Open forum, vol. 2, no. 22 (May, 1925)

Vol. Ni

THE

OPEN FORUM

Ideas are the reactions of experience.

eer ae DOES

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MAY 30, 1925

No: 22

Who Owns The Law:

The following item, furnished by the Feder-

ated Press, has been held in type till it may

seem to be out of date, particularly as it has

peen given in a multitude of other papers, and

widely commented upon by the press of all fac-

tions and parties' Yet in all this comment there

has been a curious failure to mark the coinci-

dence of two such decisions emanating from the

United States Supreme Court on the same day,

and the two decisions have been very superficial-

ly treated as independent and distinct, the

labor press in many instances taking the ground

that the Kansas decision was a victory for labor,

and the California decision a labor defeat.

Probably the coincidence in time of the two

decisions indicates that some such view was held

py the United States Supreme Court itself, or at

least that they expected the public to fall for

this persuasion. Readers of the Hearst Sunday

papers may have noticed a perceptible policy

there with respect to- special write-ups about

Russia of playing off against each other in the

same issue an article scandalously hostile to

the Soviet authorities and another article sur-

prisingly favorable in fact if not altogether friend-

ly in spirit. Our highest national tribunal seems

to have approached this policy in its publica-

tions of April 13th, playing off one judicial pro-

nouncement on the relations between: labor and

capital against the other, and at least in appear-

ance trying the difficult trick of facing both ways

at the same time.

In reality, however, both decisions face in one

and the same direction. The decision with re-

spect to the Kansas Industrial Court was not a

victory for labor. The suit, as we understand,

was not even instituted by labor. As long as

the law operated only to embarrass labor it was

enforced to the extent of sending Alexander

Howatt and his confreres to jail for defending

their liberties ag laboring men. When the shoe

pinched on the other foot and the employers

squealed there was little time lost in getting it

before the Supreme Court, and having the Kansas

legislation declared invalid. Up to date we have

not heard of anyone of the employing class who

went to prison for opposing the law.

The working-class generally do not want the

Industrial Court and so have hailed its over-

throw as a victory. They are right in believing

that any such court for the judicial determina-

tion of industrial disputes would, under present

conditions, be dominated by the owning and

employing classes arid would be utterly hopeless

as a defender of workingmen's rights except in

the most incidental and inconsequential way.

It would in fact operate little better than did

the courts of the South on behalf of the negro

before the Civil War. The ownership of the

courts of any country under any ordinary cir-

oe ees is always with the dominant econ-

eae and in extraordinary crises they will

a i oor or set aside their own judi-

Tae inery in order to more certainly and

oe y carry out their ends. When the

oe oe and operate the State then they will

ain oe trust the machinery of the State, and

ae oe fen As long as Special Privilege

- ce, State it ig going to run the machinery

poe ate, or scrap that machinery when that

S to the advantage of privilege.

Se outernia decision is a more obvious ad-

ee a of this fact than was the Kansas

acai e Kansas case the Supreme Court fell

owning ie to the extent of ruling that the

there oa are not to be interfered with in

oe a om to make labor contracts at their

fohnia ae and on their own Bes: `In the Cali-

a ikea. exactly the opposite was decreed

S the working class. They are to be

bound beforehand, if it pleases the employers,

against any combination in their own defense,

and if they make such combination the employers

may combine to boycott any business man who

handles their products. The Kansas decision

says in effect to the individual State, "You may

not interfere with employers in looting labor

as they please." The California decision says,

substantially:

"Bmployers who allow labor to unite and make

collective bargains in their common interest may

be outlawed by the union of the employers as a

whole and their business ruined and the State

must not interfere.' The one decision prac-

tically allows the master class unlimited free-

dom in forcing their individual workmen and

working-women to accept any terms offered

them, and the other decision practically annihil-

ates the freedom of the more decent employers

to recognize the rights of organized labor and

deal with their workers in a collective way.

Both decisions are as emphatically on the side

of the slave-owning and slave-driving class in

America as was the Dred Scott decision of sev-

enty years ago on the side of the slave owners

and slave drivers of the South.

Here are the two decisions, as given briefly,

in the report of the Federated Press. We are

going to hear a great deal more about them in

days to come, when their real significance as we

have defined it above is fully worked out.

5 * * *

WASHINGTON-(FP)-Prospects for the Barkley

railroad labor bill in the new Congress are dis-

tinctly improved by the supreme court's decision

April 13 in the Kansas industrial court case-that

compulsory arbitration of labor disputes is uncon-

stitutional. That has always been the position of

organized labor, and now it becomes a rule of law.

Hence the Railroad Labor Board must go, and com-

petent voluntary machinery for dealing with rail

labor disputes must be arranged. That is the pur-

pose of the Howell-Barkley measure which was

throttled by the Longworth-Gillett-Snell organization

in the house during the past year.

The point at issue was the right of the Kansas

industrial court to fix hours in meat packing plants

in Kansas. Justice Vandevanter read the opinion.

