Open forum, vol. 2, no. 24 (June, 1925)

-- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA,

4

E OPEN FORU

In the beginning was the word.

JUNE 13, 1925

No. 24

A CALL TO CALIFORNIA

The Tom Connors case, with which we deal briefly

this week, is worse than the Tom Mooney case. If

it does not stir the liberals of California, even the

most moderate of them, to indignant protest and to

pronounced action then California ought to take the

word liberal out of its dictionary and admit that

it belongs with the barbarous communities of the

world.

For many months past we have been studying

the California situation with a view to a definite,

determined, and well ordered movement for the re-

lease of all political prisoners in this state. Twice

the editor of this paper has gone north in this time,

conferring with folks all over the state as to what

Nothing could be done with the

recent legislature. Nothing can be done through the

Governor in the present mood of the people. Nothing

Only one thing

was to be done.

can be hoped for from the courts.

remains to us, a carefully planned program of edu-

cation of the people of the state as to what are

the facts in the case.

This campaign of education should begin at once.

| supposed, as | had reason to do from my recent

meetings in the north, that we had all the interested

folks of California with us in our proposal to launch

such a program this summer. We had reason to be-

lieve that we could get financial aid from the East

for such a campaign. We know now that we can

get such aid. But it is withheld for the present be-

cause it appears that our own people are not united

in asking for it, some thinking that because the

meeting of the legislature is two years' away we

ought to wait before beginning our campaign. BUT

THE MEN ARE IN JAIL, SEVENTY SIX OF THEM

NOW. We cannot let them lie there for two years.

We want to carry our case to the people of California

NOW. We have a very definite program for doing

it, and a splendid backing here in Southern California

for it. BUT WE MUST HAVE THE BACKING OF

CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

ARE YOU FOR SUCH A CAMPAIGN-NOW? If

so will you write us a brief letter or wire us to that

effect. Make

going to send your letter or telegram East, to speed

it as strong as you can, as we are

up action there.

THE CALIFORNIA SITUATION OUGHT TO BE

THE CONCERN OF ALL AMERICA. We care not

where you live there is no one in the American Union

safe if such things as went on in the case of Tom

Connors can go unrebuked. A JUDGE TAKING

THE STAND AGAINST THE PRISONER BEFORE

HIM! Not since the days of Judge Jeffreys in Eng-

land has such outrageous perversion of justice been

surpassed in any English-speaking court, so far as

we can discover.

DOES IT MATTER TO YOU? DO YOU WANT

THE FACTS, ALL THE FACTS ABOUT THE

CRIMINAL SYNDICALISM LAWS AND THE CLASS

CHARACTER OF OUR CALIFORNIA COURTS

LAID BEFORE ALL THE PEOPLE OF CALIFOR-

NIA? WILL YOU HELP US TO DO IT BY GET-

TING BEHIND THIS CAMPAIGN? ARE YOU FOR

SUCH A CAMPAIGN NOW, AND FOR A LIBERAL

APPROPRIATION BY OUR EASTERN FRIENDS

TO HELP US GET THE CAMPAIGN GOING AT

ONCE? IF SO WRITE US TO THIS EFFECT AS

VIGOROUSLY AS YOU CAN, AND GET YOUR

FRIENDS TO DO LIKEWISE. Address American

Civil Liberties Union, 506 Tajo Building, First and

Broadway, Los Angeles, Cal. POUR IN YOUR LET-

TERS AND TELEGRAMS UPON US IF YOU MEAN.

BUSINESS AS WE DO.

Citizens of California!

WHAT HAVE YOU GAINED WITH THE CRIM-

INAL SYNDICALISM LAW ENFORCED) AS IT

IS NOW? IS YOUR LIFE OR PROPERTY MORE

SECURE THAN IT WAS PRIOR TO THE EN-

ACTMENT OF THIS LAW?

The Criminal Syndicalism law was never made to

cover crimes against life and property, it was desig-

nated to prevent workingmen from organizing for

their own protection. It is so worded that it can

be used against any group whose ideas may not

conform to those in power. There are sufficient

laws on the statute books without it to penalize

any injury to person or property.

ARE YOU PUNISHING CRIMINALS BY INCAR-

CERATING MEMBERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL

WORKERS OF THE WORLD IN THE PENITEN-

TIARY?

