Open forum, vol. 2, no. 1 (January, 1925)
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Vol. i.
THE OPEN FORUM
The Greatest Heresy in the World is the Heresy of the Closed Mind.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY 3, 1925
A Pacific World around the Pacific Sea
Theodore Roosevelt summed up the epochs of
history, past, present, and prospective in one wide-
`sweeping sentence.
"The Mediterranean Hra died with the discovery
of America; the Atlantic Era has reached the height
of its development; the Pacific Era destined to be
the greatest, is just at its dawn."
The Mediterranean is by no means a mere memory
yet, but its part in human affairs is still one of
vital consequence to all mankind. Egypt, where
England is lording it over a conquered people now
as ruthlessly as old Rome ever did, in the interests
of an empire which has more dominion to the east-
ward of the Mediterranean than Rome ever had, is
a part of the Mediterranean world. So also is Mo-
rocco, where the Spaniards are losing out and being
displaced by the black empire of France to the
south. And Italy itself, greatest of the powers of
the past on that historic sea, has led the way in
very recent years as she leads the way now in the
domination of her own people by an immediate rule
of blood and iron as rigid as that of the Caesars long
ago. The Mediterranean world is very much a
contemporary fact.
So also is the Atlantic world in the forefront of
present-day affairs. The bulk of the world's com-
`merce is there. There is the training ground of the
world's navies, and. on its shores the barracks of
the world's armies. The long reaches of the easier
`slopes of the world's mountain ranges still send to
the Atlantic the vast mass of the drainage of the
earth on both sides of the globe. The world is
physically an Atlantic world as any careful study
-of its) topography shows. And as to its commerce,
its politics, its social, literary, and religious con-
`tacts, as to most, indeed, of what makes up civiliza-
tion, the world is going to be an Atlantic world
for a long time to come whatever the developments
of Pacific lands may be. Roosevelt's summary is
`more eloquent than exact. It has more of the
`poetry of prophecy in it than it hag of the plain
prose of the true scholar's survey of what is, or what
"is likely soon to be.
Yet, though Roosevelt's phrasing of it be more
`dramatic than scientific the fact is that a Pacific
`Era, following upon the historic eras of the Med-
iterranean and the Atlantic, is quite evidently in
sight. The bulk of the world's population lives and
`has lived for centuries in lands that drain directly
or indirectly into the Pacific Ocean. The waters of
the Pacific cover more than twice as much of the
area of the globe as do the waters of the Atlantic,
`though they draw from not more than half as much
Of the land that is above the surface of the seas.
And to these two facts must be added a third of no
small significance in measuring the tomorrow of
human affairs, that the lands which border the Pa-
cific are as yet almost untouched by the explorers
`and exploiters of the wealth and power which lie
underneath the ground and in the rushing currents
of the great streams. The East had its epoch of
greatness and glory long before our western lands
waked to the civilization of man. But their day
was before civilization anywhere had waked to the
"Wealth and might of coal and oil and the electric
"park. The age of mechanical wonders is still young.
But it is old enough in the west to have largely
exhausted the coal seams and the oil wells of our
Sections of the earth. The East still has its stores
of natural resources practically unsealed, or if un-
Sealed here and there yet hardly drawn upon at
all. The Pacific world is the store-house of a po-
tential energy beyond anything that civilization has
_yet employed.
_. The era of the Mediterranean wags an era of war,
from the days before the dawn of recorded history
until the hour when civilization flowed out through
the Gates of Hercules into the wide sweeps of the
Atlantic. And the prospect there is for more wars
yet to come.
The Atlantic Era has been no less bloody through
its briefer regime. There the ships of Spain rode
down the ships of other nations, and took bloody
toll of all Europe by virtue of the treasures which
she carried across its areas from the New World
for nearly a century after the Atlantic epoch began.
Holland and England and France and Germany suc-
ceeded to the sovereignty of Atlantic waters, only
to streak the oceans they held with the blood of all
the peoples of the earth. And our country counts
more glorious than all its civil achievements, if we
measure by the emphasis of our school histories,
the sanguinary story of a Paul Jones, or a Captain
Lawrence, and other like heroes of naval blood-
letting upon the Atlantic.
It is ominous for the coming civilization that in
our own times the United States has initiated a like
bloody program for the Pacific: It was in Pacific
waters that Admiral Dewey won his spectacular
victory over the fleet of Spain in Manila Bay. It
was here in the Pacific that American imperialism
first revealed itself, in the annexation of Hawaii,
the conquest of the Philippines, and the seizing of
such out-posts as our naval bases at Guam and
Samoa. It is across the Pacific that we eye Japan
today, with a manifest purpose to deal with her
sooner or later as England dealt with Germany. In
vain we protest that the ravings of the Hearst press,
. and the open suggestion by a member of Congress
that we lead the way in a league of the white
peoples of the Pacific area, are of no consequence
and of light meaning. The United States today is
promising the world a repetition in the Pacific of the
bloody imperialisms which Phoenicia and Carthage,
Greece and Rome gave to the Mediterranean world,
and which western Europe has carried on only a
little less spectacularly in the Atlantic.