He announced that the Kansas industrial court law

is unconstitutional because it forces workers and

employers to accept certain economic conditions-

including in various cases the items of wage rates,

hours of labor and conditions of labor-which they

may deem injurious to their guaranteed constitu-

tional rights of liberty and property. The court

had previously held the wage-fixing power of the

industrial court to be void. It now held that the

industrial court had no power to regulate the hours

of employment. The ground of nullification was

the same-the fact that the proposed regulation

was a compulsion affecting the economic rights of

citizens, arising from a forced arbitration.

Vandevanter emphasized that the supreme court

does not decide that Kansas or any other state may

not fix the hours of labor in any industry. But he

held that hours cannot be fixed by compulsory

awards of an arbitration tribunal.

On the other hand, and on the same day, the

supreme court handed down a decision that the

secondary boycott employed by San Francisco build-

ing contractors and organized business, against the

organized building trades, was not in violation of

the federal anti-trust laws. This boycott consisted

in the compelling of dealers in building materials

to refuse to sell brick, lumber, cement, etc., to build-

ers who did not enforce the openshop agreement

against the unions.

When organized labor sued the California Indus-

trial Assn., on the ground that it was interfering

with interstate commerce in building materials, the

boycotters raised the defense that their plot covered

only the purchase of materials made in California

or owned in California after shipment there. Hence

interstate commerce was not impeded. Justice Suth-

erland read the decision, upholding this defense for

the boycotters against the unions.

i

ee ncn acasennnene nen

Ten Cent Stores

Grind Women

By Leland Olds

(Federated Press Staff Correspondent)

Thousands of women deprived of the means to a

decent, self-respecting existence enabled the four

leading 5 and 10 cent stores to pile up over $35,000,-

000 in profits during 1924. By paying the lowest

wages the owners of these stores have in 10 years

secured profits totaling many times their original

investments.

Woolworth's 1924 profits amounted to $20,669,397,

a return of 32% on the par value of the stock. The

profits would have been much larger but for the

expense of opening and stocking 96 new stores, many

of which were exceptionally large.

Kresge's profits amounted to $10,114,163. After

paying preferred dividends the common stockholders

got a return of 41% on their holdings. But Kresge's

stock dividends since 1916 have added more than

450% to the amount of stock without the investment

of an additional cent by the owners. The 1924 profit

means a return of over 140% on the 1916 investment.

Kresge's profits amounted to $6,253,758 or $24.45

on each $100 share. And McCrory's profits were

$1,988,987 or $4.32 a share with an par value.

Here are the profits per $100 share of the two

leading companies. since 1915:

Per Share Woolworth Kresge

1924 $31.80 $40.66

1923 31.84 38.14

1922 271A 35.52

1921 20.04 20.25

1920 13.87 26.14

1919 a reel b 21.40

1918 9.96 15.61

Ose 16.72 12

1916 155 C 19.92

1915 Po oko 23.24

10 Years $197.21 $258.09

If we make allowance for Kresge's stock dividends

the 10-year return on $100 invested prior to 1916

has amounted to approximately $650, or 6% times the

investment.

Reports of the U. S. Women's Bureau show what

kind of wages make such profits possible. In Ohio

$10.55 a week was the typical wage paid women em-

ployed in 5 and 10 cent stores, just about the lowest

wage in the state. Taking industry as a whole the

typical wage for women was $13.80 or more than

$3 a week above the 5 and 10 cent store level. The

report for Missouri shows $9.80 as the typical wage

paid white women in 5 and ten cent stores which

compares with $12.65 for all employed women. Over

80% of the 5 and 10 cent store employees received

less than $12 a week whereas in all industry only

43% fell below that level.

In Kansas, where only 1/5 of all women workers

averaged less than $9 a week, 4/5 of the 5 and 10

cent store workers fell below that pauper level.

The predominant wage in all industry was $11280--

in 5 and 10 cent stores it was only $8.10.

Such examples show how the profits of a Wool-

worth or a Kresge are made possible by the grinding

down of women forced to seek a livelihood in their

stores.

$$ _

Jack McCarthy, back from Ireland where he wit-

nessed famoine conditions in the western counties,

says it is difficult to get publicity for the distressing

facts, because the Irish Free State, under British

tutelage, regards famine relief work as a reflection

on its administration of the country. He is on tour

for the Irish: Workers and Peasants famine relief

committee.

ailedlecictlnatactar- nei seienaR uaa estar otaaReeeeeeaeaee os eee

TO WHOM SHALL WE Go?

By R. Ww.

V

The Appeal To Caesar

The major part of the Declaration of Independence

is taken up, not with a discussion of political philoso-

phy, nor with a defense of the right of revolution,

but with a direct and explicit indictment of George

Ill, then the ruling sovereign of Great Britain, for

the abuses and violations of equity which the Ameri-

can colonists are said to have suffered at his hands.

