Open forum, vol. 1, no. 3 (December, 1924)
Primary tabs
is the opportunity of the few.
NOL. 1:
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, DECEMBER
THE GOSPEL OF GUSH
By Robert Whitaker
When Pappini's "Life of Christ" was first published
and circulated in the United States the pulpit and the
religious press gushed with laudatory reviews and
expositions of it. In the midst of this common chorus
of most superficial sentimentalizing about the book,
which, despite its artistic touches, is essentially an
utterly shallow thing, one minister, internationally
known both as preacher and writer, had the courage
to size up Pappini's pretentious performance in three
words-"Gush, mush, slush."
Harsh as such a criticism seems it applies not only
to the vastly overrated book by the Italian author
whose pietistic piffle about Jesus comes not within a
thousand miles of any real interpretation of the
Nazarene, but the same words might well be used
in summing up a very large part of public utterance
today, whether from platform or press.
It is so much easier to gush than it is to think.
To compliment Jesus is a light task compared with
the effort. necessary to understand Him, either in
relation to his times or our own. And it requires
no great amount of moral courage to join the chorus
of praise which is accorded Him now. The reason
why gush is so common is that gush is so cheap,
both in the wear and tear on brain tissues and in
the slight demand that it makes upon moral back-
- bone.
There is no season of the year which would seem
less appropriate for a criticism of the emphasis of
good-will than the Christmas season, and no character
in history than Jesus whose name would appear to
be more out of place in a protest against the stress-
ing of good-feeling and the kindly mood. Yet one of
the most mischievous delusions of our time is that
what we mainly need is to cultivate the spirit of
sweetness and make more of soft words toward one
another. And we could well afford to dispense with
the Christmas celebration if we could get into terms
' of our common daily life the realities that belong
to peace and good-will,
`the masses of mankind are to be cast down.
"So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
When just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs,"
sings Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Her word is expressive
of a vast deal of the sentimentalizing of the day.
And it is exactly this sort of sentimentalizing which
is largely responsible for the social hell in which
we live. It is so much easier to be kind, in words
anyway, than it is to be clear-eyed and courageously
sincere,
There are those who tell us that the right reading
of "the song of the angels" is not the generic `Peace
on earth, good-will to men," but the more specific
"Peace on earth to men of good-will," which is quite
another thing. And it doesn't matter what the angels
sang, there isn't any peace on earth for any except
those who have good-will, and not very much peace
for them as the world stands now if the good-will
has will in it as well as good desire.
It is well to remember in connection with the
Christmas story that Mary's song, "The Magnificat,"
is a quite revolutionary utterance, and her rejoicing
is that the rulers of the earth and the exploiters of
The
song which she sang was as little of a love ditty
as is the Marsellaise. And the son of whom she
sane did: prove infact a sturim-venter, and poured
out his wrath on the same lines as his mother's song
against the oppressors of mankind. Jesus did not
gush over everybody, but He did very distinctly tell
the nice, respectable, and religious people of his day
what he thought about them, and the lava of his
out-rushing wrath against them still flames white hot
to the intelligent reader of the gospel story.
This good-will stuff, without any real will for
righteousness in it, is the stock in trade of all the
respectable side-steppers who want to avoid saying
any true word or doing any real service for an actual-
ly decent world. The pulpit makes one sick with it;
this saccharine confection of deceit and cowardice.
THE CALIFORNIA EMPIRE
BY UPTON SINCLAIR
At the election last month, there was an initiative
measure, providing for state development of water
power. A friend of mine, a lawyer, working at the
polls in Pasadena, spoke to a working woman coming
out of a polling place. `Did you vote for the Water
and Power Act?" "No," said the woman, "I voted
against it.' "Why?" "Because it will increase our
taxes." My friend explained that it would not in-
crease taxes, because the interest on the bonds would
be paid by revenue from the water power develop-
ments; the state would have the enormous profits
which the corporations now intend to take from the
general public. The woman looked blank. "I didn't
understand that," she said. "Why didn't the `Star-
News' tell us that? I voted against it because the
`Star-News' told us to." Needless to say, the Los
Angeles "Times" told its readers the same; and they
also voted No.
The meaning of this incident is revealed to us by
two items of news which the public has been allowed
to hear since the election. First, the great private
water power corporations of California have formed
a combine and are planning immediately to spend
one or two hundred million dollars upon water power
development. The Los Angeles "Times" considers
this such joyful tiding that it puts it on the front
page; this is the "Times'"' idea of prosperity and
progress for California.
The other item is that the private water power
corporations admit to having spent over a hundred
thousand dollars to defeat the Water Power Act at
the last election. This represents the cost of fool-
ing the public into letting this great corporation
have the profits of water power development for
their private stockholders. The two things go hand
in hand, the defeat of the public ownership project
and the extension of the private ownership project.
The meaning of the whole thing is that California is
to develop into a slave empire instead of into a free
democracy.