What are we going to do about it, or is there
anything we can do? Well, it is something to look
the facts in the face, and to see clearly and say
uncompromisingly which way our nation is going.
And it is something more to see this, not as a
manifestation of the mere weakness and foolishness
of men, but to see it in relation to the causes which
are really shaping history. "It is too bad," said
Senator Phelan of San Francisco, at a "peace meet-
ing" in October, 1914, discussing the Huropean war,
then just begun, "it is too bad, but it is human
nature." No wonder that the Senator who gave
that shallow analysis of the world war fell so easily
for it himself when the capitalists held up their
thumbs for us to fall into line in 1917. If we do
nothing more this year than to study resolutely to
understand the world process better, the year will
be worth while.
But we should do more. There are two things
on which all liberal minded folks on the Pacific Coast
ought to be able to unite, and therein even the
most radical of the radicals ought to be able to
make common cause with the liberal.
The first is for a united effort on behalf of free-
dom of expression for us all. At this. point the
work of the American Civil Liberties Union offers
a common camping ground and rendezvous for all
forward-minded folks. They all want the right to
be heard, the liberty to teach and to be taught.
This is the first item in the program which we
propose for the whole Pacific Coast of The United
States. We offer our paper as the organ for such
an effort on behalf of the common enjoyment of
our common rights to speak freely, publish freely,
and gather freely when and where we will.
The second item is like unto it, and in entire
harmony with it. The work of the Fellowship of
Reconciliation, which we are stressing in this issue,
suggests a common course for us at this point.
Perhaps the best way to tell it is to capitalize here
the title of this article as the slogan under which
we may rally "not only the liberals and radicals
of our own Pacific Coast states, but the like-minded
folks of every land, kindred, and tribe, of every
color, tongue, and condition around the whole Pa-
cific Ocean.
A PACIFIC WORLD AROUND THE PACIFIC SEA
Is not this a rallying cry for the greatest fellow-
ship that can be imagined here? Will not our
friends in Australia and New Zealand, in Japan and
China and India and Africa respond to this call
for a Pacific Fellowship in the interests of a Pa-
cific World around the Pacific Sea? Do you fear
the play on words as light and artificial? Why the
word "Preparedness" has been worth incalculable
millions to the makers of munitions and the de-
fenders of militarism. "Preparedness," and "de-
fense," "the war to end war," "the war to make the
world safe for democracy." Will we never learn
to use aS much aptness and sense on the side of
a sane world as they use who are the proponents
of force and fear and the fat pocketbook? We talk
"solidarity" with wearisome reiteration of the word,
but when have the liberals and forward-looking folks
of this Coast ever even so much as tried to get to-
gether? Our little paper is not published to take
the place of the Seattle Union-Record, or The World
or Labor Unity of San Francisco, or Tomorrow, or
any other of the liberal publications of Los Angeles,
or the I. W. W. and communist literature. We seek
neither to substitute for them nor to displace them.
Ours is for these two ends, to serve as a clearing-
house, a center of contact, for the friends of free-
dom here in these coast states, and to serve as a
center and clearing-house for the friends of a Pacific
world around this Pacific Ocean. Will you join us
in this two-fold service? Send us your names. Send
us your subscriptions. Send us other folk's names,
and other folk's subscriptions. Send us gifts for the
work. Send us articles, brief, timely, and to the
point. Come, join with us for a forward movement
in common that we may be free here, and that we
may have fellowship throughout all our Pacific
world.
2
R. W.
a 3
PATRIOTISM
By Fanny Bixby Spencer
The meaning of. patriotism varies continually in
substance and intensity, for it is primarily an emo-.
tion not an idea. Different minds conceive of it dif-
ferently. To some it is simple filial love of country;
to others it is hatred of foreign countries and for-
eign people. In general it is predominating love of
country. It connotes subjection to national author-
ity, rather than responsible civic cooperation. It is
not synonymous with citizenship, nor indispensable
to public morality. It is more inclined to manifest
zeal for existing models than the fervor of reform.
To exalt patriotism without exalting war at the
same time is something like going out to swim with-
out going near the water. In the pursuit of patri-
otism one must either follow it into the deep waters
of war passion, on the basis of "my country right or
wrong," or remain on the shore of these deep waters
in an equivocal position. Back on the terra firma
of humanitarian service, it soon amounts to a denial
of itself, for as it grows it leaps over its national
hedges, becoming international and losing its idenit
as patriotism.
