Open forum, vol. 2, no. 12 (March, 1925)
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THE OPEN FORUM
QR
No man is old until he quits asking questions.
Vol. 2.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MARCH 21, 1925
No. 12
FIELD FINDINGS
`*The field is the world."'
Not only did the CITY CLUB of Los Angeles give
Scott Nearing a good hearing but in their issue of
the CITY CLUB BULLETIN for March 7 they gave
an excellent resume of the address. As there will
be many readers of THE OPEN FORUM interested
in this condensed account of Nearing's argument on
"THE ECONOMIC BREAKDOWN OF HUROPE" we
are giving it in another column, with this very will-
ing credit to the BULLETIN, mentioned above.
ee ee
American publicity on behalf of preparedness turns
continually to the Japanese as the "villian" of the
international drama. For example, in a recent morn-
ing paper this inquiry is addressed to Mr. Weeks,
Secretary of War. "Mr. Weeks, you know that
enemy flyers could not injure us. But do the Japa-
nese know it? Perhaps they don't." "The Japanese."
What is this ever present representation of the
Japanese aS our enemies, or prospective enemies,
but an attack upon them in advance? For example.
Suppose you pick out a bank in this town, and you
say; "Some banks are solvent. Some are not. Is
the-Bank solvent?" How long would that sort of
thing be allowed in the commercial world. Or put it
like this, "Some ministers are decent men. -Some
ministers are not. Ig the Rev. Dr. a decent
man?" Put in the name of any prominent minister
in Los Angeles, and try that, as repeated publicity.
You won't have to wait long for results. Can a
nation be libelled without redress.
r----"-
"A bright little 12-year-old chap" rode to his
father's office in New York City the other day in a
limousine and received a gift of a Ten Million Dol-
lar property. "Bright little 12-year-old chap," in-
deed! Go to it boys!
Listen, now, to Herbert Hoover: "Jt is not the
individualism of other countries for which I would
. Speak, but the individualism of America. Our indi-
vidualism differs from all others because it embraces
these great ideals: that while we built our society
upon the attainment of the individual, we shall safe-
guard to every individual an equality of opportun-
ity to take that position in the community to which
his intelligence, character, and ambition entitle him;
that we keep the social solution free from frozen
strata of classes; that we shall stimulate effort of
each individual to achievement; that through an en-
larging sense of responsibility and understanding we
shall assist him to this attainment; while he in turn
must stand up to the emery wheel of competition."
(The italics, as well as the words, are Hoover's.)
There you have it, boys. Let every "bright little
chap" of twelve climb into the limousine.
---- i n-_-_-_-
Folks who are strong on "spirituality," "faith,"
"fellowship," and all that sort of thing as sufficient
unto the present situation may do well to study a
little the following item, from a recent daily paper.
Comment On our part seems superfluous.
(R) * * *
"Selfishness is suicide. Service is self-expansion.
The will to live, argumented by the will to love, is
ak great redemptive force in the world today. In
this dawn of civilization that shall be worthy of hu-
io and an honor to man's Maker, men are learn-
os 0 put the things of the spirit above muscle, men-
sade and money and are discovering that mutual
erstanding and sympathy are more productive of
Social and individual good than the jungle law of
Tushing competition."
These Sentiments were voiced by Orra HE. Mon-
n = )
ette, President of the Bank of America, in an ad-
dr ;
oe Sliven yesterday before the Advertising Club
at the Biltmore.
The three-minute speaker yesterday was Mrs.
Lena R. Pepperdine, vice-president of the Soropti-
mist Club, who emphasized the value of close co-
operation between employers and employees, declar-
ing that loyalty, the greatest asset to a business, can-
not be purchased with money but results from the
development of confidence.
a Ca
"Forbes Contrasts Business Opportunities' in
America with those in Other Nations." So runs the
big headline on one of the financial pages of the.
morning paper. And here, word for word, is a de-
licious paragraph from this prominent American
financier.
Only last week I took a walk with a veteran citizen
in a suburb of New York. He pointed to several
hundred acres of land now worth millions and re-
marked. "My family once owned all of this ground.
It was nothing but farm land then."
Without the exercise of any genius or any particu-
lar hard work on their part this family, by selling
bit after bit of the land and holding on to other parts,
have become rich beyond the wildest of their early
dreams.
a
"True, we still have families in this country,"
Forbes goes on, "who are suffering hardships. We
still have certain classes of railway workers and
other workers who toil seven days a week and every
week of the year. We still have occasional periods
of rather widespread unemployment. Certain grades
of workers are not paid adequate wages. And other
unfavorable factors still exist.
