Open forum, vol. 2, no. 10 (March, 1925)
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THE OPEN FORUM -
A Pacific World around the Pacific Sea.
LON
ER, ce enGaen
fon, Wels? LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MARCH 7, 1925 No. 10
sual
are
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e ' j
I D ed Courage, Friends!
" Consummate 10cy, Vamn
D i By John Haynes Holmes
i lj h ' in :UNEEY; Chicaga, it.
ii H isnness, an orse
Ki OO ; 2 :
how "It is becoming increasingly evident every day that
PH the tides of courage and hope in the hearts of
B j i W Pinkh m Liberals in this country are on the ebb. These tides
y enry . a have been running out pretty steadily ever since
TA" : : : the crushing disappointment of the election in No-
e Association To Abolish War
dat: Secretary, Th vember. This disappointment might well have been
lere encountered without spiritual disaster had it not
tish : ae : been for the fact that it was only one of a suc-
: imi ost a egard the faith in a future life
We Wateis the very limit of homan' folly, the! m Wen ere eure : +8 t cession of disheartening reversals. The sudden col-
idioti ocedure of which men are capable. The -gave as they are bound up with living men, no
tua: idiotic proc : l It i lapse of the MacDonald Government in England and
re quite incapable of the like: They do not corpses. The eye affords a helpful analogy. is 1d
will brutes are qd igen ; es te cent the firm entrenchment of the Baldwin Tory ministry
kill their kind collectively and seldom individually. beautiful in itself, but only when it is an organ ic in offiee for an fideuiite patted) ates atreee ames
is d d, not because it is horrible, not be- the living body. Its function is to serve the life : oe p eR
War 18 coonted, : , i : 3 : if the Herriot ministry in France with its inevitable
it is wicked, but because it is foolish. Rous- that nourished it, and it perishes when that life : :
INT cause it is wicked, e : ; t disappearance just around the corner, the fresh out-
id that the rulers of states would refrain ceases. To die to save one's eyes would be to
Lere seau Sal a is ; : ld not break of brutal tyranny in Italy, the everdeepening
sj if they knew their own interests: "They sacrifice the greater to the less, and it would no : AE ;
310g from war 1 y a g 5 li darkness of misery and despair in Germany, Austria
d to be good, generous, disinterested, pub- save the eyes! Dying that one's country may live
ate, do not need to be good, : : ee: ; : and Hungary and Central Europe generally, the un-
| ic-spirited, humane. They may be unjust, greedy, is likewise a self-defeating procedure the character
Las, lic-spirited, : : ; : : : : necessary and rather silly squabbles among the Bol-
ine their own interests above everything else; of which is hidden by the unconscious assumption ae
eri: putting the : ti. Sheviks in Russia, all these and other signs of the
ly ask that they shall not be fools." That that relatively only a few of the people that consti :
" pecan a t h to t t ill ever do it. A country lives in sweeping reaction that has so suddenly engulfed the
Ling seems a modest request, perhaps no eet ~ i e Be oe 4 y a dae ore Sea aa aad Liberal Renaissance of a year ago, have served to
ity, ask of the people of a country as ae eee = the min sai ae AARNE anieale oERy tee ts die 0Verwhelm, for the time being, the hearts of Liberals
ek eee Big es, (Oday pHa oy. (c) oy i ay Pei eee nie Be ee if would uot live. If everywhere. Enthusiasm has suddenly been trans-
fools." One needs only to look at war in Its e the Gee Re eee Oh tivel formed into apathy, courage into cynicism, faith into
HE reality to see that fools may be graded thus: First, nine-tenths should die, it would be comparatively `i a : (Onesie Gee : :
i i ; fools; third, a very poor sort of country that would survive. Let Momentary despair. , What is the use,' seems
SIA plain ordinary fools; second, damned ; : : ee ee to be the prevailing sentiment. Even the February
ken believers in war. those who prate how admirable it is to die for a :
: : : la. conference of the Progressives, so well warranted
old ; : . country specify the maximum fraction of the popu :
2" There is no doctrine so palpably foolish as not 1GNUEBGE Shae doudid advamiaesolialy tautheccountry by the popular vote rolled up by Mr.-La Follette in
i to have been accepted by some people at some time. ee a ee `eins men amacenied inode the face of the tidal wave which swept the land,
1ey Today war is generally esteemed the only available Sec ete At he well to die whether they can seems to stir no confidence and threatens momen-
ong means by which in certain circumstances precious tablishe Be ak lous Ya mehorhe ckcacded fa the tarily to be abandoned for sheer lack of support.
