Open forum, vol. 7, no. 34 (August, 1930)

THE OPEN FORUM

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.-Milton

Vol. 7 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, AUGUST 23, 1930

No. 34

Labor' s Political Candidate

By VERITAS

How any worker, white or black, with a sense of

social injustice, who instinctively rebels against

tyranny of any kind, can vote for Buron Fitts for

the California governorship is utterly beyond the

comprehension of this writer. The fact that Fitts

is the open and unabashed candidate of the Los

Angeles Times, and the further fact that he has the

whole-hearted backing and support of the Better

America Federation and other anti-Labor organiza-

tions, should be enough to warrant his condemna-

tion by every person who works hard for an honest

living and whose heartstrings are attuned to the

music of liberty and democracy.

If the worker is a natural born and permanently

adjusted slave, totally devoid of every element of

manhood and womanhood, loving the chains of op-

pression more than the freedom of real American-

ism, who prefers the swift kick of the despot to the

kindly hand of a comrade, and whose training and

tradition impels him to uphold a system of social,

economic and _ political exploitation, then such

worker might be excused for endorsing Buron Fitts.

If, however, the worker is tired of joining with

others in building up and strengthening the bul-

warks of privilege; if he has grown weary of grovel-

ling in the dirt and emasculating his manhood in

order that he may enjoy the insecurity of a job;

if he is disgusted with being compelled to assume

an asinine attitude in the presence of every well-

favored scion of plutocracy and of having to scrape

and bow and say "yes, master" to every nincompoop

agent of the rotten rich, then he can not and he

should not cast his ballot for this Times-Better-

Federation-Chamber of Commerce candidate.

Perhaps in the midst of war hysteria he was in

a measure excusable for getting himself shot in the

hind-quarters while battling for the right of Wall

Street to preserve its gold and exploit the world;

millions of others like himself were conscripted-

actually forced, mind you-to go across the sea and

there do and die on the fields of France simply and

purely that a few thousand high powered American

Inillionaires might not lose the money they loaned

the Allies. But the present candidate for the gov-

ernorship had no right upon his return to Los An-

geles to take part in American Legion raids, accord-

ing to members of the Industrial Workers of the

World, against working men and women peacefully

assembled to discuss their rights and wrongs and

to beat them up with clubs. Disinterested patriot-

ism did not inspire such acts; they were a direct

bid for the approbation and future political support

of the rich and powerful enemies of the working

class.

Those who eat their bread by the sweat of their

brow must not forget that in this country there are

two classes-the employing classes and the working

Classes; that the material interests of these two

`Classes clash at every point-social, economic and

Political; that war is waging in the industrial field

on every front; that the employers are solidly or-

Sanized industrially and financially, and that their

OWnership and control of the two dominant political

Parties are complete. They must also remember

that while Fitts is the most hardboiled and the most

Wncompromising candidate of black reaction, hating

brogressive and radical labor with a livid and last-

ing hate, he is not alone; the present governor,

Mind. Young, and Mayor Rolph of San Francisco,

are right behind him in the race. They, too, are

the servants of privilege and their professed love

for Labor is genuine one hundred per cent bunk.

Workers should not permit themselves to be de-

`eived by the great fake issue of prohibition that

has been injected into this campaign by the poli-

`tical bunko steerers who are directing the course of

Politics in the interests of their financial masters

`The Highteenth Amendment to the Constitution of

the United States has settled the prohibition ques-

Hons it ds: now merely: a matter of the enforcement

of the law. The prohibition issue has been raised

as a smoke-screen behind which the game of politics

is played to Labor's ruin and for the employer's

good; and every thinking citizen with an independ-

ent backbone knows it. Like all confidence men,

the masters of economic despotism and political

strategy hesitate to meet their victims on a free

field and in the open light of day, with issues clearly

defined, and with the ranks of battle sharply drawn.

The straight issue of capital and Labor, of master

and slave, of the owners of the means of life and

the users thereof, of the right and power of a

privileged class to gouge and rob a working class;

Justice Is Dead

(Judge Thayer boasted of what he would

do to the "anarchist bastards.'"-From an affi-

davit alleging prejudice of trial judge in

Sacco-Vanzetti case).

Toll the bells for Justice...

Justice is dead!

Cowards hold the scepter

Over her head;

Hatred holds the balance,

Vengeance is the cry;

"Kill them without mercy;

Let the bastards die!'

Toll the bells: the judgment's

Cruelty stands;

Pilate, blind and groping,

Washes his hands.

Prejudice has triumphed,

Triumphed in its lust;

Hope is bruised and bleeding,

Trampled in the dust.

Ring the bells for freedom!

Truth is not. dead:

Love still weaves its garland

Over her head.

Legal crucifixion

Done by little men

Cannot vanquish Justice-

It shall rise again!

