Open forum, vol. 2, no. 13 (March, 1925)

EN

hery

Sing

tate

Nak

Der}

S olf

Hig

ity,

THE

S14.

ake

hol

nists

Ney

01g

1

ngs

NLU

iT

thi (c)

ht

Vell

ell

alt

thal

1Uecl

70) Be in, ion.

"4 eee 1

eS

i

we

clel

sub:

eek,

ims,

rits,

ant

lov

fot

on't

d if

ily

till

nds

my

ths

ss

:

nese citizenry th

. ek

"THE OPEN FORUM

Self Expression is the first Law of Life.

Voliad: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MARCH 28, 1925

No.3

; A worse exhibit of mental and moral idiocy it

would be hard to imagine than that which is given

by Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., on the editorial page of

The Illustrated Daily News of the date of Wednes-

day, March 18, 1925. In large type is this heading,

over a full-column editorial: GREAT FLEET AS-

SEMBLING AT LOS ANGELES HARBOR INSURES

US AGAINST WAR. The heading itself is idiotic

enough, but the "argument" which follows is even

more void of sense and sincerity.

"Not since the review of the British squadrons at

Portsmouth, England, in the summer of 1914, has

`such an array of fighting ships been seen." This as

a starter for the contention that we have in the

repetition. of the English folly "in the summer of

1914," an insurance against war. Yet the World

- War followed almost immediately upon-the British

exhibit, and as everybody knows was directly related

to the threat which British sea-power carried to the

competing sea-power of Germany. England shook

her fists under the nose of all Europe and a few

minutes afterwards all Europe was at it, in the worst

melee of blooshed and slaughter the earth has ever

seen. So now we shake our fists in the face of Asia,

"and thereby insure the world against war. Could

stupidity exceed this?

--_-_------_

"The armada is a peace-time fleet; its assemblage,

the Atlantic and Pacific fleets together, is the BEST

INSURANCE of peace we can have." And then this

millionaire editor goes on: "It is a demonstration

of the peacetime power of the United States; a

warning of HANDS OFF to any nation." Note now

the concluding paragraph of this editorial imbecil-

ity: "We in America must learn, as Australia and

New Zealand have learned, that a show of FORCE,

of STRENGTH, of POWER is the only thing on

earth that will keep us from having to fight JAPAN.

And the only way to impress upon Japan that we

MEAN BUSINESS is to let them see what kind of

`insurance we employ when we are not at war."

--_--_ 4

"The next war-if there is another war in our gen-

eration-will be a naval war fought in the Pacific

Ocean. It will be a war for the supremacy of the

race; a war of the colors; a war for the domination

of the white man over the yellow man." Frank isn't

it? Especially that last clause," a war for the domi-

nation of the white man over the yellow man."

And it is thus that we "insure peace."

But the sentence does not end as we have ended it

AnGVS. Here is the apex of imbecility and insin-

cerity. "A war for the domination of the white man

Over the yellow race; brought about inversely."

That is, the war is going to be for the subjection of

the yellow man to the white man, and the yellow

an is going to provoke this war. But let Vander-

bilt speak for himself. |

---___

"Here in America we are talking peace; we are

ad to call ourselves a peace-loving people. Not so

cae a Orient; there they have the idea that even-

ae y ne yellow man is to rule the world; that

"a prevails because it has been instilled into the

natives for generations. They are waiting, as Ger-

Aca waiting, for THE DAY. Peace means

ieee o them, except a subterfuge of the white

Hates clr language a show of the white feather."

"If this coo utterance from the same editorial.

Goan a mada goes to the Orient it will do MORE

nee = any other one thing imaginable to keep

ne Pacific. Demonstrations of power are

the ;

Only kinds of demonstrations that mean any-

thine ;

ae - those who inhabit the lands of the Far

Sam, he power of the combined fleets of Uncle

`

would mean more to the Chinese and Japa-

an yard

ganda." y Ss and yards of peace propa

PITH AND PARAGRAPH

It may be possible to put more falsehood, foolish-

ness, and Pharisaism into the same number of words

than Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. has packed into these

short paragraphs, but if it is possible it would be

hard to prove that the thing has ever been done. For

immeasurable idiocy, and a hypocrisy that has not

been surpassed since that hour of the world's mid-

night when Judas kissed Jesus as the sign of his

betrayal, this thing has no parallel. And the ap-

palling fact about it is that here is no accidental,

individual utterance, but the voice of American

moronism and imperialism speaking the thing that

Americanism has come to be, a lying, braggart men-

ace to the world.

And here are the "thirty pieces of silver." Midway

of the editorial notice these words. "`The ships and

the men at San Pedro mean that a great deal of

money will be spent, a great many merchants en-

riched, a great many citizens given an opportunity

of viewing the BEST TRAINING SCHOOL in the

world for their sons, now and in the future."

eS

All the emphasis of capital letters in all the above

quotations is that of the [llustrated News, a fact

which makes plainer yet where the emphasis of

American feeling and thinking lies today. For Van-

derbilt speaks. for millions upon millions, and most

of all for those who are sure that they are most

American.