-
___three verse seven, and read as follows:
BRISBUNK |
If the Pacific world is to deal effectively with the
situations which confront us across this greatest of
all oceans there will have to be a deeper wisdom as
regards public affairs and a much greater understand-
ing of a real social science than the Mediteranean
world or the Atlantic world has ever exhibited. The
wise men who came from the Kast, and of whom we
`have heard so much, did nothing for the program
of Jesus, with all their reputed adulation of the
prospective Messiah. There is a lot of supposed wis-
dom which has come to us from the East that is
equally ineffective in forwarding any real program
of world redemption at the point where the Occi-
dent and the Orient confront each other with the
Pacific Ocean between. We are in danger enough
from the insanities and insincerities of fool politi-
cians who break out irresponsibly in Congress and
through the newspapers. But we are in far greater
danger fom the owners of these newspapers them-
selves, and from the "higher foolishness" of clever
paragraphers and special writers who can see noth-
ing for the coming Pacific civilization beyond the
ways which the civilizations of yesterday have pur-
sued. These men who lick the shoe-leather of Rocke-
feller and Morgan in New York, of Henry Ford in
Michigan, and of the Stanfords, Spreckels, and Hunt-
`ingtons in California, and who would make of the
Pacific another arena for the anarchy of individual
competition and a self-seeking joust of shrewdness,
unscrupulousness and wit, are the last men in the
world for whose "gold, and frankincense, and myrrh"
we can afford to fall.
My colleague in the managing editorship of this
paper called my attention, almost as soon as the
words were in print, to the fact that there is
a Bible proverb which seems to be almost a replica of
the modern "as a man thinketh so he is," and comes
nearer to it verbally than the text which I gave as
the nearest approach to it. `out of the heart are the
issues of life.' The words of this other scripture are
to be found in the book of Proverbs, chapter twenty-
"Hat thou
not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither
desire thou his dainty meats; For as he thinketh in
his heart so is he: Wat and drink, saith he to thee;
but his heart is not with thee."
I am not concerned to defend here my former ob-
servation, though as a matter of fact the word used
in the original of this text has nothing to do with
thinking as an intellectual process, and the connec-
tion leads away from our emphasis of thought as su-
perior to life, and not toward it. The word is the
Hebrew, shaar, used elsewhere in designating a gate-
keeper, and has in it the idea of cleavage, separation,
rather than of thinking as a mental process. But this
bit of scholasticism aside, I am referring to it because
the whole passage gets right to the heart of the
thing I want to say here. The writer is urging in
substance: `When you sit down to eat with kings,
or wealthy and powerful folks, be on your guard.
They will show you favors enough, set all kinds of
dainties before you, and tempt you to swallow every-
thing in sight But their hearts are not wtih you,
and there is a great gulf between your interests and
what they are trying to put over. You had better
put a knife to your throat rather than to swallow
eagerly what they give you.
This is mighty good advice to remember when you
read Arthur Brisbane, Frank Crane, The Times edi-
torials, or any of the rest of the verbal "dainties"
served out to you at the tables of the capitalist press
and platform. "Hat and drink saith he to thee, but
his heart is not with thee." All this boom stuff that
Brisbane gets off every now and then concerning
this "vast empire" of Southern California is drugged
wine wherewith to make drunken the middle class
mind which sips so eagerly at the cup of self-in-
dulgent ambition and sectional conceit. Of the same
substance is practically all our promotion literature
and the whole chorus of praise of the Pacific as the
imperialism of tomorrow..
We know what imperialism did for the Mediter-
ranean world, and what it has done and is doing in
the Atlantic world. Boom stuff is the last stuff
which the friends of the Pacific world can afford to
swallow, and we sit at the tables of the mighty at
our own risk whenever their hospitality and bounty
is thrust upon us.
Militarism is the obvious and immediate danger
of the whole Pacific world, on this side and on the
other side of the waters. But back of militarism is
the greater menace of racial, national, and personal
ambition, the old, old stressing of individual interest
and individual cleverness as the way of achievement
and life. "There is death in the cup," as every civi-
lization that has drunken of it has proven We have
less need to fear the loud-mouthed fools of politics
and press than we have the subtle philosophers of
the traditional se!f-seeking schools
"
THE FELLOWSHIP OF
RECONCILIATION
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is a group of
men and women of many races, nations and classes
who recognize the oneness of the world-wide human'
family. We wish to live in the spirit of this true
unity and find out more and more all that it should
mean. To do so we shall have to put away war
and the spirit of enmity, seeking to know instead the
spirit of love that draws men together, in spite
of all differences, in a friendly and united society.
We believe that the spirit of love seen in Jesus of
Nazareth can work through and change all social
relations, industry, politics and international life;
that it is indeed the only foundation for human
society, and the only power which can overcome
evil and call forth the undiscovered good in men.
The attempt to live steadfastly in this spirit will
certainly cost something as the world now is, but
for lack of it the world is going to pieces. War
and famine, imperialism and revolution, racial and
class struggle and almost universal fear abound.
We cannot wait until Somehow the nations are
reconciled, injustice between groups is done away,
or until the churches have found a common path.
War may continue to darken the world and endanger
all that is good; we can take no part in it. Men
may continue to threaten or fear revolution; we
need neither threaten nor fear it, but can give up
the power and desire to dominate our fellows, and
seek to build a common life of such united friendly
effort as will take away the occasion for war and
strife. It will be our aim to let' no interest of self,
family, church, class, race or nation separate us from
any of our fellowmen.
We shall attempt to help one another discover
what this way of life is when it is followed in the
home, in the education of children, in the treat-
ment of criminals, in the relations of commerce and
industry, and in all dealings with our brothers
throughout the world.