Out of the three hundred members tried and nearly

ne hundred and fifty convicted, not one was even

accused of committing any act of injury to either

Person or property; the only accusation was that

ere members and organizers of the I. W. W.,

amzation of workingmen that organizes the

th 8 y Ww

an org

Workers

de 8 to protect themselves against ruthless ex-

Oitation: ;

` ; on; that believes when the majority of the

Orkerg SPE el a

S are sufficiently organized, they will bring

Into being

saner system of production and distri-

bution.

ARE y

i YOU ANY SAFER BECAUSE NINETY-

REE MEMBERS OF THE I. W. W. ARE NOW

CONFINE

| D IN CALIFORNIA'S PENAL INSTITU-

"TIONS,

rible persecution under the Criminal

Syndic

alism law, the California I. W. W. membership

has grown from a few hundred in 1919 when the

law was passed to approximately twenty-five thou-

sand. Even with this increase in membership,, not

one act of violence has been proven against any

member of that organization. On the other hand

we have been blacklisted, beaten, tarred and feath-

ered, robbed, jailed and murdered; yes, even our

children have been attacked, beaten and scalded;

and yet, not one act of violence in retaliation has

been committed by the I. W. W.

WILL THE IMPRISONMENT OF THE I. W. W.

MEMBERS UNDER THE C. S. LAW STOP ANY

COMING ECONOMIC OR POLITICAL CHANGE IN

SOCIETY?

Crucifying ten thousand slaves in the old Roman

did of the

of that day.

Empire not stop the rebellion chattel

slaves Feeding the early Christians

to the lions did not stop the spread of Christianity.

Mobbing Wm. Lloyd Garrison and the hanging. of

John Brown did not prevent freeing the American

Negro slaves. Neither will imprisonment of I. W. W.

members prevent any economic change made neces-

sary by evolutionary progress.

HAS CALIFORNIA UPHELD HER REPUTATION

FOR PROGRESSIVENESS BY HER TREATMENT

OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE

WORLD?

California, by her treatment of the workers, is

earning a reputation as a haven for the reactionary

interests. John Haynes Holmes, the eminent New

York pastor, in a letter on the San Pedro outrage of

14th, "What kind of

in California; are they human

June says, people have you

beings or. blood-

thirsty savages?" Hundreds of other prominent per-

sons have expressed similar opinions, not only in the

United States, but in foreign countries as well,

IDEAS CANNOT BE KILLED BY PUTTING MEN

IN PRISON; MOBS CANNOT STOP THE ONWARD

MARCH OF PROGRESS, REMEMBER, IF LAWS

ENTIRELY OUT OF HARMONY WITH AMERICAN

IDEALS CAN BE USED AGAINST ONE ORGANIZA-

TION TODAY, THEY CAN BE USED AGAINST

ANOTHER TOMORROW.

THINK IT OVER THEN LET YOUR VOICE BE

HEARD IN PROTEST.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION WRITE TO:

CALIFORNIA BRANCH GENERAL DEFENSE

COMMITTEE

BOX 574, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

we a

SUCCESS

By Dora Stuart

Once on a time I stopped and took you in,

Placed: you in state beside me without thought

Of harm to me or to my chariot

Of shining glass or black enameled tin.

Wet blanket-rolls, coarse, earth-stained shoes worn

thin

With endless, fruitless pilgrimage, you brought.

(How could I ride at ease the while you walked?)

'Twas pride fed by your need that made us kin.

Youre walking still, but now no more alone,

Singly, in weary groups, an army vast,

Unheeding, slowly plods the long highroad.

But I no more your hearthless life bemoan,

With warning creaks my battered car flees past,

"The fittest will survive' is now my code.

-

TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?

By R.

VII

Labor And The Laborers

A saying which is quite popular with the ruling

class of our day is this, that "our's is a government

of law, not of men."

In the sense that we have in a measure, and an

important measure, superseded the personal govern-

ments of the past, dependent upon the "pleasure" of

this or that tyrant, by the authority of formal law

and legal enactment and "bills of right," and other

devices protective of the common good, the saying

is true and worth while. But the saying is utterly

misleading when it is used to put over the idea

that law is something abstract and detached, in

which men function without reference to their class

connections and their material interests. The much

vaunted "judicial mind" is mainly humbug, if by it

we mean a mind that is unaffected by the economic

order under which men live.

