Open forum, vol. 2, no. 3 (January, 1925)
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~ THE OPEN FORUM |
Most of our caution is sugar-coated unbelief. :
Vol. 2.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY 17, 1925
MAN AND HIS WORLD
A STUDY IN SOCIAL EXPERIENCE
Our Serial Story
We are beginning with this issue of THE OPEN
FORUM a new kind of Serial Story. It is an attempt
to tell briefly, simply, and as comprehensively as
possible, the story of mankind Mr. Whitaker, who
writes the story, and who has been urged to tell it
here, has been giving this story to a class chosen
from among the attendants at the CHURCH OF THE
NEW SOCIAL ORDER. Many of the old line
churches are in the habit of observing the first week
in the year as a WEEK OF PRAYER. These weeks
of prayer which have been held over a long period
of years have not availed much to keep the churches
from blundering into all kinds of bloody business
between times in support of whatever wars the poli-
ticians and financiers have thought it convenient to
precipitate whether in the international or the indus-
trial field. If the church folks spent less time in the
"vain repetitions" against which Jesus warned them,
and more time in trying to find out what God is
`really at in this matter-of-fact world of ours, there
would be vastly more hope of social progress. How-
ever, if they did make serious effort to find out the
facts about our workaday world, and to get the drift
of events in advance, they would have little help
from the schools or from most of the books that are
written on these lines. Even so advanced a writing
as H. G. Wells' "OUTLINE OF HISTORY," abounds
in a vast body of burdensome detail, and is almost
altogether silent as to the main matters which con-
cern our everyday life and which have had most to
do with shaping the human world to what it is.
THE CHURCH OF THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER,
therefore has been holding, instead of a WHEK OF
PRAYER, what may be called a WEEK OF STUDY.
For five nights in succession a class of more than
forty members have met in the home of certain
members of the congregation, and have discussed
these five topics, after hearing each evening a lec-
ture on the same:
THE SETTING OF WORLD HISTORY.
THE PROCESS OF WORLD HISTORY.
THE EPOCHS OF WORLD HISTORY.
THE MOVEMENT OF WORLD HISTORY
THE PRESENT RELATIONS OF WORLD HIs-
TOT:
It is expected that the same course, in substance,
will be given before a class in Santa Barbara, begin-
ning within a week or two. Mr. Whitaker will be
glad to arrange with other groups, locally and at a
distance for a similar course. The outline is pub-
lished here for the sake of the many who cannot
attend such classes, and for the convenience of those
who have taken the course of lectures or are about
to take them, that they may hold the matter better
in mind.
The OUTLINE does not pretend to be anything
more than tentative and suggestive. It is intended
to be used not to take the place of the reading of
other books and the instructions of other teachers,
but as an incitement to much additional research and
consideration of the subject of world history. The
point of view is not that of dogmatic materialism,
or of any other dogmatism. It is a study of phen-
omena not of ultimate origins or ends. It deals
emphatically with the primary factors whose opera-
tions can be observed in every day life. In this
Sense it is economic. But as far as possible economic
Scholasticism, and every other kind of scholasticism
have been avoided in the interests of a plain common
Sense talk about "things as they are." If there is
Sufficient, demarid to justify it the series will be
republished in book form.
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4
By Robert Whitaker
I
The Setting of World History
Man lives his life as far as we know it on the
surface of a solid sphere which is rolling around in
space. We call this sphere THE EARTH.
THE BARTH exists and moves within an all-en-
compassing envelope of ATMOSPHERE. The word
is from the Greek,-atmos, vapor, and sphaira, a
sphere, or globe. This sea of vapor which envelops
the earth may be as much as five hundred miles
deep. It varies very much as to degrees of density,
that is of lightness or heaviness; as to degrees of
temperature, cold and heat; as to humidity, wetness
and dryness; and as to movement and the measure
in which it is or seems to be at rest.
"The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are upgathered now like sleeping flowers."
-(Wordsworth.)
All of these conditions and variations of the at-
mosphere have had much to do with man's use of
the earth's surface, his food supply, his clothing and
shelter and so with the whole range of his social and
individual experience.
Much of the earth's surface is too cold for man's
residence, except on the part of few and scattered
folks who live very circumscribed lives. Alaska has
only one human being to every ten square miles of
its surface, a fact which is almost wholly due to the
atmospheric conditions there. The Sahara _ Desert
is even more sparsely settled for similar reasons,
that atmospheric conditions do not favor human effi-
ciency and comfort. Between these extremes of the
frigid North and the torrid and arid South, the
earth's surface exhibits a vast deal of atmospheric
variation from place to place and from one part of
the year to another. Man has ranged over almost
all of the surface of the earth but he inhabits and
uses effectively only a very small part of it. And
one of the chief determinants as to his use of the
earth, from the time when man first appeared, where-
soever his first appearance was, until this present
hour, has been the prevailing moods of the at-
mosphere. The influence of climate upon the course
and character of civilzations we are just beginning
to fairly estimate and understand. ``Man's bounds"
have been fixed by the weather-vane more than they
have been determined by constitutions and laws.
