise of "money

magnates" and `captains of industry." But it is

heartless for THE TIMES to turn its back on its

own kin across the sea.

And here is the SATURDAY EVENING PEST,

ehief purveyor of Brisbunk to His Majesty, the

Nickel-Plated American, telling us in its very latest

issue, `"`During the past year there have been more

than sixteen thousand commercial failures in the

United States of America. In the same period Eng-

land and France combined, with a population three:

quarters as great as our's, had approximately . one

half the failures. We are by far the richest nation

on earth, collectively and per capita. We are twice

as rich aS we were ten years ago. Yet in spite of

our added wealth our commercial failures show no

signs of decrease."

To what are we coming when respectable period:

icals like the Los Angeles Times and The Saturday

Evening Pest are giving away the capitalists' sys:

tem like this? And all due, as this article goes on

to demonstrate at much length, quoting all manner

of big authorities in the financial world, to "over:

selling." But read the article for yourself if the

issue of Jan. 17 is on hand, and then rub your chin,

if you happen. to be a man, and reflect on what 2

wonderful thing American "efficiency" is. America,

thy name is Brisbunk! y

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e

Real Religion at

Pomona College

Pomona College, at Claremont. California, seems

to be taking religion with a seriousness which if it

becomes contagious among Christian schools may

mean something in actually checking the course of

American imperialism. Sherwood Eddy, one of the

foremost exponents of the social vision among the

churches recently visited Pomona College, and the

result of that visit is herewith reported by" Dr.

Doremus Scudder, whose home is now at Claremont

Dr. Scudder also reports action taken by some of

the students at Pomona before Dr. Eddy had arrived,

and quite independent of his visit-EKd.

DR. EDDY AT POMONA

Dr, Eddy's visit at Pomona College culminated in

an after-meeting which followed an address of his

-on "THE LOST RADIANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN

CHURCH." Some 200 students remained and voted

to approve the subjoined "CHRISTIAN DECISION."

Dr. Eddy urged them not to sign it until they had

cooled off, but to take time to think over the deci-

sion, and then if ready to commit themselves to

make it their own.

A CHRISTIAN DECISION

Believing in' Jesus' way of life and in the prin-

ciples He taught-in Personality, or the infinite

worth of every man before God as Father; in Broth-

erhood, as supplanting strife and unfair competition

by co-operation and goodwill; in service and sacrifice

rather than the motive of private profit for selfish

acquisition; and finally in the all-inclusive law of

love as the full sharing of life in active goodwill,

I therefore determine

1. To make the purpose of my life the building

of personality, not the accumulation of property;

the making of men rather than the making of money.

I resolve to live the simple life of self-sacrifice, not

to grow rich in a poor world by laying up treasures

for myself, but to share all that I have or receive

for the enrichment of my fellow men. I will seek

to do to others, especially to those who toil and to

all. who suffer from injustice, all things whatsoever

I would that men should do to me.

2. To let the method of my life be that of co

operation and brotherhood. Renouncing all exclu-

sive privilege, and unfair competition with their re-

sultant strife, I will accept whatsoever will do the

will of God as my brother. I shall not advocate or

participate in any secret order, fraternity or clan

which tends to exclusiveness, suspicion, prejudice

or strife on the grounds of race or religion. So far

as in me lies, I shall observe equality of race treat-

ment, without false and artificial distinction of caste

or color in the growing practice of brotherhood.*

*This is not understood to imply advocacy of inter-

marriage or to prevent the legitimate safeguarding of

a nation against indiscriminate immigration, pro-

Ne it is not done on a basis of racial discrimina-

ion.

3. To observe Jesus' principles of love and good-

will for the abolition and outlawry of war, I will fol-

low what I understand to be Jesus way of life in

the overcoming of evil with good, and of hatred by

love. I will actually seek to outlaw war, "the world's

chief collective sin,' even as piracy and slavery

have already been outlawed.

In order to carry out this way of life I will seek

to associate my efforts with all men of goodwill for

the coming of the Kingdom of God, that His will

may be done on this needy earth for the realization

ee the sovereignty of love in all the relations of

ife.

