Open forum, vol. 1, no. 3 (December, 1924)

is the opportunity of the few.

NOL. 1:

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, DECEMBER

THE GOSPEL OF GUSH

By Robert Whitaker

When Pappini's "Life of Christ" was first published

and circulated in the United States the pulpit and the

religious press gushed with laudatory reviews and

expositions of it. In the midst of this common chorus

of most superficial sentimentalizing about the book,

which, despite its artistic touches, is essentially an

utterly shallow thing, one minister, internationally

known both as preacher and writer, had the courage

to size up Pappini's pretentious performance in three

words-"Gush, mush, slush."

Harsh as such a criticism seems it applies not only

to the vastly overrated book by the Italian author

whose pietistic piffle about Jesus comes not within a

thousand miles of any real interpretation of the

Nazarene, but the same words might well be used

in summing up a very large part of public utterance

today, whether from platform or press.

It is so much easier to gush than it is to think.

To compliment Jesus is a light task compared with

the effort. necessary to understand Him, either in

relation to his times or our own. And it requires

no great amount of moral courage to join the chorus

of praise which is accorded Him now. The reason

why gush is so common is that gush is so cheap,

both in the wear and tear on brain tissues and in

the slight demand that it makes upon moral back-

- bone.

There is no season of the year which would seem

less appropriate for a criticism of the emphasis of

good-will than the Christmas season, and no character

in history than Jesus whose name would appear to

be more out of place in a protest against the stress-

ing of good-feeling and the kindly mood. Yet one of

the most mischievous delusions of our time is that

what we mainly need is to cultivate the spirit of

sweetness and make more of soft words toward one

another. And we could well afford to dispense with

the Christmas celebration if we could get into terms

' of our common daily life the realities that belong

to peace and good-will,

`the masses of mankind are to be cast down.

"So many gods, so many creeds,

So many paths that wind and wind,

When just the art of being kind

Is all the sad world needs,"

sings Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Her word is expressive

of a vast deal of the sentimentalizing of the day.

And it is exactly this sort of sentimentalizing which

is largely responsible for the social hell in which

we live. It is so much easier to be kind, in words

anyway, than it is to be clear-eyed and courageously

sincere,

There are those who tell us that the right reading

of "the song of the angels" is not the generic `Peace

on earth, good-will to men," but the more specific

"Peace on earth to men of good-will," which is quite

another thing. And it doesn't matter what the angels

sang, there isn't any peace on earth for any except

those who have good-will, and not very much peace

for them as the world stands now if the good-will

has will in it as well as good desire.

It is well to remember in connection with the

Christmas story that Mary's song, "The Magnificat,"

is a quite revolutionary utterance, and her rejoicing

is that the rulers of the earth and the exploiters of

The

song which she sang was as little of a love ditty

as is the Marsellaise. And the son of whom she

sane did: prove infact a sturim-venter, and poured

out his wrath on the same lines as his mother's song

against the oppressors of mankind. Jesus did not

gush over everybody, but He did very distinctly tell

the nice, respectable, and religious people of his day

what he thought about them, and the lava of his

out-rushing wrath against them still flames white hot

to the intelligent reader of the gospel story.

This good-will stuff, without any real will for

righteousness in it, is the stock in trade of all the

respectable side-steppers who want to avoid saying

any true word or doing any real service for an actual-

ly decent world. The pulpit makes one sick with it;

this saccharine confection of deceit and cowardice.

THE CALIFORNIA EMPIRE

BY UPTON SINCLAIR

At the election last month, there was an initiative

measure, providing for state development of water

power. A friend of mine, a lawyer, working at the

polls in Pasadena, spoke to a working woman coming

out of a polling place. `Did you vote for the Water

and Power Act?" "No," said the woman, "I voted

against it.' "Why?" "Because it will increase our

taxes." My friend explained that it would not in-

crease taxes, because the interest on the bonds would

be paid by revenue from the water power develop-

ments; the state would have the enormous profits

which the corporations now intend to take from the

general public. The woman looked blank. "I didn't

understand that," she said. "Why didn't the `Star-

News' tell us that? I voted against it because the

`Star-News' told us to." Needless to say, the Los

Angeles "Times" told its readers the same; and they

also voted No.

The meaning of this incident is revealed to us by

two items of news which the public has been allowed

to hear since the election. First, the great private

water power corporations of California have formed

a combine and are planning immediately to spend

one or two hundred million dollars upon water power

development. The Los Angeles "Times" considers

this such joyful tiding that it puts it on the front

page; this is the "Times'"' idea of prosperity and

progress for California.

The other item is that the private water power

corporations admit to having spent over a hundred

thousand dollars to defeat the Water Power Act at

the last election. This represents the cost of fool-

ing the public into letting this great corporation

have the profits of water power development for

their private stockholders. The two things go hand

in hand, the defeat of the public ownership project

and the extension of the private ownership project.

The meaning of the whole thing is that California is

to develop into a slave empire instead of into a free

democracy.