There is a much deeper sense, however, in which

the saying is true, and there is emphatic need that

in this sense the words shall be believed and under-

stood. It is precisely because our's is a government

of law, and not of men that electing "good men" to

office is such a delusion and snare as it has proven

to be, and that under our present system there is

so little to hope for even when workingmen get into

office.

If the President of the United States, for ex-

ample, were actually an autocrat who {could do

what it pleased him to do then electing a really

"sood man' to that office might affect a social revo-

lution, because he would be able to instantly in-

augurate quite revolutionary changes. He could at

once do away with land monopoly, with the exploi-

`tation of labor through the wages system, with the

private control of money and credit, with the special

privileges of the few in our whole cultural life. As

a matter of fact he cannot do anything of the sort.

It may be admitted that the President of the United

States of America has more power than any king in

Christendom today. Woodrow Wilson in the days

immediately following the World War was an out-

standing figure of such commanding importance,

apparently, that: the people were all but ready to

fall down and worship him. In truth his power was

mainly fiction. We are "governed by law, not by

men." Woodrow Wilson found himself handicapped

on every hand by the legal limitations of the office

within which he moved. He was actually much

more limited by the greater law of economic control.

Private. property in land ruled him both outwardly

and inwardly. So did the common everyday ex-

ploitation of labor. He had neither the power, nor

the desire to abolish the slavery of his day, because

he did not so much as recognize its slave character.

If he had recognized it he would not have been there.

He was of the system, and for the system, and could

only function through the system, and his ffme

phrases, by which he captured the imaginations of

men, meant nothing for the reason that the "law" of

capitalism was mightier than he, so much mightier

that even his thoughts were shaped into subser-

vience to it.

But the "good man" myth is no more foolish and

misleading than is the myth of "labor government"

under a capitalist society. If private property in land

is to remain, private control of industry, private

manipulation of money and credit, and special privi-

lege in all the high places of life what particular

difference does it make whether the beneficiaries of

this social maladjustment run the government direct-

ly for themselves, or whether they allow the workers

to run it for them, to the same ends.

A "labor government" under capitalism is a child

with his hands on the reins, but the control in the

hands of another who holds him on his lap, and

takes the reins from him if he tries to do any real

driving on his own account. Such a "labor govern-

ment" is a slave, exalted to the position of a slave

driver, but still in the ownership of another man

himself. Or such a "labor government" is a Bishop

Potter's model saloon, at which every really under-

standing man laughed, although the good Bishop was

as sincere, no doubt, in trying to create a Christian

saloon as other Christians are now in trying to carry

on Christian warfare with bayonets, bullets and gas-

Ww.

bombs. And these are no more attempting the im-

possible than are Christians who think to solve the

industrial problem by creating an isolated bit of

Christian capitalism, or labor folks who think that

they can change the spots of the leopard of the profit-

system with a white-wash of labor officialism.

The appeal of civilization igs to labor, but it is an

appeal for the abolition of the profit-system not for

a mere change in the personnel of the managers and

beneficiaries of it. And the hope that runs towara

labor is not in laborers as a new set of capitalists,

or flunkeys for capitalists, but in the enthronement

of labor itself to the governing place in human

affairs. '

The laborers. will rule finally and effectively only

as they speak for labor, and they will have to believe

in labor themselves a good deal more than they do

now before they can give it the sovereignty which

belongs to it.

Most workers now want merely to make work a

little more tolerable until they can get out of the

working class, or at least get their children out of

the working class. They are quite willing that land

monopoly shall continue, because they hope to be-

come land monopolists themselves. They would still

have wage slaves, because they are not beyond the

desire for slaves of their own, men and women to

whom they can say, "Come here and serve me rich

food," or "Go there, and get for me the choicest of

raiment." They do not _ seriously object to the

plunder the bankers get, if they can be the bankers,

nor to all manner of special privileges so that the

special privilege comes their way. They are laborers,

but they are not labor. In their hearts they are

capitalists, condemned for the moment to work for

masters whom they would fain displace in lording

it over others. It is not Wall Street that is the

hindrance to the coming of the new age, it is Main

Street, the million-minded capitalism of the crowd

that cannot deliver labor because it does not believe

IM sive

One Man's Opinion

I don't know how much you may have studied the

history of crime and human punishment. If you have

studied at all you know that our entire penal system

is a modern invention, based on the old idea of bodily

slavery.