But, compared with other people, we who are
privileged to live in this land are infinitely blessed.
Let me repeat-one aim should be to sweat and
save in order to acquire ownership of some bit of
property."
os
Here is the horoscope of The United States for the
next four years drawn by President Coolidge him-
self in his presidential message. It is all here,
private exploitation, to be carried on through a
Facisti-like political organization, sustained by courts
whose autocracy is not to be questioned. And all
this under a popular "mandate." Such is "de-
mocracy" in the U.S.A. in 1925, by authority of the
Institutes of Calvin I.
`When the country has bestowed its confidence
upon a party by making it a majority in the Con-
gress, it has a right to expect such unity of action as
will make the party majority an effective instru-
ment of government. This administration has come
into power with a very clear and definite mandate
from the people. The expression of the popular will
in favor of maintaining our constitutional guarantees
was overwhelming and decisive. There was a mani-
festation of such faith in the integrity of the courts
that we can consider that issue rejected for some
time to come. Likewise, the policy of public owner-
ship of railroads and certain electric utilities met
with unmistakable defeat. The people declared that
they wanted their rights to have not a political but a
judicial determination, and their independence and
freedom continued and supported by having the
ownership and control of their property, not in the
Government, but in their own hands."
Ft
"Not in the Government, but in their own hands."
Isn't that!) rich? Here is how it works, as instanced
in the case of William A. Clark, copper king of
Montana until his death a few days ago. The Fed-
erated Press says, "Clark got in on the ground floor
when copper was discovered in Butte.' And under
the "mandate of the people" who will have things
"in their own hands" here is the story of his fortune.
Clark's fortune increased so rapidly that he kept
buying other properties, among them the United
Verde mine in Arizona. This gave him an imme-
diate profit of $400,000 a month and he was soon
able to refuse an offer of $50,000,000 for the mine
from the Rothschilds.
Be
Between 1905 and 1923 cash dividends from United
Verde totaled $50,380,000 on the $3,000,000 capital
stock-an average annual return of nearly 90%. In
the last 10 years caSh dividends have averaged
99% a year. For the 14 years 1909 to 1922 the money
paid by consumers and the cash dividends on United
Verde were:
Sales receipts Dividends
1909 $5,368,672 $2,700,000
1910 5,605,488 2,700,000
1911 4,736,834 2,475,000
1912 5,899,457 1,800,000
1913 6,171,116 1,575,000
1914 5,186,999 1,125,000
1915 9,519,419 1,800,000
1916 17,185,881 4,050,000
1917 15,276,954 5,175,000
1918 19,275,567 5,550,000
1919 6,563,427 2,700,000
1920 10,823,857 1,800,000
1921 5,152,521 1,800,000
1922 8,342,444 2,250,000
Thus 30% of all the money paid by the purchasers
of the copper produced by United Verde went to a
single family of absentee owners in cash dividends
while all the men toiling to change the metal from
a useless ore buried in the depths of the earth to a
usable commodity got only 3642%.
As his profits rolled in Clark continued to buy gold
mines, lead mines, sugar beet farms, cattle ranches,
lumber companies, flour mills, a seat in the U. S.
senate, etc. In one instance he got a copper mine
from a _ prospector and tuberculosis victim for
$50,000 and coined $3,000,000 out of it in a few
months.
With this wealth he built himself a 5th Avenue
house which in addition to numerous dining rooms,
sitting rooms and bedrooms, had a fine system of
Turkish baths, a large organ and 26 servants' rooms.
st
PRESIDENT COOLIDGE WAS ELECTED AS A
DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION.
Almost his first official act is an attempt to set the
Constitution aside. The Constitution distinctly pro-
vides that in the case of "all other officers of the
United States whose appointments are not herein
provided for, and which shall be established by law"
appointment by the President is to be "by and with
the consent of te Senate." One of these offices is
that of Attorney-General. The pretense of the Presi-
dent and of his supporters that his seven million
majority gives him authority to suspend or repudiate
the Constitution at this point is curious doctrine.
Those who shout loudest for the Constitution only
care for it when it serves their ends. If there are
no big grafters to be served through Warren's ap-
pointment to the office of Attorney-General over the
head of a majority of objecting senators who by the
Constitution have power to veto such appointment
why this willingness to scrap the Constitution to get
him in?
a
The thing that most of us are inwardly afraid of
is that our religion shall become really religious
instead of being chiefly sentimental or merely in-
tellectual as it is now.
