Open forum, vol. 1, no. 2 (December, 1924)
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THE OPEN FORUM
As a man IS, so he thinketh.
d
I. Vol. I. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, DECEMBER 13, 1924 No: 2
7 ` ; ; Winston Churchill, hero of England's attack on Rus-
t e sia, from Parliament and public life in 1922. In the
e e 0x00B0 Tl U e House he championed with deadly oratory and un-
e flagging persistence the cause of the weaker nations
i . and subject races. In debate he had not his equal,
ey By Hu Sh Maitland Hardyman possessing an unrivalled knowledge of international
S diplomacy and of the affairs of the African peoples.
The cause of human rights has lost one of its gate the causes of the war, to lay bare the guilt In 1923 he was again elected to the House and in
ty most useful and loyal servants in the sudden death of all the belligerent powers and to publish his the election in October he headed the poll in Dundee
she in England of Edmund Dene Morel. findings in books, pamphlets and from the platform. over five other candidates. It was while in Devon
t i M f : FE : 0x00B0 : :
1 For thirty years Morel has battled with oppression After vain attempts to find a genuine cause for mare oe bahia ae Sack ake! fal oa
he and injustice with fearless courage, facing unafraid his suppression the British government in 1917 im- eae pa Fouts i ee teihgs cat be ae
a the mightiest powers of Hurope. He it was who prisoned him with thieves, forgers and other con- ie eae and `i te wes his sie ini ad ites
nd freed the Congo from the damnable yoke of Leopold, victs in Pentonville jail on a charge of intending to h (c) et oiP 3i :
ii whose merciless enslavement of an entire people send a pamphlet to Romain Rolland, greatest of liv- @0x00B0"evement IS amazing.
ay reduced the population. of the "Free State' by more ing Frenchmen. Had Rolland been in France as The monthly "Foreign Affairs,'' which. he so ably
oe than ten million in the space of twenty years. Morel had supposed even this charge would have _ edited, his numerous books on Africa and world
of been impossible, as the pamphlet was allowed circu- politics ,his pamphlets, of which one of the last,
a The story of the single-handed attack by a Peo lation in allied countries. But Rolland had moved "The Secret History of a Great Betrayal," has been
`a shipping clerk in Liverpool upon a wealthy king 1, gwitzerland, a neutral country, to which literature published by the U. S. Government as a state paper,
ig backed ey ` De ee ace tot by ey ony might not be sent without permission. So Morel and his parliamentary work, either of these would
dl Cocks nett 1: eee ie oe audits ae went to jail, to the relief of many of his friends, have sufficed to fill the days of a lesser man.
His titanic struggle during twelve years an is
le ltimate victory would alone have served to place who had feared the fury of ihe BECee wee eae It is some consolation that he lived to see himself
pau y succeed in achieving his assassination. rad RER ld of like meeiadent
Morel among the immortals. once more recognized by the wor o ibera oug
i? : But bad conditions in prison had undermined his and by the leaders of Europe: his name was sub-
y But Morel was more than the liberator of the 1 .oith and it was an older man with silver hair who mitted by the governments of Finland and Britain
De ee aa ie ae a! who eturned to the fight in 1918. Again he wrote with and by many others throughout the world to the
; dared to keep his eyes oes ae ES ne peace tireless pen, pamphlets and books streaming from Norwegian committee for the Nobel Peace Prize of
Gee: eae rig inept ae his office in Westminister and spreading from John 1924.
maAgeud oe formed the Union of ren seaiie ne O'Groats to Sydney his doctrine of open diplomacy, Of a truth his was:
a 1 arliament or senate of foregin affairs, yr i
trol shortly after the outbreak of war. As secretary contre ad Bs ; onal are pee The simply gallant blade unbought,
and treasurer of the Union he became the mark of self-determination of peoples, na ee he a : ` The soul compassionate unsought;
"the most vicious dispiay of caiumny and nate dy the ufacture of armaments and. their sphetBaLong! oes With no price but the priceless thought,
| entire press during those hysterical years. But itation. Nor one but the great design
: never did he give an inch; he continued to investi- In a sensational and outstanding victory he drove Of giving that the world may gain."
But, it is asked, what is the solution? What is to
WwW HAT GOVERNMENT be done in the premises? And for answer we ask:
What has been done and what has been the solution
BEST SECI IRES CIiVilL LIBERT ' of the crises of the past, when the people realized
that they were being robbed of their birthright-life,
i i ? The answer and the remedy
By E. A. CHILDS liberty and happiness
y of the past must be the answer and the remedy of
the present. As we celebrate the overthrow of the
The answer to what Government best secures Civil people, is prone to use the power granted him for oppressors of the past, and enforce the restrictions
Libery reads-according to Blackstone, "that con- the oppression and enslavement of his fellowmen. which were then devised to limit the despotic kings
stitution or frame of government, that system of and nobles, so will our posterity praise and protect
laws, is alone calculated to maintain civil. liberty At present, a grave peghicu confronts the people such charters as we may devise to restrain the in-
which leaves the subject entire master of his own Of the United States. It is, whether civil and political dustrial despots.of the present. When human liberty
conduct, except in those points wherein the public liberty shall end, or whether the Beinciples of monop- is in danger) WsAistanee to "Kite Mallionaite: toons
| good requires some direction or restraint.' The Oly and plutocracy shall be curbed. It is nonsense yon in order as resistance to King John at Runny-
italics are our own, and we would add, that the re- to prate of equality before the law, and uniformity ede, or to King George at Bunker Hill!