"k

A NOBLE GESTURE

Four Pomona Sophomores, Gardiner, Geyer, Ide

and Winn, among the most prominent and able of

their class, recently turned back to the College au-

thorities their uniforms with the refusal longer to

take the required military training. They had fol-

lowed the prescribed militarist course in Freshman

year. But two of them, Gardiner and Ide, had gone to

Japan last summer as members of the delegation of

American students to the student body of that neigh-

bor country. This experience and further thought

had convinced them of the criminal nature of war-

fare. Hence they applied to the college authorities

for release from the required training. There was

some delay in the reply and impatient of waiting

they flung their challenge in the shape of war uni-

forms. They were promptly assured of their release

from further drill, It has been Pomona's custom

to excuse all conscientious objectors and some months

ago the College decided upon no more compulsory

militarism for students entering after the close of

the current year. This means that by the terms of

the College's agreement with the Federal Govern-

ment young men in the present Freshman and Sopho-

more classes will be required to drill, but after that

it will be optional: Dr. Sherwood Eddy last week

in his tremendous arraignment of war as the great-

est of social crimes, told Pomona students that this

was his first address of this character to a college

audience and that the story of these four Sopho-

mores was the compelling factor that moved him to

choose this theme.

The most hopeful movement in American life to-

day is the gradual awakening of the student body

to the conviction that they will never serve as can-

non fodder for a capitalistic world. If the young

men and women of this country adopt this dynamic

will and tell their parents what they have deter-

mined, it will move angels to smile to see how

fast their fathers and mothers, encumbered with

millions though many of them are, will commence to

chorus the slogan "Outlaw war."

D: S.

a -_-__-_

A REAL AMERICAN PETITION

This has been. widely circulated and

signed in Seattle

Petition to University of Washington

Board of Regents

We, the undersigned, believing that University

students should not be compelled to study military

science, respectfully request the authorities of the

University to make this study OPTIONAL. The

reasons for this request are briefly stated as follows:

1-Any system of enforced military drill is re-

pugnant to many Americans, and is contrary to

American principles of freedom and democracy.

2-Young men outside of college are not obliged

to take part in army life; neither should students be

forced into military service against their will.

3-It cannot be expected that students should

study military science in order to repay the state

for the opportunity to get a higher education, for

leading thinkers have always held that an enlight-

ened population is in itself one of the chief assets of

a state and constitutes the principal factor of its

safety.

4-Many students, from religious motives, object

to the theory of warfare and hold that the study of

military science has a brutalizing effect upon indi-

viduals. These students should be permitted to

choose gymnasium work instead of military science.

5-As to the plan of national defense outlined by

army*men we feel that their program of prepared-

ness, far from adding to the security of our country,

is certain to induce warfare since it arouses irrita-

tion, suspicion and fear among other nations, post-

pones the day of international disarmament, and

opens the door to continued corruption and profiteer-

ing out of which munition manufacturers and con-

tractors for army supplies will reap untold profits.

6-War should be outlawed. So long as thousands

of school boys are forced, coaxed or bribed into

military service it will be impossible to abolish the

institution.

For the above reasons, one or more, we affix our

names.

*k

Family Solidarity

in Conegress

In view of the apprehension that is often expressed

in regard to the disintegration of the American home,

it is a pleasure to be able to record certain data de-

rived from a field to which we are not accustomed to

look for ethical inspiration, and tending to strengthen

the belief that domestic affection has not yet perished

from the earth. In examining the records of the

members of Congress as set forth in `The Protest-

ant Who's Who in Congress" we discover that there

are fifty-eight members who think so highly of their

own wives and children that they employ one or

the other as clerks in their offices-at government

expense, of course. With some of these, the sense

of family solidarity is so highly developed that they

employ both wife and child. Two or three add also

a brother or a sister to the office-force and the

federal payroll. There are not wanting indications'

that some of these family attaches are not bur-

dened with serious official duties. One member "em-

ployed wife at $2740 dollars, who came to office only

on pay day." Another "employed wife at $2040,

while young lady did office work. It is notable

that those who take care of their families in this

simple and (for them) inexpensive fashion, are

all designated as church members. The Metho-

dists lead with fifteen, but there are eleven Baptists,

nine Episcopalians, six Presbyterians, five Christians,

five Lutherans, four Congregationalists. Only three

have no church connections given, but these are all

said to be Masons, as many of the others are. Only

three of these nepotists are Catholics, but four

other Catholic members have clerks on the payroll

who are said to be "never seen. in Washington."

The largest amount drawn by one family is $6200,

the combined pay of the wife and minor son

of a Presbyterian congressman. Observe, too, how.

beautifully the Christian virtues are combined in

the case of a congressman who is thus described:

"Christian, Bible school teacher, Mason. Son car-

ried on office payroll at $1840. Remainder of clerical

appropriation paid to person who did the work.

Member education committee. Friend of public

schools." For a homily on this theme, the appro-

priate text would be "He that careth not for his own

household is worse than an infidel." If there are

any infidels in congress, evidently they are neglect-

ing their own households shamefully, for not one of

them has a wife or child on the payroll.