: human interests can be saved and human progress e any ae a a tay al This ebbing of the spiritual tide is inevitable, we
3 promoted. The prevalence of this theory does not Passion that wa g : suppose, but it cannot be in any way permanent.
a prove its correctness. In fact it is sheer nonsense, Doubtless there are certain good things that the jt ig only natural that the spirit should occasionally
abysmal folly. Apply a little common sense-just World War brought in the immense complex of its grow weary in its dark hours. "Tired Radicals"
a few grains will suffice-to the subject and you will consequences. But the net result was immeasurable appeared during the black hours of the war, and
sled see that in the nature of the case war is always the loss, immeasurable in particular because no one will yow they are appearing again. The law of move-
a worst course that can be chosen. Franklin was ever know what potential artists, poets, inventors, ment, as Herbert Spencer tells us, is rhythm-a fact
san right when he said: `There never was a good war medical discoverers, statesmen, saints and seers, by which explains the present slump, and which also
vA or a bad peace." For what is war? It is collective whom humanity would have been enriched, there gyarantees a certain revival sooner or later. We
va homicide. The immeasurable foolishness of it lies were among the millions whom the war turned into are now in the trough of the waves, but we shall
a in this undeniable fact, to-wit, that a living human' corpses. We only know that a large part of the goon again mount to the crest. Courage, friends!
10d being is preferable to a corpse. There may be indi- choice youth of the peoples that led the van of The stream of life flows onward, never backward.
fot vidual exceptions to this statement, as defenders of human progress have been killed before their prom- -The stars in their course now as ever are fighting
ont capital punishment evidently hold. Something may ise could be fulfilled, that multitudes more will spend for the right. God's face may seem to be hidden,
1 i be said for the legal killing by organized society of their years with impaired vitality and perverted put he stands within the shadow, keeping watch
Ky individuals that have proved themselves dangerous minds and hearts. The dead can not be brought above his own."
il to human life. But in war the killing is not selec- ack to life. The loss is irreplaceable. Compared irjase gelarae
al tive but indiscriminate. In war good men kill good with this loss, which falls on both sides with approxi-
a .men by wholesale; choice youth from universities mate equality, the military issue, victory or defeat,
ID: 2 b
kill choice youth from universities; honest, home- ig a trifling matter. Human life is the most precious THE MENACE OF FEAR
lovin i i -lovi - i i Seo ss i alth but life," ;
` . Reeaemen wa honest aa ee huey Sete thing, 10 oe yous eae it rt: j : ` Washington.-Fear is today the actual underlying
Ingmen; Christians kill Christians. The word that gaid Ruskin: "that country is the richest which : ; ` oe ry
fit wk i ae : : : : motive of American foreign missionary activity,
S such conduct is insanity. It is irrationality with- nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy where. fermorly the motive waaipitysae lene
out sti imi ; i i = : ` : ; :
ee aoe eee ae eee uM Dyer, "terribly and tragically inadequate,' Dr. Hugh
the more i aati yen ae = aries ane When we succumbed to the general mzdness-and Thompson Kerr, of Shadyside Presbyterian Church,
a use our age or ee - coe er plane's entered the World War, we played the fool. There Pittsburgh, told the Foreign Missions Convention in
oe ne aunaticvasyhun: you have it, plain and flat. To avoid another war- Washington.
