Open forum, vol. 7, no. 9 (March, 1930)

resistance.

| "ll be doing things."

7 tity

e

6 REZ

THE OPEN FORUM

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. -Milton

=e

Vol. 7

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MARCH 1, 1930

No. 9

SOUNDINGS AND BEARINGS

By RALPH V. CHERVIN

[ HAS given one food for thought to read and

[x so much about Russia. And now India

jooms on the horizon. There is no question that

ll lovers of freedom would like to see India free.

put estimating the value of such freedom from a pro-

letarian standpoint, one may conclude that it is

gvervalued. In its core, it is a nationalistic move-

ment, The people at the head of it are either pro-

fessional intelligentsia or native officials who by

virtue of the offices they are filling help the British-

as to govern the country. And when the British

yoke is overthrown, the same people may perpetu-

ate themselves in their offices and govern India ac-

cording to their own cultural lights perhaps, but

govern nevertheless.

With all its enigmatic culture, India can neither

escape nor withstand the invasion of the Machine

Process, and the most telling economic value that

can be accrued from throwing off the British yoke

is that such onward step will quicken the moment

of realization by the machine proletariat, which is as

yet in a comparatively embryonic stage, that a

native Hindu exploiter is almost as bad as a British

one.

But there is in this movement for independence

a potential moral value in the methods selected to

gain freedom, i. e., through non-violence and passive

When such thinkers as Henri Barbusse,

Romain Rolland and others who lend a decidedly

impressive tenor to Huropean radical thought, see in

non-violence a great moral value of economic im-

port, perhaps it would be worth while for us, the

American radicals, to take the philosophy of passive

tesistance and non-cooperation more seriously and

study it in order to understand it more fully and

ise it for our own future needs, if we find it work-

able, because there is no question that if India

lees itself by the method of non-cooperation, it may

shake, without necessarily dislodging it, to the very

loundation our own philosophy based on revolution-

aly aggressiveness and initiative, which it seems is

the decline. This brings us to "the land of the

ite," and it is high time for us American radicals

0 make soundings and take bearings in order to

mientate ourselves.

When we analyze our movement, we are prompted

0 conclude that the majority of us are has-beens

low. And, in these demoralized times, we are get-

ting too apathetic, it seems, to make a come-back.

We have become mechanistic automata and no

longer Subscribe to the Marxian philosophy. We

`xplain everything by and lay the blame on the eco-

lomic conditions and environments. We have no

| ideas and no philosophy. An idea to us is merely

audible spasmodic movement of the larynx. And

`ut philosophy is to find an excuse for our inertia

'Y consoling ourselves mutually with: "Time is

lot yet, when it is ripe and conditions demand we

Yes, conditions demand!

Don't they demand now?

When in a city the size of Los Angeles we do not

`niribute enough to pay the rent for our Open

`orum-the stock exchange of our mental inven-

Oty-things indeed became tragic and deplorable.

Ve seem dissatisfied at hearing "the same old thing,"

`0 considering that it may not be so stereotyped

a heweomer. We grumble at seeing the same

faces, but don't do anything to fetch new ones.

The theory of "the survival of the fittest" is in

oN vogue with us just now. To condone our physi-

: and mental indolence, we are laying stress on

cutive (Praesto!) necessity of "fitting" our-

i Into pS present scheme of things. Yes! On

1 Nel terms! Only in proportion that we rise

a the environments, will we be able to react!

; : Control and change them. As it is, we are

ts an Passive resisters at whom we all boo, but

ihe resisters. And if there is any initiative

Us, it bubbles over in a hectic effusion of mis-

tted energy, as exemplified by the past and re-

cent activities of the Communist Party. We have

become either cynics and negators or irritable hair

splitters. We have lost the faculty of discernment,

it seems. We take anything. We no longer seem

to distinguish beauty from ugliness, fair from foul,

right from wrong. Highmindedness is gone from

our organizations. Lenin wrote: "The end justifies

all means, but let those means be such as to com-

mand the respect even of our enemies.' -Our means

are questionable, and if we go on the way we do, we

won't be able to gain the much needed confidence

of the as yet unenlightened working masses. Being

merely mechanistic will o' the wisps we lose the

pioneer psychosis of the builders and become mere

maintenance men-to maintain things already built

and handed to us by our revolutionary predecessors.

Even as maintenance men we are rotters, gradually

losing hold of our revolutionary ideological inheri-

tance. We are turning to be mere passive con-

templators.

To study the three volumes of Das Kapital, to

become a good economist, does not make one a

Marxian and understand and live up to his phil-

osophy. The majority of us are Feuerbachians now.

Cowed down and meek, we no longer are willing to

be nurtured by the revolutionary Marxian philosophy

and comfortingly revert back to Feuerbach and his

atavistic Weltanshaung. According to him, "man

was a purely passive element, an obedient recipient

of impulses supplied by nature." Marx opposed it.