-Harold D. Carew in "Anthology of Revolu-

tionary Poetry."

the issue involved here the forces of plutocracy and

their hired stool pigeons will not meet. Instead,

the dead and buried corpse of prohibition is trotted

out and made the stalking horse of political bun-

combe, with reactionary candidates staging hypo-

critical fights, the masters winning should either

win, and Labor losing regardless of the winner.

When one of the three candidates defeats the

others and finally occupies the governor's chair,

what good will his election do Labor? Who will

that governor represent, the employing class or the

working class? These are two questions every poor,

ragged, overworked and underpaid workingman and

woman, socially ostracised by the rich and subject

to plutocracy's ridicule, should ponder well. The

banker or industrial magnate or any man of reput-

able wealth can walk at will into the governor's

office, whether it be occupied by Fitts, Young or

Rolph, and the moment he enters he is greeted with

the right hand of interested fellowship. Should an

unknown and unannounced workingman so enter

the probability is he would be arrested and jailed

on a charge of suspicion of criminal syndicalism.

Possibly the, governor is not to. blame. He

politically represents a predatory privileged class.

His duty is to protect the interests of that class

`and to enforce the law against the unprivileged

class-the wage wor `kers, whose economic and social

station `stamps them with the badge of political in-

feriority, and whose only reason for existence, ac-

New York Parole Board

Sets Communist Sentences

The New York Parole Commission, after over

three months' deliberation, has finally fixed the

prison sentences of William Z. Foster, Robert. Minor,

Israel Amter and Harry Raymond, convicted of un-

lawful assembly for attempting to lead a parade at

the March 6 unemployed demonstration. All but

Raymond are given six months. He gets ten months

because of a previous criminal record. The board's

recommendations go to the Court of Special Ses-

sions, which invariably approves them. The board

took three months to act because they claimed `the

cases required unusual time for investigation.

Pleas for a prompt and lenient decision were

made to the board by the American Civil Liberties

Union and many citizens. The union, in a state-

ment, says:

"The action of the Parole Commission was neither

prompt nor lenient. It took them over three months

to decide how long men should serve for the simple

offense of trying to parade without a permit. Ordi-

narily the board acts in three weeks. It is plain

that what was troubling them was not the offense

but political prejudice against Communists. Dis-

trict Attorney Crain called this the most important

conviction in the country in ten years. The board

evidently shared that view.

"There is nothing lenient about six months in

jail. The offense should have been treated as a

violation of an ordinance with fifteen days in jail

at most. If justice were done, the police. who at-

tacked the administration, cracking so many heads,

should have been put on trial rather than these men

who merely defied Commissioner Whalen's orders."

Efforts are still being made by defense attorneys

to secure a review of the conviction py the United

States Supreme Court.

U. S. Government Appeals

Citizenship for Pacifists

Official announcement has just been made by

Solicitor General Thacher that the Government will

appeal the decision of the Circuit Court at New

York granting citizenship to Prof. Douglas C. Mac-

intosh of Yale and Miss. Marie. A; Bland, trained

nurse. Both are Canadians who refuse to bear arms

in time of war. Both rendered non-combatant serv-

ice in the world war. The Circuit .Court reversed

the lower courts and admitted them to citizenship,

sustaining the rights of conscience of religious ob-

jectors to bearing arms,

The Government will ask for a: review presumably

on the ground that the decision of the Circuit Court

of Appeals conflicts with the Supreme Court deci-

sion in the case of Rosika Schwimmer, and that

the question as to what pacifists canbe admitted

to citizenship is therefore confused.

cording to the idealism of privilege, is to' work

when they have jobs and to vote on election day to

continue the system which keeps' them dependent

and enslaved.

There is no need this election for the worker to

throw his vote away on capitalistic and reactionary

candidates of the employing class. The. worker

need not make a political fool of himself this year

by voting with his economic enemies. to. perpetuate

his wage: slavery. He has.a candidate in the field

running on a platform committed to the cause' of

Labor. That: candidate is Upton. Sinclair, the

Socialist, who has been in the forefront fighting the

battles of Labor since he was old enough to think.

Sinclair expects no. votes .from the strongholds: of

plutocracy. He would resent the support.of.the

criminal rich. His appeal is to the working classes,

and for their own good he deserves and should have

their votes. This year tt California every. working

.man and woman, can rise,in his. and her. political

`might, and at the ballot, box, ;where all. are equal

before. the law, by. voting. for. Upton Sinclair,. the

Socialist, they can. show the employers: and. the

world that even worms turn, and that. justice in

this state is not wholly dead.

SSS

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 1022 California Building,

Second and Broadway,

Los Angeles, California, by The Southern California

Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union.

Phone: TUcker 6836

TUTTO LAG HLUEUL Unit es euoacn eave cceU oa Ge lop ea manned oi iay Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

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Entered as second-class matter Dec. 18, 1924, at

the post office at Los Angeles, California, under the

Act of March 8, 1879.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1930

ENLIST!