I say slave empire, and I mean exactly that and

nothing else. History shows that wherever agricul-

ture depends upon artificial irrigation, the people

have been governed under an autocratic system. It

was so in ancient Egypt, where the ruling classes

were able to control all the water of the river Nile

and so reduce the peasants to slavery. We see

exactly the same thing happening before our eyes,

when these great powerful private interests get pos-

session of the sources of power upon which both

agriculture and industry depend. It is servitude and

misery for our children which we see being manu-

factured by these great corporations. They have the

great newspapers, with their hundreds of thousands

of subscribers, and we have only a little paper like

this, with which to do what we can to open the

people's eyes before it is too late.

20, 1924 No..'3

The priestly class have always dripped with oil

ever since the stuff ran down Aaron's beard, and the

oil is not any more acceptable when it is mixed

with sugar. What the pulpit needs isn't grease but

guts, not mealy-mouthed sentimentalizing about being

nice to each other and loving everybody, but the

vision to see and the passion to say what it is in our

dealings with each other that makes the world's

nice talk of such slight avail. One real day of under-

standing, and of the moral courage to tell the world

what understanding reveals, if such a day might

blossom. out in the press and on the platform, would

be worth more than a thousand Christmas celebra-

tions of the conventional sort.

Here is a bit of verse from another American

poet, one much less known as a poet than Ella

Wheeler Wilcox, but who wrote with vastly more of

vigor and real thinking. It is from a poem by John

Hay, the secretary and biographer of Abraham Lin-

coln, from a poem which puts in quite a fresh and

startling light the much misused saying of Jesus,

"Thy will be done."

"Wherever man oppresses man

Beneath Thy liberal sun;

O Lord, be there Thine arm made bare,

Thy righteous will be done."

We are sick of Christmas stuff in a world that

slobbers on "holy days" about the Man who died

because he would not say soft nothings when there

was need of a withering protest against the throned

and sanctified iniquties of his time. Give the poor

what is due them every day and you may keep

your Christmas goodies with which to stuff your-

selves. Tell the truth about the higher-ups and we

care not whether you say Merry Christmas one day

in the year or not.

going sentimentalizings about how much you love

mankind, and stand up with us when we demand the

release of the class-war prisoners, when we go out

to organize labor in its own defense against the ex-

ploitation of the profiteers, when we call upon you to

join us in disbanding the world's armies and sending

the world's navies to the scrap-heap and taking the

guns and swords out of the hands of the children in

the schools. Spare us your psalms and songs long

enough to join us in telling the world's Pharisees

where they get off. And then we will sing with you

whatever doxologies you want, when you have said

with us the upstanding honest word that the world

needs

CIVILIZATION

a la Los Angeles

Aisles crammed. Shoppers losing bundles. Solid

masses of humanity giving away under pressure of

the crowd on the steps. "Move forward there, please!"

Derisive retorts from passengers. "Let 'em out-stand

back from that door!" Tired feet trample other

tired feet. No room to take a long breath-no air

fit to breathe. The car crawls at a snail's pace.

Workers drop packages of eggs and meat. Children

ery out in pain as they are crushed by unseeing

passengers. Booklets on display inside the car chat-

ter brightly and smartly about "service" and ``peevish

riders."

That's not an overdrawn picture of a Los Angeles

street car during the rush hours of morning or eve-

ning. Car service, both on the Los Angeles Railway's

yellow cars and the Pacific Electric's faster packing

boxes, long has been intolerable by reason of infre-

quent and overcrowded cars. Now it has become a

menace to life and health in addition to creating un-

told misery and discomfort.

The most casual survey reveals that the traction

companies have abandoned all idea of providing ade-

quate street car transportation. New lines and ex-

tensions of existing carlines into thickly settled dis-

tricts are not even thought of, and only a shallow

pretense is made of increasing service on the present

lines.

Hanging its riders on straps pays the Los Angeles

Railway handsomely, whereas putting on any cor-

siderable number of new cars would whittle down

profits. The hours of misery that hundreds of thor-

sands of riders endure twice daily don't show, !:

the neat loose-leaf ledgers of the transit monoy, 8

-Los Angeles Record, Dec. 8, 1

Rest our ears from your easy-_

BRISBUNK |

One of the most popular proverbs of our day is

the saying that "as a man thinketh so he is." The

saying is supposed by many to have Bible authority

behind it, but it has not. The nearest approach to

it in the Bible is the scripture which says, "Out of the

heart are the issues of life.' And that is really quite

a different thing.

Next to egotism intellectualism is the substance of

Brisbunk. The worship of the idea stands only sec-

ond to the worship of the individual. `Brains' is

the word that is supposed to explain why one man

succeeds and another fails. "We pay for brains" is

the boast of the big men of the day. As a matter

of fact they pay very poorly for them, and can get

more than they can use any day, at least a good

deal more than they do use. The big rewards of our

time do not go to the truly great thinkers, or to

thinkers at all. They go to those who sit at the

toll gates through which men pass to the necessities

of life. If the toll gates themselves are kept by

hired brains these are paid almost as poorly as hired

hands, and the wage is often actually lower now for

brains than for hands, inasmuch as the "hands" are

organized, and the "brains" are not.