' straints, when exercised, should be equal to all, as Of rights and privileges, when a few gigantic trusts
/ well as uniform and just. can defy the courts, corrupt by bribery and intimida-
tion executive and legislative officers, and reduce our Santas
_' It is true, says Judge Caverly, that civil liberty intelligent laborers (the backbone of the nation) to
`may exist in perfection under an absolute monarch. the condition of any of the most abject races, black
`But what security can the subject have for the or brown, which can be found to compete with them GANDHI DISCUSSED
Virtues of his successors? Civil liberty can only be ag machine running automatons.
secure where the king has no power to do wrong, yet "Gandhi's idea has been described as an additional
jall the prerogatives to do good. Cooley's Bl. Com.,1, The citizen who is compelled to look pleased and imension of consciousness. A few individuals have
126n. fawn or crawl on all fours to get a chance to delve this idea. Nations have . even dreamed of it. The
: : : world is now at a critical stage.
Tee Oduien. cava; -Myery. wanton: restraint, aaa pes or are in the shop ten or more hours
fra whatever source js a degree of tyranny, and 0x00B00x00B0 ee (RE and then see the bulk of Gandhi is absolutely and entirely non-violent, in his
jan infraction of civil liberty, so we can but conclude De ree ay te eet cae oil trust, meat principles and practice. He would never, never resort
ieee protection "and" advancements' of htuhan trust, etc., which have ecranlahed themselves for to violence, even if he had all power. Resistance
rights is best secured by institutions which keep the sole BU Enee of levying tribute through the con- must be made on a higher level than the resistance
A the law-making power and the conduct of govern- De or eke a emu yente reason to be proud comes to you. Even if you should die, you, your
iment in the hands of the ee of his civil liberty. And we believe that the only enemy, and the world would all be raised by it.
"
Equality, which
is the basic principle of liberty, can only be pre-
Served by giving each an equal share in the common
@overnment.
Representative assemblies or legislatures, and elect-
"ed officers, without adequate restraints imposed upon
them by the people, may, under the corrupting in-
puences of a wealthocracy, become as inimical to
liberty as the most absolute monarchy. Hence it be-
hooves the people by the ballot, and the institution
_ of the referendum and recall, to look to their liber-
`ties. The lesson of history is, that the delegate.
whether a monarch deputed by God, an aristocrat se-
lected by nobility, or a plain citizen elected by the
persons who can praise this sort of liberty are the
idiotic and the paid tools of monopolists.
We cannot escape the fact that vested capital (the
stolen labor of yesterday), given an artificial per-
sonality by the laws of the state and nation, is usurp-
ing the civil liberty of the masses and threatens to
destroy our fabric of government. Political liberty,
or the right of the people to participate-in govern-
ment freely and edually, is being undermined by
the same forces. The `harrassed laborer. fearful of
losing-:his job, must vote for the interest of his
so-called employer; thus political freedom is fast
becoming a dream,
Satyagraha to Gandhi means all of these things;
insistence on absolute truth, fearlessness, love, the
developing of soul force, making you immune to
fear, and the consequences of fear.
Swaraj means self-rule. Gandhi takes it literally.
He says you will never have real political and
industrial self-rule until you have an inner self-rule.
Self-rule comes only when physical force responds
and gives way to soul-force."
From the remarkable address by S. G. Pandit, of
Los Angeles, before a recent meeting of the Fellow-
ship of Reconciliation in that city.
KNIGHTS `OF THE KU KLUX
KLAN. AND ITS MISSION
-A-Sermon of. Hate
`Reported by Isaac Kushner
From the time the Ku Klux Klan came into re-
existence and its mysterious, and at times, quite
unmysterious and criminal tendencies became pub-
licly noticed, and its advocacy and dissemination of
_ the gospel of hate and ill-will were reported in the
press, I was more than anxious to attend one of its
meetings in order to obtain first-hand information
for myself. Being by nature very skeptical and
always desirous to get at the truth of things with-
out any -hearsay,-- `I always doubted whether the
press reports did not magnify, exaggerate, and mis-
represent the ideas of the Klan; So when I suc-
ceeded in securing a pass to attend a secret meet-
ing of the organization, I cheerfully availed myself
of the opportunity. My only regret is that I came
twenty minutes too late, and, therefore, was unable
to hear the entire speech.