I say slave empire, and I mean exactly that and
nothing else. History shows that wherever agricul-
ture depends upon artificial irrigation, the people
have been governed under an autocratic system. It
was so in ancient Egypt, where the ruling classes
were able to control all the water of the river Nile
and so reduce the peasants to slavery. We see
exactly the same thing happening before our eyes,
when these great powerful private interests get pos-
session of the sources of power upon which both
agriculture and industry depend. It is servitude and
misery for our children which we see being manu-
factured by these great corporations. They have the
great newspapers, with their hundreds of thousands
of subscribers, and we have only a little paper like
this, with which to do what we can to open the
people's eyes before it is too late.
20, 1924 No..'3
The priestly class have always dripped with oil
ever since the stuff ran down Aaron's beard, and the
oil is not any more acceptable when it is mixed
with sugar. What the pulpit needs isn't grease but
guts, not mealy-mouthed sentimentalizing about being
nice to each other and loving everybody, but the
vision to see and the passion to say what it is in our
dealings with each other that makes the world's
nice talk of such slight avail. One real day of under-
standing, and of the moral courage to tell the world
what understanding reveals, if such a day might
blossom. out in the press and on the platform, would
be worth more than a thousand Christmas celebra-
tions of the conventional sort.
Here is a bit of verse from another American
poet, one much less known as a poet than Ella
Wheeler Wilcox, but who wrote with vastly more of
vigor and real thinking. It is from a poem by John
Hay, the secretary and biographer of Abraham Lin-
coln, from a poem which puts in quite a fresh and
startling light the much misused saying of Jesus,
"Thy will be done."
"Wherever man oppresses man
Beneath Thy liberal sun;
O Lord, be there Thine arm made bare,
Thy righteous will be done."
We are sick of Christmas stuff in a world that
slobbers on "holy days" about the Man who died
because he would not say soft nothings when there
was need of a withering protest against the throned
and sanctified iniquties of his time. Give the poor
what is due them every day and you may keep
your Christmas goodies with which to stuff your-
selves. Tell the truth about the higher-ups and we
care not whether you say Merry Christmas one day
in the year or not.
going sentimentalizings about how much you love
mankind, and stand up with us when we demand the
release of the class-war prisoners, when we go out
to organize labor in its own defense against the ex-
ploitation of the profiteers, when we call upon you to
join us in disbanding the world's armies and sending
the world's navies to the scrap-heap and taking the
guns and swords out of the hands of the children in
the schools. Spare us your psalms and songs long
enough to join us in telling the world's Pharisees
where they get off. And then we will sing with you
whatever doxologies you want, when you have said
with us the upstanding honest word that the world
needs
CIVILIZATION
a la Los Angeles
Aisles crammed. Shoppers losing bundles. Solid
masses of humanity giving away under pressure of
the crowd on the steps. "Move forward there, please!"
Derisive retorts from passengers. "Let 'em out-stand
back from that door!" Tired feet trample other
tired feet. No room to take a long breath-no air
fit to breathe. The car crawls at a snail's pace.
Workers drop packages of eggs and meat. Children
ery out in pain as they are crushed by unseeing
passengers. Booklets on display inside the car chat-
ter brightly and smartly about "service" and ``peevish
riders."
That's not an overdrawn picture of a Los Angeles
street car during the rush hours of morning or eve-
ning. Car service, both on the Los Angeles Railway's
yellow cars and the Pacific Electric's faster packing
boxes, long has been intolerable by reason of infre-
quent and overcrowded cars. Now it has become a
menace to life and health in addition to creating un-
told misery and discomfort.
The most casual survey reveals that the traction
companies have abandoned all idea of providing ade-
quate street car transportation. New lines and ex-
tensions of existing carlines into thickly settled dis-
tricts are not even thought of, and only a shallow
pretense is made of increasing service on the present
lines.
Hanging its riders on straps pays the Los Angeles
Railway handsomely, whereas putting on any cor-
siderable number of new cars would whittle down
profits. The hours of misery that hundreds of thor-
sands of riders endure twice daily don't show, !:
the neat loose-leaf ledgers of the transit monoy, 8
-Los Angeles Record, Dec. 8, 1
Rest our ears from your easy-_
BRISBUNK |
One of the most popular proverbs of our day is
the saying that "as a man thinketh so he is." The
saying is supposed by many to have Bible authority
behind it, but it has not. The nearest approach to
it in the Bible is the scripture which says, "Out of the
heart are the issues of life.' And that is really quite
a different thing.
Next to egotism intellectualism is the substance of
Brisbunk. The worship of the idea stands only sec-
ond to the worship of the individual. `Brains' is
the word that is supposed to explain why one man
succeeds and another fails. "We pay for brains" is
the boast of the big men of the day. As a matter
of fact they pay very poorly for them, and can get
more than they can use any day, at least a good
deal more than they do use. The big rewards of our
time do not go to the truly great thinkers, or to
thinkers at all. They go to those who sit at the
toll gates through which men pass to the necessities
of life. If the toll gates themselves are kept by
hired brains these are paid almost as poorly as hired
hands, and the wage is often actually lower now for
brains than for hands, inasmuch as the "hands" are
organized, and the "brains" are not.