Germany may have been the insane asylum of the

earth yesterday, but there can be little doubt that

the United States is the mad-house of the present

hour. And to climax this, and locate the maddest

ward in this mad-house of up-to-date Prussianism,

let me give just one quotation more, the concluding

words of the initial paragraph of this editorial.

"It is all the more impressive that this great drama

of naval life should be centered at San Pedro, the

port which Los Angeles is doing its best to make

one of the greatest in the world."

---_ 4 -__-_-_.

Neither religion, nor irreligion, is the concern of

THE OPEN FORUM. We are no more interested

in promoting rationalism than we are in promoting

orthodoxy. Our first business is to defend all kinds

of people in their right to express all kinds of opin-

ions, within the limits of decency and non-violence.

We will defend the Fundamentalists in their right

to the peaceful use of their own platforms, and an

orderly hearing from those who want to hear them,

just as we will defend the atheist in his right to

his platform and his audience as long as they want

to hear him. But attacks on religion do not interest

us any more than do defenses of religion. So far

as religion is an institutional thing, and its teaching

an item of social phenomena, criticism of it as such

is entirely within the social education, which is the

work we are trying to do. But rationalists among

us ought not to expect us to propagandize on behalf

of rationalism any more than religionists among us

ought to expect us to propagandize on behalf of

religion.

----

Repeal of the Criminal Syndicalism Law in Cali-

fornia, aS proposed by Assemblyman Hornblower of

San Francisco, was turned down without so much

as getting a hearing before the State Assembly at

Sacramento. The Judiciary Committee unanimously

tabled the resolution, thus indicating how completely

the State Legislature is in the hands of the profit-

eers and the patro-maniacs. This result was ex-

pected by everyone who knows the present political

situation in California. Reaction is in the saddle

here, as emphatically ag it is anywhere in the world

today. Meanwhile few of our Eastern friends rea-

`lize the difficulties of rallying liberal sentiment in

California right now. The-recent decision of the

State Supreme Court making membership in the

I. W. W. itself a crime, and the contemptuous dis-

missal by the Judiciary Committee of the effort to

repeal the infamous Criminal Syndicalism Law both

point to the almost hopeless ascendancy in this State

of the Big Interests and the Associated Bigotries in

their combination against the people who- would

make California free. This.is, however, only a chal-

lenge to a more serious campaign on behalf of de-

cency and democracy. But it will have to be a

very serious campaign, indeed.

eB Ee ee

Russia is still the acid test of social thinking.

Four times in a period of less than eight years the

Soviet government has been the object of world

attack, in which the United States has always been

with the enemy. There was first of all the military

attack, wherein Woodrow Wilson joined the Allies

and without warrant of legal act or authority, used

United States forces in an attempt to overthrow a

nation with which we were not at war. At one

time during this period Russia had to stand off at-

tack on twenty-one fronts. The Red Army brought

her successfully through.

The economic barricade was a Severer test, if pos-

sible, than the armed invasions had been. In this

also the United States was a leader, and still con-

tinues the effort to crush the Soviet government. by

the policy of economic starvation. Here also the

world-wide conspiracy has failed.

The third attack was the resort to publicity. Lenin

was killed off again and again, the failure and

abandonment of Communism was widely proclaimed,

and every effort was made to put Russia out of

business by proclaiming her bankruptcy to the world.

This attack also failed, for Russia has slowly but

steadily strengthened her standing both in the eco-

nomic and the political field. Now comes the fourth

attack, also on lines of lying publicity. The tactic

today is to claim and cultivate dissension in the

Russian ranks. First of all we have a campaign of

championing Trotsky against the Communist Party

in Russia. This has broken down, like the other

publicity programs of those who proclaimed the col-

lapse of the Soviet Republics. There follows the

present effort to play up the political prisoners in

Russia, and so discredit Russia abroad, and if pos-

sible make a rift in Russian unity at home. Macaulay,

the English historian, said that the Puritans opposed

bear-baiting, "not because it hurt the bear, but be-

cause it pleased the spectator." The interest in the

political prisoner in Russia is much less a matter of

sympathy for the prisoner than it is a matter of

antipathy to the Soviets.

Charles M. Sheldon, the famous religious writer,

tells of a recent meeting of a Rotary Club, a ban-

quet at which there were present "members of the

churches in large numbers, officials of the state,

representative business and professional men, a few

working men, to use a term designating those who

hold tools of labor in their hands, and visiting

guests, including several ministers of the gospel."

The speaker of the occasion was "a well-known

minister," whose subject was patriotism. And this

was the climax of his address.

"If my country should declare war against even

a weaker nation, a war that was cruel and unjust

on gur side, nevertheless I would enlist without

a word of protest. My .country, first, last, and

always." ~#

This appears to have been too much, even for a

Rotary Club. Sheldon notes that instead of the

pronounced applause which this peroration was ex-

pected to draw forth, the audience received it "almost

in silence."