. The meeting was held on Friday night, November
14, at the Walker Auditorium, and the subject was:
"Knights of.the. Ku Klux Klan and Its Mission." It
was held under the auspices of the National Organ-
ization Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and was ar-
ranged for men only-not for Jewish men, Catholic
men, Negro men, foreign-born men-it was held
for men of the Protestant faith. The speaker of the
evening was Mr. Kemel or Camel; (I know not how he
spells his name), a Realm lecturer and Baptist
preacher* from Georgia. The hall was about two-
thirds filled.
"In the anteroom there were half a dozen Kleagles
dressed in full regalia. They tried to size me up,
but, with a pass`in my hand, I''was admitted: "Upon
entrance I took my seat in the middle 6f the hall,
but, in order not to attract attention or arouse any
suspicion, I hesitated to use' pencil and paper. How-
ever, when I heard the representative of the "Invisi-
ble Empire' make a ferocious onslaught upon the
radical movement, I resolved to use paper and pen-
` cil for notes. This I did, and. sure enough, those
that sat alongside and back of me began to eye me
up and whisper to each other. They realized that
I was not completely "kosher."
Barcel
Now, from the title of | this article you will note
that the Klan has a certain "Mission" to perform,
and I am of the belief that many of you are not
quite familiar with the real object and purpose of
the "Invisible Empire." Though it attacks and ridi-
cules the Jew, assails the Catholic, makes a ferocious
assault upon the Negro and foreigner, its main and
primary purpose is to war upon the radical move-
ment. For example, the Baptist preacher spoke for
over an` hour and a half, and three-fourths of the
time was devoted to a most violent attack upon the
radical, progressive and labor movement. `He ap-
pealed to the lowest passions of his hearers and
aroused the most uproarious applause from them.
- He told the audience that the first thing the Klan
intends to do is to close up the gates of America to
immigration completely... This done, it proposes to
eheck up all the radicals and liberals of this country
and make them conform to our. "Christian" institu-
tions. Should the radicals fail to heed the warning
of the Klan, it proposes further to deport every for-
eign-born person from whence he came and also
deport every native to some island.
In order to show how our government is in im-
minent danger of being overthrown, the speaker of
the Invisible Empire told the gathering that "there
are thirty-three million dollars ($33,000,000.00) in
gold deposited in the New York banks by the Soviet
government for propaganda purposes against the
government of the United States." `I'hen the speaker
informed his auditors that radicals are radicals, and
shades of opinion differ not at all.
He declared that all radicals are opposed to our
institutions, and the Klan intends to exterminate
them all. "The Klan," continued the speaker, `is
bitterly opposed to class legislation," and, as an
organization, it makes every possible endeavor to
prevent the enactment of such legislation. More-
over, the way to proceed with this "noble mission"
is for Anglo-Saxon Protestants of this country to
get together and perpetuate "our institutions." "For,"
said the Baptist preacher, "God in His Almighty wis-
dom, willed it that the descendants of the Protestant
Anglo-Saxon race should occupy this continent and
rule it."
Now, to maintain the purity and supremacy of
the Protestant Anglo-Saxon Nace, "it is,2 said the
speaker, "necessary to multiply, and not to prac-
Bi a
`tice birth control."
For, if birth control is practiced
by Potestant Anglo-Saxons-and this: explains the
reason why women were not admitted-the inferior
races multiplying much faster, "will eventually dom-
inate us completely." The inferior races, `according
to the speaker, are the Russians, Rumanians, Ital-
ians, Poles, etc., etc. "Rumania ships all of her
criminals to America," said the apostle of hate. And
to prove that the Anglo-Saxon race is superior to
any other race on the face of the globe, he quoted
the government `chronology of the Jonathan EHd-
wards and the Juke families. Both of these fami-
lies had twelve hundred descendants. The descend-
ants of Jonathan Edwards were all graduates of uni-
versities, and all of them occupied prominent posi-
tions in life, while the descendants of the Juke fam-
ily-and the so-called follower of Christ emphasized
the name. Juke-were all degenerates, imbeciles,
criminals and scoundrels. Then he exclaimed:
"There are between 8,000,000 and 9,000,000 such peo-
ple in the United States whose main ambition is to
destroy our government." And to bring this point
to a climax, he unfurled Old Glory and in its name
told the audience that the Klan intends to fight those
"criminals."
Of course, the Jew came in for his share. The
Invisible Empire's spokesman told the: people that
"a Jewish Wall Street banker, Bernard Baruch, came
to Wilson in 1915 and urged him to mobilize our
industries for war in order to collect the debts for
the Jewish bankers of Wall Street." He ridiculed the
Jewish merchant and showed him to be worse than
Shylock. In fact, the speaker declared that "the
Jews are strangling the American people.'