"Everything," he insisted, "that goes on within.

man, the changes of the man himself, are the effects

not only of the influence of nature upon man, but

even more so of the reaction of man upon nature.

It is this that constitutes the evolution of man. In

his eternal struggle for existence, he did not merely

passively subject himself to the stimuli that came

from nature, he reacted upon nature, he changed it.

Having changed nature, he changed the conditions

of his existence-he also changed himself."

"Thus Marx introduced a revolutionary active ele-

ment into Feuerbach's passive philosophy. The

business of philosophy, maintained Marx in contra-

distinction to Feuerbach, is not only to explain this

world, but also to change it. Theory should be sup-

plemented by practice. The critique of facts, of the

world about us, the negation of them, should be

supplemented by positive work and by practical ac-

tivity. Thus had Marx converted Feuerbach's con-

templative philosophy into an active one. By our

whole activity must we prove the correctness of our

thought and our programme. The more efficiently

we introduce our ideas into practice, the sooner we

embody them into actuality, the more indubitable

is the proof that actuality had in it the elements

that were needed for solution of the problem we

have confronted ourselves with, for the execution of

the programme we had worked out. Marx was not

only a philosopher who wanted to explain the world,

he was also a revolutionist who wanted to change

it." (pp. 58, 59. Karl Marx and Engels-Riazanov.)

How long we radicals will maintain our somnolent

state is problematical. We are waiting for some-

thing to turn up, it seems-the collapse of capital-

ism perhaps. And then? ... We know we are not

prepared to carry on massively production and dis-

tribution. Let us be honest with ourselves and ad-

mit it. Neither are we preparing ourselves. If we

did not know the direction, there would be some

excuse.

by the Machine Process. The Industrial Common-

wealth is our goal. Being individualistic in our

makeup, we are transvaluing the efficacies of our

respective organizations. Instead of being in one

boat into which the Machine Process has already

placed us, we drift on separate crafts complacently

hither and thither. Be it with the wind or against

it, we must sail and not drift or lie at anchor, and

sail in one boat!

Every revolution of the past left lessons for pos-

But the direction is clearly indicated to us .

Damage Suits Against

Marion Sheriffs Pushed

Failing to secure action on the dismissal of the

criminal charges still pending against strikers in

Marion, N. C., the Civil Liberties Union has directed

its attorney, A. Hall Johnston of Asheville, to pro-

ceed at once with preparing the civil suits for dam-

ages against the sheriff, the Marion Manufacturing

Company and Officials of the mill who were respon-

sible for the killing of six strikers and wounding

twenty more on the morning of October 2 last.

It had been the plan of the attorneys not to file

the damage suits until the criminal cases were dis-

posed of. It was expected that after the acquittal

at Burnsville in December of the deputy sheriffs

charged with the shooting that Solicitor Will Pless

would move to dismiss the remaining charges

against the strikers, as newspaper dispatches had

indicated. The Solicitor has refused to dismiss the

charges involving riot, dynamiting and insurrection

growing: out of last summer's strike. Four men

have already been convicted of riot but have ap-

pealed their cases to the North Carolina Supreme

Court.

Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel of the Civil

Liberties Union, in writing to Mr. Johnston, who

will handle the damage suits, says that the evidence

at the Burnsville trials showed that the shooting

of the strikers was "unwarranted and unprovoked

and that the claim that the sheriffs shot in self

defense was wholly without foundation, despite the

- finding of the jury. We believe that in a civil case

-it will be far easier to establish this contention."

The Civil Liberties Union is undertaking these

suits on behalf of the plaintiffs because they are too

poor to act themselves and because of the moral

effect of such action in helping to prevent the resort

to unprovoked violence in future industrial conflicts.

terity. One of the greatest lessons, it seems, that

could be learned from the Russian revolution is that

lack of sufficient time for coming to a mutual under-

standing of fundamental needs on the part of vari-

ous revolutionary factions, resulted in the promiscu-

ous slaughter of many of the finest revolutionists

the radical world has ever known and prolonged un-

necessarily the chaotic conditions in the post-revo-

lutionary period.

It is true, the breakdown of the bourgeoisie in

Russia came, due to the world war, unawares. It

caught the Russian radicals more or less unpre-

pared. But we, here, have plenty of time to pre-

pare ourselves to avoid a repetition of Russian

chaos by forming an authoritatively decentralized,

non-partisan confederacy of all revolutionary organ-

izations and parties. It is a tremendous and diffi-

cult task, but it has to be done sooner or later if we

wish to escape as well such pyramidic, centralized

formation of the dictatorship as exists in Russia

today.