Whether this indictment is just as to the particu-

lars recited therein, or whether it really covers the

fundamental causes of the American revolution does

not concern us here. But there are three things of

consequence to this argument which it does quite

clearly indicate. First, that the American revolution

did not result primarily from political theory but

from actual social and economic situations which

the leaders of the revolution: claimed had become

intolerable. Second, that before the supporters of

the revolution repudiated the authority of the British

government to which they were then subject and

set up a government of their own they made various

and repeated appeals to the British government for

a redress of grievances. Third, that these appeals,

covering a considerable period of years, although not

altogether unavailing had failed of satisfying suc-

cess.

The same observations, in substance, might be

made concerning the French Revolution, which fol-

lowed the American revolution by less than twenty

years, concerning the revolt of the "Confederate

States of America" against the Federal Union seven-

ty years later, and concerning the Russian revolu-

tion, 1m 1917,

In all these instances there was much talk about

political theory and much abstract reasoning about

the right of revolt. But this talk was in no instance

the real cause of the conflict that followed. The

real factors were social and economic situations. In

every case the parties who felt themselves aggrieved

tried to make adjustment within the machinery of

established authority and recognized law. And in

every case there was a final appeal to force because

the particular `Caesar' who sat in the place of

power could not, or would not give adequate relief.

Possibly George III might have prevented the

American revolution. We can see now, however, that

there was little probability the English speaking

colonies in America would permanently submit to

political control on the part of any European power

and the dictation of their economic life here in the

interests of an economic lordship on the other side

of the Atlantic. The separation might have been

peaceably arranged later, but it was not so arranged

then, nor has any such separation been bloodlessly

achieved in the generations since.

Perhaps Louis XVI of France might have given

adequate relief in 1789, and so have forestalled the

French revolution. As a matter of fact he did not.

And those who realize that the conflict which soon

deluged all Europe in blood was no mere quarrel

between a weak king and an oppressed peasantry but

rather the passing of European feudalism and its

displacement by a new commercial and industrial

order can readily understand how next to impossible

it was for the beneficiaries and dependents of the

old lines of special privilege to yield quietly and

unresistingly to the later inheritors of privilege and

power.

So was it in relation to our own Civil War. The

slave oligarchy of the South might have listened

to reason, and doubtless such yielding would have

been to their own ultimate advantage. But they

did not yield; rather did they grow more and more

arrogant and belligerent toward the last. So also

did the Russian autocracy, as witness the massacre

of the petitioning peasants as late as 1905. The

rulers "hardened their hearts" as the days of their ~

decadence and their destruction drew upon them,

as the ruling classes have done in practically every

crisis of history.

England boasts, indeed, that her ruling class know

when to yield, and that she has managed to ``muddle

through" many a critical moment without the flare-

up that seemed to be inevitable. But if it is to be

remembered that her `muddling through" has cost

her more than one civil war, cost one king his head

and another his crown. And England is far from

being "through" with her social crisis yet. Listen

to this recent utterance from a former Tory member

of the British parliament, talking to the present Tory

rulers of England.

"It is stupid for you to suppose that you may con-

spire to encourage a rapid increase of population

in order to provide cheap labor and plentiful cannon

fodder, a conspiracy in which even the churches are

involved, and then be allowed to turn around and

say, `there are too many of you, the resources ot

the country are not sufficient to enable you all to

live. The obvious answer would be a wholesale

massacre, in which, as Mr. Chesterton says, `the gut-

ters will be running with the blood of philanthro-

pists. "

What is there in the present American situation,

or the present world situation to give promise that

the appeal to Caesar will now suffice to accomplish

a peaceful transition from the order that actually

is, to such a one as necessarily must be if civiliza-

tion is to go on? When full allowance is made for

every phase of the rational, the moral, and the

political appeal on the side of such tranquil trans-

formation ag we would all like to see what is

there in the history of the last fifty or one hundred

years to justify the slightest optimism with respect

to the result? Have the remedial and transforming

forces actually gained upon the growth and con-

centration of special privilege and the audacity and

pugnacity of the world rulers in dealing with the

common people? Is Caesar any less Caesar than he

was? Is he not in fact vastly more potent, mili-

tant, arrogant, more utterly hopeless as a world

saviour than before? And, worst of all, is it not

true as this English Tory says in the most damning

part of his indictment:

"It ig not only the rich who are parasites. Com-

paratively few are. The great middle classes are

the greatest parasites-lawyers, pressmen, account-

ants, agents, middlemen, brokers, bankers, finan-

ciers, company promoters, money lenders, book-

makers and toastmasters, in fact nearly all `re-

spectable' people."

Sinclair's' Of{cE

The announcement in this issue of the OPEN

FORUM of an opportunity for the radical and liberal

public on the Pacific Coast to get behind the publi-

cation of Upton Sinclair's books ought to awaken a

widespread interest and should result in a generous

financial response. Sinclair is doing a work of

unique character and value, such a work as is being

done by nobody else anywhere in the world today.

He is easily the supreme pamphleteer of our time,

using that word in its best and largest meaning. His

work is making a tremendous impression in Burope.

Many of us are too near him to wholly appreciate the

full meaning of his achievements, and are therefore

pitifully slow in putting behind it that appreciation

and substantial support which it so richly deserves.