The Catholic, too,.came in for his portion. The
Christian apostle explained to the people that the
Catholic church is trying: to impose, through the
medium of its parochial schools, its faith upon
everybody in this country; that Rome comes first
and America second, etc., etc. However, in discuss-
ing the Negro, he stated that "the black man is
beginning to realize that we are his friends." All
the Klan wants, is to see that the Negro keeps his
place. (c) In so doing the Negro need not fear the Klan.
But `the. Klan is determined to use all possible
means to prevent intermarriage betwen whites and
blacks. "There are already 1,600,000 Mulattoes' in the
South, and we want no more," he shouted.
In conclusion, he got hold of Old Glory again, and
exclaimed that anyone who refuses to "kneel and
kiss this flag should be forthwith deported." He
then appealed to all the Klansmen present to carry
the message of Protestant Anglo-Saxon purity to
all who wish to embrace it-to the end "that Amer-
ica may be saved, and she, in turn, may be able to
save the World." `Is it not worth while to carry on
such a noble mission?" he shouted.
Thus was the sermon of hate closed!
ee
SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
A New Organization That Ought to Interest Every-
One who Believes in the Open Mind, and
The ee Platform
P. D. Noel, one of. the most useful men in the
California labor field, calls attention in the following
paragraph to the organization named above. We
understand that Maynard Shipley, of 334 4th. Street,
Sausalito, California, is the originator and sponsor of
this much needed organization. Shipley has been do-
ing valiant service for real education for many years
now, and should be known to all who realize how
little of such education we have, and how greatly it
is needed,
Noel says:
"Among the waves of reaction which came with the
ending of the war was that one demanding the use
of the Bible in the public schools and the elimination
of textbooks which explain the cosmos and human
relations by the theory of evolution. A counter re-
action by students and scientists has resulted in the
formation of The Science League of America to insist
on having the truth, wherever found. A return to
mental domination by the archaic theologies of the
Middle Ages hardly will occur when men like the
following become active in the new organization:
Luther Burbank, plant ,wizard; Dr. Harold Heath,
professor of zoology, Stanford University; Dr. David
Starr Jordan, chancellor, Stanford University; form-
er Representative William Kent; Dr. H: 0x00A7. Reed,
professor of plant physiology, Datuersite of Califor-
nia; Dr. William EK. Ritter, and Captain. 2D. a; io,
See, Government astronomer at Mare Island Navy
Warden
me
THE VIOLENCE __
OF THE RESPECTABLE
|
The Cost of Conservatism |
The national election of 1924 was mainly interest,
ing as a demonstration of what everybody ought to
know, that the United States of America is as com.
pletely in the hands of the Money Oligarchy today as
it was in the hands of the Slave Oligarchy seventy
years ago. The election of Calvin Coolidge bears ,
curious resemblance, indeed, to the election of Frank.
lin Pierce in 1852. Coolidge is not much more com.
monplace than was Pierce, and the election of this
year was no greater triumph for the folks who
think they are playing safe than was the election
of the man from New Hampshire at an hour when
the reactionaries believed they had at length silence
the voice of protest and put the radicals of the
day where they belonged. Abolitionism was as dea
as Communism is now. Even Henry Ward Beecher,
half a dozen years later, as close to the outbreak of
the Civil War as 1858, is said to have remarke(
pessimistically, that he saw "no hope of the passing
of African slavery within the nineteenth century.'
Slave stocks were selling almost as well then as ar
railway stocks and Morgan bonds just now.
It was the success of the slave-holders which broke
them, and destroyed the lordship they had so long
enjoyed. And it may be well just here to touch light.
ly upon the different kind of a deal they got in
Lnceoln and the Republican Party from the deal which
the Abolitionists wanted `to give them, and for pro.
posing which they were called every vile name, and
so: contemptuously pushed aside. :
The Abolition program was Supposed to be drastic,
and drastic it was in that it insisted upon the im
mediate emancipation of the slave. But note these
facts, if you will, as to some things which the Aboli-
-
a
tionists did not ask for and yet which, actually came
to pass by way of the success of the "safe and sane"
and the "substantial" people.
The .Abolitionists did not ask for a bloody ven.
lia
geance upon either the South or the North on account -
of the guilt of slavery in which they were both in-
volved. Suppose that the Abolitionists had said that
the account against the white race here for its ty-
ranny cver the black race called for a blood-expia:
tion, and suppose they had proposed that in order
to make the account square ONE MILLION of the
choicest men of the land, from all sections, should be
called out and shot. Suppose they had added to this
the maiming and physical- -debilitating of tens of thou
sands more, and a fine against North and South of
literally billions of money. What an uproar of horror
there would have been that the awful "reds" should
make such unspeakably brutal demands.
But it may be well to remember that this was
exactly the price which the country actually paid
for the management of the matter by the consery:
atives of North and South. Only I have very much
understated the costs that were in fact assessed
against us both in human misery and in property
losses which we have not yet ceased to pay.