The Constitution of the United States is nominally
as dominant in the glacial passes of Alaska as it is
on Fifth Avenue, New York. But the United States
itself, humanly considered is very much more in
evidence on Manhattan Island than it is along the
course of the Yukon,
The earth is covered not only with atmosphere,
but it was altogether covered for a long time with
water, and three-fourths of it is still continuously
under the waters which we variously describe as
rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. THE HYDRO-
SPHERE, as we call the water surface of the earth,
has played a part in determining the bounds of man,
and in affecting his experience, only second to that
of the atmosphere. A very large part of man's his-
tory has been written in water.
The water of the earth is in the main one vast
body, and all the lands of the earth, large and small,
are in fact islands, Many names are applied to the
various sections of this one vast sea which encom-
passes the whole mass` of exposed land,.but the two
major portions are known as the Atlantic and the
Pacific, the one being thought of commonly as the
ocean of the West, and the other as the' ocean of the
Bast. . Measurements are difficult and uncertain
where boundaries are so arbitrary, but for practical
purposes the Atlantic may be reckoned inclusively
as comprising an area of about forty-three million
square miles and the Pacific as covering something
more than twice this area, or about ninety-one mil-
lion square miles. The most striking contrast be-
tween them, however, is not their disparity in size,
but their unlikeness in relation to the lay of the
land which borders upon them. The shores of the
Pacific, on both sides of the earth, are, generally
speaking bold and precipitous, the rivers few and
their fall line short and not very navigable and
their drainage. area therefore is comparatively small.
The shores of the Atlantic, on the other hand, are
mainly low and level and the land is everywhere
intersected by the sea, so that the drainage area is
vastly more extensive, and the rivers themselves
much more usable for purposes of traffic. The Pa-
cific, with all its gigantic size, drains but ten million
square miles of the earth's surface. The Atlantic
with less than half the size of the Pacific drains
twenty million square miles of land, and this,
emphatically the land where the dominant civiliza-
tions have been for thousands of years and where
they are today.
sun" to the cities and states which lie upon the At-
lantic sea-board of the world. The Mediterranean is
a pocket of the Atlantic.
ribbon or necklace of the same sea. Yet these two
sections of the same great water have had more to
do with human history for the past twenty-five hun-
dred years than it is possible to put into words.
So large a part have the waters of the earth played
in human history, so determinant have they been of
the character of civilizations, that the social exper-
ience of man is sometimes classified as POTAMIC,
THALASSIC, and OCEANIC, from the Greek word,
potamos, a river, thalassa, the sea, and our own
word, also of Greek origin, the ocean. Man con-
quered the rivers and their shores before he con-
quered the seas, therefore, the notable early civiliza-
tions were emphatically associated with great rivers,
as the Nile, and the Tigris and the Euphrates, and
the rivers of India and China. The period of "classic
history" was that of the "Great Sea," the Mediterran-
ean, and its allied seas, to the east and north. Ours
is the oceanic age, the rise of which was coincident
with the discovery of America. The Golden Age of
geography, and the most revolutionary age of his-
tory, except only one, was the epoch in which the
Atlantic and the Pacific were made tributary to the
navigation of man. The one age that surpassed this
was nearer to our own, we are yet in it, in fact, but
its story belongs only indirectly to the romance of
the waters of the earth.
ee be
Child Labor Preferred
CHICAGO.-A Canal Street office, which, in these
times, is misnamed an employment office, has hang-
ing in its window a picture of the Christ child, while
directly beneath is suspended a sign bearing the in-
scription, No Men Need Apply.
-____ a_-_----
K-K-K-K-K
SACRAMENTO, Cal.-Within the past month six
warring factions of the Ku Klux Klan have applied
for California charters to secretary of state Frank
Jordan, or have sent in petitions or gone to courts
in attempts `to keep each other out of the state.
-Federated Press.
It is physical fact, Kydrospheric -
fact one might say which has given the "place in the
The English Channel a'
2
[ BRISBUNK |
"THE PUBLIC BE SERVED" reads better than
"THH PUBLIC BE DAMNED." But it is really very
much `the same thing, and the same thing, if there
be any difference, said in a more mischievous way.
The elder Vanderbilt looted the public without
apology, and on top of his looting cursed the public
as an ass for letting him do it. Does the younger
Vanderbilt really respect the public any more, or if
he does, is he doing the public any less damage? He
has reduced the price of his paper to one eent as
against the five and ten cent toll which the other
papers take for their printed muck. Vanderbilt
gives less space to scandal, murder, and violence: in "
general because he has less space to use. One can
get from his papers quickly the substance of the
morning news, such as the Associated Press and the
United Press and other capitalist purveyors of pub-
licity allow us to have. Here in Los Angeles The
Illustrated News gets off a column under the title
of "THE MAN IN THE STREET," which is often
refreshingly frank and sensible. Also the public, or
a small part of the public, are allowed to talk back in
"THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE." The letters are
short, and occasionally there is one that has a gleam
of intelligence in it. Usually "Contributors Columns"
are more appalling as a revelation of average ignor-
ance and imbecility than are even the editorial pages
of the daily press.