That he is not without honor "in his own country

and among his own kin" is evident enough from the

audiences which greet him whenever he appears upon

the public platform. But Sinclair does not claim

to be a platform man, and puts little emphasis upon

the occasional audiences he is able to address. He

is essentially a writer, and an extraordinarily power-

ful writer, and it reflects little credit upon the men

and women of progressive ideas and sympathies in |

the United States that he has been allowed to bur-

den himself so long in carrying a financial load

which they ought long ago to have taken off his

shoulders. If there is any courage, any imagination,

any sense of opportunity with regard to effective

social investment this offer which Sinclair has made

should bring to his support at once abundant capital.

te

Poverty kills babies. This ancient fact has again

been detarmined by a study of 23,000 babies born in

8 American cities, by the Children's Bureau. "Ir-

respective of all other factors,' says the report, "it

was discovered that the infant death rate varied

inversely with the earnings of the father." Also,

babies had less:chance to live if the number of the

family was large-with an average income to feed

them.

Fanny Bixby Spencer

And The "Better

Americans"

Fanny Bixby Spencer has been for many years now

a thorn in the side of the patro-maniacs of Southern

California, and the whole grafting plunderbund here

who are more or less identical with the super-pa-

triots. Since her testimony of a few months ago

against the unwisdom and moral mischievousness of

using in the public schools such vindictive verse

and song as "THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER"

she has been particularly the object of attack. Re-

cently The Better America Federation, over the

signature of Jo. S. Joplin, Manager, has sent to

Costa Mesa, where Mrs. Spencer lives a lengthy let-

ter purporting to report Mrs. Spencer's remarks.

She is represented as making an extended and de-

tailed attack upon the memory of George Washing-

ton, although everybody who knows Mrs. Spencer

is well aware of the fact that she never indulges

in anything of the kind, and that she was probably

as ignorant as are most of our readers that such

stories about Washington are in circulation. 'There

is a certain irony in the fact that the very folks who

are such zealous patriots that they are willing to

stir up the mob spirit against Mrs. Spencer because

she is herself opposed to violence in all forms, in-

dividual or social, will go out of their way to put

forth public defamation of Washington, willing to

blacken him abroad if only they can vent their spite

against her. It is with a good deal of hesitation that

we are publishing their circular here, as it seems

like carrying the mischief further, but only by this

publicity can we demonstrate how far the patro-

maniacs are willing to go in villifying anyone who

does not shibboleth their shibboleth. They will throw

muck over their own idols in order to accuse some-

body else of doing it. And after all we hold that

Washington's fame is big enough and secure enough

so that whatever may be published about his per-

sonal foibles his real significance as a world figure

is not going to be lost. Mrs. Spencer's answer, pub-

lished at her own expense in local papers, follows

the screed from the "Better Americans."

* * *

Copy of document sent to Costa Mesa by Better

America Federation:

"REVOLUTION NON-RESISTANT"

Subject of a recent address in the I. W. W. Open

Forum, Los Angeles, by Fanny Bixby Spencer, of

Costa Mesa, Calif. In this speech she said Revolu-

tion must be aggressive in order to be effective;

otherwise it turns to milk and becomes a joke as ~

Gandhi's plea for non-resistance has done.

I. W. W. PROTEST MEETING JUNE 4, 1923, HELD

IN I. W. W. OPEN FORUM

Informant states "Fanny Bixby read the interpre-

tion of revolution. She claimed that revolution was

near and necessary to wipe all capitalists out of ex-

istence and make this world a happy place for all

Da Weew. to-live in:

REFERRING TO THE CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

Those who know this organization and Baldwin

(who during the war was convicted and served a

sentence of one year in this same jail for evading

the draft and otherwise interfering with measures

of the Government) are well aware of their Oppo-

sition to the enforcement of law whenever it con-

flicts in any way with their averted notions of what

constitutes their right to interfere either in industrial

or social strife. In fact, their appearance on such

scenes is for the specific purpose of provoking dis-

turbance and agitating against the Government.

` Reference to yours of April 7th. Our informant

in quoting actual words, said on June 4th, 1923,-

"Mrs. Fanny Bixby Spencer read the interpretation

of revolution. She claimed that revolution was near

and necessary to wipe all capitalists out of existence

ug make this world a happy place for all I. W. W. to

ive in."

In a statement which came into our possession,

dated March 2nd, 1925, we read in connection with

her lecture, `Revolution Non-Resistant," Mrs. Spen-

cer's theory is that a revolution must be aggressive

in order to be effective; otherwise it turns into milk

and becomes a joke the same as Ghandi's game in In-

dia. Then the following is quoted from her speech:

"Washington secured his election as burgess in

his home county in Virginia by buying more rum

for the voters than his opponent had the money to

supply. Washington bought out the whole tavern,

dispensing barrels and barrels of rum, and bewailing

the high price it cost to buy his way into public

office.