The Abolitionists did not ask that the South should
be invaded, and devastated by the men of the North.
But this was the thing that actually happened under
the regime of "the safe and sane."
The Abolitionists did not ask that the North should
be punished for its dilatoriness in withdrawing from
the support of slavery by having the President of the
Republic assassinated, by the looting of the govern:
ment through the big corporations, by the rise of an
oligarchy of special privilege more powerful than
the South had ever; known, and by the incomputable
burdens of the pension graft and allied robberies of
the public purse. These things the Abolitionists did
not ask for; they are merely a few items in the
charges which we actually have had to pay, and are
going to keep on paying for generations yet to come.
And while we are on this line we may remark that
the "reds" of Europe before 1914 did not ask for
TWENTY MILLIONS OF LIVES as toll for the social
injustice which the common people had been allowed
to suffer there at the hands of the ruling classes.
Neither was there any radical who wanted to hold
the nations to any such property fine as the cost of
the World War. The program of radicalism asked
for no vengeance of blood, and no apportionment of
damage. These things were not asked by the radicals,
but they were given to us by the conservatives.
Those who refuse the program of reform, or even
of revolution now, may yet be Staggered at the price
which their own program will come to before we are
done with it. What radicals have asked for has
never been more than a bagatelle to what the world
has had to give for conservative success.-R, W.
WHAT IS A FORUM?
The word Forum and the word Forest were origi-
nally the same. They are both from the Latin word,
foris, and the idea back of them both is that of an
open space, out-of-doors.
The forest at first was merely such an open space
as was reserved for hunting. Hunted animals natur-
ally take to cover. They fled to the refuge of the
trees, and so the place for hunting became identical
with the woods, and from being an open space the
place designated by the word forest came to be rather
the sheltered and secluded spaces of the underbrush
and the trees.
The forum, at first, was also an open space, re-
served for the hunting- of bargains, that is it was a
market place. And because men and women came
together there it becamethe place for trying out ju-
dicial causes before the people, and, making popular
appeal in public speeches. Justice, however, like the
animals, has taken to the woods, and public address,
both by way of press and platform, is a good deal
under cover now.
This paper is an extension, in print, of the plat-
form service which we have been carrying on in Mu-
sic Art Halls, Los Angeles, every Sunday night for
sixteen months now, and which we are continuing
there and seeking to extend to other platforms, wher-
ever an open hearing can be had for every cause. The
response, so far as our platform work is concerned,
has been most gratifying, and it is evident that the
spirit of the big, free out-of-doors can still find place
on an American. platform. We are certain that if
more communities would try out the experiment they
would be well rewarded in the results.
But the platform presents no such area of publicity
today as does the press. -And the press in general is
very far from being an open space now, except for
"the powers that prey." It is for this reason that we
are publishing this paper, that we may give a wider
clientele than can attend upon our Forum platform
a chance to get at things out in the open.. We speak
for no cause in. particular except the cause of the
open mind, the open meeting, and the open word.
Not only "both sides," but ``all sides' we would fain
present to our readers. Any honest opinion, on any
subject of public interest and importance, so that it
is. clearly, interestingly, and briefly stated, will be
welcome here, to the extent that our space will allow
us to give every phase of every cause a hearing.
Please take note of these limitations. No platform
Forum has ever succeeded that was a mere medley of
jangling voices, Whether "order is heaven's first
law" or not, it is a first. condition of carrying on,
either by voice or pen, a successful Forum. Someone
must preside. Someone must "open the discussion"
and state the body of the argument If the subject is.
"thrown open" later a few.cannot be allowed to mon-
opolize the floor, by coming forward to often nor can
they be given all the time or space
_So then, this page, which will be devoted increas-
ingly to the responses and ideas of our readers, will
follow' certain rules. Please note them carefully be-
fore you write us, as our time is limited and we must
Save labor at every point where it is possible.
All letters or articles sent to-us should be type-
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us, except in instances of very brief communications,
where the writer has nothing but the pen at hand. In
such cases the writing must be legible and clean.
Stuff that is "just dashed off" we do not want. Slop-
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Address all communications, and make all checks
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THE OPEN FORUM
506 Tajo Building, Los Angeles, Cal.
ie ee
A DISCUSSION
Starting our policy of the Open Forum in Print,
it seems proper to put before our readers a wis-
cussion which has taken place among those who are
interested in the launching of this paper. These
ideas are summed up in a letter from an old friend
of all liberal causes,-J. H. Ryckman, who sets forth
his ideas as follows:
To launch a new paper without a "policy," as was
determined upon at the meeting the other day, dooms
the project to failure before it starts,
Just think of a paper that does not even stand
for peace and against war and preparedness and
militarism, in schools and elsewhere! A paper with-
out a policy is like a person without ideas. I want
to be a booster for the new paper, but I cannot
boost a paper that stands for nothing more than
the suggested slogan: "Those who don't want to
hear both sides discussed are dishonest." There are
many questions I have no time to hear discussed at
all, and the discussion of such questions would swamp
an Open Forum paper at once; for there are more
cranks and faddists here than anywhere else on
earth, and it wiil keep one iive editor busy shutting
them out-even if the paper is limited to worth-
while things.