But if one grants the sincerity of the younger Van-
derbilt, and recognizes cordially what features there
are in his paper that are reasonably commendable
none the less the motto that he carries on his editor-
ial page and the character of his publications as a
whole calls only the more insistently for an unmask-
ing of the reality which they present. Why should
the public be "served" any more than "damned," and
are they not damned in the very idea of being
served? Train robbing we all know is something to
be discouraged and out-lawed. But anybody who
travels knows that for every. dollar the public has
lost to outright train. robbers, they have lost thou-
sands to uniformed officials, porters, and dining
room waiters who have "served" them at a price far
and away beyond what the service should have cost.
*George M. Pullman pillaged the American public be-
yond the total stealings of all the train highwaymen
of his time, and his successors are still at it. Calling
it service doesn't make it any less robbery in fact.
On the contrary, it is calling it service which enables
them to get away with it,
The churches have never talked about service so
much as they talk of it now when they are taxing the
_ people for bigger buildings, more pretentious equip-
ment, and higher salaried officials and are standing
in everywhere with the whole raft of public looters,
industrial and international. The same is true every-
where in the business world. The more pretense of
service there is the richer are the pickings from the
people's pockets. Drop the gun and put on a waiter's
apron a porter's or a conductor's uniform, a Prince
Albert coat and stove-pipe hat, and you can get away
with millions where the poor boob with a pistol gets
away with a few hundred or a few thousand at the
most. And the gun-toter takes his own life in his
hand, and sooner or later lands before a fat bellied
judge who has had sense enough to put on an air of
serving the public and has thereby beaten the hold-
up man at his own game without the slightest danger
that the public will do anything but lick his shoes.
The most pretentious piece of "service" in our
modern cities is that of the bankers, and everybody
`who knows anything knows that they are the most
successful looters of the age.
This whole idea of service is as false as it is low
spirited and mean. Its object is always to get some-
thing for nothing. The gambler and the confidence
man are the real artists on that line. They lead the
way in dressing for the part, and in studying the
palaver with which to put it over. The rest of the
"public servants" are followers of these oleaginous
gentry though it will doubtless scandalize a lot of
nice folks to tell them. where they belong. A public
that wants to be "served" ought to be damned, and
usually is. The whole idea of service is fundament-
ally immoral, more immoral in fact than the con-
temptuous vulgarity with which honest free-booters
tell their victims what they think of them. "We will
work with each other, but not for each other," said
the spokesmen of American "wobblies," in a conver-
sation which I had with him some years ago. When
a newspaper puts that on its front page that page
will probably be worth reading.
Glimpses|ae reat
An interesting item on Mexico appeared the other
day in an editorial in the esteemed Times. It ran:
"With each succeeding day the sun of hope shines
more brightly upon the approaching era of peace
_ and prosperity that will lift the republic of Mexico
to the plane of civilization she so richly deserves.
President Calles signalized his inauguration by de-
claring that the great need of his people is education,
books, plows and industries."
On another page of the same issue of the Times
in the news columns this appeared: "A flamboyant
Red soviet diplomat now is fully established in
Mexico ' with a complete staff of secre-
taries and assistants. - The soviets picked a man of
highest standing in the Bolshevik government. serv-
ice, a costly man and a real Red and ardent ad-
herent and promulgator of soviet ideas: The soviet
envoy comes equipped with a competent staff speak-
ing Spanish, English and other languages fluently.
He started working in favor of his ideals almost at
once and a few days after his arrival addressed
Mexican workers and peasants through El Machete,
a glaring Communist organ on the occasion of the
anniversary of the establishment of the soviet. He
left nothing unsaid about the Moscow plan of action,
went-into details on the birth of Bolshevism with
all the anti-capital arguments common to the sup-
porters of the soviet doctrines."
A FABLE
The other night at the Open Forum a distinguished
personage by name, Pococurante, was in the. audi-
ence. He was so distinguished he was not noticed
by the others. In fact he was so like them he
was not readily distinguishable. He gave many
signs of disapproval of the speaker's remarks. Noth-
ing pleased him. Going out the chairman said to
him: "How did you like the lecture?" "Bunk! All
bunk." "You must be hard to please." "Not at all,
sir. My sole pleasure in life is not to be pleased
with anything."
HALDANE - RUSSEL - SCHILLER
The men of the Victorian Era believed in progress.