i Invariably each belligerent group deems itself adapting Rousseau's language-we do not need to "Fear presses on all sides," he said; "racial fear,
1 Tighteous and the enemy wicked. In point of fact, be good, generous, disinterested, public-spirited, hu- fear of ga possible rising tide of color, economic and
pe both sides inevitably sink to practically mane. We may be unjust, greedy, putting our Own industrial fear, fear lest the great surplus of raw
2 ae ee level far Belov Ss instinctive life interests above everything else; provided only that material in Asia and Africa and the unlimited sup-
4 a es. The Moral Order inflicts on each side we shall not be fools. ply of cheap labor may in time slow down the
- aa ooo meenproximately the as DUD ay As the counterpart of Winston Churchuill's strik- Wheels of our own industrial life. Then there is
on indicates that the transgression of each is ing "Shall we Commit Suicide?" let us ask, "Shall Political and military fear, the fear of arming mil-
a es the same. History fully warrants the We Be Fools?" And further "shall We i8e Damned lions of the Hast, who can count hundreds to our
set atta on ee Chitstausy praise Put do." woqisdiy aang etill fubehebacShall (we ha pamced unites?
` : y that take the sword shall perish Pools Bluse -Federated Press.
i the sword." If war were universal and perpetual, ` a ge
euro race woul i j : A
man life nt oa a oe heres ee An effort is being made to repeal the criminal They are slaves who fear to speak
tion. cil in the process of self-destruc- syndicalism act at the legislature. Friends of the For the fallen and the weak,
; law need have no fear about its safety, for any legis- They ane Slaves who dare not be
No idealistic aims can possibly justify the collec- lature that passed such an idiotic piece of hokum will In the right with two or three.
ae destruction of human life. For even of the never have sense enough to repeal it. Until: the -_-_- ax-___-
ave commanding ideals it is true, as Jesus said of present body is cleaned out, the act will remain one "Hyde Park meetings and soap-box oratory consti-
a a Sabbath, that they were made for man and of the most unjust laws of the state. tute the most efficient safety-valve against resort by
`oll `Ol man for them. However beautiful in themselves, . -Douglas W. Churchill.
idea : ;
Is have no authority, value, or reality, as far as
In Illustrated Daily News .
discontented to physical force.'
Justice Hughes (trial of N. Y. Ass'ymen).
EEE UR Noreen BS ce a ean
What Labor Gets
By Leland Olds
Federated Press Industrial Editor
Machinists, boilermakers and molders got a smaller
proportion of the value which they created in 1923
than they received in 1914 according to the census
of manufacturers for which preliminary figures have
been issued by the department of commerce. In
the 10-year period the per capita value of the work
done by these metal trades mechanics has increased
122.2% while their per capita wage has increased
only 113%.
The 1923 figures for foundry and machine shop
products shows 449,040 workers employed in 8,532
establishments in contrast with 362,471 employed in
10,640 shops in 1914. The industry is gradually con-
centrating in fewer and larger establishments, the
average number of workers per establishment rising'
from 34 to 52.
The total value of foundry and machine shop prod-
ucts in 1923 was $2,337,807,997 and the value added
in the process of manufacture over and above the
cost of materials and supplies was $1,401,079,988. In
1914 the industry produced goods with a total value
of $866,545,000 and the work performed was worth
$508,423,000. The wage bill for performing this work
was $244,146,000 in 1914 and $642,649,017 in 1923. The
Share received by the workers decreased from 48%
to less than 46%.
Comparative data from the four consuses of this
industry in the last decade reduced to a per capita
basis are as follows:
Per capita 1914 1919 1921 1923
BW OSes eye GR se oS. 673. -$1,288) 7$1,283 $1434
photad. OULDUT. sas DOO es 44d Odd 20D
Walle saAdded (22.4 LSSUB a Ae Som ea Di OSOL toy Loe
These figures do not cover all the workers in the
country employed in foundry and machine shops.