Much better is the slogan suggested: "Take privi-
lege out of government and profit out of war.' Then
in addition to war and peace, the paper ought to
stand for:
1. Public ownership and control of all public util-
ities.
2. No custom house barriers to travel or com-
merce.
3. Exemption from taxation of all products of
labor.
4. All public revenues to be derived from unearned
incomes, inheritances and land values.
5. Private banking"monopoly to be superseded by
government banks and collective control of credit at
cost for the service of all equally.
.6. Superpower development by. the government
for all the people.
. 7%. No child labor and free education for all until
the age of. 21.
8. All penal institutions to be reformatory and
not punitive in principle and operation.
9. Functional instead of regional representation
in Congress and in state legislatures,
These are some of the things the paper ought to
stand for, if it is to make an appeal to forward-
looking people and not be a mere hodge-podge of
protest against the sins of society and the shortcom-
ings of government.
J. H. RYCKMAN.
-------______.
The above statements give the editors of the Open
Forum an opportunity to make certain very necessary
explanations. First, Mr. Ryckman is apparently un-
der a misconception, that the policy of the Open
Forum obligates us to discuss all questions. This is
not the case at all; we have only a limited amount
of space, and we shall confine ourselves to those
`questions which seem to us and to our readers of
most vital urgency All that the policy of the Open
Forum means is that having given anyone an oppor-
tunity to set forth his ideas on the question, we shall
give a hearing to a person who appears with some-
thing important to say upon the other side. That
may seem: a small detail, but think how different
the newspapers of Los Angeles would appear, espe-
cially on the editorial pages, if they followed this
policv! Think how much more interesting they
woul. be, and how much more useful to the com-
muni y! 0x00B0
x FROM VARIED VIEK.R UM
Los
OPEN FU
MUSIC ART .
233 South Broadv
SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30
PROGRAM FOR DECEMBE
No.. 3
Dec. 14.-"Prospects for the Format
ican Labor Party,' by Fred W. Javped with oil
"The Labor News" .of Long Beach. ard, and the
proach of the January conference of . ig mixed
Political Action interest in this subject isease but
growing more keen. Mr. Jackson was aut being
supporter of La Follette, and is competebut the
forth his ideas of the new party in an inteiz.im,
way. Music by Sander Shor, violinist.
Dec. 21.-"The Sacco-Vanzelti Oase'?-a`:protest meet-
ing. Robert Whitaker and F. G. Biedenkapp, rep-
resentative of the International Workers' Aid will
be the speakers: There should be a great attend-
ance at this meeting; the case_to be discussed has
elements of vast significance,;and should be un-
derstood by everybody. Music by Miss Etta Gor-
don
Dec. 28.-`Making a New World by (Co-Operative
Production," by Albert F. Coyle of Cleveland, O.,
editor of the "Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers Journal' and Executive Secretary of the All
American Co-operative Commission. A great even-
ing is assured with this wide-awake young man as
the speaker. -He was the opponent of Theodore E.
Burton in the recent Congressional race in Ohio.
His work in behalf of co-operation has been bril-
liant and effective. The musical program will be
furnished by Max Amsterdam one of the first vio-
linists of the Philharmonic Orchestra, and David
Klaiskin, pianist.
Mr. Ryckmanlists nine programs which he thinks
this paper should espouse; it is probable that most
of those responsible for this paper would endorse
most of these programs, But not all would endorse all
of them; and certainly Judge Ryckman would be
willing and even interested to hear the arguments-
of any member of the group who disagreed with him!
Surely the whole group would be willing to hear
these arguments, and would learn something from
the discussion! And that is all we want in this
paper. We hope that Mr. Ryckman will write us a
series of articles setting forth what he believes is
the truth about each one `of his nine programs, and
we hope that somebody will come forward on the
other side of each one of the nine, and out of the
whole discussion let the truth prevail.
Yes, it is quite true there are a `great number of
cranks and faddists in Southern California, and a
great many of them will: clamor for a hearing in
this paper. We shall have to disappoint most of
them; and' sometimes, perhaps, we shall make a
mistake. All that we can do is to try earnestly to
pick out the important questions, and to pick out
the letters and aricles which deal wih these ques-
tions briefly and forcefully. If any person tics
we are mistaken in our choice, let him start another
paper of his own-that also is a part of the open
forum policy!