Set porn gs aoe Fr ae Spates a ee So GREER SSA (c) os, MHUESMCeL ER OD Ut rh 0) Wen vae nts Oona eee
ed ee a TOLL AMM OCuNE Taner carn arity tear Ted
Ce ie eC eed eect.
The Breakdown of
Europe
"The economic breakdown of Europe was well
under way when the war began," said Scott Nearing.
The principal empires of Europe had already begun
to feel the pressure of increasing competition in
what was a relatively static market. In other words,
production was growing faster than the possibility of
consumption. The condition in England from 1902
to 1913, one of chronic unemployment, illustrates this
fact. The war was the military aspect of this break-
down.
The problem of marketing surplus goods is univer-
sal, and as the opportunity for foreign investment of
surplus capital becomes less and less likely there
must ensue more and more contests for the placing
of this capital. Meanwhile, because of the growth
of productive machinery nation after nation has be-
come an exporter instead of an importer. Japan, a
few years ago, wag an importing country, and today
is manufacturing goods for its own people and also
marketing its surplus abroad. The war increased
the development of manufacturing in such countries
as South Africa and Australia because the pressure
of high prices cut off European supplies. It must be
evident, therefore, that modern nationalist move-
ments were in the last analysis caused by the desire
on the part of local business men to utilize their own
markets. The war increased this local pressure
everywhere and at the same time stimulated local
industries.
Since the war Russia and Australia have been out
of the competition for world's markets, and only the
British Empire is solvent and self-supporting. France,
which is the dominant country on the continent, has
a war debt equaling 30 per cent of its total wealth.
Besides this it has local and industrial debts which
if added to the war debt, make the whole debt
charge between 75 and 90 per cent of her income.
France is, therefore, practically insolvent and un-
able to meet her obligations. The same situation is
true in Italy and other European countries.
Only three countries came out of the war solvent
-Japan, Britain and the United States. The United
States has the greatest economic surplus of any
nation. Its total income is to the total income of all
the allies, as three is to four. This American sur-
plus has accumulated since 1900, and particularly
since 1916. We have shifted from a debtor to a
creditor nation by the immense sum of eighteen
billions of dollars. This shifting involves three prob-
lems: our relation to Europe, to Latin-America and
our future world relations. Great Britain pays to us
until 1984 3 per cent of her total income. If the
other countries settle on the same basis Europe will
be paying to the United States 560 million a year
for several generations. It would appear, therefore,
that the United States has become a formidable rival
of Europe and will exercise a powerful influence upon
the European situation. Our economic hold on Latin
America may be interpreted in terms of investments
of six and one-half billions of dollars below our
Southern boundary. This gives us an economic hold
upon Latin America which will determine our foreign
policy there.
There are two possibilities in our future economic
relations with Europe, since Europe is definitely a
tributary country: either Europe will repudiate her
debts or become our economic vassal. All of this
means that the future of the world lies quite frankly
in American hands.
City Club Bulletin
---_ --_-___-_-
Put This In Your Scrap-book
This, from Arthur Brisbane under date of March
14, 1925 is so complete a giveaway we want you to
keep it where you can get it on a moment's demand.
Read it, and read it-again!
; % % %
"Nobody accuses Japan of planning an attack on
this, or any other particular country. An attack on
the United States in its present defenseless condition
might gratify the attackers for a little while. Many
American individuals and cities could easily be wiped
out by a small flying fleet. But in the long run such
an attack wouldn't pay.
"If this country were attacked through the air and
found as defenseless as it is now, even that desperate
situation could be remedied. Those responsible for
the country's defenseless condition would be dealt
with, at first, not too gently, it is to be feared. And
then ways would be found to fight back effectively."
Will The Church
Survive?
By Elmo A. Robinson
I
Recently I heard Scott Nearing give his lecture on
"Where Is Civilization Going?" He painted an opti-
mistic picture of the new era which is on its way.
This era will be characterized by a new motive-men
will live to advance the welfare of all rather than to
become individually rich. There will be a guarantee
that all will enjoy the necessities of life. There will
be a new spirit of co-operation, and of world unity
and peace.
This address aroused speculation in my mind as
to the future of the church. In the past there has
been a close relationship between church organiza-
tion and theology and political organization and
theory. The form of early church organization cor-
responded to the political organization of the first
century. The Protestant Reformation took its form
and some of its theology from the new political and
industrial alignment in Hurope. The Evangelical
Movement in England, typified by John Wesley, grew
out of new industrial conditions-factories, mines-
just as the Unitarian Movement grew out of the new
science of the same period. The characteristic of
American church life is denominationalism, and this
had its great impetus with the adoption of our Con-
stitution, expressing ideals of freedom and indepen-
dence.