There are many such establishments connected with
specialized industries which are included with those
industries in the census like agricultural implements,
automobiles, cast iron pipe, electrical apparatus, -en-
gines, locomotives, machine tools, stoves, etc. The
more general shops making a variety of products
are represented here. But they show the general
situation of workers in the metal trades unions.
The average wage is insufficient to support a nor-
mal family in decency and comfort. It is in every
year so close to the bare substance level as to mean a
constant menace to the growing children dependent
upon it. The inability of these wage earners to
secure the greatest possible improvement in their
situation is due to capital's steadily increasing share
of the industry.
LS Gone Sve
HELP FOR THE FILIPINOS
A new move to help the Filipinos in their efforts
for independence has been organized by the Fellow-
ship of Reconciliation, an international religious-
pacifist organization with American headquarters in
New York City,.of more than 3400 members scatter-
ed throughout this country, according to a statement
given out at the Fellowship offices today.
In forming the Committee for Philippine Inde-
pendence, the Fellowship is the first organization to
cooperate with the Filipinos in bringing pressure to
bear upon Congress for complete independence for
the Philippine Islands.
As a demonstration of its spirit of cooperation the
Fellowship plans, among other things, to send a
delegation of Americans to the Islands bearing the
message of good-will and the promise to work for
Filipino freedom.
"The Fellowship sees in the continued holding
of the Philippine Islands by the United States an
act of imperialism which will increasingly foster
suspicion and hostility on the part of the Filipinos
and repressive methods on our own part, both lead-
ing to the possibility of ultimate conflict," Bishop
Paul Jones, Secretary of the Fellowship, states.
"Instead of waiting for this crisis to arrive the
Fellowship, in accordance with its policy of foster-
ing understanding and good-will among all races,
nations and classes, has organized the Committee
for Philippine independence to create a nation-wide
public opinion which will redeem the assurances of
independence we have given to the Filipinos."
Among the members of the Committee for Philip-
pine independence are Roger N. Baldwin, Scott Near-
ing, Jackson C. Phillips, Edward Richards, Josefa
Llaunes, Paul Jones, Charles Ervin, Kirby Page and
Anna N. Davis, chairman.
BRISBUNK
The very emphatic denunciation of war with which
Henry W. Pinkham leads off this issue of THE
OPEN FORUM may offend some of our ultra respec-
table readers with its plain-spokenness, and espe-
cially with its appeal to the language of the street in
setting forth the colossal stupidity of war. The
writer of it, when I first knew him, was a Baptist
minister, but revolted from the formalisms of that
degenerate denomination and went out from their
decadent dogmatisms to the intellectual modernism
of Unitarianism. Pinkham has fared very little bet-
ter with the Unitarians than he did with the Bap-
tists. His personal excellence was admitted in both
instances, and his character has commanded a cer-
tain personal toleration denied his views. But the
Unitarians are like all the rest of the sectarians,
cowardly conformists and traders in theological tech-
nicalities who seek to cover up their present truck-
ling to the powers that be by shouting loudly the
names of the heroes of the past. They were as
crazy for the war as any other bunch of religious
Pharisees, and they are as set on the service of
Mammon as any orthodox crew of religionists
could be. Pinkham has held his ground, and at
large cost to himself has managed to keep up a con-
tinuous testimony against war. He is now the Sec-
retary of "THE ASSOCIATION TO ABOLISH WAR,"
whose address is 7 Wellington Terrace, Brookline,
Mass. In his letter accompanying the article he
writes:
"Perhaps my title is somewhat raw for your deli-
cately nurtured readers. In that case I suggest as
a substitute: `WAR THE UNAPPROACHABLE
LIMIT OF IRRATIONALITY.' That will sound bet-
ter to some than damfoolishness. My last three line
paragraph may be omitted if it is deemed too heav-
ily laden with damns. (I do like that word damn.)
I like `THE OPEN FORUM' very much. Success to
you in all your good enterprises."