No, good friends, the above is not from a rationalist,

anarchist, communist, nor I.W.W. publication, but

from that frank and courageous religious weekly,

THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY `of Chicago, Ill. It

appears on the front page of their issue for Decem-

ber 18, 1924.

yen,

7

To Bring Idaho Courts to Time

NEW YORK.-Whether Idaho courts consider that |

loggers can be deported, roughly handled and shot

at without redress, merely because they are mem-

bers of the I. W. W. is an issue to be met when

seven damage suits against the Bonners Ferry Lum-

ber Co. for the assault, deportation and arrest of I.

W. W. strikers are heard. The suits are intended to

curb the use of the Idaho criminal syndicalism law

and charge that employers themselves are guilty

of criminal syndicalism by resorting to ``crime, vio-

lence and unlawful methods of terrorism to accom-

plish industrial ends."

Richard Moore, an I. W. W., plaintiff in a suit for

$125,000 damage charges that during the lumber

strike of May, 1923, 200 armed men, led by agents

of the Bonners Ferry. Lumber Company, attacked

the strikers' picket camp, threw Moore into a truck

and put him over the Montana state line, threaten-

ing him, if he ever came back. He was roughed up

and shots were fired after him.

Later, returning for redress, he was arrested un-

der the criminal syndicalism act at the company's

instigation. Moore's arrest, says the suit, was part

of a conspiracy to "intimidate and deter the plain-

tiff from causing defendants for the felonies com-

mitted by them against the person of this plaintiff."

Three of the suits will be heard by Federal Judge

Bourquin. The American Civil Liberties Union is

rousing national attention to this test case and is

also seeking the release of A. S. Embree, the only

political prisoner still in Idaho penitentiaries.

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 506 Tajo Building,

Los Angeles, California, by The Southern California

Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union.

Phone: TUcker 6836.

MANAGING EDITORS

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1925

COMING EVENTS

OK OK Ke a

Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall, 233

South Broadway, Sunday evening at 7-30 o'clock.

a

At the Brotherhood Hall, 515 San Julian St.

Sunday Afternoon Meeting 2:30 P.M.

January 25, "Life, Labor and Dramatic Art"

Chas. James and Tom Longthorp

All are Invited to Attend

Geo. McCarthy and J, Eads How, Committee

Peat rey ne errr

OPEN FORUM every Saturday evening at 8:00 P.M.

I.W.W. HALL, 224 0x00A7S. Spring Street, Room 218. In-

teresting Speakers-Interesting Subjects.

Subjects for the Month

Jan. 24-Non-resistance-a Revolutionary

Theory L. J. Greene

2

FREE WORKERS FORUM-FOLK SCHULE,

420 North Soto St., Los Angeles

Jan. 26-The Fetich of Liberty... Robert Whitaker

we

' The Annual Roll Call Meeting of Branch Central,

Socialist Party, will be held at the new Jewish Social-

ist Headquarters at 126 North St. Louis Street on

Sunday afternoon, February ist, at 2:30 o'clock.

It will be largely a social affair, and visitors are

welcome.

we ee

PROLETARIAN FORUM

Every Sunday at 8 P. M.

January 25th

POLITICAL AND DIRECT ACTION

Earl Parrott

February ist

DICTATORSHIP CAPITALIST OR COMMUNIST

Frank Cassidy

February 8th

THE MARXIAN METHOD OF UNDERSTANDING

G. Evans

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Linotyping and press work done in Union

Shops. The make-up is our own.

War TALK

By L. O0x00B0 Dell

Petty commercial wars conducted for the pur-

pose of "civilizing inferior peoples," plus profit, and

by volunteer soldiers, can be figured on to continue

for sometime to come, for workingmen take scant

interest in anything that does not immediately con-

cern them. But considering how the last patriotism

promoting expedition got so greatly out of control

as to reverse the effect it was intended to have upon

the working class, it is very doubtful if there will

ever again be a world war. Most intelligent radicals

would just as soon see the capitalists try it again,

as far as that is concerned, if it were not that

they are doubtful if humanity is as yet intelligent

enough for civilization to survive the great social

upheaval that would be apt to immediately ensue.

Needless to say the point is a highly complicated

and debatable one.

But there is nothing debatable about the harmful-

ness of war TALK, whose evident `purpose is to

divert the minds of the American people from con-

sideration of their immediate social problems, and

it is well to occasionally puncture that particular

brand of bunkum. And what follows is one "punc-

ture."