We are tremendously taken with the Greeks be-

cause they produced a few thinkers. Likewise the

thinkers of other European countries and later cen-

turies are greatly extolled. ``When God lets a thinker

loose" all the world is supposed to sit up and take

notice, and his fame, even if it develops slowly in his

own day, is the pride of after centuries. But the

thinkers have had very much less to do with the -

actual course of civilizations than we like to make

out. They did not save Greece, and there is a good

deal to justify the charge that they did a great deal

to wreck it. Their thinking was in the main either a

diversion, as against the attention which the abuses

of the day called for, or an apology and defense of

the abuses themselves. Thinking always is in the

main either a soporific or an apologetic. The think-

ers of the South, in our own pre-civil-war period were

_of little consequence on either side, North or South.

Most of them were concerned with everything else

except the one thing that was driving the nation on-

ward toward catastrophe. And so far as they touched

the slavery issue they did more to confuse the minds

of the people about it than they did to clear up the

situation.

It is so today. There isn't one thinker in a thou-

sand in America who is worth a continental in stay-

ing the courses which are leading us on to social

calamity again, or in helping the people to under-

stand what the forces are which are heading us for

disaster. Ninety-nine one hundredths of the palaver

they give us has nothing to do with fundamental is-

sues, or is wholly at fault as to how those issues are

to be met. Our thinkers are about as hopeless a

lot as can be found among us, and their self-com-

placency reminds one who looks them over with any

care, of the ancient saying concerning the man who

"is wise in his own conceit," that "there is more

hope of a fool than of him."

Life is not primarily a matter of ideas, any more

than it is primarily a matter of individauls. The

mass life of all of us is of vastly more consequence

than the individual life of any one of us. And the

whole life of the man, that is the whole vital process

which involves his hands and his feet and his stomach

and all there is of him has vastly more to do with

what happens to any of us and what happens to, all

of us than any single functioning such as we call

thinking. We live vastly more than we think. And

it is the fight to live on the part of all of us, and

the whole man of us, that tells the story of what

happens to nations, and why it happens as it does.

Thinking is the efflorescence of life, not life the

efflorescence of thought. As a man is so he thinketh

is a thousand-fold more true than that as a man

thinketh so he is. The masters of ideologies and

abstractions and metaphysics are very largely the

"poison-gas" manufacturers of the particular army

or nation to which they belong. You can depend

upon them, as you can upon the chemists now, to

turn their wits to the service of whatever bunch of

politicians have access to the money-changers bags.

These chemists, on the side, may do a lot of real

service. So do the thinkers, aside from the supreme

social concerns of their day. But culture, using the

word to include all the masters of science and the

arts and the esthetics and the ethics of society, cul-

ture is on the side of privilege, because it lives by the

consent and through the patronage of privilege.

What it says may be fine and high and wise, on lines

+ Wench do not endanger the hands that feed it. But

. the Prhe point of utmost consequence for every genera-

_~peakd the light of intellect is very largely a false light,

i J for the misleading of men.-R.W.

PLAIN TALK

The other day I listened to a young man in Persh-

ing Square. He was apparently a very intelligent fel-

low, and above all, honest and not afraid to say

what he thought. As I happened to come by the

group near the water fountain, of which he was the

center, he was just. saying that the I. W. W. were

practically the only labor organization in the coun-

try that commanded his respect, and then proceeded

to explain why. Here one of the men in the group,

an I. W. W., asked him if he carried a wobbly card.

"No," was the answer.

"You don't?" The wobbly was amazed. "After

what you just said about the I. W. W., you have a

clear conception of the organization, and still you're

not a member of it?"

"I am not, because the I. W. W. wouldn't have

me anyway. I am what you might call a capitalist,

an employer of labor."

From the conversation that followed I gathered

that the young man was a sort of landscape engineer

or contractor, employing perhaps ten or twenty ditch-

diggers and other unskilled labor.

"How much do you pay your labor?" the I. W. W.

asked him.

"As little as I can for as much work as I can

get out of them," was the answer. "I can get

all the men I want at three dollars a day, even

cheaper, and I'd be a fool to' want to pay them more

if they haven't the sense to demand more and put

themselves in position to make me and other em-

ployers comply with their demands."

The straightforward, utterly honest declaration of

this man had the wobbly and the rest of the group

"stumped." The people, even the wobblies, it seems

are not used to such talk.

"T'll tell you something," the young man went on.

"I've been a workman myself; that is, I was work-

ing for pay for other people. For eight years I was

a union man, preaching to other workmen to organ-

ize, to fight for their rights like men. The capital-

ists get you where they want you, I said, because

they are organized and you are not. Every furni-

ture manufacturer is a member of the furniture man-

ufacturers' association, and the organization as a

whole is a member of some organization such as

the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association,

which has a still greater scope in the furthering of

capitalist interests. The capitalists may fight among

themselves for power and control, but so far as the

ultimate aim of their class is concerned, especially

their attitude toward labor, they are one big union.

Do what the capitalists do, I said to workmen-

organize upon the same principle they are organized.

But after a while I found out that I was wasting

my breath. The working stiff didn't have the sense

to see what was good for him. The working stiff

hasn't got the sense of an average self-respecting

animal. If you try to take from an animal something

_that belongs to it and that it must absolutely have

to live and bring up its young-why, the animal

fights back, while your working stiff is willing to

starve and even ready to see his offspring starve.