"Centralization of revolutionary effort-decentral-

ization of authority'-should be the slogan of such

confederacy. `We the proletaire, the salt of the

earth, have to get enlightened as to certain his-

toric truisms. History has proven that once author-

ity and power is placed in the hands of an indi-

vidual, sooner or later he will abuse them. Glandular

Aristideses are not born every day. We have to

learn how to lead ourselves and be wary of the

playing-up politicians within our ranks who suffer

from Napoleonic and Mussolinic megalomania. Or-

ganizations are what man makes them. We make

laws and officials and when they no longer answer

and suit our economic purpose, we can unmake

them. But this unmaking is always difficult and is

accompanied by bloody struggles since the laws and

officials being authoritative and therefore static in

their makeup, block the way of our progress.

Thus, it behooves us to be on our guard so that

when we are building a new society within the shell

of the old, we shall not be welding new chains for

ourselves-new masters for old. "Eternal vigilance

is the price of liberty."

THE OPEN FORUM |

Published every Saturday at 1022 California Building," Ae

Second a Broadway,

Los Angeles, California; ig The `Southern Calitoinia

Branch of The American . Ciyik Liberties, Union.

Phone: TUcker 6836

Clinton' J; Taft: -Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair ~ Kate Crane Gartz

Fanny Bixby Spencer | Doremus Scudder

Leo Gallagher (c) Ethelwyn Mills P. D: Noel

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per Copy: In bundles of ten;or. more to one address,

Two Cents Each, if ordered in advance...

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, FEBRUARY 22; 1930

This paper, like the Sunday Night Forum, Is

carried on by the American Civil Liberties (c)

Union to give a concrete illustration of the

value of free discussion. It offers a means of

expression to unpopular `minorities. The or-

ganization assumes no responsibility for opin-

ions appearing in, (signed articles.

- Judge Acquits Six

Edith Cutler, Jennie Shafer, Max Goldstein, Harry

Wigay, Irving Benowitz and Mollie Krutt were found

not guilty, of a charge of blocking the sidewalk, in

Judge Guy F. Bush's division of Municipal Court

February 17. The defendants were arrested Janu-

ary 20 at Eighth and Los Angeles Streets and

charged under section 13 of Ordinance 500 515 (NS)

which reads as follows: |

eet the central traffic district or any business dis-

trict it shall be unlawful for any pedestrian to stop

or to stand on the sidewalk except as near as is

physically possible to the building line or the curb

line." ree

: Leo Gallagher representing the International La-

bor Defense acted as counsel.

Communist Acquitted

ane Spector, "Communist Party organizer, was

acquitted by, a jury in Municipal Court February 13

of a charge of obstructing traffic while speaking at

the. Plaza January 4. lLaibe Shapiro was found

guilty by a jury of distributing handbills on the

street, in violation of a city ordinance. Both cases

grew out of a `Plaza, meeting which preceded a

demonstration held in front. of the Mexican Con-

sulate. Shapiro was sentenced to pay a fine of $50

or serve five days in jail. An appeal was taken by

Leo. Gallagher, attorney for the International Labor

Defense. Jury trial was demanded by the State.

Aaron Feinberg was found guilty of resisting an

officer in connection with a meeting addressed by

Victor Chernov at 24113 Brooklyn Avenue recently.

He was sentenced to serve three months in jail and

pay a fine of $500.' His case will also. be appealed.

"It's them as take advantage thats get advantage

in this world, I think; folks have to wait neh before

it's oo to them. pais es Eliot.

_ Director Files Assault

Charge Aide Sheriff pe

Charges of assault and battery against Sheriff

Charles L. Gillette of Imperial County were filed last

`week by Clinton J. Taft, Director' of the American

Civil Liberties Union, Southern California Branch:

The attack occurred in the sheriff's office at El Cen-

tro on the evening of January 14 when Director Taft

and a friend called on Gillette to talk with him about

the arrest of Frank Waldron, Harold Harvey and

`Tetsuji Horiuchi, representatives of the Trade Union

Unity League who had attempted to organize the let-

tuce workers. of `Amperjal. Valley. Date.of. trial, which

will be held before Justice I. Mayfield of El Centro,

has not yet been set. It will be recalled that this

sheriff was twice indicted for embezzling $35,000 of

the County's funds, and escaped punishment by rea-

`son of a jury disagreement the first time and a ver-

dict of not guilty at the second trial. He was also

accused' of assaulting Mexican women prisoners in

his custody but was acquitted of this charge, it is

alleged, by seeing' that the ao et tans witnesses

were "lost" below the Border.