They saw in evolution the possible ascent of man
to perfectibility. Many scientific discoveries con-
firmed them in these beliefs. Now many wise men
aver there is no such thing as progress. They say
morally we are not better than the amoeba from
which we began our ascent millions of years ago in
the ooze of old ocean. Even Bertrand Russell says
as to our moral superiority over the amoeba we
ought to suspend judgment until we can get the
opinion of the amoeba on the subject. Three little
books have recently been published by Dutton, which
ought to have a wide reading. The first is by the
great biochemist, J. B. S. Haldane, who takes a
hopeful view of man's future. It is entitled Daeda-
lus, after the great inventor of antiquity, who with
his son Icarus started to fly from Athens to Crete.
Icarus flew too high, the sun melted his wings of
wax and he fell into the sea. His father, wiser,
landed safely. Bertrand Russell comes back at
Haldane, calling his book Icarus, in which he shows
how man's scientific ingenuity has so far outrun his
spiritual development that man has become a nuis-
ance to himself, a terror to his fellows and a men-
ace to civilization. Now comes the great pragmatist,
Dr. F. C. S. Schiller in Tantalus, the third book of
the series and blights the last hope of the last
optimist of the race. He says: "Alike in morality
and in morals, modern man is still substantially
identical with his paleolithic ancestors. He is still
the irrational, impulsive, emotional, foolish, destruc-
tive, cruel, credulous credture he always was." Then
the doctor expatiates on the enormously increased
power of man to hurt and destroy himself, on birth
control reducing reproduction in the intelligent
classes to zero, while the mediocre breed like rab-
bits, on public hygiene saving millions not worth
saving, on pacifism aiming to end the extermination.
of the unfit and so on till your head swims. Then
he says: "The biological penalty attaching to social
promotion is racial extinction. Thus the ultimate
reward of merit is sterilization, and society appears
to be an organization devoted to the Suicidal task
of extirpating any abillty it may chance to contain,
by draining it away from any stratum in which it
may occur, promoting it into the highest and then
destroying it. It is exactly as though a dairyman
should set in motion apparatus for separating the
cream from the milk, and then, as it rose, skim it
off and throw it away."
Oxied, Fi
THE VIOLENCE
OF THE RESPECTABLE |
i
THEIR DAY IN COURT
By J. L. Bronson
Tuesday last was Wobbly day in Department Two
of the Police Court here. Judge Fredrickson presided .
and the people were represented by LeRoy Reams,
the Deputy Prosecutor. Thirteen members of the J],
W. W. were up to have dates set for the trial of
their cases. . All were charged with violation of the
Busick Injunction. One other fellow-worker was to
be tried for vagrancy.
In the vagrancy case, which they had promised
faithfully to try on that day, the absent-minded
judge forgot to have the jury report for work and
so it was impossible to try it. So he released fellow.
worker Brode on his own recognizance until Febru-
ary twentieth.
The balance of the morning was spent in arguing
for dismissal of the Injunction cases. These fellow-
workers have been out of jail on their own recog-
nizance after spending from sixty to seventy-five
days in the Stockade waiting for trial. Most of them
were arrested early in September and one of them
was arrested on August 9th. This fellow-worker had
one trial which resulted in a hung jury. He has
waited over five months for disposal of this case.
The judge was forced to take a recess for about
an hour and after wrestling with his goul, or hig
conscience, or whatever a judge has, he decided that
he would not dismiss the cases. But he told the de-
fendants that he released them of all obligations
to appear and told them that if any of them wanted
to take a trip, that there was nothing to prevent.
He set the cases for the second and third week in
February. How the learned judge arrived at this
decision has not been figured out yet.
Judge Fredrickson at the same time informed the
prosecution and the Red Squad that there was no
use trying these cases unless they had more evidence.
They promised to have the
than in former cases.
required evidence. The fact is, there isn't as much
as they usually have. But the lack of evidence
doesn't seem to interfere with the trial and convic:
tion of members of the I. W. W.. So these men are
forced to wait another month for trial, with little
possibility of trial then.
In the course of the morning, the prosecutor;
Reames,. made. the statement that "of course the
Wobblies don't get a fair trial here; Wobblies aren't.
human, so how could they expect to get fair treat-
ment." The next day he remarked that he "got a
kick out of railroading Wobblies to jail." "We run:
a kangaroo court here for the I. W. W.'s," he said.
One of the Los Angeles news-venders, Allen Doble,
was arrested twice during the last week of the old
year. He was arrested the first time on Sunday
afternoon and was held until Monday noon. Was
re-arrested on Tuesday afternoon and held until
Friday afternoon. He was never given a hearing.
When questioned about this abuse, Chief of Police
Heath claimed that he didn't know such things were:
done, and would look the matter up.
Later on in the week, Doble met the officer who
had arrested him. The officer was: very apologetic
about the affair, claiming that the only reason he
made the arrest was the fact that he had a wife:
and children and must keep his job at all costs.