And he votes for Coolidge! And Charlie Dawes! I

can't see how an intelligent person can sympathize

and sentimentalize over such people"

Personally, I felt an impulse to shake the fellow's

hand. This was honesty for you! [I had no doubt

that he would not hesitate to tell the same thing to

the "stiffs" who were working for him. I don't

know how the rest of the group liked it, but I con-

fess I did, and I believe the wobbly did.

As I walked away I thought of the speech that

Eugene V. Debs made in Los Angeles about a year

and a half ago. A wonderful. speech, in its way,

delivered by a great man. I remembered that he

had told us about the utter vileness and corruption

of the capitalist class. And I recalled how he im-

plored and besought and pleaded with his beloved

working people-for he truly loves them-to organize

industrially, join the Socialist party and vote the

Socialist ticket whenever they get a chance.

And then I thought of Upton Sinclair and his

books, He has exposed the capitalist system in all

its rotteness, with its moral bankruptcy. He has

given us a picture of the "brass check" press, of

the prostitute pulpit, of the poundoo0se-step educational

system. Yes, he has done all that; and he, like

Debs, had implored and besought and pleaded with

his beloved working people to organize industrially,

join the Socialist party and vote the Socialist ticket.

Debs and Sinclair and the rest of the radical

leaders of their type have failed. They seem to be

afraid to offend the people to whom their message

is addressed. What they say about capitalist sys-

tem may be all true; but what about the working

class? What about its stupidity and individual

selfishness? Debs and Sinclair and a few men

like them would be listened to by the working class

even if they would talk plain about the working

class itself, ; -. A.

an assistant in the firm's office.

THE VIOLENCE

OF THE RESPECTABLE

THE RED RAID

Thursday, December 4th, the Los Angeles Times

flared forth with a big scare line across the front

page, "REDS RAID THE CITY SCHOOLS." The item

which followed had to do with San Francisco rather

than Los Angeles, a most disloyal slip on the part of

The Times as "the city' cannot be imagined to be

any other than that in which The Times is itself pub is

lished. What is San Francisco that it should be `

given space on the first page of The Times, and cap S

italized as ``the city.' Abas with such treason! in

The article itself was as stupid and mendacious ag

the title. It appears that the "reds" have been "raid.

ing" the schools of San Francisco by making protest

against the domination of education week there by th

the American Legion. This the following paragraph of

from our Federated Press Service, received the same

day, shows.

SAN FRANCISCO.-Only one voice of protest was afi

raised against the American Legion's education week th

in San Francisco, with its charge that "the red flag fr

means death, destruction, poverty, starvation, disease,

anarchy and dictatorship," and its call to the children

C

to "stop revolutionary radicalism." It came from the e

Workers party, which held open air meetings on Fri- s

day and Saturday of the week to condemn the propa; ,, f

ganda and expose the real purpose of the campaign. ey

A special meeting for school children was held on

Saturday morning under the auspices of the Young'

Workers League.

lo

But this is not all the story. The "reds" who were ig

guilty of raiding the schools according to both the co

Federated Press and The Times were the Workers'

Party. But the police proceeded, with their usual hi

intelligence, to raid the I. W. W. headquarters, and jt

the men arrested, for "vagrancy," not for "raiding the jg

schools," were all "Fellow Workers." These, it ap th

pears, from word we have direct from San Fran- of

cisco, demanded a jury trial, whereupon "His Honor"

held them in $5000 bail each. Can it be that San a

Francisco is not only "the city,' but really sports If

"vagrants" who are worth $5000 each. Alas, Los An- 4,

geles! `ore

The raid was actually a labor black-list proposition, av

and had nothing to do with the schools either in San sti

Francisco or elsewhere. s

: '

a

Sc

HE WAS NOT A RED we

"The third richest man in the world" is given a SX

two-page write up in the Hearst Sunday papers of a re

recent date, November 28rd.. He is Sir Basil Zaharoff, ie

and it appears that his fortune is mainly the result .

of manipulating the munitions market of the world.

He was first of all connected with the famous Vickers -

a

munitions firm, and by them sent to St. Petersburg as

He did so well "and' W

had such luck in being concerned in wars' that he

was shortly made the representative of the firm in

South America. In this fertile field of international IRE

rivalries and pugnacious patriotisms he prospered in

further. Two of the South American republics were

about to go to war, but he persuaded them to wait th

until he could supply both of them with munitions. sii

This was the real start of his fortune. Argentina and

Brazil have furnished him with much business of re It

cent years. "He played with thousands of lives every Ww)

day." "His business was selling destruction." "With 4,

Oriental cunning he amassed his fortune in that way. gr

He is rumored to have even fomented revolutions in

order that he might sell munitions to both sides." 0x00A7- qy

And what is there Oriental in that, since northern pe

business men in the United States did as much in the

Civil War, and the same trick was turned again and oF

again in the European war? But he was not a "red"

not even to the hue of a La Follette Re-publican. nc

of

---2-_-___--_ ar

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AMERICA FIRST ' g0

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22.-(By Universal Service.)