We are tremendously taken with the Greeks be-
cause they produced a few thinkers. Likewise the
thinkers of other European countries and later cen-
turies are greatly extolled. ``When God lets a thinker
loose" all the world is supposed to sit up and take
notice, and his fame, even if it develops slowly in his
own day, is the pride of after centuries. But the
thinkers have had very much less to do with the -
actual course of civilizations than we like to make
out. They did not save Greece, and there is a good
deal to justify the charge that they did a great deal
to wreck it. Their thinking was in the main either a
diversion, as against the attention which the abuses
of the day called for, or an apology and defense of
the abuses themselves. Thinking always is in the
main either a soporific or an apologetic. The think-
ers of the South, in our own pre-civil-war period were
_of little consequence on either side, North or South.
Most of them were concerned with everything else
except the one thing that was driving the nation on-
ward toward catastrophe. And so far as they touched
the slavery issue they did more to confuse the minds
of the people about it than they did to clear up the
situation.
It is so today. There isn't one thinker in a thou-
sand in America who is worth a continental in stay-
ing the courses which are leading us on to social
calamity again, or in helping the people to under-
stand what the forces are which are heading us for
disaster. Ninety-nine one hundredths of the palaver
they give us has nothing to do with fundamental is-
sues, or is wholly at fault as to how those issues are
to be met. Our thinkers are about as hopeless a
lot as can be found among us, and their self-com-
placency reminds one who looks them over with any
care, of the ancient saying concerning the man who
"is wise in his own conceit," that "there is more
hope of a fool than of him."
Life is not primarily a matter of ideas, any more
than it is primarily a matter of individauls. The
mass life of all of us is of vastly more consequence
than the individual life of any one of us. And the
whole life of the man, that is the whole vital process
which involves his hands and his feet and his stomach
and all there is of him has vastly more to do with
what happens to any of us and what happens to, all
of us than any single functioning such as we call
thinking. We live vastly more than we think. And
it is the fight to live on the part of all of us, and
the whole man of us, that tells the story of what
happens to nations, and why it happens as it does.
Thinking is the efflorescence of life, not life the
efflorescence of thought. As a man is so he thinketh
is a thousand-fold more true than that as a man
thinketh so he is. The masters of ideologies and
abstractions and metaphysics are very largely the
"poison-gas" manufacturers of the particular army
or nation to which they belong. You can depend
upon them, as you can upon the chemists now, to
turn their wits to the service of whatever bunch of
politicians have access to the money-changers bags.
These chemists, on the side, may do a lot of real
service. So do the thinkers, aside from the supreme
social concerns of their day. But culture, using the
word to include all the masters of science and the
arts and the esthetics and the ethics of society, cul-
ture is on the side of privilege, because it lives by the
consent and through the patronage of privilege.
What it says may be fine and high and wise, on lines
+ Wench do not endanger the hands that feed it. But
. the Prhe point of utmost consequence for every genera-
_~peakd the light of intellect is very largely a false light,
i J for the misleading of men.-R.W.
PLAIN TALK
The other day I listened to a young man in Persh-
ing Square. He was apparently a very intelligent fel-
low, and above all, honest and not afraid to say
what he thought. As I happened to come by the
group near the water fountain, of which he was the
center, he was just. saying that the I. W. W. were
practically the only labor organization in the coun-
try that commanded his respect, and then proceeded
to explain why. Here one of the men in the group,
an I. W. W., asked him if he carried a wobbly card.
"No," was the answer.
"You don't?" The wobbly was amazed. "After
what you just said about the I. W. W., you have a
clear conception of the organization, and still you're
not a member of it?"
"I am not, because the I. W. W. wouldn't have
me anyway. I am what you might call a capitalist,
an employer of labor."
From the conversation that followed I gathered
that the young man was a sort of landscape engineer
or contractor, employing perhaps ten or twenty ditch-
diggers and other unskilled labor.
"How much do you pay your labor?" the I. W. W.
asked him.
"As little as I can for as much work as I can
get out of them," was the answer. "I can get
all the men I want at three dollars a day, even
cheaper, and I'd be a fool to' want to pay them more
if they haven't the sense to demand more and put
themselves in position to make me and other em-
ployers comply with their demands."
The straightforward, utterly honest declaration of
this man had the wobbly and the rest of the group
"stumped." The people, even the wobblies, it seems
are not used to such talk.
"T'll tell you something," the young man went on.
"I've been a workman myself; that is, I was work-
ing for pay for other people. For eight years I was
a union man, preaching to other workmen to organ-
ize, to fight for their rights like men. The capital-
ists get you where they want you, I said, because
they are organized and you are not. Every furni-
ture manufacturer is a member of the furniture man-
ufacturers' association, and the organization as a
whole is a member of some organization such as
the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association,
which has a still greater scope in the furthering of
capitalist interests. The capitalists may fight among
themselves for power and control, but so far as the
ultimate aim of their class is concerned, especially
their attitude toward labor, they are one big union.
Do what the capitalists do, I said to workmen-
organize upon the same principle they are organized.