--_-_- e-_-____
Lesson of the Great War
Personally, I cannot believe that any good can:
come out of any war. However,.a great object les-:
son was given to the world in the fact that for the
first time in history jobs were made to seek the
men. There can be no freedom in the world worthy
of the name while men are compelled to seek, beg,
and even pay for jobs-to this extent, for the first
time in history the workers tasted a degree of
economic freedom during the late war. Marriages
exceeded any other period in our history, and it
was almost impossible to find a woman who would:
sell her body, simply because high wages at easy
tasks were to be had in any community. Here is:
a theme worthy of exploitation at the hands of our'
most eminent economic writers.
JESSE T. KENNEDY
345 Flower St., South
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FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS
K
America and 1924
By Scott Nearing
(Federated Press Staff Writer)
The year 1924 saw the United States climb clear to
the top of the imperialistic heap. Can it remain
there and prosecute its worldwide financial con-
quests without fighting Japan for control of the
Pacific and Great Britain for control of the world?
' The year 1924 has been a tragic year for those who
are looking and working toward a new day. To the
student it has been a revealing year-the forces of
international life have moved with such inexorable
logic. The imperialists have made it a year of new
triumphs. The heights which they now occupy are
dizzier than any heretofore attained, and this is
particularly true of the United States banking fra-
ternity.
During 1924 the whole world got on the front page,
Japan, China and India; France, Germany, Italy and
Russia; the British Empire; the American empire,
including its sattelites in Latin America, all had their
turn. In all of the industrial countries, save Russia,
the actors moved to the right. In the countries that
are under the heel of the imperial nations, there
was more than one vigorous effort, both in Asia
and in Africa, to protest and revolt.
Imperialism matured in 1924, and its center of
power shifted noticeably to the United States. The
past year has again demonstrated that the United
States is, economically, at the top of the heap. An
American loan, handled by Morgan, saved the franc;
55 per cent of the recent German Bond issue to pro-
vide capital for the Dawes Plan Bank, was subscribed
in the United States; Belgium is arranging for a loan
here; the total of foreign flotations in the United
States for 1924 was about a billion and a quarter of
dollarsthree times the amount for 1923. The world
now turns to New York: for loans as it formerly turn-
ed to Paris and London. Thus far, the loaning re-
sources of the United States have been little more
than scratched.. The recent United States treasury
loan of $200,000,000 was oversubscribed almost 10
times.
Both the subject matter and the method of the
Japanese exclusion were direct blows at the pride
and the position of Japan. Now, at the end of the
year, announcements :describe the coming, naval
display in the Pacific, with a rumored protest from
Japan. Diplomats apologize and explain, insisting
on their friendly and pacific intentions, but no in-
telligent person believes them.
Relations between the United States and Britain
are more than friendly on the surface. Underneath
they are a seething mass of economic rivalries and
of long-established grudges and prejudices. The
MacDonald government was cordial-almost obsequi-
ous. The new Conservative administration has evi-
dently decided to contest every foot of the ground.
The basis is being laid for the coming struggle to
determine whether Japan or the United States shall
control the Pacific, and whether Britain or the
United States shall dominate and exploit the world. -
Some protest comes from the plundered peoples.
The Chinese are in open revolt against certain offi-
cials who are charged with being in the good graces
of the Western capitalists. As for the Mohammedan
world, in India, in Persia, in Arabia and in northern
Africa, it is plotting or openly fighting against the
western nations.
Most important of all, from Russia comes the news
that for the year ending Sept. 30, the productivity of
Russian industry was a third greater than during
the preceding 12 months. This makes the fourth
Successive year in which Russia has been able to
report important gains in productivity. There is no
other European nation with so enviable a record.
The United States is actively preparing to meet
any emergency. The army and navy are receiving
unusual consideration. Militarist propaganda, par-
ticularly in the schools, is widespread.
The labor movement, in the face of this tighten-
ane) of the lines of imperialism, is hesitant and di-
`vided. The British Labor government has been
Swept from office. The German Social Democrats
are working frankly with the imperialists. The
{
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ve :
"K
*e
California Lines Up
Against Child Labor
The California Legislature is certainly to be highly
commended for the speed and summary manner in
which it placed itself on record in favor of the Child
Labor Amendment. There had been previous talk of
shelving the matter till later on, and doubtless the
reactionaries did work assiduously to prevent aL
early vote. But the members who were swayed by
humanitarian impulses got the upper hands of things
and insisted upon a vote immediately. The senate
passed the resolution. with a whoop-36 to 3. The
assembly vote was 69 to 9. Congratulations, gentle.
men.
The action of California in this matter should
prove a stimulus to other states which are hesitant-
Arkansas is the only other commonwealth that has
gone on record as favorable to the amendment. Three
have refused to ratify it including Massachusetts.
Think of the old Bay State, boasted leader of educa-
tion and culture, turning against the children!