In general, the forms of church organization and
the ideals of church life have varied with industrial
and political conditions. Christianity in Persia
differs from that in the United States. Church life
in New England differs from that in California. The
great denominations have been transformed in the
last one hundred years. It is natural to expect
further changes in the future.
In fact these changes have already begun. There
is an impatience with denominationalism and other
evils, accompanied by agitation for unity. It is reas-
onable to assume that these changes will continue.
The new industrial age of service, health, co-opera-
tion, will give birth to a new church. What will
it be like?
Without making unreasonable claims one can say
that the new era will be a closer approach to the
ideals of Jesus and to the Kingdom of God than
anything we have had before. In the new era, then,
the church ought to come into its own at last. It
ought to flourish and to carry on its work of inspira-
tion and education, unencumbered by many of the
obstacles of today.
The opposite point of view is held by those who
have discarded the church. They hold that the
church will be discarded by the society of the future.
They hold that the cultured have become go self-
sufficient that they no longer need the fellowship, in-
spiration, joy, comfort of church life, that in the
future, when all shall have become cultured, no one
will need organized religion. Those who speak thus
reveal their own lack of appreciation of certain
eternal problems. They fail to see that uncertainty,
doubt, temptation, loneliness, maladjustment are es-
sential elements of our phychic life, and that men
will always need help in these situations. They fail
to see that other attitudes such as gratitude, praise,
joy, fellowship, must ever seek group expression.
I believe, therefore, in the "church everlasting."
Just as we sing praises to those of the past who have
contributed to social progress, just as we give honor
to Jesus and the thousands who have plodded the
straight, hard pathway, so men and women of the
future will look back to those of today who are faith-
ful to their ideals of righteousness and justice. They
will concern themselves with telling their children of
such ideals. They will ever seek to inspire the
weak, comfort the mourning, pacify the belligerent,
and extend the bounds of fellowship. They will ever
tell the tale of human progress, and sing the equiva-
lent of "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
$i e-_-____
"From ancient times to modern, public opinion has
made a hero of the Ceasar returning with captive
beasts to grace hig triumph. It has been sired by
superstition and mothered by ignorance. It has
approved wars and_ persecutions. It has been
absurd in hoop-skirts and balloon sleeves. It has
enforced cannibalism, and it
loyalty."
does enforce party
A weekly commentary by Robert Whitake,
on the high-power humbug and the rey,
pectable nonsense of platform and preg
Ee)
One of the rankest pieces of high brow bunk in thy
world is the everlasting preachment of the resp,
table classes against "violence" as a social program,
Violence has always been the social program of th
respectable, and was never more so than it is today,
In the international field every nation dominated by
the respectable, conservative elements, is increasing
its armament, and preparing for more succegsfyj
violence against its neighbors, or else assumes thy
Pharasaic attitude that its own preparedness for yijo.
lence is wholly defensive against the probable
brigandage of the "civilized" nations round about,
In the national field the admiration for Fascism j
everywhere manifest in polite circles. What re.
spectable people want is not to abolish violence by
to get the monopoly of it in their own hands.
Here is a striking illustration of the fact take)
from a "special cable to The Globe (Toronto,
Canada) and The New York Times, under date oj
March 4.
* * *
London, March 4th.-"If honorable members oppo.
site were entitled to advise shooting middle ani
upper class Germans because they could not accept
their views, Communists are equally entitled to ai.
vise the working classes to shoot down those who
stand in the way of their prosperity."
This declaration was made in the Commons last
night by John Wheatley, ex-Minister of Health, and
one of the strong men of the Labor party, whose
name has been mentioned as a rival of Ramsay Mac:
Donald for its leadership.
Wheatley's remarks were made during a debate
on a motion by a Unionist condemning Communist
propaganda throughout the Empire. Wheatley claim
ed the purpose of the motion was for honorable mem:
bers opposite, who kept millions of people down in
the gutter, to make it illegal for them to squeal,
Revolutions were produced by such conditions.
"T tell you," he declared, "if I were enduring these.
conditions, or if I felt tomorrow, by exercising a
little violence, I could emancipate a million of my
fellow-countrymen from perpetual poverty, I would
feel, in taking that course, I should be more justified
than you were in the course you took in 1914."
Lord Winterton, Under-Secretary for India, reply:
ing for the Government, referred to this "frank and
naive" disclosure of Wheatley's real political ambi:
tions. He had thought there would be a general
agreement that the duty of Government was to pro:
tect the country against changes in the existing
order by other than constitutional means, but he |
felt a little doubtful after Wheatley's remarks.