But after a while I found out that I was wasting
my breath. The working stiff didn't have the sense
to see what was good for him. The working stiff
hasn't got the sense of an average self-respecting
animal. If you try to take from an animal something
_that belongs to it and that it must absolutely have
to live and bring up its young-why, the animal
fights back, while your working stiff is willing to
starve and even ready to see his offspring starve.
And he votes for Coolidge! And Charlie Dawes! I
can't see how an intelligent person can sympathize
and sentimentalize over such people"
Personally, I felt an impulse to shake the fellow's
hand. This was honesty for you! [I had no doubt
that he would not hesitate to tell the same thing to
the "stiffs" who were working for him. I don't
know how the rest of the group liked it, but I con-
fess I did, and I believe the wobbly did.
As I walked away I thought of the speech that
Eugene V. Debs made in Los Angeles about a year
and a half ago. A wonderful. speech, in its way,
delivered by a great man. I remembered that he
had told us about the utter vileness and corruption
of the capitalist class. And I recalled how he im-
plored and besought and pleaded with his beloved
working people-for he truly loves them-to organize
industrially, join the Socialist party and vote the
Socialist ticket whenever they get a chance.
And then I thought of Upton Sinclair and his
books, He has exposed the capitalist system in all
its rotteness, with its moral bankruptcy. He has
given us a picture of the "brass check" press, of
the prostitute pulpit, of the poundoo0se-step educational
system. Yes, he has done all that; and he, like
Debs, had implored and besought and pleaded with
his beloved working people to organize industrially,
join the Socialist party and vote the Socialist ticket.
Debs and Sinclair and the rest of the radical
leaders of their type have failed. They seem to be
afraid to offend the people to whom their message
is addressed. What they say about capitalist sys-
tem may be all true; but what about the working
class? What about its stupidity and individual
selfishness? Debs and Sinclair and a few men
like them would be listened to by the working class
even if they would talk plain about the working
class itself, ; -. A.
an assistant in the firm's office.
THE VIOLENCE
OF THE RESPECTABLE
THE RED RAID
Thursday, December 4th, the Los Angeles Times
flared forth with a big scare line across the front
page, "REDS RAID THE CITY SCHOOLS." The item
which followed had to do with San Francisco rather
than Los Angeles, a most disloyal slip on the part of
The Times as "the city' cannot be imagined to be
any other than that in which The Times is itself pub is
lished. What is San Francisco that it should be `
given space on the first page of The Times, and cap S
italized as ``the city.' Abas with such treason! in
The article itself was as stupid and mendacious ag
the title. It appears that the "reds" have been "raid.
ing" the schools of San Francisco by making protest
against the domination of education week there by th
the American Legion. This the following paragraph of
from our Federated Press Service, received the same
day, shows.
SAN FRANCISCO.-Only one voice of protest was afi
raised against the American Legion's education week th
in San Francisco, with its charge that "the red flag fr
means death, destruction, poverty, starvation, disease,
anarchy and dictatorship," and its call to the children
C
to "stop revolutionary radicalism." It came from the e
Workers party, which held open air meetings on Fri- s
day and Saturday of the week to condemn the propa; ,, f
ganda and expose the real purpose of the campaign. ey
A special meeting for school children was held on
Saturday morning under the auspices of the Young'
Workers League.
lo
But this is not all the story. The "reds" who were ig
guilty of raiding the schools according to both the co
Federated Press and The Times were the Workers'
Party. But the police proceeded, with their usual hi
intelligence, to raid the I. W. W. headquarters, and jt
the men arrested, for "vagrancy," not for "raiding the jg
schools," were all "Fellow Workers." These, it ap th
pears, from word we have direct from San Fran- of
cisco, demanded a jury trial, whereupon "His Honor"
held them in $5000 bail each. Can it be that San a
Francisco is not only "the city,' but really sports If
"vagrants" who are worth $5000 each. Alas, Los An- 4,
geles! `ore
The raid was actually a labor black-list proposition, av
and had nothing to do with the schools either in San sti
Francisco or elsewhere. s
: '
a
Sc
HE WAS NOT A RED we
"The third richest man in the world" is given a SX
two-page write up in the Hearst Sunday papers of a re
recent date, November 28rd.. He is Sir Basil Zaharoff, ie
and it appears that his fortune is mainly the result .
of manipulating the munitions market of the world.
He was first of all connected with the famous Vickers -
a
munitions firm, and by them sent to St. Petersburg as
He did so well "and' W
had such luck in being concerned in wars' that he
was shortly made the representative of the firm in
South America. In this fertile field of international IRE
rivalries and pugnacious patriotisms he prospered in
further. Two of the South American republics were
about to go to war, but he persuaded them to wait th
until he could supply both of them with munitions. sii
This was the real start of his fortune. Argentina and
Brazil have furnished him with much business of re It
cent years. "He played with thousands of lives every Ww)
day." "His business was selling destruction." "With 4,
Oriental cunning he amassed his fortune in that way. gr
He is rumored to have even fomented revolutions in
order that he might sell munitions to both sides." 0x00A7- qy
And what is there Oriental in that, since northern pe
business men in the United States did as much in the
Civil War, and the same trick was turned again and oF
again in the European war? But he was not a "red"
not even to the hue of a La Follette Re-publican. nc
of
---2-_-___--_ ar
lel
AMERICA FIRST ' g0
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22.-(By Universal Service.)