But it must be remembered that powerful interests
are working tooth and nail to prevent the amend-
ment becoming part of the constitution, and it is
going to require some heroic efforts to line up the
necessary thirty-four additional states. That such
an amendment is needed to curb the cupidity of the
profiteers is manifest from the following facts:
Eleven states allow children under 16 to be worked
from nine to eleven hours a day. One state puts no
limit whatsoever on children's hours of labor. Four
states say nothing about night labor for children
under 16. `Thirty-five states fail to require so much
as a common school education for children between
14 and 16. Thirty-five states do not carry their re-
strictions on dangerous occupations up to the 18-year
standard. Five states sav nothing ahont children in
dangerous occupations, Twenty-three states. with
nominal 14-year age limits allow so many exemptions
as to practically nullify the law.
These conditions will not be remedied for long
years if ever by state legislative action. The Federal
Government must take cognizance of this deplorable
situation and make its continuance impossible by a
uniform, country-wide enactment. The proposed
amendment will do the trick. May the people every-
where therefore rouse their legislators to immediate
action favorable to the amendment.-C. J. T.
CRN Nae gS
Zs
BROADCASTING THE WORD
Just after we had received the item that we pub-
lished recently concerning the wide-spread reading
that Upton Sinclair's work is getting in Hurope we
had this likewise cheering word concerning another
of our Pacific Coast light-bearers, whose message is
going out `to the ends of the earth." The com-
mendation of Fanny Bixby Spencer's play, "THE
JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM," which is published here-
with was written by a minister in Deerfield, Massa-
chusetts, and was sent to another minister in Seat-
tle, Washington, from which last named city it came
directly to us. The play has been given on more
than one occasion in Seattle, with marked success.
The Massachussetts minister writes to a Seattle
friend:
"Do you know Fanny Spencer? Her play I call
powerful. And, oh, the scenes and experiences it
brought back to me of the war days when I was in
Worcester, Massachussetts,-hot bed of manufactur-
ing and so of fanatical patriotic business. But I
think that this play does better than just recalling
and holding up to a sober, more normal judgment
the deeds of the past; its setting forth of real heroic
spiritual resistance to violence, and its exhibition
of such a character in real action-and the ideas
dominating that character, is fine."
French liberals under Herriot are carrying on an in-
tensive persecution of the Communists. The dicta-
torship in Spain has been ruthless. In the United
States the American Federation of Labor under its
new president, will be as reactionary as the Demo-
cratic party, in which William Green has served a
long and active apprenticeship.
Meanwhile _Russia continues to strengthen her
economic position and to tell her story of achieve-
ment to all who are wise enough to listen.
K
*e
The New Order
In Labor
By Laurence Todd
(Federated Press Staff Correspondent)
WASHINGTON.-Reorganization of the headquar-
ters staff of the American Federation of Labor, in
order that the personnel may reflect the policy of the
new regime, is the first task to be considered by Wil-
liam Green, when he enters upon his duties as presi-
dent on December 29.
How far Green will go, in adapting the machinery
to the change of control, will depend upon the flexibil-
ity of the men who have worked for years under the
orders of Samuel Gompers and Matthew Woll. For
it became evident in the New York meeting of the
executive council when Green defeated Woll for the
presidency that Woll's prominence before the public
as the lieutenant of Mr. Gompers was not endorsed
by his associates. Rather than have chosen him pres-
ident they would have selected the aged James Dun-
can, first vice-president, who withheld his vote and
offered his resignation in a dramatic protest against
their choice of the coal miner. Woll is not considered
likely to be able to muster a real opposition against
Green in the convention of 1925. The new order is
one of big unions in close alliance, free to adopt new
policies in domestic and foreign fields.
For instance, Green is reported to be inclined to
favor affiliation with the Amsterdam international of
trade unions. He is likewise inclined to look upon
the anti-Russian and anti-radical propaganda con-
ducted by Gompers and Woll during the past seven
years as being no longer important, and as being a
waste of time and money. He would have the labor
movement devote more of its energy to fighting the
dictatorships represented by the steel trust and the
Pennsylvania Railroad, the southern anti-union coal
operators and the employers of child labor. William
English Walling's fiery polemics against Mo8cow will
probably cease to be a leading feature in the Ameri-
can Federationist, but that magazine will publish
instead a greater number of articles on conditions
in the terrorized industrial regions of the United
States,
Duncan's resignation is scheduled for acceptance
when the council meets at Miami in February.
Whether Johnston of the Machinists, or Flaherty of
the Postoffice Clerks, or some other man will replace
him, depends on the lineup of Green with his allies.
These allies are understood to be Duffy of the Car-
penters, Ryan of the Railway Carmen, Tobin of the
Teamsters and Chauffeurs, Noonan of the Electrical
Workers, Morrison of the Typographical Union and
Wilson of the Pattern Makers. These remain to be
counted only Woll of the Photo Engravers, Fischer
of the Barbers and Rickert of the United Garment
Workers. They cannot, if they would, run counter
to Green's policy.