% % *
"To protect the country against changes in the
existing order by other than constitutional means.'
Do you get that? And doesn't it sound for all the
world like a preachment from some California judge
sentencing an I.W.W. to San Quentin for being il
possesion of a "red card?" But pray how did the
Constitution come to pass, either in England or i
the United States except by violence? And how is
it otherwise maintained except by violence, against
outside nations whenever there is anything to be
gained by that course, and against the common pei:
ple within the nation, constitutionally or otherwiscent,
whenever there is any danger of special privileg?
losing its strangle-hold upon the body of labor?
Why even the peace program of the world today
is, on the part of the upper classes, an issue as 10
how they can organize the world's violence on al
international scale against whoever would interfer?
with predatory profits. National protection today is
not sufficient. Some of the big fellows would make
it so, in the case of England or the United States,
by increasing air and ship equipment to the point
where supremacy over all comers is secured. Some
would have the United States and Hngland_ strike
hands, to do it more economically and more effec
tively. Some would have the ring of iron composel
of all nations.
hands of the exploiting classes. And if the Big Fel
lows can get together on the international field they
are going to see to it that no social changes, 10
relief for labor, is accomplished, except by consti:
tutional means, that is except in the field of prop
ganda, where their supremacy is as over-whelming
as it is in the field of arms.
And mark you, if the workers win in the field o
propaganda, with all the handicaps against them
the story of the Facisti movement shows plainly
enough how long constitutions will be regarded DY
the House of Have in their dealings with the Hous
of Want. Not the passing of violence, but the
monopoly of violence ig always and everywhere the
aim of the ruling classes.
But it is to be a ring of iron, in the
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/ SAY SO
We want letters.
Lots of them.
From lots of people.
On lots of subjects.
BUT NOT LOTS OF WORDS.
Make them "Century Letters,"
that is letters of not more than
One Hundred words.
Write on subjects of general
interest.
Typewrite your letters,
if possible. If you are
interested in anything worth-
while, say so. But say it in
as few sentences as you can.
Sign your name. It will not be
used if you do not wish it
published, provided you say So.
Let's make "SAY SO" the best
page of this paper. Mind you,
be brief. And again, BE BRIEF.
Burglary and War
March 5, 1925.
Cornelius Vanderbilt,
Hditor of Illustrated News,
Log Angeles, California.
Dear Sir:
Your comparison of burglars and the war making
state is puerile.
A burglar is an individual, sub-normal perhaps,
and perhaps hungry and out of a job, a victim of the
present order of society, which takes no cognizance
of the unemployment problem. The state is supposed
to be managed by statesmen, not morons; men who
are supposed to use their brains and not their fists.
They told us if we went into the late war, it
would be to end war as a means of settling disputes.
Are we as a country going to live up to our prom-
ises or admit that we prefer barbarous methods to
enlightened ones.
There is no possible justification for destroying
human life. We lose more than we can possibly
gain. So it behooves a young man like yourself to
join the vanguard of the world wide Youth Move-
ment and work for the elimination of war and all
other injustices.
If we ag a nation want to lead the world, we will
have to change our whole outlook on life and set
our house in order, if we expect the rest of the world
to respect and believe our slogans and promises.
So, here's hoping.
Sincerely,
Kate-Crane Gartz
--_-_-_--
A Protest
March 5, 1925.
Mrs. Dorothea Moore,
Friday Morning Club,
Los Angeles, California.
Dear Madam:
I just wish to register my protest through you of
your husband's refusal to allow Scott Nearing to
Speak to the students of the Southern Branch-a
man who knows more about Economics and Politics
than any other American, too much perhaps. He
(Professor Moore) even called him abnormal which
to my Way of thinking is far above normal.
: : thought you and perhaps he were at least Liberals
if not Radicals and as educators you would stand
for the finest, broadest, and best in education. EHcon-
"omic determinism is probably at the bottom of it.
For a fine type of man, beloved by all "thinking"
beople, to be "turned down" by a narrow minded
Me, of schoolmasters is outrageous. But they are
osers, Scott Nearing cannot be hurt. But the
boor students they must be poured into. one mold
an . : eine
d never be allowed to use their own thinking
machines,
Alas! and Alack! when shall we ever get the right
type of educators in our schools, who will permit
children to hear all sides of every question and
decide for themselves the right or wrong of it.
Sincerely,
Kate-Crane Gartz
WHY?