When Greece and Rome were at their height there

were no such things as prisons for freemen. For

certain offenses men would be banished from the

country; for others their property would be con-

fiscated. But, for the usual infractions of the code,

the rule was that the person who injured another

should pay to that other, and not to the state.

If a Greek stole your cloak he owed the state

nothing. He owed you a cloak. Today the burglar

is made a. slave for the prison contractor-anqd you

lose your cloak.

England. started this cute system of inventing a

lot of laws to catch poor men to make slaves of

them-slaves to be farmed out to the highest bidder

in prison colonies. That's where many of the British

colonies got their start, no matter how high they

hold their chins today.

In this country we have heaped up laws on top of

laws, and jails on top of jails and persist in tortur-

ing 10 per cent of our population to give another

20 per cent easy jobs.

It's all wrong; it is an invention of the devil; it is

slavery. The state that shuts a man up for five

years, and steals his labor, is a far bigger thief than

the bandit, because the state is impersonal in its

theft, while the bandit, probably, was hungry.

There are degenerates that should be secluded,

but our present penal system makes degenerates out

of 10 normal men to every moron it takes care ot.

Morons should not go to the penitentiary; they

should go to an asylum.

As it seems to me, this was a perfectly good

world before the uplifters, the reformers, and the

professional policemen got hold of it. Today we are

zealously striving to either get the other fellow

into jail, or else to get on the police force.

Modern man is the only example of an animal

that delights in torturing his kind without, the urge

of necessity.-L. A. Record, May 21, 1925.

=

Tom Connors

Convicted Again

Cal. Defense Committee

Another worker goes to prison with his head erect:

a victim of one of the plainest frame-ups for Which

California is noted. He goes to prison not Only pp.

cause be tried to awaken the workers to an unde.

standing of their class position, but because of the

vapid apathy and indifference of the workers they,

selves, who see such monstrous and unparallelg

examples as this of the hideous mockery which jp,

personates under the cognomen of Justice, without a

much as attempting a protest.

Connors' trial began May 27th, and consumed fi

court days. The case went to the jury June 2nd,

at 11:00 A.M., and the "twelve good men and tri'

deliberated approximately three and a half hours pp.

fore bringing in a verdict. In fact, just long enough

to insure receiving their midday meal from th"

County.

District Attorney J. J. Henderson made the closing

argument to the jury for the prosecution. Hig "g.

gument" was the usual flag waving outburst so popu.

lar with California District Attorneys when a membe

of the Industrial Workers of the World is on trial

"Patriotism is often the last refuge of a scoundrel.'

His tirade did not deal in any way with the issuq

in the case, but was merely a torrent of abuse ani

villification against the I.W.W.; probably some et:

torial from the Sacramento Bee, which he committed

to memory.

Judge Busick voluntarily, without any suggestion

from counsel, announced that he would be sworn as

a witness for the prosecution. This announcement

came at a time when the district attorney and his

assistants were hopelessly floundering in an attempt

to show that a certain witness had delivered to the

court an envelope received by him. All objections

and motions were over-ruled; and His Honor, with .

out leaving the bench, was sworn in as a witness,

He testified, over-ruled objections to his own testi

mony, and supplied the missing link in the testimony -

to his own and. the prosecuting attorney's satisfac

tion. Incidently, the envelope in question was show

to have been mailed after Connors was arrested aul

at a time when he was confined in the Sacramento

jail.

When arguments closed, the defense counsel movel

for an instructed verdict in favor of the defendant

on grounds that Arnold, the complaining witness, had

failed to identify a copy of the leaflet on which the

prosecution based the charge.

denied.

The maximum sentence that the law provides under

the charge was immediately pronounced `after the

verdict was brought in, by Judge Chas. O. Busith

This was promptly (c)

The reversal of Connors' previous conviction 0!

this same charge of attempting to influence a pr

pective juror, whom he had never seen or heard 0)

by means of circulating literature, was based mail]

on grounds that Busick had instructed the jwy 1

find him guilty of a crime not charged in the indie'

ment. He avoided this to some extent this tim

when instructing the jury. When reading off those few

passages that contained matter that the jury migll

take as favorable to the defendant, he spoke it!

dead monotone, but when he came to the parts which

told the jury to "find the defendant guilty," he ret!

slowly and impressively; and the words "find tle

defendant guilty," which were repeated a numb!

of times, were uttered with much unction and gus!)

who presided at the trial despite a motion by tt |

defense for a change of venue, which was supportel

by three affidavits showing extreme prejudice on tt

part of this judge.