And this is the extent of the protest against a

prostitution worse than that of the woman of the

street. Preachers get away with that sort of thing

today as they did with their boot-licking of the slave

oligarchy less than a century ago.

eae seein ia Sat tar ae SESSA TELS re

OR ER ON CE I ED

2

SA GR: ea ee EY

Will The Church

Survive?

By Elmo A. Robinson

Il

It is objected to the idea that the church will

survive that religion is the "opiate of the masses,"

that the church is a tool of financial interests and

does not function to the benefit of the proletariat.

It is pointed out that the workers of the world are

largely alienated from religion, and asserted that

in the future the church will be discarded.

Such objections are based on Upton Sinclair's

"Profits of Religion" and similar studies. The same

author, however, has shown with equal, if not

greater force, that the press, the schools, the col-

leges, the arts, are also capitalistically controlled.

People who withdraw from the church on account of

its relation to capitalism ought, logically, to discard

newspapers, refuse to send their children to school

and college, refuse to listen to the radio, or visit

the movie, the theatre, the concert. People who argue

that there will be no church in the fitlture might

with the same sweet unreasonableness argue that

there will be no public press, no institutions of learn-

ing, no social expression of the artistic impulse.

Such people forget the transformation of church life

in the past, and expose their own lack of vision,

of capacity to see the coming transformation. The

church of the future will be influenced ane po-

litical and industrial forms of the future. People

who object to the church of the present because it

has not yet become the church of the future might

contribute to progress if they would help accelerate

this transformation by their co-operation. .

The church of the future will be a cthurch with

a world religion, corresponding to the world indus-

try of the future. It will know no national boun-

daries. Already progress is being made in har-

monizing the world's greatest religion. In the new

era the church will teach a religion which will in-

clude all races, all revelations, all prophets.

The church of the future will be a united church.

Denominationalism is passing. The spirit of unity

is growing. Some definite steps toward organic and

functional unity have been taken; more steps will

be taken. Denominationalism will go, not by a

process of destruction, but by building parts into a

more perfect whole.

Metaphysical |

Determinism

The doctrine, so much in vogue in the United

States today, that the mind determines everything

never had a funnier expression than this which fol-

lows. It is from a well known New Thought period-

ical which carries at the head of the page from

which this clipping is taken "Copies Printed This

Issue, 119,000." We are using only a part of the

article, the rest being taken up with nearly two

pages of testimonials as to weather changes affected

by prayer:

Everything in the universe is the outpicturing

of the thoughts of man; even the weather is the

result of man's thought. When people pray for

a change in the weather, their prayers will be

granted if there is a change in their thinking-

for all outer conditions respond to thought.

History shows that climatic conditions change

as the thoughts of the population change. For

instance, fifty years ago it was considered that,

outside of Egypt and a fringe of land along the

coast line, but little of the continent of Africa

was fit for human habitation. It was thought

that on account of the climate the land could

not be made productive. However, when set-

tlers from the civilized races came to Africa and

brought with them thoughts more civilized than

those held by the natives, it was found that the

climate of Africa was changing. Large areas of

the country that had been considered unin-

habitable were found to afford a good living to

those who settled there, and the dream of a

great railway from "Cape to Cairo" was at least

partially carried out.

We find like changes taking place in our own

country. About fifty years ago an important

convention of grain men was held in Chicago.

After considering the evidence and listening to

the discussion these pioneers caused a record to

be spread on their minutes to the effect that

there was a great future for grain growing in

the. United States, but that it ~would be impos-

sible, on account of the climate, for grain grow-

ing ever to be successful in the northern tier of

states. It was not many years, of course, before

Minnesota and other northern states showed

what could be done by them in the way of grow-

ing grain, and it was conceded that the climate

had changed. Experts then concluded that the

forty-ninth parallel of north latitude surely

|

1

eee

A weekly commentary by Robert Whitake;

on the high-power humbug and the res.

pectable nonsense of platform and presg,

@

Few issues are more difficult to discuss intellj.

gently than is the issue of free speech. Many who

think they believe in it humbug themselves to ap

amazing degree in face of the fact that they repudi.

ate it whenever they get into a tight place. This

is true of all conservatives, and it is true of the

vast majority of those who think themselves liberals.

On the other hand there are many radicals, who

know the limitations of free speech as a matter of

actual human experience, yet are foolishly inclined

to proclaim their abandonment of the doctrine just

when and where they ought to be loyal to it.

Free speech is a consistent doctrine for the anar-

chist, though it is doubtful whether anarchists woul(

allow unlimited discussion if they were actually in

a numerical and directive majority in any country

of the world. Certain suppressions would follow

quite inevitably upon such a situation, especially in

the days of adjustment to the new order and the

menace of a return to the old order.