I am publishing the article just as Pinkham sent
it. If the verbal emphasis offends any of our read-
ers I will gladly publish, not their protests, but any
evidence they have to offer that they are doing them-
selves anything serious in the effort to withstand
war, or making any such sacrifices as Pinkham has
made. Ninety-nine one hundredths of the nice peo-
ple who are protesting nicely against war will be
hollering for it like bloody Indians as soon as the
next war gets fairly under way. No moral reac-
tion against war that does not drive the man who
feels it to the point of desperation in expressing
himself is likely to be strong enough to withstand
the social pressure for war when an actual war crisis
comes.
But it is not for this I am commenting on Pink-
ham's article in this column. Much ag I admire
him, and glad as I am to give space to his spirited
denunciation of war, damns and all, I am bound
to say in all openness that his argument to my mind
falls far short of being the last word. There is a
good deal of Brisbunk about the notion that all you
have to do to stop war is to tell folks how utterly
stupid it is. Adding cuss words to your statement
of the case against war may relieve your own feel-
ings, but it will not add to the actual idiocy of war,
nor to the power of that persuasion to put war out
of business.
Men do not fight because it is sensible to fight, any
more than they fight because it is Christian to fight.
Christians;,in spite of all their lying to themselves
and to others, know that war is the repudiation of
Jesus. Also folks who do not call themselves Chris-
tians know that war is the repudiation of common-
sense. They know they are fools to engage in war
under modern conditions, damn fools, if you please.
But they fight because they are dominated by the
State, and because they abdicate both their religion
and their sense when the State tells them to do it.
As long as the State says fight they will fight, though
fighting becomes a hundredfold more unchristian
and more idiotic than it is. Hither the State will
repudiate war, or else to get rid of war men will
have to repudiate the State. There is the whole thing
in a nutshell. Patriotism means war ag long as
States resort to war. And States will resort to war
aS long as the folks who run States want war. The
issue is, How can the Masters of States be brought
to see that' war must not be?
The, vert doubtful whether they can be brought
to that decision so as to act effectively upon it un-
til they hav ceased the economic warfare which as
. mess of pottage?
Land of the Free
As a result of a speech before the Terre Haute
Open Forum by Roger N. Baldwin on last Armistic,
Day the Fort Harrison Post of the Legion has adop}.
ed a resolution asking the Open Forum hereafter ty
allow it to censor its speakers. The Legion objectej
to Mr. Baldwin's record as a conscientious-objecto;
during the war and criticized his address on Armis.
tice Day as an insult to ex-service men.
Mr. Baldwin has sent a reply to the Legion's rego.
lution in which he says:-
"Tf you gentlemen are as patriotic as you Profess,
you ought to be familiar with facts and principle
which you appear to ignore. Is it possible that you
do not know that free speech for everybody is one
of our most cherished American traditions? Do yoy
know that suppression and censorship are the auto.
cratic weapons of tyrants,-indeed of that Prussian.
ism against which you fought in the World War?
Do you not know that there is more danger to Ameri.
can democratic institutions today from the suppres.
sion and intolerance of reactionary interests than
from all labor and radical crowds put together?
"Is it possible that you do not know that liberty
of conscience is another principle embedded in
American law and tradition? Quakers, Mennonite
and other religious sects which came to this country
for religious freedom, are all opposed to war as a
method of settling anything,-and hundreds of their
members refused military service as conscientious
objectors. Do you account them as less patriotic
than you because they obeyed their conception of
Jesus' teaching?
"If you gentlemen support the constitution you
must support free speech. You cannot reconcile
loyalty to the Constitution with your request to the
Open Forum to censor its speakers."
Eugene V. Debs has taken up the cudgels on be
half of an uncensored Forum and is preparing to
take public issue with the local Terre Haute Legion,
3B Federated Press.
e-_-_-_----_
"And though all the winds of doctrine were let
loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field,
we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to
misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood
grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in
a free and open encounter?"
Milton, Areopagitica.