The American Civil Liberties Union, South-

ern California Branch, is making a new en-

rollment of members. A special letter is going

to many people of liberal mind asking them to

become identified definitely with the organiza-

tion that is standing uncompromisingly for the

good old-fashioned doctrine and practice of

freedom of speech, press and assembly. We

want sturdy folks who are really willing to do

something toward making this country safe for

the exercise of Civil Liberties. Send in your

name if you are willing to enlist in such a

fight. Don't wait to receive a personal letter.

Join now and tell us what you can do to help

the cause of freedom. Send along a check

with your name and address. We need money

badly. The battle is raging along several

fronts, as you must know if you read The Open

Forum. Please don't fail us at a time like

this. 1022 California Building, Los Angeles, is

our address.

This paper, like the Sunday Night Forum, is

carried on by the American Civil Liberties

Union to give a concrete illustration of the

value of free discussion. It offers a means of

expression to unpopular minorities. The or-

ganization assumes no responsibility for opin-

ions appearing in signed articles.

Police Versus the August

First Anti-War Meetings

Police interference with the Communist anti-war

demonstrations on August 1 showed a marked de-

cline as contrasted with the demonstrations of

March 6 and May 1. The meetings themselves were

smaller and in fewer cities. The total arrests re-

ported were eighteen in four cities. The chief

trouble took place in New York, New Brunswick,

N. J., Trenton and Indiana Harbor, Ind. In several

cities Communists announcing the meetings were

arrested for distributing handbills.

Peaceful meetings without police interference

were held in a score of cities. The most serious

trouble occurred in New York where, after a large

demonstration in Union Square broke up, the police

attacked a crowd of spectators on their way home

through a street, injuring six of them seriously.

One policeman was injured by blows. The Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union demanded a police inquiry

to discipline the patrolmen responsible for what it

described as an unprovoked attack. Police Com-

missioner Mulrooney promptly ordered an investiga-

tion, now, under way.

Among those injured was a reporter for the In-

ternational News Service. Two persons were ar-

rested and fined for disorderly conduct.

Boston Censors Socialist

BOSTON-(FP-Only after he

mention Sacco and Vanzetti or the public author-

ities. did police let Alfred Baker Lewis, Socialist

candidate for governor, speak.

promised not to

"MENTAL RADIO"

By UPTON SINCLAIR

Price $3.00

PMOUN TAIN: CIDY:'

A New Novel bv

UPTON: SINCLAIR

The Inside Story of Denver and the Rocky

Mountain Region

Price $2.50

ORDER FROM THE OPEN FORUM,

1022 California Building, Los Angeles

FO RR CoCo ey,

OF EITHER BOOK

for five new subscriptions to THE OPEN FORUM;

for $3.00 we will give "Mountain City" and one

new annual subscription. For $3.50 we will give

"MENTAL Rapio" and one new annual subscription.

February Demonstration

Case Jury Fails to Agree

Failure of the jury in the February 26th unem-

ployment demonstration case to agree, except on the

verdict for one defendant, resulted in their dismissal

after twelve hours' deliberation in Judge H. M.

Willis' division of Municipal Court, August 5. Re-

trial of the case has been set for September 5. It

is said the jury stood eight to four for conviction.

Meyer Baylin, who was acquitted, produced a time

card in his defense showing he had been working at

the time of the demonstration, although police said

they had tried to arrest him. Other defendants in-

clude Evelyn Martin, George Kiosz, E. Yamaguchi,

Rose Becker, Joe Holub, Irving Kreitzberg, George

Hoxie. Frank Spector, serving a criminal syndical-

ism sentence in San Quentin, and Carl Sklar and T.

Horiuchi, in Folsom on the same charge, were

brought to Los Angeles for the trial, which lasted

more than two weeks. Spector and Sklar appeared

in propria persona, while the other nine were de-

fended by Leo Gallagher for the International Labor

Defense.

At 11 o'clock of August 5 when the jury reported

that it was unable to reach a verdict and was sent

back for furvner deliberation by Judge Willis, rein-

forcements were called for from Central police sta-

tion. The spectators included many Communists and

sympathizers, who were asked by the judge to "keep

their good record for quiet behavior."

When the case was submitted to the jury an early

verdict of guilty was expected, due to the frantic

efforts of the prosecution and the police "red squad'"'

to obtain a conviction, as well as the usual prejudice

in such cases. One woman juror told a reporter,

however, that there would have been no riot at the

Plaza if the police had not started one. Another

stated she voted for acquittal because she believes

in freedom of speech.

The demonstrators were

illegally treated at the time of their arrest. The

charges placed against them included inciting to

riot, rioting, interfering with officers and failure to

leave a scene of riot on being so commanded.

clubbed and otherwise

The more than a score of defendants arrested and

released on bail after participating in an anti-war

demonstration at the Plaza, August 1, will be tried

on August 27 and September 3.