By Kate Crane Gartz
Our scientists know so much about the constitution
of the Universe why can they not undertake the
simpler task of organizing society on a humane
basis, so that all may be equal and free to enjoy
life-for surely life must hold more than the sordid
struggle for existence.
Lenin, the much despised, by the unthinking and
satisfied, was the one man with imagination enough
to visualize a united commonwealth of all the earth.
He knew the great masses of people do not have a
square deal, yet we cast up our eyes in pious horror
at the Bolsheviks, when we ourselves have perpe-
trated such outrages on our own political prisoners,
confiscated property of innocent German citizens,
spied on our Own people, whose only crime was
hatred of war, for any cause, knowing that it never
settled any thing right.
So, I always find myself with the eternal why on
the end of my tongue; why are human beings thus-
why are those of us who are fired by zeal for a
more abundant life always greeted by the words-
Red Radical; why is there no hospitality for new
ideas, but all are greeted as blasphemous; why did
progressivism fail in the recent election, and the
masses vote to reinstate coruption and indifference
to the common good? They only postpone the day
of reckoning.
Our own economic freedom is jeopardized until it
is insured and assured for all and until those scien-
tists have worked out a co-operative system that will
include all (not just prosperity for Wall street, as
now), we cannot call ourselves civilized.
At best existence ig sorry and insecure, life so
beset with tragedies, so why, again, can we not put
our heads together and evolve a sane constructive
system, instead of destructive, which we have follow-
ed all too long.
Se EE Ree es
Mammonart
AN APPRECIATION
Because Upton Sinclair is with us, and because so
many of his books are before us there is frequent
failure on the part of progressive minded folks on
the Pacific Coast to realize the world-significance of
the work he is doing. I have been especially im-
pressed with this in the reading of Mammonart, of
which I am going to have more to say when I have
finished the book. Already I have read enough of
it to acquiesce most heartily in the following re-
markable appreciation which Sinclair has just re-
ceived from Floyd Dell, the famous New York writer.
Mammonart is a big piece of work, and is to be
studied, not merely read. To understand it is in
itself a liberal, nay better, a real education. R.W.
* * *
"Dear Upton:
I have been reading `"Mammonart" with profound
admiration. I could quarrel with you on points of
theory, interpretation, and judgment; but the fact
remains that it is a great work, greatly accom-
plished.
I wish every young writer in America could read
it-and every boy or girl who dreams of some day
becoming a writer. It would knock the pious non-
sense out of their heads that they are taught in
school-the notion that true art is tame art, art
made safe and harmless for the bourgeoise! That
nonsense, poisoning the minds of our finest, bravest,
most clear-seeing young people even before they have
learned how to write, muddying youth's purpose
and degrading art's meaning for them, is robbing us
of the great and vital literature they could create
tomorrow. Your book is the best antidote for that
spiritual poison.
Faithfully yours,
FLOYD DELL."
A Voice In The
Wilderness
March 9, 1925.
To the Open Forum:
A friend of mine received a clipping from a well
known eastern paper condemning my criticism of
the Star Spangled Banner. Feeling that this editor-
ial was unjust, she wrote to the paper explaining
my ideas more fully. The paper published her letter,
and one of the associate editors, in a personal letter
to her, made the following statement:
"JT am sure Mrs. Spencer has many who agree with
her. Most of my co-workers here regard her position
as entirely sound and tenable, and so do I. It seems
to me the American people have had neither guts
nor backbone since the last war. It is good to hear
a `voice crying in the wilderness.' Hope it becomes
a chorus." `
It ig encouraging to know the private opinion of
this man who speaks to thousands every day through
his paper, but it is-discouraging to realize that he
dares not express this opinion publicly. He is
surely not regenerating those who "have had neither
guts nor backbone since the last war." However, his
willingness to publish the dissenting opinion which
my friend sent is something to place on the credit
side of the balance.
Fanny Bixby Spencer.
A Great Book Bargain
For years before I left Los Gatos I used to have
Upton Sinclair's "CRY FOR JUSTICE" beside me on
the pulpit, and read "Lessons" from it, along with
the "Lessons" from the Bible itself. So I am glad to
publish the following note, just received, and to
recommend the book with all my heart to everybody.
It is a truly great book.-R.W.
% * *
Dear Comrades:
We have 2400 copies of the paper-bound "CRY FOR
JUSTICE." These books cost 55 cents to manufac-
ture; we have been retailing them at $1.00. We
are offering the remainder at 40 cents a copy, cash
to accompany order, first come first served.
Sincerely,
UPTON SINCLAIR
Address, Pasadena, Calif.