The doctrine of free speech rests upon the con.

ception of society as an aggregation of economically

insulated individuals to whom the truth may be

trusted to make its undiluted appeal. Given "a free

field and a fair fight" that which is rational and

moral may be counted upon to win against that

which is irrational and immoral. All that is neces.

sary is an appeal to reason, and the fact that men

do not reason in a vacuum, but act from compul-

sions and persuasions that.are far removed from

pure intellectualism, is quietly ignored. Everybody

is assumed to be in the main on the same level of

"spiritual" response.

There never has been of course any such actual

condition of human affairs, nor has there ever been

any social experiment of unlimited freedom. Always

the owning class have dominated the human situa:

tion, and have determined what the people might

say, and back of that what the people as a whole.

would think.

Not...only, is all art .propaganda,.ias Sinclair has

demonstrated, but all life's arrangements, since

society began to be, are propaganda. Education has

always been propaganda. Religion has always been

propaganda. "Let me write the songs of a people

and I care not who writes their laws." Songs and

laws, both--propaganda. Men have always lived

under pressure, and the pressure from outside has

always been more powerful than the pressure from

inside, or else the man has been broken. Always.

men's feeling, thinking, doing have been responses -

to social situations operative before they got here,

marked the northern limit of the wheat belt; but

as the years went on Canada became a great

wheat growing country.

and used by the class in power. to perpetuate and #

extend their special privileges. Freedom to talk,

within carefully circumscribed ranges of non-inter.

The church of the future will be a community

church. Just ag society will guarantee to every man

food and a job, so it will guarantee every man a

place in the religious group and an opportunity for

religious expression. Every man will be welcome in

the church, not on account of money, creed, saintli-

ness, but because he is a man. The attention of

the church will be focused on the community, its

problems, its people, their needs, its children, their

nurture.

The church of the future will be a free church.

Just as the higher socialism finds its justification

in the promise of greater individualism, so these

characteristics of the church of the future will lead

to greater freedom for the individual. The require-

ments of creed and form will disappear. Within

the one harmonious whole smaller groups, and with-

in those groups individuals, will freely express their

religious ideals.

One reason why membership in the church is now

to be prized is that it gives one a chance to advance

this world religion, this era of church unity, to mold

the old denominationalism into the new community

religion, and to be a part of one of these small free

groups and have the thrill of making it live, blos-

som, and bear fruit in an atmosphere not yet prop-

erly purified for its needs.

Christianity in its beginnings was the religion of

slaves. It bore the same relation to respectability

that the communistic theory does today. To the

hundred per cent citizen of the ancient Roman

empire a Christian was looked upon exactly as a

member of the I. W. W. is looked upon today by a

hundred per cent American. He was a despised

member of an inferior caste, a dangerous radical

who sought to overthrow the state, and worst of all,

an immoral promulgator of heresy against the gods.

-Don Ryan in Los Angeles Record.

Is it logical to conclude from these facts that

as countries become settled, as more thought is

generated in them, their climate changes? May

we conclude that, if Canada and the northern

part of the United States were today populated

by only a few bands of roaming Indians, the

climate would be too severe for the growing of

wheat?

Kansas was once a part of a great `tract of

country that was designated as the "Great Am-

erican Desert." It was believed that the rain-

fall was so scant and insect pests were so num-

erous that the land was valuable only for graz-

ing. Now Kansas raises more wheat than any

other state in the union and produces many

other agricultural products in great quantities.

JESSIE CAMERON BROWN.

LY

%

Nursery Rhymes With

Interpolations

THIS LITTLE PIG WENT TO MARKET,

(And like the old Roman general-Veni, vidi,

vici'-he conquered (cornered) the market).

THIS LITTLE PIG STAYED AT HOME;

(And did all the work for the other pig-was ex.

ploited, in other words.)

THIS LITTLE PIG HAD ROAST BEEF,

(Of course he did, and all the trimmings too-they

go to the holders of special privilege always.)

THIS LITTLE PIG HAD NONKE.

(Why should he? Corned-beef and cabbage-or

more likely, cabbage alone-is good enough for the

wage slave; he may thank his lucky stars if he

gets even that these "prosperous" Coolidge times! )

Oe ee

ference with the economic order, has been granted,

but even this has been limited by the necessity of

keeping education down to the level of a generally

prevailing slave psychology. But every man's think |

ing is, and always has been chiefly a social product

in which his own part was infinitesimal as com

pared with what natural environment, traditional ac

cumulations, and contact with his fellows hag done

to him and with him. :

Capitalism requires freedom of competition among

the masses, and therefore encourages the delusiol

of freedom of thought, speech, and political action.

Communism seeks not competition among the

masses, but co-operation, and frankly admits ani.

seeks social control. In the one case the pretense ~

of freedom is insincere; in the other case the pro-

gram of interference is apt to be excessive.

Communists are not bound to accept free speecl

where they are regnant, because they do not accept

the principle, knowing that social constraint is the

actual program of every established order. But

common sense, and their own necessities, ought 10

make them loyal to free speech where capitalism is

regnant, for their only chance to get a hearing for

themselves is to take advantage of the extent td

which capitalism, by its own professions, is com

pelled to allow verbal dissent and attack.