-No less than 22,600 persons were killed and 678,000 ra
seriously injured in street and highway accidents in A
the United States during 1923. The economic lossin- (c)
volved in these accidents is estimated at $600,000,000. ac
These appalling figures were made public today in
the report of the committee of statistics, which will
be submitted to the conference on street and highway cr
safety, to be held here December 15, 16 and 17 under oO
the auspices of the Department of Commerce. 7s
l
as
St
by
ph
ne
yn,
un
Lis:
rn
he
nd
ay
b
eee aio
we
yy
FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS and
K
ANSWER TO
SPARGO'S CONFESSION
By Kate Crane Gartz
Spargo has long been discredited by the real Social-
ists, (although he says in his "Confession" that he
has not changed about the fundamental ideals of
Socialism-this "communism of opportunity'-"`striv-
ing for the goal of each for all and all for each'').
It is no surprise to me that he does not think Social-
ism is the way to realize those ideals.
He says that the essence of the Marxian theory is
the complete development of Capitalism as a requisite
of Socialism; that the Socialist state can only come
as a logical outcome of a fully matured and perfected
capitalist economy. Well let us hope that capitalism
has reached that "full blown rose" state, and done
its worst, and that we are now ready for Socialism,
the aim of which is the emancipation of humanity
from Capitalism with its blossom-poverty.
Where does Mr. Spargo think the capitalists are
going to find "vast new sums" to bring Capitalism
back where it stood in 1914?
One would think that
money was picked off the trees, instead of being
"frozen labor."
A "world clamoring for capital!" A
"heyday for the investor!" My, how this man Spargo
loves capitalism!
He calls us "essentially alien," and declares that
we have learned nothing from the war.
Ye gods, as
if the war did not show the world what capitalism
could do toward wrecking it!
fies the imagination.
him for a Socialist.
Anything worse de-
No, we can never again claim
He thinks it is obsolete before
it has been tried, and when a map, once a Socialist,
is received baek into
the arms of Capitalism, great is
the rejoicing, for then surely he proclaims the error
of his way.
But the ideals of Socialism have not changed be-
cause he has, though he may call them what he will.
If the United States
it by another name, we do not object.
socializes advantages and calls
He states that
we are nearer the ideal of Social democracy than
any nation of the Old World.
statement can be borne out by the facts.
England, over 150
France, with about
I don't think that
What about
Socialists in parliament; and
the same number, besides a
Socialist Premier; also Australia and New Zealand-
we with our lone one.
He would like to call all these progressive reforms
Socialism, but fears it would invite confusion. Why
be afraid of the name Socialism? Let the world find
out its true meaning and the world will want it.
He did not elaborate on his statement that ``we
are progressing toward a new type of communism,
based upon private property and
individualism,"
which, since Bertrand Russell could not comprehend
it, we don't mind admitting, neither can we.
Socialism cannot be called "essentially European."
It is universal as Christ is universal; it is cooperation
in place of destructive, wasteful competition.
- He says that the Federal Government cannot aid
the ``special interests" of the farmers.
Why not,
since it has aided such "special interests," as rail-
roads, ship-building coneerns, and gun-powder works?
It looks to me if we are to survive at all, that we
will have to take over the whole of agriculture and
socialize it on a gigantic scale, making it like the
great co-operative movements of other enlightened
countries. Instead
of lightening the burden and
drudgery of the farmer, we make it as hard as
possible, by taxing instead of subsidizing; by exces-
sive freight rates; by the middleman; by gambling
on Wall Street.
Before the "richest nation on earth' extends eco-
nomic support to the "weak and tottering' nations
of Europe, let it think awhile about its own economic
and industrial tragedies.
Let it solve its own prob-
lems first-otherwise how can it consider itself fit to
solve others.
He labels La Follette's ideas of nationalizing the
railroads the "blackest of black reactions."
We al-
ways thought public ownership of public utilities was
considered radical, but now we learn that it is re-
actionary, and "black," at that.
Does Mr. Spargo
really believe that reaction can be black?'
We would have no "foreign loans'-no "immense
credits" could be given to foreign nations, if we fol-
owed La Follette.
La Follette and his "misguided
*e *
THE RED MENACE
IN THE SCHOOLS:
Douglas W. Churchill, who writes the column in
the Illustrated Daily News entitled "The Man in the
Street" makes this refreshing comment in the issue
of December 6, on the alleged "red menace in the
schools."
"To anyone who is in a degree familiar with the so-
called "red menace" in the schools, the agitation that
crops out from time to time appears to be the product
of slightly over-zealous minds. There must be this
red menace, of course, because so many very worthy
and righteous people say so. But, as I say, those who
are at all familiar with the schools are inclined to
take the matter less seriously than the professional
100 per cent Americans who are always stirring
things up. These more phlegmatic individuals are
somewhat inclined to believe that a great deal of the
menace is manufactured by the mossbacks.