"At one time Washington was worth close to a

million dolars, which in those days was a fabulous

fortune. Washington acquired his fortune first by

marrying a rich widow and second by acquiring

through unscrupulous methods thousands of acres

of land in Western Pennsylvania near what is now

Wheeling, W. Va. Washington's agents drove the

Indians off these lands and also drove white settlers

from their homes at the point of a gun.

"Washington acquired forty thousand acres of rich

land by secretly sending his agent, William Craw-

ford, tips as to the future disposition of these lands

|

it may

arned through his position in the army.

ho was the father of capitalism,

died, his stolen lands exclusive

estate at Mt. Vernon, were valued at

and thirty thousand dollars.

hich he le

When washington, W

in the United States,

of his wife's

five hundred

Washington was satisfied to go through life with

dh admittedly stupid and homely woman, Mrs. Martha

Custis, because when he married her he took charge

of ase fortune of fifteen thousand acres of land, in

addition to three hundred Negro slaves and thirty

thousand pounds.

letter to William Crawford, dated

Sept. 21, 1767, Washington outlined his plot for

the seizure of Western lands. He first cautiously

requested Crawford to stake out for him with utmost

secrecy as to who was behind the plot, a tract of

about fifteen hundred, two thousand or more acres.

. Jn his first

"Could such a piece of land be found you would

do me a singular favor in falling upon some method

of securing it immediately from the attempts of

others.' Washington wrote, `as nothing is more cer-

tain than that the lands could not remain ungrant-

ed, when once it is known that rights are to be had.'

Washington had learned from his official friends that

land was going to be granted, by the State of Penn-

sylvania and immediately sent Crawford out to se-

cure it for him, in the approved teapot dome style.

Through the next ten years Washington stubbornly

fought both the Indians and the white settlers, to

maintain these lands. He later made use of `tips'

obtained through his position as general of the

American army to make more secure the lands which

Crawford'had staked out, on a percentage basis.

"It is possible', Washington continued, `that the

custom in Pennsylvania will not admit so large a

quantity of land as I desire. If so this may be ar-

ranged by making several entries to the same

amount, if the expense is not too heavy."

This statement is nothing more nor less than the

treasonable statements that have recently been cir-

culated by the "Daily Worker," the official organ

of the Workers Party (Communist) in the United

States.

The writer has personally looked into the matter

very carefully and a more perverted statement of

Washington's desire and attitude cannot be con-

ceived. However, nothing else could be expected. All

of their activities are disloyal and their utterances

destructively critical, both of the men who have

contributed to the upbuilding of this Nation and

our Government itself. Hope these may be help-

ful and you need not hesitate to use in any way

you wish. It certainly would seem that any loyal

citizens even now skeptics concerning her, would

be convinced,

Faithfully,

(Signed) JO. S. JOPLIN, Manager.

* * * *

Fanny Bixby Spencer Replies

To Critics

`Friends and Fellow-townsmen:

On account of unceasing attacks upon me from

certain organizations and individuals in the town

im which I live and work, I feel called upon to make

a public statement.

_ lam told that I have been stirring up "envy, mal-

Fe hatred and strife" among the people here; it has

deen "resolved" and published in the papers that

eee of the people of Costa Mesa" are filled with

eep chagrin" at my behavior ``which would, in the

eyes of the world, lower the standards of our com-

eee the local Parent-Teachers association has

haven the Children's Emergency Fund which I

Vere to it for ten years; the Spanish War

Rated have asked me to leave the country; the

re `merica Federation has circulated a report

proving" that I am a violent revolutionist; and

80Ssip has it that I am a rank atheist.

ine Ta a good deal of opprobrium to rain down

cera i ead of one person, but since I am morally

Loe at I am not all the names that I am called,

`eep On in my course, with a fairly even keel, in

8

te the troubled waters through which I am

nae oC engendered feelings of "envy, malice,

iene nd strife" in the hearts of my fellowtowns-

respon am very sorry, but I am really in no way

Sible for the emotional reactions of others, so

on eae ae ;

hee I keep these evil feelings out of my own

ie ee of Jesus, "He stirreth up the people,"

i nae i the opinion that to stir up the people

a] te and desire for enlightenment is a spirit-

was in ee as necessary of fulfillment today as it

in a ae days of Jesus, for if ever the world was

tedage a struggle with the powers of darkness

ai diving ay. Although I do not accept Christ as

RR I acknowledge the man Jesus as

aes | Ss moral agitator known to history, and

frequent] (c) familiar with his teachings which I read

tation Without the aid of ecclesiastical interpre-

` ; I seem to be making unnecessary trouble,

ee Only that I am uncovering some of the

euron's bones which Jesus mentions in the

y-fourth chapter of Matthew.

dead

twent

The resolutions, passed by the Methodist Church

and Sunday School and the Parent-Teachers asso-

ciation and school faculty, seem to me to need a

little analysis. The object of them, evidently, is

to condemn my public stand as a Pacifist and Inter-

nationalist. Ever since I wrote to the Superintendent

of Public Instruction, protesting against the singing

of the Star Spangled Banner in the schools, on the

ground that it is "bombastic, fratricidal and blood

lustful,' I have been under fire from the public,

but most of the volleys against me have only served

to strengthen my position.