The natural thing is for those who are on the

Side of an established' order to favor suppressions,

and for those who are opposed to an establishel

order to favor free speech. Consequently capitalists

are for freedom of criticism and opposition where

they are down and out. And communists ought 0.

be for freedom of criticism and attack where the)

are down and out. For communists to fight agains!

freedom of speech in the United States is a pe

formance that is too incredibly stupid to be de

scribed. They have everything to gain and nothine

to lose by letting every man have his say here

however much of a fool or a knave he may be. Othel,

wise how shall they claim, under capitalism, the

chance to speak for their own program of attat -

upon capitalism? But we are all of us, at times

curious victims, of our own particular brand and

Brisbunk.

ig

e(|

St

ir

Id

in

ry

W

in.

he

lal

ell

LS

ua:

hit

ole -

yng

ion

on.

the

und

MSe | 0x00B0

cll

ept

the

But

for

to excuse a false

o es ee PD) |

-_

SAY SO

We want letters.

Lots of them.

From lots of people.

On lots of subjects.

BUT NOT LOTS OF WORDS.

Make them "Century Letters,"

that is letters of not more than

One Hundred words.

Write on subjects of general

interest.

Typewrite your letters,

if possible. If you are

interested in anything worth-

while, say so. But say it in

as few sentences as you can.

Sign your name. It will not be

used if you do not wish it

published, provided you say so.

Let's make "SAY SO" the best

page of this paper. Mind you,

be brief. And again, BE BRIEF.

eae o-en-cent [7]

How Long Can the

People Be Fooled?

By Kate Crane Gartz

March 16, 1925.

In the year 1925 after fighting a war to end war,

we are greeted this morning, in the Los Angeles

Harbor with the spectacle of one hundred and ten

fighting ships in battle array-surely a sight for the

gods! They are to let loose their six minute in-

fernos of smoke, flame, noise and whistling steel;

more gun power will be in action in this spectacular

practice than in all other naval battles in history!

Who is: responsible for: this: show -of brutal~power,

when every battle ship and every gun should be

buried a million fathoms deep?

Dinners and balls at the Coronado, for the officers

of this destructive fleet; besides forty thousand non-

producing men in worse than idleness; and instead

of being ashamed of their murderous occupation,

they boldly flaunt their gilded uniforms in our

faces!

They tell us we can get what we want by the

3 _ vote. How many of us voted for this?

Did we go to war to end war or did we not?

Who fooled us and conscripted us and jailed us for

that false slogan? What about those millions who

- died in vain? How long can the people be fooled?

When will Christian nations adopt Christianity,

and live up to the Golden Rule and the Ten Com-

mandments? Let them tear down all their so-

called Christian edifices, and try to build a world

fit for human habitation instead of permitting our

planet to be used as the insane asylum of all other

planets, as George Bernard Shaw has so aptly said.

-_-__ a-____-_

Christian Science

Position Stated

March 21, 1925.

To the Editor of the Open Forum, Los Angeles, Calif.

Dear Sir:

ae your issue of February 14th, C. L. W. states

at the Christian Scientists' "fear of criticism has

made them desperate."

stra tian Scientists are not afraid of honest con-

Bad ae criticism. They feel about this as Mrs.

wiih oe when she wrote in "Science and Health

the he to the Scriptures": "During many years

bie a has been most grateful for merited re-

Yals i: zg wrong lies in unmerited censure,-in the

eurohood which does no one any good." (p. 9.)

oe author or publisher attempts by mis-

Christian coco or implication to misrepresent

lest @eainet ee and members of this church pro-

removal' ot; e falsehood asking its correction or the

Savors "of `tt ne book, there is nothing in this which

respecti me desperate. It is simply the self-

ng act of an honest religion which refuses

hood, and approves only of the truth.

Respectfully,

Albert BE. Lombard

Christi : . : :

ristian Science Committee on Publication

How Child Labor

Was Defeated

The following editorial, from the Christian Cen-

tury, tells volumes as to the use of propaganda

devices by the Big Interests in defeating Child La-

bor. How easily farmers and city workers can

be fooled into being cats-paws of the Powers That

Prey, is made evident every time we have an elec-

tion. Such is political democracy, with the purse

in the hands of Special Privilege.

In the entire history of social legislation there

has perhaps never been so remarkable an ex-

ample of the use of hokum as in the campaign

against the children's amendment, nor one in

which its use was so effective as in the case of

the farmers in this campaign. Their leaders

came actually to believe that its passage meant

that farmers' children would be forbidden to

work under their parents' direction. False propa-

ganda never reached a higher degree of efficiency

even in war time. One of the sources of its

effectivness has been uncovered by Gilbert

Hyatt, a special investigator for the labor press.