Notice of appeal from the judgment of the oll"

was given, and a motion that bail be set, pentil!

outcome of the appeal, was also promptly deniel

by Busick. Though we have not received defill

word at this writing, we understand that Comm

has already been taken back to San Quentin pris"

It will probably be ten months before a decision

the case will be forthcoming from the Appellate

Court.

ee es

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that

gather strength from distress, and grow brave "

reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds i

shrink; but he whose heart ig firm, and whose uy

Science approves his conduct, will pursue his pot

ciples unto death.-Thomas Paine.

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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.

() ome

K. C. G. SPEAKS OUT

June 6, 1925.

Governor Richardson, Sacramento, Calif.

Dear Sir:

If you are the man I think you are or ought to

be, you would not permit innocent men to stay over

night in our penitentiaries if you knew it.

Well, I am telling you that there are seventy-five

such men-some for simply being witnesses for

their brothers. One I know, because I attended his

trial in Los Angeles, is in Folsom as a "second

termer" and he is not a second termer, but had

finished his first term in San Quentin, and had come

to Los Angeles-to recuperate after his unlawful

confinement and was nabbed by state hired renegade

"detectives."

Such barbarities and injustices, you, aS a governor

of the greatest state in the union, and supposedly

progressive cannot afford to ignore.

If you want to be hailed as a great chief do not

be afraid to do the great upright and glorious thing

-that is, lead your people in the paths of righteous-

hess unafraid of the criticism of the `"`yellow jour-

nals," as I have heard you call them every time I

have heard you speak. The last time was the morn-

ing of May 27, in the Capitol at Sacramento. If

you remember the Criminal Syndicalism Law was

discussed that evening-I do not think you were

present, but I spoke a few words in defense of the

law's victims. Also, the Conference of Social Work-

ers endorsed the repeal of this unconstitutional law

-that should interest you a little.

We are planning to raise thousands of dollars

for world-wide publicity for the release of these men,

and never again to put them in for belonging to their

-OWn union. But why do this, if you are a reasonable

Man and could be made to understand the situation?

They are not the terrorists that a few terrorists

ane try to make the world believe, but gentle,

are who take slaps and kicks and cuffing

even returning it in kind. But resentment

'0x00A7 piling up, and well may be feared when it gets

too high!

hao forget," is their slogan. So, in the

aia Ree of all. these who have suffered

cetion as being crucified for their efforts for

Rana ` reedom, still smolders that resentment

y dungeong and solitary confinement.

Sincerely,

K.nCs Gs

* * * *

June 6, 1925.

Jud :

Se C. 0. Busick, Sacramento, Calif.

Dear Sir:

an are to complain of the decisions in your

ofa Biren could a man like Connors be convicted

happeneg ae a leaflet designed for the masses,

only ae all into the hands of one juror? It

and to : ees us that we are a nation of morons,

Set justice for men innocent of crime, is im-

eome [7]

possible, especially in the shadow of the Capitol of

California.

Have you no feeling for the sanctity of human life;

no sense of responsibility in your position as Judge;

no wish to claim honor and glory in the dispensing

of Justice toward your fellow man, instead of hatred

and contempt of all justice-loving people? Could you

not get more joy out of battling for the right, or does

the quality of mercy find no place in your psychol-

ogy?

Sincerely,

Ken C.7G,.

May 28, 1925.

Rear Admiral B. A. Fiske,

Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir:

In your speech at the New Jersey Chamber of

Commerce, as reported in ``Time" of May 18, you

have the effrontry to say that the `Pacifist Move-

ment ig a menace.' So you too have forgotten that

we went to war to abolish militarism. Germany is

about the only country to get rid of it-all other

countries have acquired it.

Cannot you Militarists conceive of a better way

to preserve our "National Security" than by mowing

down the youth and flower of the world? The Pa-

cifists deserve the honor and glory of trying to pre-

vent the country and the world from committing

suicide, and all the Militarists belong in the front

line trenches and then they will not be so eager to

spill the blood of the other fellow for false slogans

such as "War to end War" and "To Make the World

Safe for Democracy."