--_ 3-____-__
AFTERMATH
Indignant Citizen: "Anybody who says only people
who were scared voted for Coolidge, is a liar! |
voted for him and I aint scared of anything or any:
body-I voted for him because there would have
been a panic if he hadn't been elected."
The Other Fellow: "But I don't see why a brave
man like you should care whether things stay as
they are or get worse-you should be perfectly in
different about the matter."
Indignant Citizen: "I voted for prosperity, you
boob, prosperity, understand?"
The Other Fellow: "I. get you. Let's talk about
something else. Ever hear of that parable in the
Bible about the gent that sold his birthright for 4
Very interesting, I assure you.' |
Indignant Citizen: "Why the dickeng can't yol
fellows stay on one subject?"
a continuous policy results in the occasional explo
sions of military violence.
American financiers today are mixing more and
more in foreign investments. The American State
is more and more openly the servant of the Ameet:
ican financier. If our financiers can arrive at some
"gentlemen's agreement" with the financial free-boot-
ers of other nations, so as to secure an amicable -
division of the spoils, capitalism may possibly work
out an international pooling of plunder which cal
be carried out without resort to international warfare.
In that case the class war will become a vast intel
national conflict against a vast internationalism of
exploitation. This is the nature of that peace whicl
capitalism is going to give us, if it can give ws
even this much. And cussing about it ig of 20
particular consequence if we do not see that only -
the Super-State can prevent the local State from
driving us into the shambles again, and unless the
Super-State is the Workers' State it will be the St
preme Tyrant which the United Workers of Ticent 0x00B0
World will have to overthrow.
ve
us
U
-appear and they were forthwith dismissed.
FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS
"K *K *k
The Aftermath of Los
Angeles' Washington
Birthday Celebration
That the police had no real reason for arresting
the men at the Plaza on Feb. 22nd is beginning to
appear. They released two of them the next morning
without placing any charge against them. Thursday
afternoon when the cases of two others came up
pefore Judge Richardson the prosecution failed to
The
city attempted no prosecution because they realized
that they had no damaging evidence against these
men. It is doubtful if any of them will be prose-
cuted when their cases are called. Several, includ-
ing Attorney Gallagher, have asked for jury trials
and their cases have been put over until April 6th.
Last week officials of the Civil Liberities Union
had a number of "heart to heart" talks with the
mayor, chief of police, captain of the Plaza precinct
and city prosecutor relative to the arrests that were
made on the 15th and 22nd of February, and as a
result the police are likely to be a little more cautious
how they "put their feet into it" again down at the
Plaza. The Union conducted another free speech
meeting there last Sunday afternoon at which At-
torney Gallagher and Rev. Clinton J. Taft spoke.
Neither of them were molested by the police, and
though the crowd was a big one the meeting
went off in a most orderly way. It was made plain
by both speakers that the Union had no intention
of aiding or defending rowdyism, but that it would
gladly assist those whose constitutional liberties
were being trampled upon.
Rev. Bob Shuler spoke at the Plaza immediately
after the close of the meeting conducted by the
Union. He declared himself for free speech in that
area for the "atheists and infidels" as well as the
preachers, and during the question period which
followed he made it clear that he did not approve
of the sort of arrests that have been made there
during the past two Sundays. No one was picked
up by the police down there last Sunday.
The wretched, unwarranted experience to which
these men were subjected-the ones thrown into
jail-is well brought out by the following letter from
one of them:
* * *
Los Angeles, Cal., 2-23 725.
Mr Ce Je watt,
Chairman Civil Liberties Union,
506 Tajo Bldg. Los Angeles, Cal.
Dear Sir:
The following is a statement of an arrest I was
Subjected to yesterday, Feb. 22nd. I arrived at the
~ Plaza somewhere around 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
Shortly after my arrival street meetings had come
to a close, and as I was about ready to leave I was
approached by a man who handed me some literature
which was of a religious nature. This same person
started a discussion and explained to me all about
his religion, and I in turn gave him a piece of my
"mind. The whole discussion was of a friendly
nature and lasted for about ten or fifteen minutes.