Considering how the Japanese come over here

.and outdo the American middle class at its' own

game in its own country, they can hardly be classi-

fied as an unduly stupid race, and they certainly

would have to be stupid not to realize the impossi-

bility of outfitting 250 of the largest ships in the

world for transport service, without our knowing

anything about it. And it would require at least that

many to land a million soldiers on our shores.

And they would have to be stupid, indeed, to

think that they could in any way humble a nation

not only twice their size, but with unlimited natural

resources as against their very limited ones, without

inviting inevitable ultimate disaster.

Perhaps they are just that stupid but indications

do not point that way, and when a newspaper tries

to get this, the strongest nation in the world and

the one that should be most willing to take a chance,

excited over the possibility of being attacked, it is

uncomplimentary to our courage, to state it mildly.

There is no question but that the Japanese would

be a dangerous race if their`numbers were greater,

for not only are their fighting instincts well de-

veloped, but they are very sensitive; and that. is

a combination that makes for trouble. But if they

were fools their nation would not have developed

the way it has in the last fifty years, and not being

fools they are not going to attack this nation un-

aided. Now if some, "patriot" will kindly step for-

ward and tell us what other nation can take a hand

on that kind of proposition without having most of its

industrial wheels at once cease turning-I will re-

mind him of the war that failed to materialize when

Norway and Sweden dissolved partnership.

For that matter, that even the World War had

to be pulled off at "half-cock", or not at all, is evi-

denced by the fact that the guns that destroyed the

Belgian forts arrived at the front a week late..

And, if it had not been for that one incident, in all

probability the Germans would have captured Paris,

collected a nominal indemnity-won a "paper vic-

tory" in short-and after that the militarists of all

countries would have had everything their own way

for at least a generation or two.

So, if the writer is right in an opinion he formed

at the very beginning of the war, the German radi-

cals played a part after all. And, while I am not

unduly enthusiastic over their failure to pull off

a revolution at the end of the first six months, I am

not so impatient towards them as I would be if I

did not meet so many American ex-service men who

cheerfully admit that they went to war because they

were afraid of the disgrace of going to jail.

And that those who did go to jail are regarded

by the great mass of workingmen as having been

rather heroic, is one of the greatest preventatives

of "the next war."

-_-_-_-_-_%-____

The churches are much more in need of a few

men who will go out of their way to stir people

up than they are any increase of the profit-seeking

plenty who are trying always to make half a mes-

sage acceptable by sacrificing the other half.

-_-

He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot

reason is a fool, and he that dares not reason is a

slave.

Los Angeles

OPEN FORUM

MUSIC ART HALL

233 South Broadway

SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK

JAN. 25-DEBATE: "RESOLVED, THAT TH

1924 IMMIGRATION LAW SHOULD BE SO AMEND. .

ED AS TO ADMIT JAPANESE ON THE SAME BA.

SIS AS EUROPEANS." Students of the University of

Southern California will be the debaters, the affirma,

tive being upheld by LELAND TALLMAN and AL Y,

GRIEWE; and the negative, by RAYMOND BREN.

NAN and ADNA LEONARD, JR. This is one of the

questions that will not down; come and hear both

sides of it discussed. Music by students of the

School of Music connected with the U.S.C.

a

Church of the New Social Order

Walker Auditorium, Cleveland Hall

730 So. Grand

Sunday Morning Service: 10:45 o'clock

January 25-JONAH AND THE PRODIGAL SON,

A Study in Religious Exclusiveness.

Services open at 10:45 A. M. Come early if you

want to get a seat.

See Sige

The last people the inspired men of the past

would thank if they were here today would be the

people who are using their mistakes to cover up

their own, It never occurred to them that anybody

would be fool enough to think them infallible.

i

The freest government cannot long endure when

the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumu-

lation of property in the hands of a few, and to

render the masses poor and dependent.-Daniel Web-

ster

tH

People talk about agitators, but the only real

agitator is injustice; and the only way is to correct

the injustice and allay the agitation-Sir Charles

Napier.

i

In our age there is no more reason for permitting

war between civilized nations than for relaxing the

rein of law within nations--Andrew Carnegie.

SE

The vast majority of the wrecks of the sea are

shore wrecks. When a man has a ship, ora cause,

worth while, he is never sa safe as when he is push-

ing out into the deep.

St

"It is a terrible thing in the Twentieth Century

that heroic men should have nothing better' to do

than to slay heroic men.'"-R. S. MacArthur.

Se ee

No man is truly alive who is not relating him-

self helpfully to some of the living movements of

his day.

IF IT'S INSURANCE

Confer with

BESS E. GALERSTEIN

716 Delta Building

Tel. No. TUcker 2240

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