Sincerely,

Ki Cia G:

* * * *

May 31, 1925.

Rev. Gordon Palmer,

Los Angeles, Calif.

Dear Sir:

Your sermon of bitterness and hate, as broadcasted

and reported by the Times, is very unbecoming a

preacher of sweetness and light.

As for communism, read Acts 4, 32, 34, and you will

find that Christ was a communist pure and simple,

and then perhaps you will not use all those "bloody,

slimy, serpentine," epithets toward all of us -who

do not believe the way you do. We have brains to

use for reasoning purposes, and our reason does not

permit us to accept superstition blindly, therefore

we are honest agnostics and atheists and feel that

the most important job is to make this world a better

place to live in and the next will take care of itself.

We do not believe in empty churches (six days

out of every seven) but we do believe in schools,

hospitals, sanitariums, orphans' homes-everything

that promotes the well being of all God's children

here and now.

Sincerely

June 2, 1925.

Mrs. J. D. Sherman,

Estes Park, Colo.

Dear Madam:

I am surprised to read of your fear of the Young

Workers League and Sovietism. The League teaches

Internationalism in place of narrow Nationalism

(the cause of wars). Sovietism is simply more

representation by the people themselves in their own

affairs-in fact, "the purest democracy on earth to-

day" as admitted by Dr. Von Kleinsmid, President

of University of Southern California.

It would be better if the heads of women's organ-

izations were broader minded and showed more hos-

pitality toward new liberal and even radical changes

when they see that everything in our present order

ig not working for the best interests of all the

people.

Who in this country are practicing "American

Ideals'? We still have corruption and graft and in-

justice in high places. We still have child labor,

poverty and unemployment.

Read your Bible, Acts 4, 32, 34, and learn that

Christ was a communist, and then you may not be

so afraid of the word.

Sincerely,

June Ist 1920.

The British government is contemplating refusing

entry into England of all foreign communists to

the annual conference of British Communists to

be held May 31st at Glasgow. The home secretary

deems the union of Soviet republics a challenge to

the civilization of the world. It is aimed at English

imperialism-(self determination for small nations).

As Christ was a communist, as the scriptures

prove, I wonder why. He and His disciples had every-

thing in common, they all lived a communal life.

Acts 4, 32, 34-"`Neither said of any of them that

aught of the things which he possessed was his own,

but they had all things in common." `Neither was

there any among them that lacked, for as many as

were possessors of lands and houses sold them and

brought money and laid it at the apostles feet and

distribution was with every man according to his

need."

So why are the churches and governments so

afraid of the preachments of their protagonists?

Ke Cre

The Call To Arms

Who Signs It?

May 15, 1925

Gentlemen:

The 160th Infantry, adopted by the City's Officials

as "LOS ANGELES OWN", goes to camp from

JULY 3 to JULY 19, INCLUSIVE, for its annual

two weeks field training under selected officers of

the Regular Army.

This, your Regiment, is fully organized and equip-

ped and instantly available in case of local catas-

trophe or national emergency. We urge your moral

support of these men who are serving one or two

nights each week on their own time, at a sacrifice,

from patriotic motives.

These young men are insuring the integrity of

you, your home and your business interests.

Encourage them. If any are in your employ give

them two weeks vacation between July 3 and July

19. Many private and public institutions are now

giving to employees engaged in this work two weeks

vacation, plus their regular vacation, with pay.

Your Regiment encourages good citizenship; it

fosters public service from high motives; it brings

more than $250,000.00 annually to this community

through Federal and State appropriations, and is

instantly available to protect your constitutional

rights. For these reasons we sincerely urge your

cooperation.

Respectfully yours,

MERCHANTS and MANUFACTURERS ASSN.