Also, the paper will discuss "peace and war;" and
within the limits of the criminal syndicalism act,
which stands upon the statute books in spite of our
protest, we will permit anyone to say anything of
real value concerning this question. There is a city
campaign coming in the spring, and we suspect that
the newspapers of Los Angeles will follow their
usual policy of suppressing the most vital facts
about the situation. -We hope that some writer will
appear with something of real importance to say to
the public about the campaign, and we hope that
this also may bring on helpful discussions. We
hope that before this policy of the open forum has
been carried on for many weeks, Mr. Ryckman will
realize that our program does not mean indifference
to vital issues, or a mealy-mouthed attitude to our
editorial job.
Certainly we shall try to convince him that this
paper is not "like a person without ideas." We don't
know a single person connected with the American
Civil Liberties Union who is not bubbling over with
ideas, and some of this bubbling will surely be man-
ifested in our columns. What we are afraid of is
quite the opposite: there will be too many ideas,
and such floods of manuscripts that we cannot han- _
dle them. We hope our readers will understan'p,}:
we have only an amateur organization; they}, c
let us make quite a number of mistakes at ttl
set, and not be too much annoyed.
.
KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX
KLAN, AND ITS MISSION cing,
.A-Sermon of Hate . _alifornia
union.
Reported by Isaac yen
aNG EDITORS
od0x2122
From the time the KF Clinton J. Taft
`existence and its my
unmysterious and crfRARY EDITOR
licly noticed, and iV sther varnell
the gospel of hate
press, I was more ITRIBUTING EDITORS
meetings in orde Kate Crane Gartz J H. Ryckman
for myself. Bey spencer Doremus Scudder
always desiroy Ethelwyn Mills
out any he
press repor'
Gallagher
ption Rates-One Dollar a Year, Five Cents
represent | . In bundles of ten or more to one address,
ceeded ints Hach.
ing af..*
Advertising Rates on Request.
Saturday, December 13, 1924
A capacity audience greeted J. Covington Coleman
at Music-Art Hall Sunday night when he spoke be-
fore the Los Angeles Open Forum on `The Present
Hour in Russia." Mr. and Mrs. Elfenbein put the
audience in good humor with their delightful music.
And the good humor was needed before the evening
was over, though Coleman's address was quiet enough,
being mainly a well-ordered account of what he saw
in Russia this year. The discussion lasted long, and
was intensely interesting. Some of those who speak
from the floor of the Forum are very much in need
of some primary lessons in good Forum manners. But
Russia is a continual reminder of the little girl who
had had dollies galore, but who when she saw, and
heard her baby sister for the first time, opened her
eyes wide, and jumped up and down as she pointed
at the baby and cried, "Oh, it's alive! it's alive!" The
other governments are all manikins, automatons, but
Russia is the one government in the world that is
vital and vitalizing wherever it is named.
a
The Rev. Frank Dyer of the Wilshire Boulevard
Congregational Church, Los Angeles, impressed his
hearers on both sides of the house last Sunday after-
noon, asa kindly, well-meaning, and generous-minded
man. But the argument was all with Dr. Taft, his
opponent. Dr. Taft dealt in facts, and put his facts
together so that they could not be met. Dr. Dyer can
hardly be said to have even tried to meet them. He
"pushed" on his audience, and those who do not know
the difference between gush and argument gave him
the applause which "good-feeling stuff" usually draws.
The occasion was the debate between Dr. Taft and
Dr. Dyer on the question, `"Resolved, That free speech
is an American principle." The debate was held in the
fine auditorium of the Ambassador Hotel Theatre.
The music was excellent, exceptionally good. The at-
tendance on the part of Dr. Dyer's supporters was dis-
appointingly small. Liberals, with all their senti-
mentalizing about it, are really very little concerned
about hearing the other man's side, and are so vague
in their own reasoning they commonly do not know
Whwthe is talking about when they do hear him if
he has anything real to say.
ht
-Cleveland Hall in the Walker Auditorium, Los An-
geles, holds no great number of people, but it was
crowded Sunday morning, when Robert Whitaker
spoke for The Church of the New Social Order on
"The Bondage of Labor and the Way Out." The "Old
Book" was used under a new light, and proved inter-
esting to a lot of people who thought they were
through with it. Drop in next Sunday morning and
hear the talk on ``The Rise of A State."
--_-_-4-_____
Get ready for the Sacco-Vanzetti meeting, and ba-
zaar. Let Boston hear from Los Angeles.
FH.
William A. Haller of Beaumont, California, inquires
of us:
"What has become of all the editors who so elo-
quently denounced the `Invisible Empire' a few years
ago? Those valiant foes of the Kantankerous Katho-
lic Kastigators are kuiet as Klans now. Evidently this
subject has become too dangerous for our free press
to discuss."'
---#-__
The Federated Press reports one of "the chief `pa-
"i~~.f Montreal' as saying that "the acceptance of
_ the aay eee is "the workingman's opportunity."
Piteakel that America is not "the land of oppor-
lay veri
'
gehts ARR OR RI TI RE TERS net
on
oe bi-
BRISBUNK |
The Ear-Marks of Brisbunk
Before we proceed to illustrate what Brisbunk is
by actual examples from current periodicals and plat-
form talk let us note what its earmarks are.