He discovered that the Farmers' States' Right

League of North Carolina was organized,

financed and directed by the cotton mill owners

and their agents, and he procured the admission

of its founders and directors to that effect. The

farmers who signed the charter confessed that

they did not know what the organization was for,

that they did not know where its funds came

from, and that they did not know who was

conducting its publicity. The editor of the

Southern Textile Bulletin, who was presiding

genius of this remarkable organization, confessed

that he drew up the charter and that a special

publicity agent by the name of Palmer secured

the signatures. Mr. Hyatt found that among the

officials were the cashier of a cotton mill bank

and the storekeeper at a cotton mill. No real

dirt farmer had anything to do with its activi-

ties, and the publicity was conducted by the

Southern Textile Bulletin in the name of the

league. Its editor, Mr. Clark, made no other

alibi than' that the league was "legally" incor-

porated and that he was "officially" authorized

to conduct its publicity. He says quite frankly

that had the literature gone out under the name

of the Southern Textile Bulletin its effect would

have been neutralized by the source from which

it was distributed. "By getting the truth to the

people of the country without allowing our op-

ponents to confuse the issue by an attack upon

the senders of the literature we turned an almost

hopeless situation into an overwhelming victory,

and if our methods do not please those who lost,

it makes no difference to us." He says, "We

set out to beat the child labor amendment and

we have beaten it." We wonder if he has.

The Old-time Religion

The Boston Evening Transcript reports that the

earthquake felt in New England on the night

of Feb. 28 greatly increased church attendance

the next morning, March 1. In eight different

cities, including Hartford and New Haven, in-

quiry discovered a noticeable increase in the

number at church on the morning after the

tremors. In Leicester, Mass., the Rev. Frederick

B. Noyes took into his pulpit and read the ser-

mon preached by his kinsman, Rev. Thomas

Noyes, after the earthquake of 1817.

--#-__-

Commends

The Open Forum

March 20, 1925.

To the Open Forum:

Here's to "Say So!"

This week's Open Forum comes with so much that

is constructive and hopeful in its contents, that it

has quite disarmed me, as one of its readers, from

a half formed purpose of writing a gentle protest to

its editors, for what seemed too much negation in

its mood and selections for print.

Whether the fear of a prevailing pessimism in the

make-up of its columns was well taken or not this

correspondent hastens to thankfully and hopefully

commend the O. F. issue of March 2ist.

% Fred K. Gillette.

Catholic Report

On Haiti

"The United States government should close the

door it has opened in Haiti to the establishment

there of a network of American owned plantations

through which Haitian small farm owners will be

turned into peons and day laborers. It should do all

possible to retain and extend ownership by Haitian

farmers of the land they till." This is the principal

recommendation of a representative of the social

action department of the National Catholic Welfare

conference in his report of an investigation in Haiti.

American influence in other West Indian islands

has meant the growth of the plantation system

and the gradual expropriation of the people's land,

says the report. The masses of the people are

changed into landless, low-paid laborers and peons,

working on plantations that are owned principally

by Americans. It is declared that this same process

has been begun in Haiti since the occupation through

permission laws which the American government

dictated and through the establishment of planta-

tions in sugar, pineapples and cotton by Americans.

"Because the plantation system has only begun in

Haiti, theres is time yet for another policy to be

pursued successfully. The United States can change

the policy it initiated. It still holds its power over

the Haitian government."

The specific recommendations are the following:

`4. The former provision of the Haitian law for-

bidding foreigners to own farm lands should be

restored. At the same time, care should be taken

to safeguard the money invested by foreigners in

Haitian land under the permission given by the Am-

erican written constitution of Haiti. 2. Instead of

allowing easier foreclosure of mortgages on farm

lands, as is contemplated, foreclosure should be made

impossible upon farms that are needed by the work-

ing owners to support themselves and their families.

3. Other credit arrangements should be provided

for, particularly through co-operative credit unions.

4. Elementary and high school general education

is one of the greatest needs of Haiti at the present

time. The present elementary schools in most

instances could be used to teach agricultural and

other technical arts to children. All of the work

should be inspired by the purpose of making the

Haitian an independent farmer with the personal

sense of dignity and the strength of family life which

this begets. 5. The contemplated irrigation projects

should be carried through as soon as possible. In

the irrigated districts, colonies of small land owners

should be established. The land should not be turned

over to plantations. 6. The government should help

to educate the people in better methods of marketing

and especially co-operative marketing. 7. A plan

of government regulation of the few existing plan-

tations should be worked out."

-_-_r-_--_--

"Arrowsmith"'

Editor, Open Forum:

Sinclair Lewis' latest novel, "Arrowsmith," makes

one pause in the middle of a chapter, sit back and

think. An amazing picture of the way science-

medical science, in particular-functions in the exist-

ing system of society in America. Liberals and

radicals cannot afford missing it. It is, I think, a

greater novel than either ""Main Street" or "Babbitt."

fp. At

i

It was the evening hour of relaxation, and the

sound of a concertina mingled with the jingling

words of a soldier's song, "Sur l'Yser pendant la

guerre." And there was a little French Territorial,

over forty, married and with three children, and

he kept a hotel near Boulogne. He had had months

of the trenches, two days in and three days out,

and the red wine pushed an epigram thru his lips-

an epigram which is now upon the lips of the world.