I. W. W.

224 South Spring Street

Saturday, August 16, 8 P. M.

Room No. 218

FRED MOORE

Famous attorney for the Il. W. W.

Will Speak on Law and the Workers

L. A. Recorp

Anthology of Revolutionary

Poetry

by Marcus Graham (Arrested for Compiling

and Editing This Book)

New York World Said "Fascinating and Im-

portant Anthology"

Order Through Open Forum-Price $3

"United States Jails Poet."

EE

Los Angeles

OPEN FORUM:

Music Art Hall

233 So. Broadway

Come at 7:30 if you would not miss the tremen

dously interesting and instructive talks on current

events with which the meetings are opened each

week.

August 17.-REPORT ON MAY 1 CELEBRATION

OF U. S. S. R., by Dan Donovan, chairman of the

American delegation that visited Russia this spring.

Mr. Donovan is a locomotive engineer and hag been

active in the American Labor movement for thirty

years. There will be other speakers, including Dr,

Robert Whitaker and Jeannette Pearl of New

York. The program is in charge of the Los Angeles

Friends of the Soviet Union.

August 24-MEXICO AND _ ITS POLITICAL

STRUGGLE FOR THE PAST FORTY YEARS, by

Raul Palma, who will be remembered as the hero

of the famous murder frameup drama that held the

spotlight in Los Angeles in 1917.

Will Try "Obscene" Book

The first trial of an ``obscene" book before a

Federal jury under the new provision in the tariff ,

act is scheduled to take place in Seattle in October

when the customs officers' ban on "The Sexual Life"

by Dr. J. Rutgers of Holland is contested by C. BE.

Midgard, book dealer. One hundred and twenty

copies of the book consigned to Mr. Midgard were

seized by officials this spring. The book is a sci-

entific work by a well known. physician treating sex

from a biological standpoint.

The American Civil Liberties Union has offered

to aid Mr. Midgard is contesting the ban.

N. Y. Socialists Arrested

Five members of the Socialist Party were re-

cently arrested in New York for holding a street

meeting. These arrests are among the rare excep-

tions to the usual police policy throughout the

country of letting Socialist meetings alone.

The police arrested the five because they thought

they were Communists. The judge before whom

they were brought discharged them and condemned

the police. Two of the defendants claimed they

were beaten at the police station.

Coming Events

LOS ANGELES BRANCH of the I. W. W., 488

Bryson Building, free reading room open every

day; business meeting every Tuesday, 7:30 P.M.

MOONEY-BILLINGS BRANCH, I. L. D., business

and educational meetings every first and third

Tuesday, at 120 Winston Street.

FREE WORKERS' FORUM, lectures and discus

sion every Monday night at 8 o'clock, LibertariaD

Center, 2528 Brooklyn Avenue; dance and entertain:

ment last Saturday in month.

SOCIALIST PARTY, headquarters 429-30 Douglas

Building. Telephone, MUtal 7871. Office open from

9 a.m. to 10 p. m., except Sunday. Circulating libra:

ry. Young Socialist League meets every Wednesday

night, -_

SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY, headquarters 230

Douglas Building, Third and Spring. Meetings every

Thursday, 8 p. m. Daytime call at 213 W. Third St.

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD WELFARE

ASSOCIATION, 107 Marchessault Street, opposite

the Plaza. Open Forum Sundays at 3 p. m.

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FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS

More About Soviet Union

fditor The Open Forum:

I regret to say that the article of Jeannette D.

Pearl in last week's Forum appears to me only a

yery half-hearted boost for the Soviet Union and

yery incomplete in its list of the benefits enjoyed

py the Russian workers now or to be enjoyed by

them "next year," or "not yet but soon." MHere are

afew items additional:

The health of the people never has been better.

The beneficial idea of allowing only a ration of

pread instead of permitting an untrained man to

guzzle just as much as he wanted without any goy-

ernment control has proved a splendid success. I

prophesy therefore, that despite the fine reports of

the glorious triumph in agriculture the rationing is

likely to be continued. The wait in queue for two

or three hours outside the store which is now com-

pulsory for every housewife, insures that she shall

pass that much time in the healthful open air, and

the fact that after it she often does not get what

`she wants, has proven a valuable training in

patience and in the control of violent emotions.

Rykov, Tomski and Ouglanov have been allowed

into the sacred presence of Stalin and, after ac-

knowledging their errors, their heresies and their

evil dispositions, have been forgiven and permitted

to kiss the pope's toe. Bucharin is still "ill.". Trot-

sky is still in Constantinople. The Kronstadt men,

whom he shot for talking about free speech, are

still dead.

The problem of the abandoned children running

around in the streets by the thousand has at last

been settled definitely and finally. A decree has

been issued and they are abolished. Begging in the

streets is also now prohibited. A nice new apart-

ment house has been erected in Moscow to accom-

_ modate the workers and to show the foreign visitors,

and except in a few exceptional cases not more

than two families now live in one room.