In the main they are two, the emphasis of the in-
dividual, and the emphasis of the idea.
Here is one of the outstanding expressions of mod-
ern individualism, Henley's famous lines:
"Out of the night. that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods there be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond this vale of blood and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul."
Now that is a real and ringing word, and the
mood of it is one which every man has need to
summon to his help in many a crisis of life. Yet
there is nothing more characteristic of Brisbunk than
the over-appeal to this spirit of self-help and self-
determination. Woodrow Wilson's famous phrase
about "self-determination for small nations" proved
utterly unreal against the pressure of world fact.
There is no such thing as self-determination for any
nation, large or small, and in the field of world
affairs the notion that such determination exists, or
ever can exist, is one of the foremost factors in world
unsettlement and disorder today. Civilization is like-
ly to be wrecked over this form of political Brisbunk.
And no nation is more in danger of doing the wreck-
ing than our own, because no nation is more pos-
sessed with the spirit of self-assertiveness and self-
reliance to the extent of utterly ignoring how very
little we have to do with our own fortunes. All our
prophets of Brisbunk are filled with this doctrine
of self-determination, though the doctrine as they
advance it and as it is commonly taught is but
"sounding brass and a clanging cymbal."
No man stands alone. The self-made man is ninety-
nine one hundredths made by factors quite outside
of himself. There is no such thing as an individual.
Every man is a composite of innumerable personali-
ties and the reflex of incalculable myriads of factors.
The Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Morgans, and
the Fords are no more self created than were the
Alexanders and the Caesars and the Charlemagnes
and the Napoleons of other centuries and other con-
ditions. Our late world-war made no such military
heroes because the conditions of militarism have
changed, and the individual is less conspicuously at
the front. The so-called rulers have never been
rulers anyway. They have always been the instru-
ments of forces far beyond themselves. The Lincoln
myth is one of the most notable examples of the
extent to which we humbug ourselves into thinking
that the great man created the epoch when in fact
the epoch was far and away more significant than the
man. The sweltering, groaning, lash-driven mass of
black men on whom southern ascendancy was built
for seventy years had vastly more to do with American
history, even in their incompetence, than had any
American statesman, or any hundred of them, in the
period from 1820 to 1860. The slaves of Athens
wrecked Greece in spite of all the Over-emphasized
brilliance of Athenian artists and poets and philos-
ophers. The mass life of mankind has always been
of immeasurably greater consequence than the great
men of any period,
HH
All items in this paper not otherwise signed may
be taken to come from the chief examiner and make
up of manuscript, Robert Whitaker, otherwise "R.
W." Omission of name and even initials is no avoid-
ance of responsibility but merely an avoidance of
monotony. ;
St
LaFollette and his group were defeated in the No-
vember elections, and great was the shouting that
they had lost the balance of power in the Senate.
But now Borah and Norris have moved up, and
formed a second line of attack upon the old guard,
and with the LaFollette following can control' the
Senate when they will. "And where the vang ard
camps today, the rear shallecamp tomorrow."
COMING EVENTS
a
NOTE:-No charge is made for these announce-
ments of meetings, but our space limits require that
notices shall be very brief. Meetings mentioned here
must be of some interest to our constituency, and
preference will be given to those not able to advertise
in the capitalist press. Notices must be in our office
not later than Monday night.
---_-_ e-_-__-_
Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall, 233
South Broadway, Sunday evening at 7-30 o'clock.
Speaker next Sunday evening, Fred W. Jackson,
Editor, "The Labor News" of Long Beach. Subject,
"Prospects for the Formation of an American Labor
Party." Both speaker and subject promise an excep-
tionally interesting and important program. Music
by Sander Shor, violinist.
a
The Church of The New Social Order, meets Sun-
day morning, at 10:45 o'clock, in Cleveland Hall,
Walker Auditorium, 730 South Grand Avenue. Robt.
Whitaker will speak Sunday morning on "The Story
of a State."
on
Free Workers Forum, meets at Folk Schule, 420 N.
Soto St., on Monday evening, at 8:15 o'clock. Speak-
er next Monday evening, Mr. Otto Carque, author of
"Rational Diet." Subject, "Natural Foods The Safe
Way to Health."
oe
Will the folks who tell us that they do not like the
doings of the American Civil Liberties Union in de-
fense of free speech tell us just what they are doing
themselves. Please don't all speak at once. Give the
preachers first chance. "I was in prison and ye came
unto me." Just when, gentlemen?
FREE VIOLIN LESSONS
To Talented Children of Parents who
are unable to pay
MAX AMSTERDAM
Prominent Violin Teacher and Soloist
2406 Temple St. - = -" += - = DRexel 9068
Reasonable Rates to Beginners
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"Mammonart," an economic interpretation of literature
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The-above two books in combination:
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