School Heads, Attorneys

Confer on Boy's Diploma

A two, and one-half hours' conference between

Chaim Shapiro and H. Y. Romayne, attorneys. for

Max Rosenstein, denied a high. school diploma last

June by Roosevelt high. school because he was a

Communist, and representatives of the Los Angeles

schools was held recently. Those present, besides the

attorneys and young Rosenstein, were Superintend-

ent Frank Bouelle and two of. his assistants, Arthur

Gould and William Tritt, Principal Elson of. the

Roosevelt school, Secretary, Sheldon of the Board of

Education and a representative of the County Coun-

sel's office. Rosenstein was questioned at length, but

nothing, refiecting upon his record as a student, ex-

cept his membership in the. Young Workers' League,

was brought out; his conduct..and scholarship marks

were acknowledged to have been satisfactory. The

attorneys, who are on the staff of the American Civil

Liberties Union, say that unless the diploma:is given

by March first, they will begin an action in the Su-

perior Court of Los Angeles County for a.writ of

mandate against the Board of Education.

Incline not my heart to any. evil thing, to practice

deeds of, wickedness with men that work iniquity

and let me not eat of their. dainties-Psalm 141.

National Bank of Commerce

(Formerly Peoples Netiat Bank)

Commercial Escrows

Savings Safe Deposit

Domestic and Foreign Exchange

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Come at 7:30 if you would not miss the tremen

dously interesting and_instructive talks on current

events with which Prof. Oscar L, Triggs, formerly

of the University of Chicago, opens the meetings

each week.

Feb. 23-MOONEY-BILLINGS .MASS MEETING

with addresses: by Dr..E..P.. Ryland, Rabbi Herman

Lissauer and Miss Ethelwyn Mills. . This wil] be on

the eve of the thirteenth anniversary of the Sentenc-

ing. of `Tom Mooney to. hang. Still the two men

languish. behind prison walls. Governor: Young has

been passing the buck. What shall we do about

the matter? Let us gather in large numbers and

counsel together as to what may be done to secure

the.release of these men and redeem the State of its

shame.

March 2-"THE `RUSH' IN RUSSIA" by Crombie

Allen, editor of the Ontario Daily Report, who spent

several months in Russia last summer on a liesurely

trip that took him into places unfrequented by those

who take the officially planned, scheduled tours.

He has a nose for news and knows how to present it,

Coming Events.

LOS ANGELES BRANCH of `the I W. W,, 433

Bryson Building, free reading' room open every

day; business meeting every Tuesday, 7:30 P.M.

' MOONEY-BILLINGS BRANCH, I. L. D., business

and educational meetings every first and third

Wednesday, at Rooms 113 and 114 Stimson Building,

Third and Spring streets.

FREE WORKERS' FORUM, lectures and discus

sion every. Monday night at 8 o'clock, Libertarian

Center, 800 North Evergreen Avenue, corner Winter

(B car); dance and entertainment last Saturday in

month.

SOCIALIST PARTY, reaaguestont 429-30 Douglas

Building. Telephone, MUtal 7871. Office open from

9a.m.to10 p.m., except Sunday. Circulating libra-

ry. Young Socialist League meets every Wednesday

night. cent

-. SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY, headquarters 332

Douglas Building, Third and Spring. Meetings every

Thursday, 8 p. m. Daytime call at 213 W. Third St.

CO-OPERATORS-Please help establish real civili-

zation now. The very simple and practical plan,

"World Democracy," for 10 cents silver. Lock Box

1178, Los Angeles, Calif.

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are Striving f

Depends on How You

Look at Soviet Russia

ifr Ceorge Sylvester Viereck

gT W. 113th St., New York City.

fy dear Viereck:

[have your final letter in our controversy concern-

ing the probable accuracy of your statements about

goviet Russia in the Saturday Evening Post.

You sum up in this sentence: "I doubt if any one

rally starves in the United States, but I know that

every one, with the possible exception of the oligarchy

in the Kremlin, lives on a starvation diet in Russia."

It is very curious to see how people will come out

it Soviet Russia at the same time and make dia-

netrically opposite statements. It happened that im-

mediately after receiving your letter I met Mrs.

frances Adams Gumberg, an old friend, and lineal

iescendant of two presidents of the United States.

fer husband is the financial adviser of the Chase

National Bank as to Russian affairs. She goes to

Russia frequently, and was last there in September,

1929, which is, I take it, about the time that you

yere there. I told her of your statement, and her

reply was as follows:

`Nobody is starving in Russia. It is true that you

nave to go every day for the food supplies, and house-

vives find that annoying, but the portions of food

ihat they get are much greater than we should con-

sider necessary. I should say the Russians eat six

fimes as much bread as we Americans do. All of

ineir food standards are enormous according to our

ideas, They are heavy eaters and they get all they

an eat. This was true in the cities where I visited

many housewives last fall, and it is still more true

inthe towns of which I visited many."

As to your statement, "I doubt if any one really

starves in the United States," it so happens that this

mnorning's Los Angeles Times provides me with the

information. A heavy storm has struck New York,

aud the Associated Press reports:

`Thousands were driven to refuge in free lodging

houses, as the temperature dropped to 7 above. In

the Bowery refuge of the Salvation Army humanity

werflowed from the bedrooms into the sitting room

aid the lobby, where 400 found warmth. Sleeping

men huddled on the benches and floors of outlying

subway stations."