Preparations for the harvest are proceeding

rapidly. A large number of new machine guns, the

very latest things in agricultural machinery, have

been issued to the troops to aid in the collection of

the grain.

The heroic Red Army (raised by a system of

conscription which is highly popular) is proving

More and more useful. An armed sentry has now

been placed at the door of every printing shop, a

distinct advance in method on anything ever at-

tempted by the Inquisition, by the Czarist regime

or even by the Fascisti in Italy. It is confidently

expected that the nefarious schemes of those who

would suborn the hearts of the people from their

much-loved government will now be effectually

ftustrated. It has been definitely established that

those Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Anar-

chists, discontented workers and rebellious peasants

are all alike paid agents of the capitalist. Seven-

_ teen peasants have lately been convicted of attempt-

ing to insure the coming crop by tampering with

the weather, and the death sentence has been mod-

ified only when they confessed one and all to being

Spies conveying valuable agricultural information to

foreign farmers.

After some hesitation Stalin and the central com-

mittee have decided that Russia in 1932 shall pro-

duce fourteen times more than the United States.

This decision is definite and will be enforced by a

decree, Statistics to prove triumphant success are

already being made up.

In view of the recent scandal created by the es-

`abade of the British miners who got away some-

how from the official interpreter and saw things for

hemselves which foreign visitors are not to see,

It is Proposed now to attach every foreign visitor

`uspected of common sense, immediately upon his

`rival in the country, to a ball and chain.

These are only a few of the many items showing

tgress which Tovaritsch Pearl omitted to men-

lon, She might have pointed out, for instance, that

the decreasing number of Communists in America

'S due to the overwhelming rush of our Russian-

lewish workers here to get back to the high stand-

`d of comfort in their native land.

t,o. BELL:

When Calvin Coolidge can receive two dollars a

| Ae for his mush and farmers get sixty cents a

ey New Leader.

UShel for their wheat we know that the system is

We welcome communications from our read-

ers for this page. But to be acceptable letters

must be pointed and brief-not over 500 words,

and if they are 400 or less they will stand a

better show of publication. Also they must be

typewritten-our printers can't take time to de-

cipher hieroglyphics.

Why Nota Law for Police?

Editor The Open Forum:

"From the evidence in the trial I was convinced

that it was the police who incited the riot by their

brutality."

So spoke Mrs. Maudine Ward, who was one of the

jurors in the most recent case of Communist perse-

cution in Los Angeles. Mrs. Ward's words stamp her

as a courageous and fair-minded woman, and they

also confirm my own contention, that in every case

of riot it is the police who begin it; and then they

have the unparalleled nerve to charge the Com-

munists with `inciting to riot." That they are able

to get away with it proves, not only that the police

are given all the breaks but that the judges are as

prejudiced as themselves; and too often the jurors

too, as Mrs. Ward shows in The Record article from

which I have quoted. And that is the kind of thing

that is called justice in this capitalist state.

Mrs. Ward also more than intimates that the police

perjure themselves to the top of their bent in these

Communist cases, saying, as concerned one defend-

ant, that "it took twelve hours for the jury to cast

aside the officer's perjured testimony."

"There ought to be a law" has become an Amer-

icanism, with the result that we have more laws

than there are people who are supposed to obey

them. But I am going to say it here: there ought to

be a law to reach and punish the lawless police, and

also that species of political body lice known as

agents provocateur or informers. Conspiring to com-

mit a crime is itself a crime; why, then, can it not

be invoked against the vermin mentioned? Probably

because it has never been tried and probably be-

cause in the enforcement of certain unpopular laws,

such as prohibition and criminal syndicalism, the use

of such cattle is deemed necessary, and so, instead

of being crushed, they are protected.

How long can such things continue? How long

will the people endure them before they revolt and

overturn the whole capitalist apple cart? In my esti-

mation, a long, long time.

I get a big kick out of The Open Forum every

week, most often from the letters contributed by

your readers, and especially those of Mrs. Crane-

Gartz. There is a brave woman who carries a punch

in both hands and knows how to administer it to the

point of the jaw. `Respect Your Judges," Cecilia

St. Claire's letter in the last number, is a wow for

satire and irony. I took it seriously at first but soon

tumbled to its real import. I notice my good friend

P. D. Noel comes in for a call down occasionally.

Well, he needs it, as his column seems to be devoted

principally to warming his hates; vide the paragraph

headed "`Deportations" in the last number.

JOHN HARBAUGH.

Let's Have Court of Women

Editor The Open Forum:

Referring to the essay in The Open Forum of

July 26 by Mrs. E. C. Porter, let me say I take off

my hat to her. The article deserves repeating often.