With the passing of Gompers and Duncan, the
militant anti-prohibition and anti-public ownership
element in the council becomes a minority. Interest
in social welfare legislation is increased. Opposition
to the creation of a labor party is. less definite,
though it still rules,
-----_-
Education a la California
Upton Sinclair has received the following letter
from a school teacher in Los Angeles County:
"You have formed so fair an opinion of the Los
Angeles school system and abuses that I would like
to tell you of an occurrence of yesterday at Teachers'
Examination, (County).
"The subject was General History. One question
was `Who was the greatest law-giver of ancient
times?' And another was `What person wields the
greatest influence in the world?'
"Mark Keppel on giving us the question sheets,
gave us a talk on the latter subject. His father had
apparently greatly influenced his life.
"Later, after our answers had all been passed in,
he gave us a tongue lashing. The answer to the
first question, he said was `Moses,' and to the second
was `Jesus Christ,' and any other answer would be
marked zero.
"What do you think of that!
the schools? Oh, no!"
Secular training in
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
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.
Application for second-class rates pending.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1925
WINTER
By Sarah Bixby Smith
This is February.
Into the valley the sunshine spills.
"Green the grass sweeps up the hills
To the sky.
By the Rio Honda
Veils of new leafage lie
Over the thickets of willow.
The gnarled: old sycamore trees
Show curling leaflets of velvet,
Tawny and rose;
And where the blossomed acacia grows
Hover the humming bees.
In the sage the alfilerilla spreads
A carpet of lacy leaves,
Green and varied reds,
With orchid-colored gilia decked,
And plue eyes, bits of sky, cloud-flecked.
There's a whirr of wings
When the quail fly,
And a flash of flame with the flicker;
A lark sings;
That bolt of blue is a jay.
Spring's in the valley today
While winter rides in the snow,
Astride the Sierra.
SEER? eee
All our titles are simply civilization's red ochre
and grease. Rub it on, brethren, rub it on, if you
like that sort of thing. But don't fool yourselves
into the notion that anyone really takes the red
ochre now for real red blood, or the oily unctuosity
for anything else than the rancid lubricant that it
is.
--_.4--__-
Church of the New Social Order
Walker Auditorium, Cleveland Hall
730 So. Grand
10:45 o'clock
January 13-SAMSON AND THE PHYSICAL
CULTURE FAD
January 25-JONAH AND THE PRODIGAL SON,
A Study in Religious Exclusiveness.
Services open at 10:45 A. M. Come early if you
want-to get a seat.
Sunday Morning Service:
: Wind herewith Bee eS boas L as payment for.../.-2...
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INET pes te egar i Micra ee ie lg nel gc ee eI Seca
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COMING EVENTS
KOK KS KE SEK EK
Los Angeles Open Forum; Music-Art Hall,
South Broadway, Sunday evening at 7-30 o'clock.
ee eee ees
At the Brotherhood Hall, 515 San Julian St.
Sunday Afternoon Meeting 2:30 P.M.
January 18, ``The Rise of Industrial Democracy"
J. C. Coleman, Dr. R. Kirchner
January 25, "Life, Labor and Dramatic Art"
Chas, James and Tom Longthorp
All are Invited to Attend
Geo. McCarthy and J. Eads How, Committee
i
cent OPEN FORUM every Saturday evening at 8:00 P.M.
I.W.W. HALL, 224 S. Spring Street, Room 218. In-
teresting Speakers-Interesting Subjects.
Subjects for the Month
Jan. 17-"Things as They Are'"_.__.__Robert Whitaker
Jan. 24-Non-resistance-a Revolutionary
Theory L. J. Greene
--_-_ -----
FREE WORKERS FORUM-FOLK SCHULE,
420 North Soto St., Los Angeles
Jan. 19-Nature's Way of Turning Disease Into
Health: Oe, D. J. Haskell Kutzer M.D.
Jan. 26-The Fetich of Liberty_______. Robert Whitaker
SERED: ane
SHELLEY CLUB
Meets Wednesday Afternoon, Jan. 14, 1925
At 2 P.M. (Members 1:30 P.M.)
Rowland Hall, 331 W. 8rd Street
President, Mrs. W. E. Kleinpell
Speaker of the Day-J. Covington Coleman
"Summer in Soviet Land"
Everybody Welcome
i
SONNETS. By M.C.S. With an introduction by
Upton Sinclair.
MY SAGE BRUSH GARDEN. A Book of Califor-
nia Verse by Sarah Bixby Smith.
"Many are called but few are chosen' when it
comes to writing poetry. Indeed actual experience
with the many who want to write poetry and cannot,
reminds us of the little girl's emendation of the text
given above "Many are cold, but few are frozen." At
least a good many are frost-bitten.
But these two women writers are both real poets.
Their verse is very different, both in form and sub-
stance. Mary Craig Sinclair's sonnets represent per-
haps the most difficult and highly developed form of
poetry and she handles it with singular felicity and
power. But her sonnets are more than finely phrased
and felicitously worded examples of literary work-
manship; they are alive and vibrant with social pas-
sion. Readers of THE OPEN FORUM are already
familiar with some of Mrs, Sinclair's work. Social
minded folks all over the country ought to thank
Upton Sinclair for persuading the author of these
strong, high songs to allow their publication. I wish
every one who has understanding enough to appre-
ciate both the workmanship and the message here
could have a copy of this little book for their own.