Of course, I hasten to add, I am one of the 100 per-
centers. As a citizen in good standing I can not af-
ford to be otherwise. But I merely cite the fact that
there are those who are inclined to view the entire
agitation as a lot of bunk.
Unfortunately there are both students and teachers
in the high schools of this great land who are intelli-
gent. They are, frankly, a sore spot in the body of
the stupid but righteous. If it is the purpose of
the schools to turn out minds that have been molded
in a small, narrow box without a trace of originality,
then every teacher who does not agree with the shape
of the mold should be done away with, forthwith.
But if the schools are to attempt to develop the minds
of boys and girls along natural, healthy lines of indi-
vidual, intelligent thought, then there should be a
variety of molds.
It is a known fact that every person born is at
heart either a. conservative or a liberal. All the in-
struction and browbeating in the world will not
change the attitude of mind, although it will broaden
the outlook, as it should. What class has the right
to say that the other shall not exist? They may
make the declaration, but that doesn't mean anything.
One of the greatest efforts ever made in this coun-
try to buy thought of high school students was a dis-
mal flop. A syndicate of newspapers offered huge
prizes for essays or speeches or something. It was
definitely understood in the schools that only one
type of thought would be tolerated. The teachers
were given to understand it and they passed it on to
the students. The result was that the contestants
consulted. their teachers somewhat in this vein and I
quote verbatim three sentences that I overheard while
visiting a California high school on one occasion:
"Say, I've got a great line that will go over with
these old fogies big!"
"Talk about bunk-listen to this line about the
rabid reds."
"Gosh, I wrote something about the superiority of
the capitalistic form of government last night that
is so good I'm afraid they will think I swiped it out
of a pamphlet of the Better American Federation."
No matter how liberal minded you are, you could
hardly call this any advance toward serious, honest
thought."
followers" would halt the healing of the wounds of
war! Would kill the Dawes plan! So far has a form-
er Socialist become imbued with the spirit and lingo
of Capitalism. No wonder he "feels akin to Davis
and Hughes."
Spargo also regrets that the Senate refused to rati-
fy the Versailles Treaty, therefore making us a
"marplot" among nations. He believes that because
La Follette wishes a revision of that treaty, that he,
La Follette, would plunge Europe into unrest, revolt,
and war. As if it were not in that state now, as a
result of that unjust and revengeful treaty.
No, we must dismiss the opinions of Spargo, as
the furthermost from the dreams of a new day when
our civilization will be interested only in humanity,
instead of as now in the dollar as a thing with which
to enslave one's fellow-man.
*K
*K
PSYCHOLOGY AND
WAR-PREPAREDNESS
When we discuss "war-preparedness" today we are
@lyt to think only of armament, munitions, military
training in the schools, and other visible and tangible
phase,s of militarism. But the most menacing thing
of all, ig the work that is done to create a war
phsychtjjogy. Such preparation of mind was not
needed JYregterday, because the people were not con-
sulted in Uhe making of war. Our very progress in
the incredsiing consciousness of the stupidity and in-
iquity of war- makes all the more imperative the
"gassing" of the. yeople by press and platform and
school whenever @ knar is to be put over. The follow-
ing from Fanny Bixv." 0x00A7pencer's fine booklet on
"THE REPUDIATION OF xwWAR," states the whole
matter so admirably in so few- words that we wish
all our readers would study her utverance with care.
"Man is a precarious thinker.
seeking after higher things, he has at t-jmes even tried
other means than war of deciding great issues.
When he has been successful in the use of peaceful
methods he has not always taken cognizance of his
achievements, and in the event of apparent faijure
has resorted to war with all the ferocious zeal of his
primitive instincts. In the early stages of his devel-
opment the question of the ethics of war did not
bother his head. Violence was natural and needed no
excuse. But as he began to acquire the refinements
of civilization, his self respect demanded that he seek
justification when he went out to kill his fellowmen.
Thus he has nurtured a tradition of war heroics,
which, like a snowball rolling down hill, has gained
in circumference and gathered momentum till it
has become an overwhelming emotion and an almost
impenetrable substance in the thought of the world
today."
fe
CENTRALIA, Wash. That the raid on the I. W. W.
hall in Centralia which resulted in the Killing of
three American legion rioters Armistice day 1919 was _
planned long before is set forth in an affidavit made
by an overseas veteran who was in Centralia that
day and still lives there. He is Cecil Draper. An-
other veteran named Peter McCartin swears he was
asked by a former army captain to go down to Cen-
tralia from Spokane and take part in the raid on the
labor hall with all expenses paid and things fixed so
he wouldn't "have to worry for a long time." He re-
fused.
These affidavits, with those of seven jurors who
want freedom for the eight I. W. W. in prison as a
result of defending themselves, are in the hands of
Gov. Hart to counteract the original Associated Press
story and theory of the prosecution, still believed
in many quarters, that the legionnaires were fired on
from a distance while they were peacefully parading.