The fact is that whether we have war again will

depend on the women of America. When Cleopatra

fled from the battlefield of Actium she showed more

sense that' Antony, who should have locked arms

with her instead of trailing on behind. The mothers

of men should first be consulted as to whether their

sons shall be slaughtered largely to make the rich

richer, and produce paupers to be supported by the

taxes of the rank and file, already over burdened by

taxes and assessments, especially in our boasted

County of Los Angeles, where appraisers are paid

fabulous sums, and families move out into some

"neck of the woods" because they can't hold on to

their homes.

The essayist's words ring true when she says:

"Nations stagger under war debts. People mortgage

their grandsons to buy the ammunition to kill their

sons." Let us never fool ourselves with the thought

that the next war will be fought with rifles and

swords and cannon, for it will be fought in the air,

McInerney Dies in Prison

Editor The Open Forum.

James McInerney, one of the eight Centralia vic-

tims serving an unjust sentence in the Washington

State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, Washington, in-

carcerated for more than ten long years, passed

away at the prison hospital August 13, at 7:40 a. m.

McInerney had several sieges of illness since his

imprisonment which resulted in his contracting

tuberculosis. A short while ago spinal meningitis

set in which caused his death. He lingered several

days in a vain attempt to recover but his weakened

condition, the result of ill health contracted on ac-

count of oven ten years of unjust confinement in

prison, made it impossible for him to recover. THE

STATE OF WASHINGTON IS RESPONSIBLE FOR

WINERNEY'S DEATH.

Upon receiving a wire from one of the Centralia

prisoners, Bert Bland, that McInerney was near

his death bed in the prison hospital, this committee

immediately phoned the warden for particulars. At -

that time the prison doctor thought there was a

chance for life.

As there are no known relatives of McInerney's

in this country, (all of his folks are in Ireland as

far as we can learn) the Centralia Publicity Com-

mittee arranged for a funeral (held in Centralia on

August 20).

Friends and fellow workers, James McInerney is

dead. The brave stand of the eight innocent men

for the last ten years has met with a black cloud

of remorse. One of their number has left the fight

never to return. Through several years of ill health

McInerney fought grimly on standing solid in his

opinions and for a better world for the workers. He

laughed in the face of sickness and gave over ten

years of his freedom and then his life for the cause

of the workers. His death is a noble death and the

memory of James McInerney will live long after

the scoundrels who railroaded him to prison and

death have been forgotten. His name will have its

place alongside of brave Wesley Everest's, who was

lynched by these same savages in 1919.

Another matter to consider too, is the cost of this

funeral. The Centralia Publicity Committee- has

taken the responsibility of the burial. The General

Defense Committee has offered their fullest coop-

eration. We are sure that the necessary funds will

be forthcoming from Labor unions, groups and in-

dividuals to defray the expenses. We could not let

James McInerney's body be disposed of to some

medical school or be buried in the prison cemetery.

So we urgently request full cooperation in meeting

the cost.

C. S. SMITH, -

Centralia Publicity Committee.

Telling It to Young

Hon. C. C. Young

Governor of California

Sacramento, California

Dear Sir:

I received a letter from you some weeks ago,

making formal announcement of your candidacy for

re-election, and addressing a personal appeal to me

for my support and friendship during the present

campaign.

I find myself totally unwilling to render this sup-

port, for one reason because of your prolonged and

(to my mind) inhuman indifference to the pardon

application of Tom Mooney, and your complete re-

fusal in July to grant this pardon.

Yours very truly,

ETHELWYN MILLS.

with deadly poisons on both sides of the contend-

ing forces. Men, women and children will choke to

death by the thousands in a night. Keep it before

the people, that about all wars are commercial. The

mighty dollar is their motivation. Some poet sings

of a young man about to be married begging his

bride-elect to defer the marriage, and saying: "I

could not love thee dear so much, loved I not honor

more."

This sounds well but we know war is a ghastly

thing. Shame on the nations, our own with the

rest, that we are always preparing for war. Let us

have a Court of Women who shall be, like our

Supreme Court, the last resort. Then let them

teach their children that "WAR IS HELL."

JAY N. TAFT.

'

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saw no assaults,

2

New York Police Heads

Probe Official Violence

Following the police attack in New York on a

crowd leaving the Union Square August 1 demon-

stration, Police Commissioner Mulrooney acted at

once on the American Civil Liberties Union's re-

quest for a prompt inquiry. The investigation was

put in the hands of Chief Deputy Inspector James

Bolan who has examined all the known witnesses.

Two of the six persons injured could not be found

at the addresses given, and one, a Young Pioneer

girl, refused to testify.

The inquiry showed that the police officers were

practically unanimous in their testimony that they

saw no assaults or violence. Captain Joseph Day,

in charge of the reserves, who admittedly ordered

them out of a building to disperse the crowd who

was booing a lone. police officer, testified that he

although three bystanders, two

newspaper reporters and three persons injured, all

-formed : officers. with billies.

testified to assaults by plainclothes men and uni-

Only one officer was

identified by shield number. The witnesses' stories

"of the assaults were not contradicted by the police

Officers.