We need not wait until all can agree on a theory
or practice of non-resistance or some one social plan;
we are united in seeking such changes in the spirit
of men and the structure of society as shall make
possible the fullest expression of the spirit and
principles of Jesus. Our methods must always be
in harmony with this goal.
It is certain that for such a way of life divine
power is needed. We believe that such power will
be ours increasingly as we venture upon this way
of service in response to the leading of the one
Spirit that unites men in a vast family of brothers.
In order to develop the resources of fellowship,
we seek to express this way of life through existing
institutions rather than to build up another or-
ganization in the usual sense of the term.
Members of the movement are to be found in
- North and South America, in most of the countries
of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in the Islands of
the Sea.
Will you enter the Fellowship? Or, if not ready
to become a member, would you like to be on our
mailing list? You are invited to write to the
secretary. :
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
Sef hase ia acre tsy sic lsioys Cis ies ay Ae een ace IO 2. ki,
The Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation,
396 Broadway, New York City.
I have read the foregoing statement. I am in
agreement with the principles, spirit and aims of
the Fellowship of Reconciliation and ask to be
enrolled as a member.
Na Mey 3. ei arinath ah. cavitiad Hab cla ee peas
(Mr., Mrs., Miss, Rev., etc.)
Address
SOA RAGS OPAL OLS Oni6 Hele #6) "e ue Xa).6)' 0h'56 9 1S)18 10 eles e.laite ele cei eee te
Ge Aer ee sere epee these yen a0 MEO :-0 108 eNO sey oe ee are eel ee sl eters
Occupation cer nn, fan ie
eeeeevece
Note.-If you prefer to be enrolled with the Fel-
lowship of Youth for Peace,-those who are under
thirty, DIeAge Indicate Jt NETGs e cs ses seme' ncadcas,
The movement is supported by the voluntary con-
tributions of its members.
---_-hdr-_-_---
The best way to guard your own liberty is to be
very jealous for other people's rights.
THE VIOLENCE
OF THE RESPECTABLE
CALLES' HOPELESS TASK
By Scott Nearing
Gen. Plutarco Elias Calles, recently inaugurated
president of Mexico, has no more chance than the
retiring President Obregon to conduct a people's
government.
Between 1576, when Porfirio Diaz came into power,
and 1911 when he resigned the presidency of Mexico
under pressure, the country enjoyed peace and order
of a kind. Through these years Mexico grew rich
but the vast majority of the Mexicans were so poor
that they could barely keep body and soul together,
The bulk of the valuable properties were in the
possession of foreigners.
When Diaz came to power, Mexico was an agri-
cultural country, whose land was held in great tracts,
some of them totaling millions of acres. At the
same time, there were many Indian tribes that lived
in communal agricultural villages. Concession to
railroad, mining and other business enterprises help-
ed establish a class of business men in the northern
and eastern sections of the country. Francisco Mad-
ero, leader of the revolution of 1911, was one o
these business men. :
The crucial economic difficulties of Mexico came
with the discovery of oil. H. L. Doheny and a group
of American capitalists began buying up prospective
oil lands in 1900. The first official records show a
production in 1904 of 220,000 barrels; in 1919 pro-
duction stood at 3,332,807 barrels; the next year
it quadrupled. In 1910, Diaz lost his power over
the Mexican people, and he lost it at least in part
because he was then strongly favoring the demands.
of the British (Pearson) interests for oil concessions.
During the revolutions and counter-revolutions of
the next seven years oil played a leading role. At
the beginning of the revolution the struggle was
between business men and landholders. During 1913
and 1914 the agrarian program advocated by Zapata
developed into an effort of the Mexican peons to
secure the land, and of certain wage-earning groups
to influence the revolution in the direction of social
reform.
In consequence of these two powerful forces,
which have practically turned the tide of Mexican
politics in every crisis since 1915, the constitution
of 1917 appeared with two geries of provisions which
were, up to that time, the most advanced in any
constitution. One was the principle that the subsoil
' rights belong to the Mexican people, and not to the
owner of the surface. The other was the code of
social regulations aimed to protect the worker.
The constitution of 1917 is the charter of liberties
which the Mexicans have ever since been striving to
enforce. They have found themselves hindered by
the rich Mexicans and the richer foreign capitalists.
President Obregon carried out certain provisions of
the agrarian program and at times enforced the labor
code, but for the most part he had his hands tied
by the state department at Washington, backed by
the army and navy of the United States.
Has Calles a better opportunity? Not a whit!
He enters office as a Socialist, although in Great
Britain he would be called a Liberal. He is a man
of great energy and determination, and a man who
seems never to have lost sight of the masses. At
the same time, he is at the mercy of the United
States authorities, and should he depart from the
mildly liberal government of his predecessor, he may
expect to reckon with both Wall Street and Wash-
ington.
Mexico needs money and diplomatic support if she
is to make any headway against the oil men. There
is only one way to get that support from the United
States-to do what the oil men want.
---4-_ -___-_.