-------"1-_____-__ ;
An aftermath of the free speech fight carried on
for the last two years by the American Civil Liber-
ties Union against the closed coal town of Vintondale,
Pa., owned by the Vinton Collieries Co., incorporated,
in New York, took place recently when the New York
Supreme Court decided in favor of the corporation
in the $35,000 damage suit for assault and false ar-
rest brought by Attorney Arthur Garfield Hays.
The case goes back to the coal strike of May, 1922,
when Attorney Hays and a group of speakers, repre-
senting the Civil Liberties Union and the United
Mine Workers, were assaulted and jailed by company
guards while addressing a meeting on property in
Vintondale belonging to the United Mine Workers.
Hays, according to the Civil Liberties Union, was or-
dered by a Vintondale justice to "get the hell out of
town."
Attorney Hays filed charges against the company
police and secured their conviction. In the suit for
personal damages against the Vinton Collieries Com-
pany, Judge William Harmon Black at last week's
trial would not allow the record of the conviction of
the company police to be presented, and also barred
evidence that Vintondale was a "closed town."
jury's verdict was that Hays could claim no damages,
declaring that the assault was provoked by his enter-
ing a town to which entrance had been forbidden by
uniformed men patrolling the highway. The case
may be appealed.
A successful free speech test meeting was' held in
Vintondale of this year with Hays as chief speaker.
-The Federated Press.
In his conscious -
The
Ps
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
Robert Whitaker Clinton J. Taft
LITERARY EDITOR
Esther Yarnell
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz JH. Ryc}*man
Doremus Scudder
Ethelwyn Mills -
Fanny Bixby Spencer
Leo Gallagher
Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year,;five Cents
per Copy. In bundles of ten or more to, One address,
Two Cents Hach.
Advertising Rates on Request.'
Application for sec-vd-class rates pending.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1924
BEAUTY
'By Mary Craig Sinclair
How can you smile when pain is everywhere;
How flaunt complacently your vulgar weaith?
"Tt is my duty to be gay. My health
And calm delight the eye and banish care-
It would be sad indeed if none were free
To sanction Beauty and embody Joy.
Enough of you, who would with gloom destroy
My grace. I do my share of Charity!"
Your share of charity! Who tipped the scales
To Sophistry and weighed a fancy gown
Against a street rat's need of bread? The nails
' Of Calvary, the cross, the thorned crown,
The face of sorrow that He wore, reply:
-"Horgive them, God, they know not when they lie!"
-_____4
AN INJURY TO ALL
- Under this title Miriam Allen de Ford has an ex-
cellent article in the December issue of The Overland
Monthly, an article greatly to the credit both of the
writer and the magazine which gives it publication.
The article is too long for re-publication here, but
we heartily recommend our readers to get the mag-
azine for themselves, and give it as wide a circula-
tion as they can. Here is one salient passage from
{t, indicative of the frankness of the article as a
whole, and illustrative of the utterly unfair and out-
rageous manner in which the Criminal Syndicalism
law is being used by the courts in the service of their
masters, the profiteers and the patromaniacs of Cal-
ifornia.,
"Last year Roy Fellom introduced a bill to repeal
the Criminal Syndicalism act. A circular urging
citizens to vote for this repeal was sent out by a
number of liberal and labor organizations. This cir-
cular, 20,000 copies of which were distributed
throughout the state, bore the official signature of
Tom Connors, then secretary of the California Branch
of the General Defense Committee. One of the 20,000
fell into the hands of a man named Arnold, who hap-
pened to be on the venire of the jury to try a criminal
syndicalism case in Sacramento. He showed the cir-
cular to the prosecuting attorney in the case who
had Connors arrested on the charge of tampering
with a jury. After several postponements Connors
was convicted on this far-fetched charge-although
Arnold was not a juryman and Connors had never
set eyes on him-and sentenced to five years in San
Quentin! As a contrast, a short time ago a con-
tractor in Woodland was convicted of having intro-
duced the defendant in a boot-legging case to one
of the jurors, and of discussing the case with both
men together. He was sentenced to five days in the
Yolo County Jail. Comment is unnecessary."
Ce
RECORD OF ARRESTS
From Jan. 1924 to Dec, Ist. 1924, 155 including 4
women and 8 children.
From Nov. 1922 to Jan. Ist, 1924, 1198 recorded
arrests.
At least 250
Many cases never
Records taken from Court Docket.
+ar 300 cases never listed in court.
___. the rraigned.
"pea,
J. L. BRONSON
COMING EVENTS
KO RE KR SK Se
NoT'#:-No charge is made for these announce-
ments Of meetings, but our space limits require that
notjices Shall be very brief. Meetings mentioned here
mvist be of some interest to our constituency, and
p7-eference 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.
He ------
CHURCH OF THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER, meets
Sunday mornings in Cleveland Hall, Walker Audi-
torium, at 10:45 o'clock. Robert Whitaker is speak-
ing during Sunday mornings in December. Subject
next Sunday, "A Virgin Birth Story."