In the opening paragraph of the above mentioned

resolutions, the statement is made that the resolvers

are "praying that war, may be no more." A later

paragraph states that they love all the patriotic

songs of the nation because they "stand for glory and

honor of our beloved country." Thus the sum and

substance of the argument would seem to be, "We

pray for peace, but we sing for war."

I understand that these resolutions were a redraft

by the Methodist Church of more "stringent" ones

sent out by the Spanish War Veterans asking me

to leave the country. The local resolutions were

kindly modified to the extent of not asking me to

leave the country.

In regard to the action of the Parent-Teachers

Association, in returning the Children's Hmergency

Trust Fund which it accepted from me last year to

continue ten years, my only comment is that the

failure to cooperate lies with them and not with me.

I have more to say concerning the activities of

the Better America Federation. Although this or-

ganization has been debarred by the State Depart-

ment of Education from circulating in the public

schools, its propaganda on the constitution, the Par-

ent-Teachers Association received a speaker from

the Better America Federation on the constitution

at its April meeting. Moreover, representatives of

this body of commercial patriots circulated in Costa

Mesa a document purporting to be extracts from

speeches made by me before the I. W. W. in Los

Angeles, advocating violent revolution. These state-

ments, which are absolutely false were believed by

certain of my neighbors, because they were "in black

and white."

I have several times spoken at I. W. W. meetings,

open forum meetings, etc., on the subject of revolu-

tion, advocating the revolution of thought-action as

_ opposed to physical violence, of moral and spiritual

aggression in place of armed resistance to the op-

pression of government. Several residents of Costa

Mesa have heard me speak on this subject and can

bear witness that I teach Tolstoyan principles of

non-resistance and endorse the soul-force methods of

Gandhi. I have written a pamphlet called "The

Revolution Non-resistant"" which I would be glad to

send, free of charge, to any one who would like to

know exactly what my views are on revolution.

To quote the words of H. G. Wells, Iam a "creative

revolutionary;' and I feel a deep response to this

great English journalist when he says, "To live under

the rule of King George or President Coolidge and

under the sway of current customs, habits and usages

can be made tolerable by the recognition of their

essential transitoriness and their ultimate insignifi-

cance. And in no other way can it be made tolerable

to any one with a sense of beauty and a passion for

real living."

When the Spanish War Veterans asked me to leave

the country (in a long, rambling, ungrammatical

communication which I received by mail), they neg-

"lected to tell me where to go. Other writers (mostly

anonymous) supplied the want by telling me alter-

nately to go to Russia, to Germany, to Japan and to

Hell.

I have already been to Germany, and shall prob-

ably not have occasion to go there again, but I hope

sometime in the next few years to go to Russia,

China and Japan. However I am planning to come

back to Costa Mesa and to tell the people here

(those who are not too patriotic to listen) all about

my trip.

As to the last named locality, I have always had

a sort of sporting instinct of willingness to take a

chance on it. I am perfectly sure that I woula

rather spend eternity in Billy Sunday's hell in the

company of such lost souls as Emerson, Geo. Eliot,

Darwin and Herbert Spencer (not to mention one,

W. Carl Spencer, with whom I consort happily on

earth) than in a fundamentalist heaven flanked by

sainted knights of the K. K. K.

The fact is that I am too busy trying to remedy

some of the hellish conditions in this world to

bother much about the next. Whether death means

the total annihilation of my soul or its continued

struggle in astral spheres, I do not know and have

ceased to care. The kind of immortality which I

would wish most to attain is that expressed hy

George Eliot in her superb poem, `The Choir In-

visible."

"Oh, may I join the choir invisible

Of those immortal dead who live again

In minds made better by their presence; live

In pulses stirred to generosity,

In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn

For miserable aims that end with self,

In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,

And with their mild persistence urge man's search

To vaster issues."

To "urge man's search to vaster issues" has been

the underlying motive of all my public utterances,

even in the present local controversy. I would sub-

stitute world brotherhood for patriotism and human

sympathy for individual salvation. Believing that

From Upton Sinclair

May 19, 1925.

Dear Comrade:

For nine years I have been publishing my own

books. In that period I have published thirteen new

books and reprinted ten old ones. I have sold some

three hundred thousand volumes, at prices which.

have meant, in the single case of `""The Brass Check,"

a saving to my readers, over the prices charged by

regular publishers, of more than a quarter of a mil-

lion dollars.

I find myself unable to continue this work, because

of the constant strain and worry of raising working

capital to pay for new plates and new printings. I

am therefore sending a circular to my readers ad-

vising them they will have to help me carry this

burden, if the business is to continue.