Will Resist, Law or No Law
CALGARY, Can.-Radical governmental changes
obtained by parliamentary, constitutional methods
must be met by force of arms just as sternly as.
those obtained by violence, declared Gen. Griesbach.
of the Canadian forces to the military institute at
Calgary. He said: "I take it that as soldiers and
citizens loyal to their institutions, you are not pre
pared to accept the dictatorship of the proletariat
patterned on the Russian model WHETHER OB:
TAINED BY CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS OR BY
FORCE. We will best maintain peace by frank de-
claration that Communist propaganda carried to its
conclusion means war."
-Federated Press.
Not socialism but oil will rule Mexico, '
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SS.
FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS
"K
Faith versus Fear in
International Relations
By Clinton J. Taft
Bernard Russell begins the closing chapter of his
book, "Proposed Roads to Freedom," with this signifi-
cant paragraph:
"In the daily lives of most men and women, fear
plays a greater part than hope; they are more filled
with the thought of the possessions that others may
take from them, than of the joy that they might cre-
ate in their own lives and in the lives with which
they come in contact."
J think most of you will agree that Mr. Russell is
absolutely right in this declaration: fear does seem
to be the dominating force under which we cower
and cringe most of the' time. We are barricading
ourselves against this or that foe-imagined or real
-practically all of our waking hours. And frequent-
ly we start up feverishly in our sleep, disturbed by
phantom fears that sweep in upon us out of the dusky
region of the subconscious.
International life is lived upon the same plane.
Harrowing fears grip the hearts of the nations. They
glare at one another across artificial boundary lines;
they jealously watch each others' moves and usually
put the worst possible construction upon everything
that looks the least suspicious. They assume toward
each other the "chip-on-the-shoulder" attitude. "Knock
it off if you dare!" is the veiled or sometimes vocifer-
ous threat.
The psychology of fear is back of the entire mili-
taristic system. It keeps armies and navies going-
and taxpayers digging to pay the huge bills for the
same, now totaling in this country more than 90 per
cent of the national revenue.
Fear inspires the jingoists in all lands to wave the
bloody shirt and keep the people restless.and appre-
hensive of trouble with their neighbors. The yellow
press is constantly engaged in the unholy task of
stirring up suspicions and hatred.
An additional holiday-Mobilization Day, Defense
Day or whatever one of a variety of names applied
to it by the camouflagers you care to call it-was
created in order that we might make a fearsome,
menacing gesture to the rest of the world, especially
Japan.
The exclusion clause of the recent Immigration Act
was another way of saying to the little brown men of
the Sunrise Kingdom: `Keep back-fear Uncle Sam,
for he's a mighty giant, who does not desire you in
his realm. Stay on your side of the Pacific; you are
not worthy of citizenship in this civilized world-
keep your distance."
The "5-5-8" talk that emanates from Washington
and other quarters nowadays is along the same line.
We must increase our naval-building program, we
are told, in order to be "prepared" for a struggle that:
is likely to come with our Oriental competitors.
And the other day Representative Britten of Illinois
jumped up and proposed a conference of the white na-
tions of the Pacific. Why? To further aggravate the
fear in the hearts of the brown and yellow and black
men living around the Pacific.
What an unseemly mess of things this fear propa-
ganda is making. Why not try faith for a while?
Fear harks back to the jungle way of doing things,
it is a reversion to the original type-the animal love
of life-and it is twisting and perverting our modern
world into an unlovely, unshapely mass.
Evolution calls for faith for the progress and per-
fection of her work. Science suggests that we adopt
faith instead of fear as the ruling motive in the
modern world. Every discovery of science in recent
times reveals that the parts of the world, physically
Speaking, are in close alliance with each other; there
is found to be much surface diversity, but under-
neath all there abides fundamental unity.
Anthropology emphasizes the essential unity of the
human race, and if it were not for artificial barriers
raised constantly and magnified we would be dwell-
ing together in fellowship today and working out the
problems of common humanity. Inventions are bind-
ing us together-the railroad, steamship, telephone,
telegraph, automobile, airship, radio, etc. The earth
*K
*K
Five Years of
Labor News
With December, 1924, The Federated Press com-
pletes the first five years of its functioning as
Labor's daily cooperative news service on an inter-
national scale. The 18 labor editors -who incor-
porated the organization in 1919, saw an immediate
expansion that gave the new service promise of
great influence and prosperity.
But the postwar deflation, from which Labor has
not yet fully recovered, brought deperate times to
the F. P. Like the American Federation of Labor
with its successive shrinkage of membership from
1920 to 1924, The Federated Press felt the effect
of the heavy hand on labor by the openshoppers and
the government. Labor papers, on whose assess-
ments for news service the F. P. relied for its in-
come, died like local unions after a long and bitter
and unsuccessful strike. Papers that did survive
had to economize by reducing expenses. Promises
to pay for news service in many cases were not
kept. The F. P. deficit mounted higher. Bond sales
to friendly unions and individuals kept the organ-
ization afloat but added to the deficit.