When ready to depart I was approached by two
characters who represented themselves by showing
a bolice badge as. officers of the law. I was told
I was a very active person, and after being searched
On the public street I was taken to the city jail and
locked up. When I protested against my arrest and
pointed out the partiality shown by arresting me
and not the other person I was told that he was
alright as he had religious opinions.
At the city jail I learned that my arrest was made
by a person with the name of Edwards, and I forget
the name of the other. I was held on suspicion of
Criminal Syndicalism. I made a check of the prison-
i were in the same tank where I was confined,
pi Sere 43 men and 36 bunks. I tride to sleep
er a half hour or so was forced to abandon
ee as the vermin were crawling over me and
Wane me from sleeping. I also saw other men
tn tine S ihe Steel floor in front of their bunks, and
in Heys et I was informed by them that sleeping
eae, unks was impossible. At five o'clock we
en a breakfast of hash, dry bread and black
. damentalists is practically this:
coffee. About nine o'clock I was with other prisoners
taken to the office where my finger prints were taken
several times and also two pictures. Around 11
o'clock I was taken to the office again and after a
number of bulldozing remarks I was finally released.
My belongings were returned to me except a union
card of an organization of which I was a member
at the time of my arrest, and also a membership
receipt from the Civil Liberties Union and receipts
for subscriptions to various papers. This ended my
experience with law and order.
In conclusion I wish to state that I have lived in
Los Angeles for more than three years, have always.
made my living by the hardest kind of work, own my
own home, and have been steadily employed for the
last year on the same job. I enclose a newspaper
clipping which might result in my discharge from my
job. Thus a masterly piece of work by law and
order and its mouthpiece will have been completed.
Sincerely,
(Signature)
a
Modern Inconegruities
By Fanny Bixby Spencer
I am sitting by the fire this morning reading The
Times, but I seem to be standing on my head.
Hither I or the world is upside down-I am sure of
that.
I am contemplating the headline, ``Women Strike
New Note." It seems that a conference of women
is convening in Washington to discuss peace.
"Women! New Note! Peace!" Could anything be
more hope-inspiring? I look further. It is the
Women's Council of National Defense. Its purposes
are "summed up" as follows:
"We are gathered here to hear intelligent discus-
cussion of the safety of our country and not pro-
paganda in behalf of the wide world.
"We are those women who are not and were not
afraid to raise our sons to be soldiers.
"We are those women who wonder what would
have happened in '76 if the Colonial mothers had
been afraid to raise their sons to be soldiers.
"We are those women who felt the intimate touch
of war and who therefore believe it is necessary
for us to know what measure of national defense
is necessary and what measure of national de-
fense exists.
"We are those women who believe that the protec-
tion of national rights is righteous and that the
way to protect them is to be prepared to protect
them."
The program follows: Brig-Gen. Hugh H. Dunn on
"Causes and Prevention of War"; Dwight F. Davis,
Assistant Secretary of War on, "Industrial Prepared-
ness", Maj.-Gen. Ely A. Helmich on "Undermining
the Youth of the Nation."
Visions of Hindenburg and Ludendorf! The ap-
peal of the Kaiserin to the Mothers of the Father-
land in 1914! Women! New Note! Peace!
I turn to the local section of the paper, hoping to
find something less puzzling to the lay intellect. I
learn that Rev. W. B. Riley, nationally known pioneer
fundamentalist speaks tonight at the Bible Institute
on the subject, "Resolved that Evolution as Taught
in the Public School is Unscientific, Unscriptural
and anti-Christian"; also that he is organizing a
"Society of Defenders of Science."