The American Civil Liberties Union has com-

mended `the prompt action of Police Commissioner

Mulrooney and the thoroughness-and fairness of the

inquiry conducted by Deputy Inspector Bolan. A

report of the inquiry will go to the Commissioner

for action. The Union, in a statement on the evi-

`dence; says:

-"The testimony of the police officers that they

"saw nothing unfavorable to them is to be expected.

`used his billy. |

But the other witnesses established the unprovoked

assaults of the police. The difficulty in all such

"moments of excitement is to identify the guilty men.

`It is regrettable that the shield numbers of six of-

`ficers taken' by a reporter were lost in a newspaper

Only one officer was identified as having

. This makes disciplinary action

against other officers impossible. But the inquiry

office.

`clearly proved the unwarranted violence of the

police, against which action should be taken by the

department if they are to be restrained in future."

"Alien Anarchy" Case To

Washington for Decision

After a two hour interrogation, during which he

refused to answer any questions except at a public

hearing, the transcript in the. case of Marcus

Graham, arrested on a deportation warrant, was

forwarded to. Washington.

The unusual dialog between Graham and Albert

del Guercio, immigration inspector, followed a state-

ment by the former that, inasmuch as a deportation

hearing is.-in the nature of a court trial with the

Government official acting as jury, judge and prose-

.cutor, he demanded the right of the public and press

`to admittance.

Graham, compiler of "The Anthology of Revolu-

tionary Poetry,' which contains the work of 400

great and near-great poets from twenty countries

and whichis alleged by the Government officials

to contain: violently revolutionary material, was ar-

rested at Yuma. There the immigration inspector

said the had admitted crossing the border to Mexico

`and being'a Communist, but he denies both these

charges.

Later he was brought to Los Angeles and is at

liberty under bond of $1,000 posted by the American

Civil Liberties. Union, Southern California branch.

.The Communist charge has been changed to the

usual "alien anarchy." This is based on passages

.in the introduction to the anthology in which the

-book is dedicated to the anarchist philosophy, and

sentences in the copy held by del Guercio during

the questioning were underlined with blue and red

pencil marks.

Graham was arrested in 1919, on deportation

charges, later dropped because the Government was

unable to prove from what country he came. John

Beardsley, chairman of the local Civil Liberties

Union executive committee, is counsel in the case.

_He will file a brief to accompany the transcript to

Washington,

Five Days for Distribution

Sylvia `Blatt, arrested in July for distributing

-leaflets, was found guilty by a jury in Judge

Charles L. Bogue's division of Municipal Court

`August 15 and given a sentence of five days in jail

or `a $25. fine.-

Trade Unions Jim Crowed

By HORACE B. DAVIS

Failure to take in Negro workers on a basis of

equality has resulted in ham-stringing a whole sec-

tion of the American Labor movement, and will

affect more and more unions in the future unless

this bad habit is corrected, is the warning contained

in a report of the National Urban League, now pub-

lished under the title "Negro Membership in Ameri-

can Labor Unions." Nominal equality is not enough,

even when both colored and white belong to the

same local, as long as the best jobs are reserved for

whites, the report indicates.

Although there were nearly a million and a half

colored wage earners in trade and industry in 1920,

the latest figures show only 81,658 organized into

unions. Negroes make good trade unionists under

the right circumstances, as has been shown re-

peatedly; about a third of the membership of the

International Longshoremen's Association is colored,

and in many other trades colored and white have

struck and won shoulder to shoulder. But among

the Negroes as a whole there is little sympathy for

the organized Labor movement. They may at any

time be used as strikebreakers. They "threaten the

economic security of the organized group."

For this attitude the American Labor movement

is itself to blame. "Today no less than twenty-four

national and international unions, ten of which are

affiliated with the A. F. of L., exclude Negroes from

their membership through provisions in their con:

stitution or rituals." Some unions have never faced

the issue, but have failed to-admit. Negroes who ap-

plied; this has been the tactic of the plumbers.

Locals will often refuse Negroes even where the

national union would be willing to admit.

The study inquires what has been the official

`attitude of the A. F. of. L. toward the organizing of

Negro workers.

"It comprises a number of resolutions urging or-

ganizations of Negro workers; a protest here and

vacuous decrees there against efforts of radicals at

organization; segregated organization of Negro

workers in certain occupations through local and

Federal Labor unions; a few pleas for organization;

, the employment at various times of a few Negro

organizers, and a total inability if not unwillingness

to compel international unions to remove from their

constitutions Negro exclusion clauses, or suffer ex-

pulsion from the federation." The present attitude

is contrasted with that which led the federation to

exclude the machinists' union from membership

until 1895, on the ground that that union carried a

constitutional ban on Negroes.