Itold you I was quite sure that if you would look

fr bread lines in New York you could find them.

Iam now able to tell you the exact place to which

you should go and look. But of course I cannot

assure you that if you write up what you see, the

Saturday Evening Post will publish it for you.

Sincerely,

UPTON SINCLAIR.

Competition With Mars

ititor The Open Forum:

Your leading article `(Can There Be Peace?" con-

lains so many admirable statements that it is a pity

ihe writer had not the courage to sign his name.

the criticism he would receive might give him some

`terest in life and save him from the suicidal end

"sorted to by the capitalists whom he despises.

Suppose he is right that murder and war will con-

te to curse the earth until public ownership sup-

Hants private profits, will not those crimes of eco-

pe rivalry continue even after his utopia has been

pcre! Will not publicly owned America seek to

te the oil in publicly owned Mexico or Russia?

as 26 the girls in Shipley and Baldwin

that S are to debate the advanced subject, Resolved

than fee ve mrekources should be nationally rather

ie n `rnationally controlled. After you have abol-

ek ownership you must abolish national

ad 1p In favor of international to avoid conflict,

0x00B0y that time there may be interplanetary com-

Ietition with Mars.

ae never reach a Position MENGES differences

he. ann beings will be eliminated. The best

isting a. to construct. gradually methods of ad-

ern c is cause of arfetton: WaE may be made to

thiral - iculous as duelling. Private ownership of

nus . must go, but so must warshipg} so

lanity and other myths. Various groups

or the rule of reason based upon the

| Lets

| of today and all should have encouragement.

WILLIAM FLOYD.

We welcome communications from our read-

ers for this page. But to be acceptable letters

must be pointed and brief-not over 500 words,

and if they are 400 or less they will stand a

better show of publication. Also they must be

typewritten-our printers can't take time to de-

cipher hieroglyphics.

Paging Mr. Severance

Editor The Open Forum:

Channing Severance's letter in a recent Open Forum

no doubt made our American ancestors shudder in

their very ashes at his "rationalistic' (forsooth! )

bigotry and fanatical fury in condemning to indefinite

servitude one-sixth of the human race because he

fancies they do not believe in the right way, i. e.,

in his way! I am inclined to think that so-called

"rationalist" slavery and "rationalist" superstition

are just as dangerous as any religious and occult

superstitions-indeed, more so; because the emptier-

headed among "rationalists" do not realize even the

possibility of the former's existence, much less the

danger therefrom, and they get fired quite easily by

a missionary zeal in the service of their god of ra-

tionalism-though they do not name him thus-and

are quite willing to immolate the hopes and aspira-

tions and the very souls of millions in their passion

for admiration of the jingle of their own arrange-

ment of words.

In view of the wild assertions and charges in Mr.

Severance's letter, may I suggest that he thought-

fully study the history of at least the countries of

Europe-say, during the past four hundred years-

before venturing to lay down historical dicta as,

"Such people are incapable of self government; for if

they were not they never would have lost it."

With regard to the familiar wild propagandist

charges against the Hindus which he so glibly re-

peats, it may enlighten Mr. Severance if he takes the

trouble to read and digest the carefully compiled

work of such a thorough scholar and profound stu-

dent of Indian affairs as the author of "India in

Bondage." Dr. Sunderland's book would be enlight-

ening on several other points as well, and impart the

added advantage of a balanced vision in dealing with

vast periods of time and large numbers of people.

Would it be too mueh to hope that Mr. Severance

can, for a while, bring himself to be rational enough

and sufficiently free from his "enlightened" bigotry

to overlook the fact that Dr. Sunderland is a Chris-

tian and a minister of the gospel!

Sincerely yours,

GEORGE WASHINGTON JEFFERSON.

Noel Is Not Dangerous

Editor The Open Forum:

Readers of The Open Forum should not feel

alarmed over friend P. D. Noel's stern and tough-

minded remarks. Having felt his warm handshake,

looked into his honest and kind face, studied and

usually followed his suggestions as to how to vote

on propositions submitted, I now declare my readi-

ness to support him for any office that he may

choose to run for.

And if he announces his candidacy for the office

of high executioner of all murderers and of those

terrible criminals that carry booze, red or not red,

I shall give him my vote and feel that these, our

criminal brothers and sisters, will be very safe in

his custody. Be assured, when Mrs. Noel wishes a

chicken killed for Sunday dinner, her P. D. keeps

out of sight until the execution is over.

Of course it is not wise to entrust power to men

who think they understand the Universe and every

part thereof, and are so sure of their opinions that

they are ready to suppress their opponents by force.

But friend Noel is no worshiper of force; he only

pretends.