He said:

"T don't mind being alive, and I don't mind being

dead, but I don't want any more of this."

-The English Review, July 1917.

eee

We are beaten back in many a fray,

But newer strength we borrow;

And where the vanguard rests today

The rear shall camp tomorrow.

Gerald Massey.

ee RL Sek Tr eSa eee Un eee

- Saad - - ne ~

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 506 Tajo Building,

Los Angeles, California, by The Southern California

Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union.

Phone: TUcker 6836.

MANAGING EDITORS

Robert Whitaker Clinton J. Taft

LITERARY EDITOR

Esther Yarnell

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Kate Crane Gartz J H. Ryckman

Doremus Scudder

Ethelwyn Mills

Upton Sinclair

Fanny Bixby Spencer

Leo Gallagher

Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year, Five Cents

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

Two Cents Each.

Advertising Rates on Request.

Entered as second-class matter Dec. 13, 1924, at

the post office at Los Angeles, California, under the

Act of March 3, 1879.

SATURDAY, MAR. 28, 1925

COMING EVENTS

ROK RO KS Rae, KE

Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall, 233

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

a

EB. W.. As FORUM

At the Brotherhood Hall, 515 San Julian St.

Sunday Afternoon Meeting 2:30 P.M.

All are Invited to Attend

Geo. McCarthy and J. Hads How, Committee

wo

OPEN FORUM every Saturday evening at 8:00 P.M.

I.W.W. HALL, 224 S. Spring Street, Room 218. In-

teresting Speakers-Interesting Subjects.

en

PROLETARIAN FORUM

Every Sunday at 8 P. M.

ODD FELLOWS HALL

220144 South Main Street

Questions and Discussion Freely Invited

Admission Free

So ee

EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT-OPEN DISCUSSION

At Eight O'clock

A Free Education is Offered at

EDUCATIONAL CENTER

By Industrial Workers of the World

Saturday, March 28th, William Velarde.

Subject: `Conditions in Mexico, Past and Present."

Saturday, April 4th, Entertainment.

Saturday, April 11th, Debate: `Can a Society Func-

tion in the absence of a Centralized Government?'

Affirmative, Joseph Spivak. Negative, Frank Cassidy.

Saturday, April 18th, Archie Sinclair, I. W. W.

Speaker will address the Forum, Room 218, 224 So.

Spring St. Time 3s.P. M:

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD

224 South Spring Street, Room 218

a

FREE WORKER'S FORUM

420 N. Soto St., Los Angeles, Cal.

(One block north of Brooklyn Avenue)

PROGRAM FOR MARCH, 1925 pee

March 30-`Gandhi-Soul Force Versus Physical

Force" by Miss Ethelwyn Mills.

"THE BEAUTY AND THE BOLSHEVIK," a mov-

ing picture described as "The First Great Picture

Film made in Soviet Russia and produced by the

World Famous Moscow Art Theatre" is to be given

in Los Angeles, Monday, April 6th, 1925, at the

Philharmonic Auditorium, Fifth and Olive Streets.

With it, as an added attraction will be given "Russia

in Overalls,' a three-reel survey of Economic Life

in Soviet-land. The exhibit is for one evening only.

RR pe nce rn nt eae

ena eae ed ee

The Vampire II

(Apologies to Kipling)

A fool there was, and he cast his vote

(Even as you and I)

For ragged pants and a tattered coat,

And some grub on which he didn't dote.

He voted for G. 0. P.; youll: note

(Even as you and I).

Oh, the work we do for the favored few,

And the miserable wage we get!

We crack the nuts, they take the meat;

They hand us chaff, they take the wheat,

And to make our bondage more complete

We vote for this system yet.

A fool there was, and he goods had none;

(Even as you and I).

He worked all day, from sun to sun,

He got no cash, so he worked for fun;

And he voted just as his dad had done

(Even as you and I).

Oh, he worked like fun, from sun to sun,

And he plotted and schemed and plan'd,

But he simply couldn't make ends meet.

If his head kept warm, then he froze his feet,

And his kids hadn't half enough to eat,

But he couldn't understand.

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide;

(Even as you and I)

They couldn't use that, though they may have tried,

So the poor old fool was kicked aside.

But his legs lived on, though his head had died

(Even as you and I).

It isn't the shame, and it isn't the blame,

That stings like a white hot brand;

It's the cussed foolishness of a jay,

Who'll work ten hours for two hours' pay,

And then vote for this thing on election day,

And will not understand.

-By Bert Leach, in Labor.

--_-_-_ 2r-_-_--_-_

KU KLUXISM KONDENSED

The present day Ku Klux Klan was founded in

1915 by William Joseph Simmons of Atlanta, Georgia,

a professional fraternal organizer.