The importance of the South in any program of

organization is stressed. The American Negro

Labor Congress is mentioned as the only body

which has been militant in its advocacy of Negro

membership in trade unions. It is recalled that a

Negro National Labor Union was organized as early

as 1869. This earlier organization died out, how-

ever.

Negro Membership in American Labor Unions, by

Ira DeA. Reid, New York, $1. 175 pp., Natl. Urban

League, publishers.

Teacher Asks a Question

To Whom It May Concern:

For more than thirty years I have been employed

in the high schools teaching and training the youth

who came under my supervision, that FAIRNESS in

school sports, in class work, and in life generally, is

the principal thing toward which we must work and

hope to obtain success. Yesterday I met a young

man of twentyfour years who had been a former

pupil in my training class.

During our conversation, he mentioned his early

training in high school-training all through his four

years' work; then he proceeded to say: "FAIRNESS

is out of date now, isn't it?"

This question struck me most forcibly. "I HOPE

NOT," I replied, looking deeply into the eyes of the

lad who has been disappointed in life. "WHY do you

ask that question?" "I have been reading the papers

concerning the Mooney-Billings case and I fail to

find any FAIRNESS in that case," the young man

told me.

Friends, whither are we drifting? Are not such

actions as are being daily revealed in this case a

blow at our name of CIVILIZATION?

No, 'm not a Socialist, but such things as this

make me stop, look and listen. Since every other

party has had a hand in governmental powers (with

this result) I think it might be well to hand the

reins over to the SOCIALISTS and let them give us

the most needed LIBERTY and FAIRNESS.

Sincerely, KATHERINE BROOKS.

-_

`NEWS AND VIEWS

By P. D. NOEL

Senator Hurley

In Billings' hearing before the members of the

Supreme Court at Folsom penitentiary he accuseq

the Senator from Oakland of being the person who

hired him to carry the dynamite which was the

cause of his first conviction. Of course, Hurley

strenuously denies the charge, but those who have

followed his career will believe Billings. Hurley jg

one of those laborites who actively supports Labor's

program in minor matters, but plays the corpora-

tions' game in big issues. He was active in opposi-

tion to the State Water and Power Act of some

years ago.

* * *

Doctoring

The average person neglects himself in matters

of keeping well on account of the. high costs of

medical attention and hospitalization. There ig g

foolish pride which prevents him from availing him-

self and family of the facilities of the County hos-

pital and the free clinics of both the county and

the city. Medical care is on the way to being social-

ized, but in the meantime much damage is being

done through neglect or reliance upon Christian

Science, chiropractic or other quasi medical cults,

The unions of this city have entered upon a prac-

tical course for the protection of their members

through an alignment with one of the hospitals and

its staff.. The cost is only $1.50 a month for all of

the dependent members of the family.

% %

Hard Times

Illustrating the financial stringency which is upon

us, the experience of a group which is endeavoring

to revive "Old Mexico" in the Plaza district is il-

luminating. More than 2500 letters were sent out

to well-to-do persons who might be suspected of

having an interest in the idea. Not a single reply

was received, though the amount needed was not

great. * * *

Socialistic

The County has just opened another health center;

this time in the Alhambra district where there are

many Mexicans, besides numerous struggling whites

with mortgaged homes. Birth control information is

given-always with the idea that the health of the

applicant will be jeopardized by additional babies.

The County has established a number of these cen-

ters, but the city of Los Angeles has done prac-

tically nothing, though it has a progressive health

officer in Doctor Parrish.

Co * *

Getting Wise

It looks as though our juries are becoming aware

of the fact that the police are the ones who are

doing the "rioting" and law breaking, rather than

the Communists. Several acquittals and hung

juries seem to indicate that a sense of justice is

seeping into the minds of at least some on the

panels.

S % %

Bourgeois Morals

The ethical bankruptcy of the ruling classes 18

shown in the press reports from China, India and

other places where the masses are struggling for

recognition. So many of the statements are SO

apparently unfair and contrary to known conditions,

that one does not know what to believe as to what

is really happening. The outs are termed "rebels,"

"bandits," "communists," "rioters," "mobs," OF

"hordes," while the ins are "the authorities," "Na

tionalists" or some type of patriots. The latter are

"executing" thousands of supposed reds, many be

headings taking place on the public streets; while

the former are "butchering" and robbing the rich

and commercial classes. An inkling of the true

situation leaks out in the admission that the peas:

ants are joining the "bandits."

* * *

The Taxpayers Pay

The County Supervisors had to appropriate an

additional $1,000,000 for the hospital, welfare work,

doles and general charity activities for this year

Next year's budget is increased $500,000 over the

present one. `Notwithstanding, the present outlook

for unemployment and needed welfare and charity

work, the coming budget provides $500,000 for the

All the Year Club and $375,000 for the Chamber of

Commerce for the purpose of enticing more people

to come here, and, incidentally, to secure more

"smoke stacks." Think of the permanent good

which might be secured if these vast amounts were

invested in more beaches, parks and playgrounds.

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