C. M. ENNS.

Labor Editors on Trial

BULGARIA-(FP)-Thirty editors of Labor pap-

ers, arrested during the last four months, will soon

go to trial, charged with violation of the "public

safety laws" because of pro-Labor utterances in their

papers. One paper has been confiscated by the

fascist government.

FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS

Who Is to Be Judge as

to Citizenship, Conduct?

Superintendent Bouelle

Board of Education

Los Angeles, Calif.

Dear Sir: The press of recent date reports the

adoption by your Board of a new rule requiring qual-

ifications of character and citizenship in graduation

from the high schools and junior colleges. This mat-

ter was discussed at the Nation Readers' dinner Feb-

ruary 14 and it was the opinion of many of those

present that you were opening the doors of the

schools to endless religious and political controversy

and that your enforcement of the rule could only end

in a form of social tyranny. Compulsory education

and compulsory attendance are extreme enough but

now you add compulsory conduct and compulsory

opinion. In your character tests, will you form your

requirements by the standards of Christian Scientists,

Catholics, Jews or Presbyterians? While there may

be some justification at this time of an effort to con-

trol opinion respecting communism, where do you

propose to draw the line? Let us suppose your

schools are in Chicago. Would your citizenship pro-

gram require adherence to the political theories and

practices of Mayor Thompson? There is not the

slightest doubt but that Mayor Thompson would set

the test and insist upon acceptance of his views of

King George. How much juster are your views con-

cerning Lenin? Must a student be a prohibitionist

to get a diploma? Will you let a pupil graduate who

is a member of the-Ku Klux Klan? Or who believes

in evolution? The schools hitherto have been freed

from these decisions. You are opening the doors to

endless trouble.

The rule will end in the enforcement of your per-

sonal will and of the will of the Board of Education

or of whatever religious, political or economic group

happens to be in authority. It was the general

opinion of the Nation group that the rule is reaction-

ary, easily evaded and actually unenforceable. If

evaded it will be by concealments and hypocrisies

and these will nullify your requirements for charac-

ter. The problem is hopelessly complex.

Very truly,

OSCAR L.-TRIGGS,

Fred Beal Held

All of the eighteen persons arrested under the

Michigan criminal syndicalism law for speaking at

demonstrations of the unemployed have been re-

leased with the exception of Fred E. Beal, convicted

Gastonia strike leader, who has been released on

bail of $10,000.

This is the first criminal syndicalism case to be

brought in Michigan since the raid on the secret

Communist convention in Bridgman in 1922, when

the law was invoked for the first time. Those cases

are still pending in the courts, but are not likely to

be tried.

Urged to Lift Gag

In order that the Commission on Haiti, appointed

by President Hoover, may get a full and fair expres-

sion of Haitian sentiment, the American Civil Liber-

ties Union has urged its members to abolish the

censorship on the press and the ban on freedom of

political organization.

The Civil Liberties Union has put this proposal re-

peatedly to the Department of State and to President

Hoover, without result.

Ernst Made Associate

Morris L. Ernst, New York attorney, for some

years past prominent in court cases involving civil

liberties, has recently been made associate general

counsel of the Civil Liberties Union to serve jointly

with Arthur Garfield Hays. Mr. Hays has been gen-

eral counsel for the Union for the past two years,

following the resignation of Wolcott H. Pitkin.

Potatoes for Principles

Many a man thinks that it is his goodness

that keeps him from crime when it is only-his

full stomach. On half allowance he would be

as, ugly and knayish as anybody.: Do not mis-

take potatoes. for principles.-Thomas Carlyle.

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2

Realists Haven't Solved

Crime; Let Idealists Try

In the February 15 issue of The Open Forum Mr.

P. D. Noel says: "The question is frequently pro-

pounded as to why there is so little crime in Great

Britain and other European countries as compared

with us, and then he inquires: Is there any other

reasonable conclusion to be drawn except that the

certainty, swiftness and severity of punishment over

there is the deterrent factor? Our well-meaning but

impractical idealists may well ponder over this fact."

Without idealists, past and present, this would

surely be a hopeless world, and without some senti-

ment we would be cold and brutal, not far removed

from the vicious animals. But let us quote from a

few idealists and from a few practical men, who from

experience should know the subject of crime, and let

the readers of the Forum determine whether the

idealists are impractical or whether some other rea-

sonable conclusion can be drawn as to the deterrent

factors.

"Self constituted experts who know little of history

and nothing of economics claim that the lax adminis-

tration of the law here and the certain and swift en-

forcement of it in Hurope make for the invidious

differences in the commission of crime. As will be

shown later, these exponents of rapid-fire punitive

measures fail to take cognizance of the differences in

the social organizations of European countries and

the United States, and especially do they fail to note

the psychological distinction between the peoples in-

volved. European society, older and more cohesively

developed than the United States, with habits and

customs giving the people a different attitude and

outlook, has generated a psychology more social than

individualistic." (Note series of articles written by

George H. Shoaf in The Open Forum of 1928 entitled

"Crime and Criminals."