-No less than 22,600 persons were killed and 678,000 ra

seriously injured in street and highway accidents in A

the United States during 1923. The economic lossin- (c)

volved in these accidents is estimated at $600,000,000. ac

These appalling figures were made public today in

the report of the committee of statistics, which will

be submitted to the conference on street and highway cr

safety, to be held here December 15, 16 and 17 under oO

the auspices of the Department of Commerce. 7s

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FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS and

K

ANSWER TO

SPARGO'S CONFESSION

By Kate Crane Gartz

Spargo has long been discredited by the real Social-

ists, (although he says in his "Confession" that he

has not changed about the fundamental ideals of

Socialism-this "communism of opportunity'-"`striv-

ing for the goal of each for all and all for each'').

It is no surprise to me that he does not think Social-

ism is the way to realize those ideals.

He says that the essence of the Marxian theory is

the complete development of Capitalism as a requisite

of Socialism; that the Socialist state can only come

as a logical outcome of a fully matured and perfected

capitalist economy. Well let us hope that capitalism

has reached that "full blown rose" state, and done

its worst, and that we are now ready for Socialism,

the aim of which is the emancipation of humanity

from Capitalism with its blossom-poverty.

Where does Mr. Spargo think the capitalists are

going to find "vast new sums" to bring Capitalism

back where it stood in 1914?

One would think that

money was picked off the trees, instead of being

"frozen labor."

A "world clamoring for capital!" A

"heyday for the investor!" My, how this man Spargo

loves capitalism!

He calls us "essentially alien," and declares that

we have learned nothing from the war.

Ye gods, as

if the war did not show the world what capitalism

could do toward wrecking it!

fies the imagination.

him for a Socialist.

Anything worse de-

No, we can never again claim

He thinks it is obsolete before

it has been tried, and when a map, once a Socialist,

is received baek into

the arms of Capitalism, great is

the rejoicing, for then surely he proclaims the error

of his way.

But the ideals of Socialism have not changed be-

cause he has, though he may call them what he will.

If the United States

it by another name, we do not object.

socializes advantages and calls

He states that

we are nearer the ideal of Social democracy than

any nation of the Old World.

statement can be borne out by the facts.

England, over 150

France, with about

I don't think that

What about

Socialists in parliament; and

the same number, besides a

Socialist Premier; also Australia and New Zealand-

we with our lone one.

He would like to call all these progressive reforms

Socialism, but fears it would invite confusion. Why

be afraid of the name Socialism? Let the world find

out its true meaning and the world will want it.

He did not elaborate on his statement that ``we

are progressing toward a new type of communism,

based upon private property and

individualism,"

which, since Bertrand Russell could not comprehend

it, we don't mind admitting, neither can we.

Socialism cannot be called "essentially European."

It is universal as Christ is universal; it is cooperation

in place of destructive, wasteful competition.

- He says that the Federal Government cannot aid

the ``special interests" of the farmers.

Why not,

since it has aided such "special interests," as rail-

roads, ship-building coneerns, and gun-powder works?

It looks to me if we are to survive at all, that we

will have to take over the whole of agriculture and

socialize it on a gigantic scale, making it like the

great co-operative movements of other enlightened

countries. Instead

of lightening the burden and

drudgery of the farmer, we make it as hard as

possible, by taxing instead of subsidizing; by exces-

sive freight rates; by the middleman; by gambling

on Wall Street.

Before the "richest nation on earth' extends eco-

nomic support to the "weak and tottering' nations

of Europe, let it think awhile about its own economic

and industrial tragedies.

Let it solve its own prob-

lems first-otherwise how can it consider itself fit to

solve others.

He labels La Follette's ideas of nationalizing the

railroads the "blackest of black reactions."

We al-

ways thought public ownership of public utilities was

considered radical, but now we learn that it is re-

actionary, and "black," at that.

Does Mr. Spargo

really believe that reaction can be black?'

We would have no "foreign loans'-no "immense

credits" could be given to foreign nations, if we fol-

owed La Follette.

La Follette and his "misguided

*e *

THE RED MENACE

IN THE SCHOOLS:

Douglas W. Churchill, who writes the column in

the Illustrated Daily News entitled "The Man in the

Street" makes this refreshing comment in the issue

of December 6, on the alleged "red menace in the

schools."

"To anyone who is in a degree familiar with the so-

called "red menace" in the schools, the agitation that

crops out from time to time appears to be the product

of slightly over-zealous minds. There must be this

red menace, of course, because so many very worthy

and righteous people say so. But, as I say, those who

are at all familiar with the schools are inclined to

take the matter less seriously than the professional

100 per cent Americans who are always stirring

things up. These more phlegmatic individuals are

somewhat inclined to believe that a great deal of the

menace is manufactured by the mossbacks.

Of course, I hasten to add, I am one of the 100 per-

centers. As a citizen in good standing I can not af-

ford to be otherwise. But I merely cite the fact that

there are those who are inclined to view the entire

agitation as a lot of bunk.