Still the steady grist of reliable and intelligently
written labor new from the great centers of the
country and from abroad went out day by day to
the labor papers that were able to hang on. New
standards of accuracy and enterprise in labor jour-
nalism spread where the F. P. influence became
known. New toleration within the labor movement
developed where the F. P. motto of a fair deal to
all within the labor field and a fighting front against
all labor's foes was adopted.
Today the F. P. news sheet is mailed every day
to 67 labor papers, including 11 dailies, 44 weeklies
and biweeklies and 12 monthlies. They form a chain
of labor publications of diverse interests and work-
ing creeds but united in their resolve to cooperate
in obtaining labor news independent of the capitalist
`news agencies that are under immediate and con-
stant suspicion where labor interests are concerned.
Whether the F. P. will live to celebrate its 10th,
15th and subsequent birthdays, until it is the dom-
inant news service in an American Labor common-
wealth depends on the integrity with which its tra-
ditional policy is pursued, on the enlightened sup-
port of labor editors of all groupings and on the
resources the organization can tap in personnel and
in money.
has shrunk as it were to the size of a hand-bill; we
can hear nearly all the way round it, and soon I pre-
sume we shall be able to see around it. Physical
proximity of peoples of the earth is becoming more
intensified daily,
Why then should we keep apart socially and spir-
itually? Why not recognize the Biblical dictum as
sound-I mean the one that runs: "God hath made
of one blood all nations that dwell upon the earth,"
and act upon it? Why this everlasting bickering and
backbiting? Why not try the art of fraternizing for
a while? Why not call a congress of,all the peoples
around the Pacific, and there face our common prob-
lems in frank, scientific fashion. Let's begin to treat
each other as brothers and see how the plan works.
Suppose we accentuate similarities for a while in-
stead of differences. How will it do to talk faith
rather than fear for the next ten years?
Perhaps we will actually get to liking one another.
Maybe we will discover unsuspected qualities of good-
ness and genius even in those whom we have been
wont to despise. Underneath skins that are drab
and dusky we may be able to penetrate to hearts that
beat to the highest idealisms, and that can easily
be enlisted in the building of a better world.
Anyhow I think it is high time we quit injecting
fear into the other fellow. That sore of philosophy
and practice has brought the world wellnigh to the
abyss. We can't travel much further along the fear
road without utter destruction. But Faith reaches
out her hand to the nations and promises a new civ-
ilization, a brotherly world based on justice. May
we have the sense to grasp her hand and follow her
lead,
"K
K
A Fellowship Letter
Special Delivery to You through
the Columns of the Open Forum
The members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation
in Los Angeles are hereby asking and urging a close
alignment and affiliation of all the forward looking
people who would like to be associated for the ac-
complishment of the following purpose:
To give a channel of expression to the many indi-
viduals and groups on the Pacific Coast and around
the Pacific Sea, who sincerely wish to avert or to
lessen pending strife and war, and to achieve be-
tween divergent and clashing elements, understand-
ing, fellowship and reconciliation.
We bespeak your cooperation now, this first week
of the first month of 1925, along the lines listed
here:
1. Correspondence. Make yourself known to us.
Tell us of yourself, your associations, church, labor
organization, progessive club.
2. Literature. Put yourself in possession of Fel-
lowship material and pass it around. Much of it is
free, the rest obtainable at a small price. There are
leaflets and pamphlets, and The World Tomorrow,
(monthly $1.00 a year); International Fellowship
News Sheet (monthly 50 cents a year); The Open
Forum (weekly, $1.00 a year)
3. Write, yourself, or give us the names to whom'
Wwe may write, of persons in any other land bordering
on the Pacific Ocean who might wish to join us in
this effort of reconciliation, or who might be able to
send us information bearing on our point, as to con-
ditions on these other shores.
4. Write out briefly the important things which
you believe should be said along these lines. and
send to the Editor of The Open Forum, the Pacific
Coast journal for free expression of opinion.
5. Wherever there is a possible opportunity of a
few, or of many, in your community gathering to-
gether, for discussion, for residence meetings, for a
regular forum, or for study or action along these
lines, let us know if you would not like a visit from
one of our speakers or members. Mr. Robert Whita-
ker, Field Representative of the Fellowship for the
Pacific Coast, will give special attention to these
calls.
6. Tell us whatever you can about your commu-
nity and other persons or groups who might be inter-
ested. Give us, also, any suggestions which might
occur to you, that we may make this matter of Pa-
cific fellowship and reconciliation a living issue,
The members of the Fellowship in Los Angeles are
trying to start at home to establish our unity with
the misunderstood and persecuted peoples in our own
city. Racial and class distinctions are strong and
bitter, and we wish to supplant them with under-
Standing and cooperation, that together the peoples
of our own town, reconciled to each other, may face
and solve the larger problems of our Pacific lands.
So we ask you with us to be definite and concrete
in thinking and acting, until the whole fabric of our
individual, civic and world relationship shall be con-
sistently woven in the pattern of a unified human
race,
Write to us and keep in touch with us.
at 506 Tajo Bldg., Los Angeles.
ETHELWYN MILLS,
Secretary, Los Angeles Group,
Fellowship of Reconciliation,
553 Western Ave.
-_.%___.