More Garbage Cans
Editor, Open Forum:
The plant of the Illustrated Daily News should be
raided by the shock troops of the local K.K.K. and
demolished. This paper has been publishing blas-
phemous anti-Los Angeles propaganda; namely about
people living on what they can pick out of garbage
cans. This is treason! `Treason! As a 100-per
cent Angeleno, I hereby appeal to all other 100-per
centers to refrain from reading such disgusting stuff.
The paper should also be barred from the mails;
the folks back East must not read of these conditions.
Do I hear someone say that these articles are true?
Don't give a d if they are! Los Angeles
must have a population of 2,000,000 by 19380! More
people means more garbage cans, and that means
that more people could probably live by picking rot-
ten cabbage heads out of garbage cans. See?
-100-per Cent.
a a
Scott Nearing spoke at the City Club last week and
gave one of the best addresses ever delivered at that
home of good talks. I had never acquiesced in his
attitude as a pacifist during the war, and considered
him as rather a dreamer. But the practical way in
which he depicted the situation in Europe, and
finally in this country, won me, as evidently it did
the large audience of middle-class persons. He
quoted figures. without notes in an amazing manner,
and so nicely as not to tire one. Besides, his sta-
tistics appealed to one as being reliable, as I am
somewhat familiar with financial matters and could
not detect a flaw in his statements or computations.
It is a loss to the Labor Movement and to its in-
dividual members that he was not secured to ad-
ress us.
-P. D. NOEL in Labor Press.
Ren ee eee Ree a ee aE EES
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. Ryekman
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 Each.
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, MAR. 21, 1925
COMING EVENTS
KK Keke KK KK
Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall, 233
South Broadway, Sunday evening at 7-30 o'clock.
----- @- -_-_-_
I. B. W. A. FORUM
At the Brotherhood Hall, 515 San Julian St.
Sunday Afternoon Meeting 2:30 P.M.
All are Invited to Attend
Geo. McCarthy and J, Eads How, Committee
iit --_-_-.
OPEN FORUM every Saturday evening at 8:00 P.M.
T.W.W. HALL, 224 S. Spring Street, Room 218. In-
teresting Speakers-Interesting Subjects.
ee
PROLETARIAN FORUM
Every Sunday at 8 P. M.
ODD FELLOWS HALL
22014 South Main Street
Questions and Discussion Freely Invited
Admission Free
4
EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT-OPEN DISCUSSION
At Eight O'clock
A Free Education is Offered at
EDUCATIONAL CENTER
By Industrial Workers of the World
HEALTH TALKS: The entire field of health, all
isms, fads, cures, and common sense of health
matters are being covered in a series of Lectures,
being delivered every Tuesday night. No Admis-
sion Fee.
Program for Ensuing Month Announced Soon
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
224 South Spring Street, Room 218
a
FREE WORKER'S FORUM
420 N. Soto St., Los Angeles, Cal.
(One block north of Brooklyn Avenue)
PROGRAM FOR MARCH, 1925
March 23-"What is Wrong with the World?" by
`Dr. Charles James.
March 30-`Gandhi-Soul Force Versus (Physical
Force" by Miss Hthelwyn Mills.
FREE VIOLIN LESSONS
To Talented Children of Parents who
are unable to pay
MAX AMSTERDAM
Prominent Violin Teacher and Soloist
2406 Temple St. - - = "= "" " DRexel 9068
Reasonable Rates to Beginners
Linotyping and press work done in Union
Shops. The make-up is our own.
Official Lawlessness
NEW YORK-That "officers of the government of
the United States have bullied and beaten citizens
and aliens beyond the limits of decency," is one of
Professor Charles A. Board's charges made at the
dinner of the American Civil Liberties Union protest-
ing against the gagging of count Michael Karolyi,
Hungary's first president, who is forbidden by the
state department from speaking on politics while
visiting his sick wife here.
Board continues: "They have arrested persons
without warrant, on gossip and suspicion. They
have entered houses and searched premises and doc-
uments without any shadow of justification or au-
thority. They have destroyed and carried off private
property. They have coerced and terrorized prison-
ers, innocent and guilty alike. They have held
citizens without granting them the right of immedi-
ate communication with friends and counsel. They
have made wholesale raids worthy of Huns and Cos-
sacks. They have let loose thousands of irresponsible
spies to hound and persecute innocent citizens engag-
ed in attending to their own business. They have em-
ployed provocative agents to stir up some of the
crimes they are charged to prevent." Htc. etc. during
the last decade, since the World War. Coolidge
himself ig blamed for having "set his name and his
sanction to an article filled with false and outrageous
insinuations against American citizens as loyal and
devoted to our country as he is himself."