"The certainty of a punishment in society is in the

great majority of cases in inverse proportion to its

severity. The more terrible it is, the less likely is

the State to impose it with any regularity or vigor."

(From a speech by John Haynes Holmes, minister,

Community Church, New York.)

"Those who believe in sterner laws and harsher

treatment of criminals are always drawing compari-

sons between America and England. Different parts

of England show marked differences in the statistics

of crime. Liverpool, for example, shows more bur-

glaries than New York, and about the same as Chi-

cago, and nearly twice as many murders and other

felonies as London. The difference is most likely

accounted for by the seaport location of Liverpool

which adds to the mixture of races and peoples. Still,

it is true that there are many more felonies in the

United States than in England in proportion to the

population. This condition cannot be accounted for

by the severity of punishment in England. In many

important instances the American penalties are much

harsher and more brutal.

"Other things being equal, all new countries have

a higher crime rate than old ones. This is due to

many reasons, not all of which apply in all new coun-

tries. The residents of England are a homogeneous

people. This is true of all old countries. They lack

many of the inducing causes that lead to crime. The

English people have been made alike by centuries of

molding and welding. They have from long associa-

tion formed common customs, habits and views of life.

"Tt is not terror of brutal punishment that holds

the units of society in their place. It is customs and

habits. It is long familiarity with the beaten paths.

People think and act and live as they are wont. They

stay in grooves. Any sudden change jolts them from

their ways and sets them loose to find or make other

paths. To believe that men are kept in a certain

line by fear is a crude conception at variance with

experience and psychology alike." (Clarence Darrow

from his article "Crime and the Alarmists,' Harper

and Brothers.)

"What we need are sign posts at the beginning of

the road instead of gallows at the end. The severe

penalties in some laws defeat the purpose of the laws,

just as an over-dose of medicine harms rather than

helps. Treat a man like a dog and you will make a

dog of him. Society has no right to violate the

Golden Rule and brute force never reformed any

man." (Lewis E. Lawes, Warden of Sing Sing.)

. "Prisons should mean something more than punish-

ment." (Sanford Bates, U. S. Superintendent of

Prisons.)

"Judges are giving young men hopeless sentences-

not only making them hopeless criminals but in

many cases degenerates-laying the foundation for a

startingly serious condition." (Raymond F. C. Kieb,

N. Y. State Commissioner of Correction:)

Unemployment Stalks

By SCOTT NEARING

Federated Press

Charity organizations and welfare departments in

middle western cities face a situation without par-

allel except for the winter of 1921-22. Tens of thou-

sands of unemployed men and women walk the

streets looking for work, with rent overdue and food

credit exhausted.

The Chicago "slave market" is thronged with men.

All day long they crowd the sidewalks in West

Madison Street, spilling over into the side streets

and alleys and gathering in mobs in front of any

employment office that advertises for help. Most of

the employment office windows have chalked up the

sign "No Shipment Today."

A census of employment taken in Toledo shows

that for every hundred men working in February,

1929, there were forty-four working in February,

1930. Some of the more important plants are prac-

tically closed down and there is no chance for work

outside of an occasional snow shovelling job.

Hstimates place the number of unemployed in De-

troit somewhere between 100,000 and 125,000. Day

after day they gather before employment offices in

lines four deep that extend for blocks. An ad for

one man will bring a thousand applicants.

Cleveland has faced hard times for the last three

years. Unemployment there is as severe as it is in

other neighboring cities, but since it is of longer

duration many of the "out-of-works" have drifted to

other places, looking for jobs.

The Charities of Louisville, Ky., are facing a late

winter and spring in which relief demands from the

unemployed, evicted and other distress cases are

overtaxing their budgets. Present demands indicate

a need for the year 1930 of about double the amount

of money available.

The Detroit Welfare Department, a city institu-

tion, cared for about 7,000 families in November,

about 9,000 in December and about 11,000 in Janu-

ary, 1980. Toward the end of January the office of

the department was daily jammed with applicants

of whom about one in eight received assistance. In

addition to the charity distributed by this public

organization, the usual private agencies in Detroit

found their hands more than full.

Hoover's prosperity conferences have received far

more public notice than the lines of unemployed

waiting outside the factory gates all through the in-

dustrial section of the United States. They do not

provide jobs, however, as hundreds of thousands of

desperate workers know to their cost. Many of the

jobless are loyal supporters of the Republican ma-

chine. Most of the balance voted for Al Smith in

1928. Empty stomachs and eviction notices provide

the basis for disillusionment. It only remains for

the militant working class organizations to gather

the unemployed into unions and line them up for

struggle.