I do not wish to organize a profit-making corpora-

tion and capitalize my name; I am proposing to

establish a publishing co-operative, to be owned and

run by its members. A membership share will

cost ten dollars, payable in installments if desired,

and the members will have the privilege of buying

books at half price, and possibly at less. The en-

terprise will start free of debt, and will have the free

use of the plates of 27 books which have cost about

$22,000. I am offering to accept about half the cus-

tomary royalty, and to give my time to managing

the enterprise for less than half the customary salary.

Any of your readers who are interested in my books

may have full particulars for the trouble of sending

their name and address on a post: card.

Sincerely,

UPTON SINCLAIR

119 College Ave., Pomona College, Claremont, Cal.

May 20, 1925.

Editor "Open Forum," Los Angeles, Calif.

Dear Sir:

I have before me a copy of the "Open Forum,"

dated April 25, in which you quote Dr. Martin Luther

Thomas of San Pedro as having said that "every

sincere evolutionist must either be a socialist or an

anarchist or in sympathy with Communism." I am

a student at Pomona College and I certainly fail to

gee that any of the professors who teach or believe

in evolution, are anarchists or Communists. Indeed,

anarchism, with its utter lack of government, is so

vastly different from Communism or Socialism, that

I fail to follow Dr. Thomas' reasoning of saying that

a man, because of a certain belief, must necessarily

be a member of one of these vastly different political

organizations.

Yours sincerely,

M. WHITNEY HENRY, Class of '27

4

All men are partially buried in the grave of custom,

and of some we see only the crown of their head

above ground. Better are they physically dead, for

they more lively rot.-Thoreau.

war is wholly evil, I would urge a search for the

causes of war and would suggest that Tolstoy is

right when he says, `Therefore to destroy war, de-

stroy patriotism." Realizing that human suffering

is a paramount reality, I would argue that to turn

- ones mind to the cure of social misery is a vaster

issue than to to save ones own soul."

Iam not an atheist; I claim to be a pantheist. A

pantheist is one who believes that all nature is

God. From this hypothesis, I conclude that life in

itself is sacred. Then I deduce the corollaries that

all living creatures are akin to my own being; that

all men are of my own blood whether their akin

matches mine or not; and that to violate these

natural laws of kinship and interracial brotherhood

is to sin against God.

I do not believe in the infallibility either of the

Bible or the American constitution, because I am

convinced that man has evolved through aeons from

lower forms of life and has not yet reached his

final earthly perfection, not even in the lily white

Nordic, Protestant, Gentile, 100 per cent American.

My religion is purely altruistic, as my citizenship

is world wide. My object in life is to serve my fel-

lowmen to the best of my ability and to preach the

gospel of the new social order which repudiates

war and holds in trust for the people the earth and

the fullness thereof.. For my personal efforts I ask

no reward, here or hereafter, and I, recognize no

authority higher than that of my own conscience.

FANNY BIXBY SPENCER.

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 506 Tajo Building,

First and Broadway

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

Kate Crane Gartz J H. Ryckman

Doremus Scudder

Ethelwyn Mills

Upton Sinclair

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.

Entered as second-class matter Dec. 13, 1924, at

the post office at Los Angeles, California, under the

Act of March 3, 1879.

SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1925

COMING EVENTS

Ko KR Re Re Rn ee Ke.

Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall, 233

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

ht

EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT-OPEN DISCUSSION

At Eight O'clock

A Free Education is Offered at

EDUCATIONAL CENTER

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD

224 South Spring Street, Room 218

Eh PV ero VeAN Dye BS, Dr Jonneel.

DeQuer.

et

T. BY WwW. A. PORUM

At the Brotherhood Hall, 508 East 5th St.

Sunday Afternoon Meeting 2:30 P.M.

All are Invited to Attend

John X. Kelly and J. Hads How, Committee

ht

May 30.

Hawaii Fleet Maneuvers Hit By

Seattle Fellowship

At a meeting of the Seattle Fellowship, held on

International Good Will Day, Monday, at Meves'

Cafeteria, the following resolutions were adopted:

1. As to China, that foreign commissions: and ex-

tra-territoriality privileges be immediately removed;

that foreign military forces be withdrawn; that

China be left to "right" herself, and to determine

here own "open door" and tariff policies.

2. That the Hawaii-Australian maneuvers by the

United States navy and the building of the Singapore

base by Great Britain be disapproved as threatening

the peace of the Pacific.

3. That a world court, independent of politics

and embracing all nations, be approved; and along

with this should go the creation of a public sentiment

which will declare war, war-makers and the war-

system outlaw and banditry.

4. As to all Orientals, that immigration to the

United States be put on a quota basis with the aboli-

tion of discriminative laws in matters of citizenship

and land.

5. That conscription and military training in

schools and colleges be severely condemned.

6. That David Starr Jordan's plan for world peace

be heartily approved.

7. That President Coolidge's disapproval of a

second mobilization day be noted with satisfaction.

i

OLYMPIA, Wash.-The Washington state supreme

court has denied the appeal of Atty. Elmer S. Smith

of Centralia who was disbarred Feb. 24, because of

alleged extreme radicalism. Smith may take his

case to the U. S. supreme court, since he alleges

constitutional violation in his petition and cites six

federal amendements in his defense.