: ce ee
F. O. R. Meeting. The December meeting of The
Fellowship of Reconciliation (F.0.R.) will be held
Monday evening, December 22. The program will be
given by local officers of the National Association
For The Advancement of Colored People. Matters
of racial fellowship between the whites and blacks
will be sincerely considered. Dinner at 6 Do Meat
the Y. M. C. A., 715 South Hope St. Get your own
tray and bring it to the balcony. The program of
speaking and discussion will be held in Room 508,
Yo Me Ce AS Bids, at 7230:
-_--_e-_-___
Free Workers Forum meetings Monday nights,
8:15 o'clock, at Folk Schule, 420 N. Soto St. (one
block North of Brooklyn Avenue). December 22-
Mr. Vernon Taylor speaks on, "Organizing to Con-
serve Human Time.' December 29-"Psycho-Analysis,
Birth Control and the Sex Question," Dy, (. de Bell:
-t+--______
The Seattle Fellowship announces Sunday Lunch-
eons for December, held at Meves Cafeteria. Lunch-
eon, One o'clock Sharp; Discussion 1:30 sharp. Ad-
journment 2:45.
Sunday, December 21st, 1 p. m.-Topic, "Outlawry
and Abolition of War-How to Secure Peace on
Earth." Speakers to' be announced.
Sunday, December 28th, 1 p. m.-Topic, "Lhe Co-
operative Commonwealth Coming? Worth Get-
ting? How to Get It." Speakers announced
later,
--_-_--_ t-______
A PROPHET OF PEACE
RECOGNIZED
In a Congregational Church in Seattle a group of
young people, among them High School students,
were asked "Who Is David Starr Jordan?" Not one
of them could answer. But perhaps our young people
will take note that the Chancellor of Stanford Uni-
versity has been awarded the $25,000 prize `for the
best educational plan calculated to maintain world
peace." That is one of the most cheering bits of
news the week has brought. Dr. Jordan is worthy of
the honor, and the plan is worth repeating in brief
outline here.
DR. JORDAN'S PLAN
Specifically Dr. Jordan's plan recommends forma-
tion of:
1-A general world committee on education for
peace.
2-A second committee to co-operate with already
established peace organizations.
3-A committee to study the teaching of history
in all parts of the world and to make recommenda-
tions for its just teaching.
4-A committee on the teaching of patriotism, which
shall attempt to define its true nature.
5-A committee to promote mutual understanding
among students of various ages throughout the
world.
6-A committee to explore the influence of interna-
tional sports on international amity.
7-A committee to consider the desirability and
possibility of establishing within the state depart-
ment at Washington a bureau of conciliation, or a
peace council connected with the state department.
Re eee egy
Christmas never comes at all to the man to whom
it only comes once a year.-R.W.
Los Angeles
OPEN FORUM
MUSIC ART HALL
233 South Broadway
SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK
PROGRAM FOR DECEMBER, 1924
Dec. 21.-"The Sacco-Vanzetti Case"-a protest meet.
ing. Robert Whitaker and F. G. Biedenkapp, rep.
resentative of the International Workers' Aid, wil]
be the speakers. There should be a great attend.
ance at this meeting; the case to be discussed hag
elements of vast significance, and should be un.
derstood by everybody. Music by Miss Etta Gon
don.
Dec. 28-"Making a New World by Co-Operative
Production," by Albert F. Coyle of Cleveland, 0,
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 ag
the speaker. He was the opponent of Theodore
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
Klatskin, pianist.
-_----ae-_-_-_-_-_.
JURIES OR JUDGES
In dismissing a jury which had disagreed on the
guilt of the defendants in an oil fraud case, Federal
Judge B. F. Bledsoe took occasion to criticise the
jury members.
the judge told them:
"Something is wrong with members of juries who
consistently refuse to see a thing in its true light."
The Record notes that it has become a frequent
practice of federal judges to criticise jurors who
reach different conclusions than the judges think they
should have reached. Is this justified?
It is understood that in federal courts the judge
has the right in his instructions to the jury to com-
ment on the facts. His comments, however, are not
binding, they are merely his opinion, which jurors
may disregard. In passing on the facts the jury are
the ultimate judges.
If jurors advise and report to the best of their
ability they should not be subject to criticism by the
judge. If the judge is to have the final say not only
on the law but on the facts, why have a jury at all?
-Los Angeles Evening Record, Dec. 5, 1924.
The Record's question, and the particular circum:
stance which gave rise to it almost tempts us to
change the inquiry to WHY HAVE JUDGES?
oH
There's trouble brewing in the railway unions be-
cause of recent rulings of the Railway Labor Board.
Look out for a titanic struggle in the industrial field
in America before Coolidge has been president an:
other year.
--_--_- t-_-_-____
` "
Much shopping is a weariness of the flesh, and of
the making of many Christmas presents there is no
end.-R.W.
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
Find herewith $.......... as payment for.........
{ Yearly
{ Six Month
| Three Month
subscriptions to THE OPEN FORUM.
INSIIG e e ee ek ose a ee :
AGOPCSS O40 Oo Se ee ee ee
WATE Ms cc hace ner nas teed
Linotyping and press work done in Union
Shops. The make-up is our own. fi
y
As reported in Wednesday's Record, ~
a ees teed OE eae eee Bs ee gee ea ei on) al alee ok ane
Te eh et ee ye ee
(