Unfortunately there are both students and teachers

in the high schools of this great land who are intelli-

gent. They are, frankly, a sore spot in the body of

the stupid but righteous. If it is the purpose of

the schools to turn out minds that have been molded

in a small, narrow box without a trace of originality,

then every teacher who does not agree with the shape

of the mold should be done away with, forthwith.

But if the schools are to attempt to develop the minds

of boys and girls along natural, healthy lines of indi-

vidual, intelligent thought, then there should be a

variety of molds.

It is a known fact that every person born is at

heart either a. conservative or a liberal. All the in-

struction and browbeating in the world will not

change the attitude of mind, although it will broaden

the outlook, as it should. What class has the right

to say that the other shall not exist? They may

make the declaration, but that doesn't mean anything.

One of the greatest efforts ever made in this coun-

try to buy thought of high school students was a dis-

mal flop. A syndicate of newspapers offered huge

prizes for essays or speeches or something. It was

definitely understood in the schools that only one

type of thought would be tolerated. The teachers

were given to understand it and they passed it on to

the students. The result was that the contestants

consulted. their teachers somewhat in this vein and I

quote verbatim three sentences that I overheard while

visiting a California high school on one occasion:

"Say, I've got a great line that will go over with

these old fogies big!"

"Talk about bunk-listen to this line about the

rabid reds."

"Gosh, I wrote something about the superiority of

the capitalistic form of government last night that

is so good I'm afraid they will think I swiped it out

of a pamphlet of the Better American Federation."

No matter how liberal minded you are, you could

hardly call this any advance toward serious, honest

thought."

followers" would halt the healing of the wounds of

war! Would kill the Dawes plan! So far has a form-

er Socialist become imbued with the spirit and lingo

of Capitalism. No wonder he "feels akin to Davis

and Hughes."

Spargo also regrets that the Senate refused to rati-

fy the Versailles Treaty, therefore making us a

"marplot" among nations. He believes that because

La Follette wishes a revision of that treaty, that he,

La Follette, would plunge Europe into unrest, revolt,

and war. As if it were not in that state now, as a

result of that unjust and revengeful treaty.

No, we must dismiss the opinions of Spargo, as

the furthermost from the dreams of a new day when

our civilization will be interested only in humanity,

instead of as now in the dollar as a thing with which

to enslave one's fellow-man.

*K

*K

PSYCHOLOGY AND

WAR-PREPAREDNESS

When we discuss "war-preparedness" today we are

@lyt to think only of armament, munitions, military

training in the schools, and other visible and tangible

phase,s of militarism. But the most menacing thing

of all, ig the work that is done to create a war

phsychtjjogy. Such preparation of mind was not

needed JYregterday, because the people were not con-

sulted in Uhe making of war. Our very progress in

the incredsiing consciousness of the stupidity and in-

iquity of war- makes all the more imperative the

"gassing" of the. yeople by press and platform and

school whenever @ knar is to be put over. The follow-

ing from Fanny Bixv." 0x00A7pencer's fine booklet on

"THE REPUDIATION OF xwWAR," states the whole

matter so admirably in so few- words that we wish

all our readers would study her utverance with care.

"Man is a precarious thinker.

seeking after higher things, he has at t-jmes even tried

other means than war of deciding great issues.

When he has been successful in the use of peaceful

methods he has not always taken cognizance of his

achievements, and in the event of apparent faijure

has resorted to war with all the ferocious zeal of his

primitive instincts. In the early stages of his devel-

opment the question of the ethics of war did not

bother his head. Violence was natural and needed no

excuse. But as he began to acquire the refinements

of civilization, his self respect demanded that he seek

justification when he went out to kill his fellowmen.

Thus he has nurtured a tradition of war heroics,

which, like a snowball rolling down hill, has gained

in circumference and gathered momentum till it

has become an overwhelming emotion and an almost

impenetrable substance in the thought of the world

today."

fe

CENTRALIA, Wash. That the raid on the I. W. W.

hall in Centralia which resulted in the Killing of

three American legion rioters Armistice day 1919 was _

planned long before is set forth in an affidavit made

by an overseas veteran who was in Centralia that

day and still lives there. He is Cecil Draper. An-

other veteran named Peter McCartin swears he was

asked by a former army captain to go down to Cen-

tralia from Spokane and take part in the raid on the

labor hall with all expenses paid and things fixed so

he wouldn't "have to worry for a long time." He re-

fused.

These affidavits, with those of seven jurors who

want freedom for the eight I. W. W. in prison as a

result of defending themselves, are in the hands of

Gov. Hart to counteract the original Associated Press

story and theory of the prosecution, still believed

in many quarters, that the legionnaires were fired on

from a distance while they were peacefully parading.

-------"1-_____-__ ;

An aftermath of the free speech fight carried on

for the last two years by the American Civil Liber-

ties Union against the closed coal town of Vintondale,

Pa., owned by the Vinton Collieries Co., incorporated,

in New York, took place recently when the New York

Supreme Court decided in favor of the corporation

in the $35,000 damage suit for assault and false ar-

rest brought by Attorney Arthur Garfield Hays.

The case goes back to the coal strike of May, 1922,

when Attorney Hays and a group of speakers, repre-

senting the Civil Liberties Union and the United

Mine Workers, were assaulted and jailed by company

guards while addressing a meeting on property in

Vintondale belonging to the United Mine Workers.