LETTERS FROM? Kk. C.-G.

May 24, 1925.

Judge C. O. Busick, Sacramento, Calif.

Dear Sir:

In the California Penitentiary there are still sev-

enty men who are not criminals, victims of your un-

constitutional injunction. Hvery other state has come

to its senses, but you, in California are responsible

for these unjust conditions,

The basic principle of American liberty is the right

to free expression. What right then has a Judge

to formulate an unconstitutional law, gagging men

who wish to combine and talk over their grievances,

for grievances they surely have. Ever since the

world began people have been persecuted for ex-

pressing ideas; every attempt of independent think-

ing has always been crushed by the unthinking who

do not wish to be disturbed in their selfish pursuits.

We are in the grip of a reactionary and false patriot-

ism-refusing to the laborer what we demand for our-

selves, and which is guaranteed to all under our

much discussed, glorious constitution, so what right

have we to dictate what any man may say or do or

think. It behooves us to show our patriotism by

building up a decent world to live in.

You are employing a legislative terrorism exercised

against innocent men, whose only crime is a protest

against brutal working conditions-and we are asked

to respect the majesty of the law! Not until laws

are enacted for the benefit of all the people and not

for the few-as now, can that be expected of us.

Why are not the crooks in high places, who steal

millions and "grind the faces of the poor," punished

as eagerly as the man who simply wants a good

steady job and decent living and housing conditions,

not only for himself, but his family, to which he is

inherently entitled.

Our business is to grapple with these every day

human problems. How can we secure the well-being

of all? Not by just chucking every body in jail who

dares to question our "American Idealism."

Are you happy; is your conscience clear, knowing

that these men are there in violation of every tenet of

humanitarianism ?

Sincerely,

KATE-CRANE-GARTZ

April 23, 1925.

Mr. Arthur Brisbane,

C/O Examiner, New York City, N.Y.

Dear Sir:

It is futile to keep on trying to combat your strange

brand of logic especially this last delicious morsel-

that because wolves devour each other "civilized"'

nations must!

Lady Aberdeen suggests that we live up to the

Golden Rule-to end war and you say it can't be done

until we have "golden people;" that means we must

discard the Bible and all Christ's teachings and settle

back to savagery and nevermore aspire towards the

superman or a civilized world.

You know there are people who can visualize a

better, higher type of civilization than the present

one; but for some unknown reason they are usually

imprisoned or have their heads cut off before they

are given an opportunity to try out a really Christian

scheme of things.

Two young soldier men have just been imprisoned

in Honolulu for forty years because they wished to

try out the latest idea in gsovernment-Sovietism!

Which as far as I can make out means representation

by more of the people-which sounds more like the

Democracy that we went to war to make the world

safe for. So I would like to have it explained to me

why governments are so afraid of so simple a thing.

Sincerely,

KATE-CRANE-GARTZ

ee ene

CHICAGO-(FP)-By unanimous vote the Chicago

Federation of Labor demanded .that citizenship be

restored to Hugene V. Debs. Other policitcal prison-

ers were not included in the resolution. Delegate

Lillian Hernstein reported the appointment of or-

ganizer John English of the Typographical No. 16

to the Chicago board of education, but urged more

labor members on the board. Nine-tenths of the

school children, she said, are of worker parentage

and labor should have a majority instead of 4 mere

single representative on the board.

Los Angeles

OPEN FORUM

MUSIC ART HALL

233 South Broadway

SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK

Program for May

MAY 31-`THE RACE PROBLEM" will be iscusgy)

by two distinguished New Yorkers, DR. W. BB

DUBOIS, editor of "The Crisis," and ROBERT V

BAGNALL, organizer of the Association for the Aj

vancement of Colored People. This assures a, gry

night as these men are among the foremost leaden

of the colored race in America. It is hoped algo ty

have present a negro quartet that will sing plan,

tion melodies. HOWARD GRIFFIN, violinist, a

companied by MISS CLAUDE WILLIAMS, will give

the musical program at 7:30.

kag

International Conference of

War Resisters

Americans expecting to visit England this sumny

may be interested in the International Conference

War Resisters, which will be held near London, froy

Friday July 3 to Monday July 6. Delegates ani

visitors are expected from all parts of the worl

All will first meet at Enfield-close to London-

Friday afternoon, July 3rd, and then travel by special

motors to the Conference Hall, High Leigh, Hodde.

don. The conference will extend over Saturday ani

Sunday, and on Monday the party will return ty

London to attend a reception of the No More Wa

Movement. To delegates and visitors from abroal

there will be no charge for accommodations durin

the three days' meeting. Any Americans thinking

of attending this conference will do well to get int

communication with the Secretary, H. RUNHAll

BROWN, "Fairleigh," 11 Abbey Road, Bush Hill Park,

Enfield, Middlesex, England.

--_- a-----_-

Only by uninterrupted agitation can a people be

kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty.

be smothered in material prosperity.-Wendell Phil:

lips.

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