Centralian Asks Liberty

SEA' TTLE-(FP)-Loren Roberts, one of the eight

Centralia prisoners, through his attorney has filed a

petition in the Superior Court in Montesano for re-

lease from the State penitentiary on the ground that

he is now sane. Hearing has been set for March 3

in spite of the attempt of William H. Grimm, Lewis

County prosecutor and brother of Warren Grimm,

one of the slain American Legion attackers, to have

the matter thrown out.

At the time of the trial of the Centralia I. W. W.s

Roberts was declared insane and committed to the

penitentiary without formal sentence. Like the rest

he has served ten years for the crime of defending

his union hall.

The best corrective of erroneous and misleading

ideas and doctrines is that publicity which freedom

of discussion affords.-Prof. Charles A. Ellwood.

"The more punishment inflicted upon inmates in a

prison the stronger the probability that the place is

poorly managed. It has also been demonstrated that

seldom, if ever, is a conversion to virtue obtained

through punishment." (Brig. Gen. W. S. Hughes,

Superintendent of Canadian Penitentiaries. )

"As the courts have lengthened sentences, return-

ing fourth offenders for life imprisonment, the meas-

ure of desperation has grown. The responsibility is

not all on the side of the convicted man." (E. R.

Cass, Gen. Sec'y, Prison Ass'n, N. Y.)

Respectfully submitted,

SAUL S. KLEIN.

NEWS AND VIEWS

By P. D. NOEL

Birth Control

The series of meetings held last week under the

leadership of Margaret Sanger were a decided suc

cess. It shows what money can do. Now that she

has a husband with wealth it is possible to get

speakers and workers who would have been unop,

tainable otherwise. But why so many men when

this is essentially a woman's question? There are

plenty of very capable feminine speakers, especially

among the doctors. Possibly, like Mother Jones in

the Labor movement, Mrs. Sanger may not like to

work with other women.

Russia Objects

The great publicity being given the closing of

churches and the arrests of priests and rabbis. in

the U. 8S. S. R. looks very much like another centop.

certed drive by the frightened capitalistic nations,

We all know the part which was played by the

Greek Church as a part of the horrible czarist

regime, and because a man is a rabbi does not pre.

vent him from being an exploiter and dangerous

character. Here in Los Angeles we have seen ortho-

dox rabbis grafting by the use of large quantities

of wine which were permitted them under the favor.

itism provisions of the law regarding sacramental

uses. Russia is surrounded by enemies ready to

crush her, so that one May excuse measures which

would otherwise `be subject to censure.

Enforcement

Senator Norris threatens to "blow off the lid" re-

garding the half-hearted methods of putting in execu-

tion the dry laws. One may believe that Hoover is

a consistent dry, but as head of the Government he

is not doing his duty in permitting Mellon and

others who are not in sympathy with prohibition to

remain in office. The disgraceful conditions of non-

enforcement under Harding and Coolidge had much

to do with the contempt for law which has grown so

rapidly these last few years. While Hoover is a

much higher type than those worthies, he is laying

himself open to the exposure which Norris, Borah

and others threaten.

: Single Tax Again

The voters are again threatened with having to

take action at the November election on a drastic

initiative measure which aims at a sudden disrup-

tion of our taxing system. The sponsors are a small

group of Henry Georgeites who fail to profit by past

efforts, or realize that their ends of having land

values pay most of the taxes can best be subserved

by giving some consideration to the prejudices and

ignorance of the average voter. An exemption from

assessment to every taxpayer of, say $1,000, would

appeal to the cupidity of the great mass of them,

and likely get by, be the entering wedge of a proper

tax system, and put most of the taxes on the rich,

where they belong.

Public Ownership

Anything requiring a franchise, being some kind

of a monopoly, should be run by the public. a -

sensible from a dollar and cents angle, but elimi-

nates a great danger to democratic government by

doing away with the main sources of bribery and

corruption in public life. The press is full of the

dangerous propaganda and outright crookedness of

the Cyanamid Company trying to get possession of

our great Muscle Shoals plant. It bribes officials of

the American Farm Bureau Federation to make it

appear as though the farmers desire this deal to 80

through. Bonner, the active man in the Federal

Power Commission, is an outright tool of the power

interests. The Niagara Falls Power Company ae

to be getting away with a steal of $32,000,000 by

capitalizing that amount for the "value" of poe

rights" given it by the state. The Electric Bo

and Share Company has its finger in legislatures "

all of the states, with specious propaganda deceiv-

ing the people. We have allowed these interests to

go so far that it seems unlikely that they cay ue

pried loose by anything less than very drastic acent

tions, bordering on revolution.

Our civilization overflows with charity ea a

simply willingness to hand back to labor as pe

ous, gracious alms, a small part of the loot from

just wages of labor.-David Graham Phillips.

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