The greatest peril of modern society
Is the combination
Between the purchasers of special privilege,
And their parasites,
And the vendors of vice,
And their victims;
Between respectable and disreputable lawlessness.
"Hixtremes meet" in the essentially equal rottenness
Of the "Higher Ups" and the "Slums."
--- -___-_
No man need fear his enemies who is big enough
to withstand his friends.
Address us
c ATT TR renin eM ty oe RTE Le
ac PTE
Haffner gE ST aN
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
LITERARY EDITOR
Esther Yarnell
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz
Fanny Bixby Spencer
Leo Gallagher Ethelwyn Mills
Clinton J. Taft
J H. Ryeckman
Doremus Scudder
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 3, 1925
THE FAITH OF MEN
Oh for a faith, a living faith in Love!
How have we served the gods of wrath and war;
Jehovah, Jupiter, Osiris, Thor:
How have we scorned Heaven's chosen sign, the
Dove,
For eagles screaming in the skies above;
For the maned lion ravaging afar;
The stolid bear beneath the Polar Star;
For the mailed fist, and for the ring-flung glove.
And how have we distrusted gentleness;
The patient, pitying, forgiving mood;
Trust toward our fellows of whatever blood;
The quest for service, and the will to bless.
Strange, when Love opens freely Heaven's Gate,
We are so eager for the Hells of Hate.
ake
ee
WEATHER REPORT
_ `The whoie country appears to be "keeping cool
with Coolidge." Colder weather yet is predicted be-
fore this administration is through.
ee
COMING EVENTS
ROR Rw KK ke ok
NOTE:-No charge is made for these announce-
ments of meetings, but our space limits require that
notices shall be very brief. Meetings mentioned here
must be of some interest to our constituency, and
preference will be given to those not able to advertise
in the capitalist press. Notices must be in our office
not later than Monday night.
-_-__4__
Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall. 233
South Broadway, Sunday evening at 7-30 o'clock.
1 4-______
OPEN FORUM every Saturday evening at 8:00 P.M.
IL.W.W. HALL, 224 S. Spring Street, Room 218.
teresting Speakers-Interesting Subjects.
Subjects for the Month
Jan. 3-Industrial Unionism....... Jack Blair
Jan. 10-French Syndicalism... Tom. Bell
Jan. 17-"Things as They Are"____ Robert Whitaker
Jan. 24-Non-resistance-a Revolutionary
Theory
Paar ak
FREE WORKERS FORUM-FOLK SCHULE,
420 North Soto St., Los Angeies
Jan. 5-Popular Misconceptions of the Race
Problem. Some Modern Aspects of
FAMUDTOPOlOL Ya tsetse ols ret oe ie AsoRall
Jan. 12-Place of Karl Marx in the Labor
Movement
Jan. 19-Nature's Way of Turning Disease Into
FLOQlth 2280) 20 03 D. J. Haskell Kutzer M.D.
Jan. 26-The Fetich of Liberty____ Robert Whitaker
L. J. Greene
_G. Evans
Hind herewith $. 2.72.24. as payment for........
{ Yearly
4 Six Month
{| Three Month
subscriptions to THE OPEN FORUM.
ENGL O casein ere ee nies A eC ei eRe ete at ieee
PROOMO GRE Lele Rei incc tg uo etme su tas ORC,
(Daterassid aloes SS SR ea HA,
"Phe Church of the
New Social Order
The Church of The New Social Order began its
work in Los Angeles, Sunday morning, November
2, 1924, and has held its service each Sunday morn-
ing since that date. The place of meeting is Cleve-
land Hall, in the Walker Auditorium Building, 730
South Grand. The hall is not large. It will seat
comfortably seventy-five or eighty people. By actual
count we have had as many as seventy-eight there
on a Sunday morning. So far we have done little
advertising, both because we are following a con-
servative program with respect to expense, and be-
cause we have not wished to invite the particular
attention of the sensation mongers and the emotion-
al-jag seekers. Any church that goes out after big-
scale expenditure must of necessity make terms with
those who have money. This we know, and there-
fore we are holding our expenses down to the point
where they exercise no restraint upon the freedom
of our message. And every new movement on re-
ligious lines inevitably attracts a considerable fol-
lowing of faddists and fanatics, who will soon find
that they have little in common with our work.
The Church of The New Social Order has no
creed, no membership, no ritual. It is a fellowship
and a platform, a fellowship where all who will
may come together for an hour on Sunday morn-
ings, a platform where the speaker says what he
thinks without concern for any creed or denomina-
tion, and with no desire to emphasize any necessity
of agreement with him. There is a program of
music, reading and teaching, but the Sunday morn-
ing meeting is not a Forum or a Debating Society.
Those who are responsible for the meeting do not
think that such is the most effective way of getting
over the measure of the new church. And it is a
church, however different from other churches it
may be, because some of us think that the church
idea is one we cannot afford to wholly abandon to
those who are serving the established economic
order.