Hays, according to the Civil Liberties Union, was or-

dered by a Vintondale justice to "get the hell out of

town."

Attorney Hays filed charges against the company

police and secured their conviction. In the suit for

personal damages against the Vinton Collieries Com-

pany, Judge William Harmon Black at last week's

trial would not allow the record of the conviction of

the company police to be presented, and also barred

evidence that Vintondale was a "closed town."

jury's verdict was that Hays could claim no damages,

declaring that the assault was provoked by his enter-

ing a town to which entrance had been forbidden by

uniformed men patrolling the highway. The case

may be appealed.

A successful free speech test meeting was' held in

Vintondale of this year with Hays as chief speaker.

-The Federated Press.

In his conscious -

The

Ps

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 506 Tajo Building,

Los. Angeles, California, by The Southern California

Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union.

Phone: TUcker 6836.

MANAGING EDITORS

Robert Whitaker Clinton J. Taft

LITERARY EDITOR

Esther Yarnell

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz JH. Ryc}*man

Doremus Scudder

Ethelwyn Mills -

Fanny Bixby Spencer

Leo Gallagher

Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year,;five Cents

per Copy. In bundles of ten or more to, One address,

Two Cents Hach.

Advertising Rates on Request.'

Application for sec-vd-class rates pending.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1924

BEAUTY

'By Mary Craig Sinclair

How can you smile when pain is everywhere;

How flaunt complacently your vulgar weaith?

"Tt is my duty to be gay. My health

And calm delight the eye and banish care-

It would be sad indeed if none were free

To sanction Beauty and embody Joy.

Enough of you, who would with gloom destroy

My grace. I do my share of Charity!"

Your share of charity! Who tipped the scales

To Sophistry and weighed a fancy gown

Against a street rat's need of bread? The nails

' Of Calvary, the cross, the thorned crown,

The face of sorrow that He wore, reply:

-"Horgive them, God, they know not when they lie!"

-_____4

AN INJURY TO ALL

- Under this title Miriam Allen de Ford has an ex-

cellent article in the December issue of The Overland

Monthly, an article greatly to the credit both of the

writer and the magazine which gives it publication.

The article is too long for re-publication here, but

we heartily recommend our readers to get the mag-

azine for themselves, and give it as wide a circula-

tion as they can. Here is one salient passage from

{t, indicative of the frankness of the article as a

whole, and illustrative of the utterly unfair and out-

rageous manner in which the Criminal Syndicalism

law is being used by the courts in the service of their

masters, the profiteers and the patromaniacs of Cal-

ifornia.,

"Last year Roy Fellom introduced a bill to repeal

the Criminal Syndicalism act. A circular urging

citizens to vote for this repeal was sent out by a

number of liberal and labor organizations. This cir-

cular, 20,000 copies of which were distributed

throughout the state, bore the official signature of

Tom Connors, then secretary of the California Branch

of the General Defense Committee. One of the 20,000

fell into the hands of a man named Arnold, who hap-

pened to be on the venire of the jury to try a criminal

syndicalism case in Sacramento. He showed the cir-

cular to the prosecuting attorney in the case who

had Connors arrested on the charge of tampering

with a jury. After several postponements Connors

was convicted on this far-fetched charge-although

Arnold was not a juryman and Connors had never

set eyes on him-and sentenced to five years in San

Quentin! As a contrast, a short time ago a con-

tractor in Woodland was convicted of having intro-

duced the defendant in a boot-legging case to one

of the jurors, and of discussing the case with both

men together. He was sentenced to five days in the

Yolo County Jail. Comment is unnecessary."

Ce

RECORD OF ARRESTS

From Jan. 1924 to Dec, Ist. 1924, 155 including 4

women and 8 children.

From Nov. 1922 to Jan. Ist, 1924, 1198 recorded

arrests.

At least 250

Many cases never

Records taken from Court Docket.

+ar 300 cases never listed in court.

___. the rraigned.

"pea,

J. L. BRONSON

COMING EVENTS

KO RE KR SK Se

NoT'#:-No charge is made for these announce-

ments Of meetings, but our space limits require that

notjices Shall be very brief. Meetings mentioned here

mvist be of some interest to our constituency, and

p7-eference will be given to those not able to advertise

in the capitalist press. Notices must be in our office

not later than Monday night.

------_e--___-_--_

Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall. 233

South Broadway, Sunday evening at 7-30 o'clock.

He ------

CHURCH OF THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER, meets

Sunday mornings in Cleveland Hall, Walker Audi-

torium, at 10:45 o'clock. Robert Whitaker is speak-

ing during Sunday mornings in December. Subject

next Sunday, "A Virgin Birth Story."