G. A. Hultz, Gen. Mer.

L. A. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

R. W. Pridham, Pres.

BETTER AMERICA FEDERATION

JOSS. UODIED sere ke

L. A. CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATION

J. A. Graves, Pres.

LOS ANGELES REALTY BOARD

CVeCuGe TATUM cRrest

----- 2

Picking The Wheat From The Chaff

Dr. Vierling Kersey, assistant superintendent of

schools, in an address to the "Big Brothers' Organ-

ization" pointed out the three essentials in the guid-

ance of youth. Keep the young fellow busy at some

job, teach him to save in order to evaluate, and teach

him "that right is right, because it is right, and that

wrong is wrong, because it is wrong'-that was

the Babbitt consummation of an ideal citizen. With-

out waiting for questions or discussion, having estab-

lished to his own Satisfaction the value of the man

with a job, a bank account, and conventional re-

spectability, Dr. Kersey fled.

In delightful contrast, illustrating with pithy an-

ecdotes, Dr. Boris Bogen pointed out the necessity

of doing that for the little fellow, which will show

him what he can do for himself. Upon the develop-

ment of confidence between the "big" and "little"

brother, the little fellow should be taught to asso-

ciate service with love, and the big fellow should

never presume to teach that which he cannot do

himself, as the youngsters will readily detect such

pretentiousness and call it `"molasses.'-S. F.

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 506 Tajo Building,

First and Broadway

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

J H. Ryckman

Doremus Scudder

Ethelwyn Mills

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

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, JUNE 138, 1925

CITY BOUND

By Esther Yarnell

My life is cast in such a petty way

That what I dreamed to do, I have not done,

And what I hoped to win, I have not won.

My little tasks are fixed from day to day;

Each somber year wears on to slow decay.

`In narrow streets that scarcely see the sun,

Within dead walls, the weary moments run-

The stifling city holds me in its sway.

Oh! I would live as Titans lived of old,

Laugh with the crackling jJ:ines and thunder's roar;

Race with the lightning's flesh and whirlwind bold;

Drink dry the torrent's stream, and ask for more.

My night song would be music of the spheres;

My span of life would be a million years.

From the Anthology of Verse, 1916-1919.

Verse Writer's Club of Southern California.

---_-_ br

COMING EVENTS

Ke OR RR RK KES.

Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall, 233

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

rs,

EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT-OPEN DISCUSSION

At Eight O'clock

A Free Education is Offered at

EDUCATIONAL CENTER

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD

224 South Spring Street, Room 218

i

I. B. W. A. FORUM

At the Brotherhood Hall, 508 East 5th St.

Sunday Afternoon Meeting 2:30 P.M.

All are Invited to Attend

John X. Kelly and J. Eads How, Committee

a

QUEEN SILVER, 14 year old philosopher, editor,

and scientist will give her twenty-fifth scientific lec-

ture on Saturday, June 20, 1925, at MEMORIAL

HALL, ODD FELLOWS BUILDING, 220 South Main

Street, Los Angeles, Cal. Subject, "HVOLUTION

OF HUMAN NATURE." Admission free. YOU ARE

INVITED.

ii.

What whispers are these, O lands running ahead

of you, and passing under the seas?

Are all the nations commencing?

to be but one heart to the globe?

Is there going

Is humanity forming en masse?-for lo, tyrants

tremble, crowns grow dim:

The earth, restive, confronts a new era.

-Walt Whitman.

The Fight For

Academic Freedom

The battle for and against freedom of teaching

in the public schools of the United States of Amer-

ica, with particular reference to the teaching of

the scientific doctrine of evolution, goes on merrily,

and gatherg force every day. Here are some items

of interest to all. On the one hand is the statement

of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is de-

fending Professor J. T. Scopes of Dayton, Tennesee,

the victim of legal prosecution for having used an

evolutionary text book and taught evolution, that

the Professor's trial will not take place till July

10th. A strong "Committee On Academic Freedom,"

headed by Professor Skinner of Tufts College, Massa-

chussetts, and representative of the nation-wide in-

terest in Professor Scopes' defense has been formed.

On the other hand William J. Bryan is to take the

field for the Fundamentalists, and canvass the col-

leges on behalf of fundamentalist positions and tac-

tics. The spirit of the Fundamentalists is well illus-

trated in remarks given out by Bryan, and a certain

well named, Dr. Bull, a Baptist minister of Chatta-

nooga, Tennesee, published in our columns last

week. There follows an appeal to the churches for

the championship of freedom, set forth by a San

Francisco Jewish rabbi.