Sarah Bixby Smith's work is cast in the main on
lines of free verse, which she handles well. There
is no touch of the social emphasis or interest upon
it. Paul Jordan Smith, who knows her better than
anybody else presumably, and who despite the fact
that he is her husband, can still manage to hold the
attitude of a detached literary judge, writes this con-
cerning the book: "These poems are charged with
the breath of California springtime, with the desert
sage and wild lilac, its orange blossoms and acacia;
more than that the poems reveal a brooding philos-
ophy of life that is reminscent of Thomas Hardy."
A delightful "garden of verse" it is.
--------t+_______
"What I need to realize is how infinitesimal is the
importance of anything I can do, and how infinitely
important it is that I should do it.'-Herbert Spencer.
FREE VIOLIN LESSONS
To Talented Children of Parents who
are unable to pay
MAX AMSTERDAM
Prominent Violin Teacher and Soloist
2406 cDemple: St.) oa sioy Mee | PResek 9068
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233
Los Angeles
OPEN FORUM
MUSIC ART HALL
233 South Broadway
SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK
"ED." MORRELL ON "NEW ERA PENOLOGY" AT
THE FORUM
A world-famous character, "Ed." Morrell, will be
the speaker at the meeting of the Los Angeles Open
Forum next Sunday night, January 18th. He is to
take the place of Margaret Sanger, who is ill in q
New York hospital and cannot come to the coast at
this time. We hope to have her later.
Mr. Morrell will be recalled as one of the char.
acters in Jack London's `Sea Rover." He has had a
varied experience, including considerable time behind
prison bars. His studies into the penal system have
gone away beyond the mere superficial. In his book,
"The Twenty-fifth Man," he shows a profound insight
into the subject. At the Forum he will discuss
"New Era Penology,"' and a most interesting eve.
ning is promised.
The music will be furnished by Miss Helen Much-
nic, phenomenal child violinist. Come by 7:30 if
you want to be assured a seat.
JAN. 25-DEBATE: "RESOLVED, THAT THE
1924 IMMIGRATION LAW SHOULD BE SO AMEND.
ED AS TO ADMIT JAPANESE ON THE SAME BA-
SIS AS EUROPEANS." Students of the University of
Southern California will be the debaters, the affirma-
tive being upheld by LELAND TALLMAN and AL W.
GRIEWE; and the negative, by RAYMOND BREN:
NAN and ADNA LEONARD, JR. This is one of the.
questions that will not down; come and hear both
sides of it discussed. Music. by students of the
School of Music connected with the U.S.C.
--_-_-_ a-----_--
Students Must Pull In Horns
PORTLAND, Ore.-The regents of Reed college,
a privately endowed Portland institution, once fam-
ous for its liberal educational experiments, are giving
notice to the students that there are some things in
the established order that are sacred. When Pres.
Richard Scholz died the students wanted Alexander
Meiklejohn, ousted liberal president of Amherst, to
be appointed but the regents named Norman Cole-
man, practically an unknown figure..
The Oregon Liberal, published at 215 4th Street,
declares that the regents are determined to sit hard
on economic heresies in the student body. "The
cry set up that youth is responsible for the dissatis-
faction at Reed," says The Liberal, "is a smoke screen
to hide the fact that economic teaching at Reed is to
remain well in hand and that the students shall not
do too much prying around the foundation stones of
economic privilege lest they discover just what con-
ditions are.
"These are days when you may be -ag radical as
you please about the depths and structure of the
sidereal universe or the chromosomes of guinea-pigs,
but a little digging now and then on the question
of the distribution of the economic income of the
local community or the nation is held up as danger-
ously radical and evidence of an impulsive revolt of
youth which must be sternly curbed.-Federated
Press.
--_--_ + ________
A Disclaimer and a Confession
Editor The Open Forum,
Dear Comrade:
I notice on your Brisbunk page of the issue of
January 8rd the paragraph, "Will Resist, Law Or No
Law."
Did you notice the unadulterated Anglo--Saxon
ring of the name, of, that brave general; "Griesbach'?
The von Plehnes of the Czar's regime, the von
Hindenburgs of Prussia, and the Canuck Griesbach's
ere all of the same breed of henchmen and of the
blood that has given to the world the greatest think-
ers aS well as the greatest flunkeys, unsurpassed in
either field. I am neither, though of the same blood.
ALFRED G. SAUFTLEBEN,
The Sarcastic Cuss of the Mojave Desert.
--_--_-_-_ e-___-_.
"A lot of so-called firni faith is merely fixed and
rocky egotism. Many a man thinks he. has princi-
ples when he has nothing but what was a slushy
Portland cement of ignorance now hardened into rigid
prejudice.""-DR. FRANK CRANE.