Although the' Church of The New Social Order
has no creed, it has nevertheless a very distinct
and definite foundation of conviction. It is com-
mitted openly and insistently to the repudiation of
the present capitalist system, the whole profit-
making idea as the basis 6f our economic life, and
it is for the new social order of cooperation and eco-
nomic equality as against special privilige and ex-
ploitation. Call it cooperation, socialism, commun-
ism, what you will, we are for the full program of
a non-exploiting society. But as to the manner in
which that society shall come, our's is a "wholly
catholic" church, that is we are willing to fellow-
Ship each other in seeking the new order though we
seek it by different ways. No church can live ef-
fectively without something of a "conviction of sin."
That conviction with us is the "sin" of the present
social system, with which we will make no com-
promise. No church can live without some assur-
ance of "salvation." Our salvation is social, the new
order "in which dwelleth righteousness." But we
are committed to no party, no platform of political
reforms, and to no special program of supporting
this or that man or woman, or set of men and women
for office. It is the need of a new order we em-
phasize, and the spirit of brotherhood in which it is
to be realized.
Robert Whitaker is giving the morning address at
present, and through the month of January will
speak on the following topics:
January 4-CIVILIZATION AND HOMICIDE, A
Study of the Story of Cain.
January 11-RELIGION AND SCIENCE, A Study
of Miracles.
January 18-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.
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.
Los Angeles
OPEN FORUM
MUSIC ART HALL
_ 233 South Broadway
SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK
With the opening of the New Year we enter upon
our seventeenth month at the Los Angeles Open
Forum in Music-Art Hall, 233 South Broadway. The
Forum has been a going concern from its inception,
The hall was filled the very first night, and frequently
since then seats have been at a premium. On several
occasions people have crowded the place to gsuffoca-
tion, many standing for two mours or more. At least
once several hundred were turned away for lack of
space to accommodate them. The average attendance
has been 438. No vacation period was observed dur-
ing the summer.
But more than all this, a high grade of utterance
has been maintained usually from the platform of the
Forum. Speakers who are specialists in their Vari-
ous lines have been sought and secured, and the ut-
most freedom has been accorded them. The ques.
tions and discussions. from the floor have not always
evinced clear-headedness, but they have shown at
least that people are pressing their way toward the
light with whatever degree of intelligence and un-
derstanding they possess. and that the Forum inter-
ests them and helps them.
We repeat therefore what we have often said be-
fore, that the Forum type of meeting is, one that
should commend itself to every community. It makes
for democracy and cultivates the give and take spirit
in humanity.
Our January program, submitted below, will prove
an attractive one we fancy It is one of the best
that we have been able to arrange, offering great va-
riety in the subjects to be presented, and at the same
time dealing with vitally important issues If you
are an enthusiast for the Forum yourself then get
others to come and share its blessings. Let's make
January the banner month of the seventeen. Here
is the menu we have to offer you:
JAN. 4-`MY FIFTY YEARS' FIGHT FOR JUS:
TICE TO THE WORKING MAN," by "MOTHER"
JONES. She is one of the greatest friends that the
cause of labor ever had in America. Like old John
Knox of Scotland, she `never feared the face of
clay." Her efforts in behalf of the miners and oth-
ers oppressed by capitalism have taken her into the
presence of presidents and other dignitaries, where
she has won her cause often when others have failed.
She is now ninety-five years old, but strong of voice
and keen of intellect, and possessed of an unquench-
able desire to obtain justice for the oppressed. To
hear her will fire you with a passion for righteousness
such as you have not hitherto felt. Music by M.
FISH, baritone-a series of Russian songs.
JAN. 11-"SHALL WE GIVE THE NEGROES OF
THIS COUNTRY A SQUARE DEAL?" There will
be two speakers, MRS. LILLIAN WILLIS on "FUN-
DAMENTAL WRONGS," and DR. H. C.. HUDSON on
"THE DIFFICULTIES AND HOPES OF THE NE-
GROES.' The latter is the newly-elected president of .
the local branch of The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. Both are excel-
lent speakers and will strongly present the case of
the black man. Th program will begin with music
by colored people, the names of the artists to be an-
nounced later.
JAN. 18-"BIRTH CONTROL," by MARGARET
SANGER of New York-yes, we mean the original
and only Margaret Sanger, the one who has pio-
neered and suffered through the years in her insist-
ence upon the right of women to know how to con-
trol the number of their offspring. -She is coming to
the Pacific Coast to deliver a number of addresses
and will give the first one at our Forum. Music by
MISS HELEN MUCHNIC, child violinist
JAN. 25-DEBATE: "RESOLVED, THAT THE
1924 IMMIGRATION LAW SHOULD BE SO AMEND-
ED AS TO ADMIT JAPANESE ON THE SAME BA-
SIS AS EUROPHANS." 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.
An appetizing program I believe you will say. Re
member that Sunday night, 7:30 o'clock, is the time.
`Be prompt, get informed in advance on the subjects
to be presented, come prepared to ask questions to
the point and to add: something of value to the dis
cussion, and withal practice tolerance toward the
other fellow always. Pea BAITS,
Wp ae AE cate aia iia a ncaa Balke foe
eg eee a os Se eee ee a Re ee ee gee ee.