: ce ee

F. O. R. Meeting. The December meeting of The

Fellowship of Reconciliation (F.0.R.) will be held

Monday evening, December 22. The program will be

given by local officers of the National Association

For The Advancement of Colored People. Matters

of racial fellowship between the whites and blacks

will be sincerely considered. Dinner at 6 Do Meat

the Y. M. C. A., 715 South Hope St. Get your own

tray and bring it to the balcony. The program of

speaking and discussion will be held in Room 508,

Yo Me Ce AS Bids, at 7230:

-_--_e-_-___

Free Workers Forum meetings Monday nights,

8:15 o'clock, at Folk Schule, 420 N. Soto St. (one

block North of Brooklyn Avenue). December 22-

Mr. Vernon Taylor speaks on, "Organizing to Con-

serve Human Time.' December 29-"Psycho-Analysis,

Birth Control and the Sex Question," Dy, (. de Bell:

-t+--______

The Seattle Fellowship announces Sunday Lunch-

eons for December, held at Meves Cafeteria. Lunch-

eon, One o'clock Sharp; Discussion 1:30 sharp. Ad-

journment 2:45.

Sunday, December 21st, 1 p. m.-Topic, "Outlawry

and Abolition of War-How to Secure Peace on

Earth." Speakers to' be announced.

Sunday, December 28th, 1 p. m.-Topic, "Lhe Co-

operative Commonwealth Coming? Worth Get-

ting? How to Get It." Speakers announced

later,

--_-_--_ t-______

A PROPHET OF PEACE

RECOGNIZED

In a Congregational Church in Seattle a group of

young people, among them High School students,

were asked "Who Is David Starr Jordan?" Not one

of them could answer. But perhaps our young people

will take note that the Chancellor of Stanford Uni-

versity has been awarded the $25,000 prize `for the

best educational plan calculated to maintain world

peace." That is one of the most cheering bits of

news the week has brought. Dr. Jordan is worthy of

the honor, and the plan is worth repeating in brief

outline here.

DR. JORDAN'S PLAN

Specifically Dr. Jordan's plan recommends forma-

tion of:

1-A general world committee on education for

peace.

2-A second committee to co-operate with already

established peace organizations.

3-A committee to study the teaching of history

in all parts of the world and to make recommenda-

tions for its just teaching.

4-A committee on the teaching of patriotism, which

shall attempt to define its true nature.

5-A committee to promote mutual understanding

among students of various ages throughout the

world.

6-A committee to explore the influence of interna-

tional sports on international amity.

7-A committee to consider the desirability and

possibility of establishing within the state depart-

ment at Washington a bureau of conciliation, or a

peace council connected with the state department.

Re eee egy

Christmas never comes at all to the man to whom

it only comes once a year.-R.W.

Los Angeles

OPEN FORUM

MUSIC ART HALL

233 South Broadway

SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK

PROGRAM FOR DECEMBER, 1924

Dec. 21.-"The Sacco-Vanzetti Case"-a protest meet.

ing. Robert Whitaker and F. G. Biedenkapp, rep.

resentative of the International Workers' Aid, wil]

be the speakers. There should be a great attend.

ance at this meeting; the case to be discussed hag

elements of vast significance, and should be un.

derstood by everybody. Music by Miss Etta Gon

don.

Dec. 28-"Making a New World by Co-Operative

Production," by Albert F. Coyle of Cleveland, 0,

editor of the "Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi.

neers Journal" and Executive Secretary of the All

American Co-operative Commission. A great even.

ing is assured with this wide-awake young man ag

the speaker. He was the opponent of Theodore

Burton in the recent Congressional race in Ohio.

His work in behalf of co-operation has been bril.

liant and effective. The musical program will be

furnished by Max Amsterdam, one of the first vio.

linists of the Philharmonic Orchestra, and David

Klatskin, pianist.

-_----ae-_-_-_-_-_.

JURIES OR JUDGES

In dismissing a jury which had disagreed on the

guilt of the defendants in an oil fraud case, Federal

Judge B. F. Bledsoe took occasion to criticise the

jury members.

the judge told them:

"Something is wrong with members of juries who

consistently refuse to see a thing in its true light."

The Record notes that it has become a frequent

practice of federal judges to criticise jurors who

reach different conclusions than the judges think they

should have reached. Is this justified?

It is understood that in federal courts the judge

has the right in his instructions to the jury to com-

ment on the facts. His comments, however, are not

binding, they are merely his opinion, which jurors

may disregard. In passing on the facts the jury are

the ultimate judges.

If jurors advise and report to the best of their

ability they should not be subject to criticism by the

judge. If the judge is to have the final say not only

on the law but on the facts, why have a jury at all?

-Los Angeles Evening Record, Dec. 5, 1924.

The Record's question, and the particular circum:

stance which gave rise to it almost tempts us to

change the inquiry to WHY HAVE JUDGES?

oH

There's trouble brewing in the railway unions be-

cause of recent rulings of the Railway Labor Board.

Look out for a titanic struggle in the industrial field

in America before Coolidge has been president an:

other year.

--_--_- t-_-_-____

` "

Much shopping is a weariness of the flesh, and of

the making of many Christmas presents there is no

end.-R.W.

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

Find herewith $.......... as payment for.........

{ Yearly

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INSIIG e e ee ek ose a ee :

AGOPCSS O40 Oo Se ee ee ee

WATE Ms cc hace ner nas teed

Linotyping and press work done in Union

Shops. The make-up is our own. fi

y

As reported in Wednesday's Record, ~

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