-rFederated Press.
a
A Preacher Says
Something
Though the pillars of the present financial system
are also pillars in the churches Dr. Harry Emerson
Fosdick, liberal preacher who was forced to resign
his pulpit at the First Presbyterian Church on Fifth
Avenue, brands the system as unchristian. Said Dr.
Fosdick in a farewell sermon which is arousing warm
disputes in Fifth Avenue circles:
"T do not believe that our present economic sys-
tem, as it is run and ordered, is Christian, and I
have said so. I do not believe that our international
life is Christian, and I have said so. I abhor the
cruelties of our modern industrialism. I hate war
and I never except to bless another... For these
things I have stood in this pulpit as a Christian
minister and no one of you ever tried to lay a finger
on my lips."
Dr. Fosdick, nominally a Baptist, was fired from his
Presbyterian pulpit for heresy but he is `proud of
being a heretic under the circumstances, he says:
"They call me a heretic.
wouldn't live in a generation like this and be any-
thing but a heretic."
However, though Fosdick may be too heretical
and liberal for his Fifth Avenue Presbyterians, he is
not a radical either in theology nor economics.
But he refuses to stand pat, so loses his job.
-Federated Press.
eens
as
The Internationals
Dinner Pail Epics, by Bill Lloyd
Federated Press Jingles
I see the capitalistic fakers what operate as our
lawmakers has put the dirks into the bill to take
the children from the mill. They passed amendment
to. hit booze, but for some reason they don't choose
to hit the profits of the geezers who live by being
children-sSqueezers.
Them guys, I'll say without a doubt, what put the
propaganda out to keep the kiddies working hard are
listed on the index-card of every pompous organiza-
tion to help the children of the nation. The Y. M.
they get lots of dough; they help Boy Scouts to
make 'em, go; the Scamp Fire Girls ig given much;
but the Y W's been in Dutch since it bucked up for
women workers, and now ain't petted by the shirkers.
The Legion wuz a special pet, till it begged bonus for
the vet. And Sunday schools!-say, they get love
from all financial powers above.
They love the kids-they do, like hell. They say
youth should be treated swell . They love 'em if they
work and pray, and do not seek a better day. If
they ain't asked for world what's new, they just
love kids-like hell, they do.
Deam=proud=.ofdtx- 1 -
Los Angeles
OPEN FORUM
MUSIC ART HALL
233 South Broadway
SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O0x00B0CLOCK
|
MAR. 22-"SHOULD CAPITAL PUNISHMmy;
BE ABOLISHED?" by Attorney S. S. HAHN. They
is a new bill now before our legislature PFOpOosip
to do away with capital punishment in this sta,
Many are stirred up over the execution of crimina,
Mr. Hahn, who is a criminal lawyer of wide expq;
ence, should be able to throw much light on this
question. We shall have the pleasure of listenin
to BERNARD COHN, a young pianist of much ability
in the program of music preceding the address,
MAR. 29-DEBATE "RESOLVED THAT TH
ATTACKS OF THE LIBERTARIANS ON RUSs| _
ARE JUSTIFIED." The affirmative will be tak
by THOMAS BELL, and A. PLOTKIN will uphoj
the negative. When two such doughty antagonis(
get together the fur is sure to fly-and some Ney
facts touching a long-continued controversy amon
liberals will be brought out undoubtedly. MR. ll
FISH will be heard in a number of Russian song
Ht.
Church of the New Social Order
Symphony Hall, 232 So. Hill St.
Sunday Morning Service: 10:45 o'clock
A WARLESS WORLD. DO WE Want ITY HOY
ARE WE GOING TO GET IT?
The particular subjects to be considered from Su
day to Sunday will follow the lines indicated in th
analysis set forth above.
March 22. THE APPEAL TO FAITH.
March 29. ion APPEAL TO SOCIAL REVOLU
TION.
ee
WHEN BUSINESS MEN ARE PAINFUL SIGHT
NEW YORK.-"The business man dealing with:
large political question is really `a painful 4 sight!
wrote Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevel
in a letter copyrighted by Scribner's. "It does set
to me that business men, with a few exceptions, ali
worse when they come to deal with politics tha
men of any other class."
--__4-_
I will neither rejoice much at victory nor be muti
disturbed by defeat, for the cause is infinitely 7
them both. .
eae a
The only way we can stand the Bible is ue |
very careful not to understand it.
!
.
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