It took its name and most of its ritual from the

post-Civil War organization of terror known as the

Ku Klux Klan. The name is a corruption of the

Greek word kuklos, meaning circle.

It differs from the original klan in that the old

organization was primarily anti-Negro, while the new

order embraces five "antis" of equal importance;

anti-Negro, anti-Catholic, anti-Jew, anti-foreigner and

anti-liberal.

The original klan was in no way anti-Catholic. Its

first chaplain-in-chief was a Roman Catholic priest.

(See History of the Ku Klux Klan by H. L. Davis).

In 1919 Simmons sold his organization for approx-

imately $150,000 to Edward Young Clark, a news-

paper man and "drive" promoter. Clark proceeded

to sell it to the people at $10.00 a head. Two dollars

of every ten went to Clark as a personal bonus, over

and above his salary as Imperial Kleagle, and in the

first sixteen months of his activity he reaped a har-

vest of $170,252. (See "The World Tomorrow,"

March 1924.)

The acts of violence committed by the Ku Klux

Klan since 1920 include horsewhippings, tar and

feather "parties," lynchings and shootings. Many

of these outrages are well known to the public, as

for instance the murders in Mer Rouge, Louisiana.

(See record compiled by the American Civil Liberties

Union for the period from December 1920 to Feb-

ruary 1923.)

The Internationals

Sh

Shortly after the outbreak of the present war in

Hurope, a man was talking over the situation. "At

bottom," said he, bitterly, "We are hyenas, nothing

but hyenas." He might as well have said that

the rose at bottom is nothing but dirt. Human

nature cannot be blamed for war. One part of it

is used in making war just as one part of corn is

used in making whiskey.

-Scott Nearing, The Germs of War.

ht

So live that your plan of living, if adopted by the

whole of society would make the whole of society

finer and better.

Los Angeles -

OPEN FORUM

MUSIC ART HALL

233 South Broadway

SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O0x00B0CLOCK

MAR. 29-DEBATE "RESOLVED THAT TH

ATTACKS OF THE LIBERTARIANS ON _ RUSgy

ARE JUSTIFIED." The affirmative will be take

by THOMAS BELL, and A. PLOTKIN will uphoj

the negative. When two such doughty antagonis;

get together the fur is sure to fly-and some poy

facts touching a long-continued controversy AMOn

liberals will be brought out undoubtedly. MR, FISH will be heard in a number of Russian song

acacia Giant akan

WORLD PEACE AND

SOCIAL REVOLUTION

Next Sunday, March 29th, will be the closing gq.

vice of the Church of the New Social Order at Sym.

phony Hall for this season. Because of the demani

for out-door life during the spring and summa

months this church, which is quite unlike all othe

churches, will discontinue indoor meetings, generally

speaking, for the summer months, and will meet i

out-door picnics, to be announced from time to time

Next Sunday Mr. Whitaker will close his series

addresses upon "A WARLESS WORLD," by discus

sing The Social Revolution as a Cure for War. Mec.

ing begins at 10:45 A.M., Symphony Hall, 232 South

Hill Street. Everybody welcome.

Oe

Boston, Dec. 6 (By United Press).-``There is 1)

God in the army," asserts the Rev. William }

Ayers, Wollaston, Mass., preacher, who served 4

a chaplain during the war, and declares in the net

war he will serve as a stretcher bearer, but not a

a chaplain.

---_-_- e--____--_

We always get at second-hand our notions aboil

systems of government and high tariff, and lov

tariff; and prohibition and anti-prohibition; ani

the holiness of peace and the glories of war; ail

codes of honor and codes of morals; and approval

of the duel and disapproval of it; and our beliefs

concerning the nature of cats; and our ideas as ti

whether the murder of wild animals is base or is

heroic; and our preferences in the matter of Te

ligious and political parties.

-Mark Twaing| cent

i

EXPIRATION NOTICE

Dear Friend: If you find this paragraph encircle

with a blue pencil mark it means that your sub

scription to "The Open Forum' expires next week

We hope that you have found it indispensable, aul

will therefore immediately fill out the blank belov

and send it in to us, together with the money io

the continuance of your subscription,

WNCLOSCd: TNs as mene ee, for which continue 0)

eae year

subscription to the paper f0P ot ee

INGIMNC oS ee a e cc ak ae S eo

Address aes

WILSHIRE UNDERTAKING

and Ambulance Company

Atlantic 1698 --Phones-- Atlantic 3709

717 West Washington St., Los Angeles

Walter C. Blue Ella L. Purcell Blue

Our Sympathetic Understanding of the needs of the Wot

ing People fnables Us to Give You the Best Service:

FREE VIOLIN LESSONS

To Talented Children of Parents who

are unable to pay

. MAX AMSTERDAM

Prominent Violin Teacher and Soloist

2406, Temple 86 0) sien om ninie , RR eee

Reasonable Rates to Beginners

Linotyping and press work done in Unio!

Shops. The make-up is our own. ,

nn