Again my unprofessional mind is put to it to work
out the motive. I suppose that the attempt of the
fundamentalists to wrest science from the scientists
and defend it from its rightful sponsors is the logical
complement of the modernist movement which
would wrest religion from the religionists and ration-
alize its ancient superstitions. The retort of the fun-
"Tf you take from
us our stock in trade by destroying our literal
dogmas, we will encroach on your preserves and dis-
tort your findings."
I am reminded of a young man of my acquaintance
-a very good and sincere young man-who has
specialized in science in his university course and
Aeroplane Brisbunk
Mr. Arthur Brisbane,
Hearst Papers, New York City.
Dear Sir:
We are "sick and tired" of your everlasting harp-
ing on the building of airplanes. We expect some-
thing different from a man of your supposed intelli-
gence. In the first place, why did we go to war-
to end it? Then why does a leader of thought con?
tinue to stir up the hatred and rivalry of our former
allies and demand the building of 10,000 airplanes at
the cost of hundreds of millions of the people's "hard
earned money' when we have already paid
$1,000,000,000 for-not one.
Why not in your position, reaching the. ears of
millions of people every day, preach and teach the
outlawry of war and make your column educational
towards a better world, not a stirer up of hatreds?
Now that the League of Nations has added a proto-
col with the firm intention of outlawing war as a
method, and setting up a tribunal for the adjudication
of governmental disputes, as we have for personal
disputes, let us not stand aloof with a chip on our
shoulder just looking for or fomenting trouble, but
let us join the international congress and find the
better, juster way, and then we will have all these
billions to use for the benefit of all the people
who created them. We could then eliminate the fear
and poverty of old age by all kinds of social insur-
ance, by the people, and for the people. The govern-
ment has no right to tax the people and use it for
destructive purposes. The object of government is
to see that justice is done to all its people.
Have we arrived at that state? I need not tell
you that we have not-but you, the mouth-piece
speaking to. the masses, for the masses, have the
greatest opportunity of all. Pray use if for the
making of the best of all possible worlds.
Kate-Crane Gartz
who is now bending all his mental forces to find
scientific proof of the virgin birth. He tells me ear-
nestly of lice that breed without spermatozoa and a
hermaphrodite chicken which laid and hatched a
self-fertilized egg. I have asked him three questions:
"Why do you wish to prove the virgin birth? If this
belief is vital to your happiness, why not take it on
faith and stop perverting science? Are you not de-
stroying the poetry of the doctrine by exposing it
to the scrutiny of science?"
I wish that Dr. Riley and my young man friend
had the good sense of a science instructor whom I
knew at Wellesley College. She was an orthodox
Episcopalian and said frankly that she kept her
science and her religion in separate boxes. This
segregation at least keeps science pure.
Peace and national defense; the virgin birth and
science! Juxtaposition is the secret of color. This
precept I was taught in the art school. Put: green
beside red to intensify the latter; a dash of blue will
bring out your orange. My mind now thirsts for
briNiant contrasts, strident "new notes" and bold
juxtaposition of color.
I find my satisfaction on the last page of the paper.
"Wobblies Counsel in Plaza Row." Leo Gallagher is
arrested on a charge of "disturbing a religious meet-
ing." It is said that the disturbance occurred `in
the `free speech' district of the Plaza." I gather from -
the somewhat involved article that Mr. Gallagher was
making a speech. Apparently he was both practic-
ing and advocating free speech in the "free speech
area" of the city. He was accompanied by Clinton
J. Taft and Robert Whitaker of the American Civil
Liberties Union. To protect the "free speech area"
from speeches on free speech by intelligent and
rational speakers the police "averted a riot'? by caus-
ing one, and a religious meeting in progress near by
was disturbed. The.right of free speech is enforced
by the heroic method of forcible suppression.
My morning reading has given me the feeling ex-
pressed by a tramp boy who used to "blow in" oc-
casionally at the Newsboy's Club which I kept years
ago. When complications would arise in the life
of the club he would knit his brow-unused to the
painful processes of consecutive thought-and say
disconsolately, "It would take a Chinie lawyer to
straighten out this mess."
OE Awe ONS
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