* * * *

Rabbi Louis L. Newman, in an address on Bryan

or Huxley; Shall Bigotry Crush Faith? at Temple

HEmanu-Hl, Saturday morning, said:

"I call upon ministers of all denominations to

repudiate the attack on science and truth now being

made in the name of religion in the state of Ten-

nessee. The name of true faith is being besmirched

by a group of bigots, led astray by William Jennings

Bryan.

Those who have the honor of rational religion at

heart cannot afford to be silent now. If they do

not protest with vehemence and frankness against

the maluse of the Bible for the ends of ignorance

and suppression, the laity will turn upon them and

denounce them. It is within the power of church

leaders to expose Mr. Bryan as a blind leader of

the blind, and to rob him of any control over the

beliefs of their parishioners. Unless they reject Mr.

Bryan as their champion, they will be rejected by

their own followers.

"The Tennessee law, which makes it criminal for

a teacher to teach evolution is the first legislative

attack upon the ideal of liberty of conscience, so

precious to all Americans. Prof. Scopes is to be

placed on trial because he used a textbook entitled:

Civic Biology, which sums up its teachings as fol-

lows: `We have now learned that animal forms may

be arranged to begin with the very simple one-celled

forms and culminate with a group which contains

man himself. The real issue involved is whether

the state has the right to abridge the mind's `inquiry

into a theory.'

"Mr. Bryan and his group are marching to their

doom. They are the apostles of bigotry. They burn

with the zeal and fanaticism which make the Klu

Klux Klan dangerous. They are seeking to turn

America back to a new dark age. They are striking

at the human rights, the inalienable rights of the

Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, in

guaranteeing the individual the right to believe or

disbelieve as he wishes. Mr. Bryan is using his great

gifts as a popular orator to foment those impulses

which formerly were used in a witch-hunt.

"The state legislature's province does not lie in

the realm of declaring the truth or untruth of scien-

tific theory. If the Tennessee lawmakers had de-

clared that Darwinism must be taught by legislative

command under penalty of fine or punishment, it

would be almost as offensive as the present anti-

evolution law. It is the business of the legislature

to provide all possible safeguards for the freedom of

individual thought. It can legislate only to pro-

tect, not to curtail religious liberty. The moment it

attempts to decide religious issues or scientific prob-

lems by majority vote under the influence of the

forces of politics, it is encroaching upon forbidden

territory."

Tt aa

Maynard Shipley of San Francisco will de-

bate Dr. Riley of Minneapolis Friday night,

June 19, at the Bible Institute Auditorium,

Subject, "EVOLUTION." Ad-

Los Angeles.

mission free.

Los Angeles

OPEN FORUM

MUSIC ART HALL

233 South Broadway

SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK

Program for June

JUNE 14-`BEHIND THE SCENHS IN GERMAny:

FRANCE AND ENGLAND" by Dr. LINCOLN 1

WIRT of San Francisco. This address was to hay

been given on May 24th, but Dr. Wirt failed to fj

the hall through a misunderstanding. A most jp

teresting evening may be expected as the docty

"knows his stuff,' having recently been in Europ

and having many times previously visited that ay

other parts of the world. MR. CARL ROSSNRR,

Cellist, will play for the occasion.

JUNE 21-"`FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYSIS" jy

DEAN ARTHUR BRIGGS of the Los Angeles Lay

School. The large interest in Freudian philosophy

will make this an appealing subject, and Mr. Brigg

is just the man to present it; he is a thoroughgoin

student and a most pleasing lecturer. Music }y

MR. AND: MRS. J. A. ELFENBEIN-Vocal and ip

strumental.

JUNE 28-`RADICALISM AND BOLSHEVISM'

by WILLIAM CANFIELD. To flaunt these terms be

fore most people is to wave a red flag and stir "

prejudice. What do the words really stand for'

Are they synonymous? What is back of them? Il,

Canfield will try to enlighten us on the subject,

Music by WILBEN HOLTHRER, boy pianist, and Ik.

VING HARDON, baritone, pupil of Prof. Von Liebich,

Ce a

The most formidable enemy of the public welfar

is not riot or sedition, but despotism; it changes the

character of a nation, and always for the worse

it produces nothing but vices.-Helvetius.

eee ee

Reason and good sense will not fail to augur lll

of that system of things which is too ascred to be

looked into; and to suspect that there must be some

thing essentially weak that thus shrinks from the

eye of inquiry. William Goodwin.

a ome

Wait not to be backed by numbers. Wait not til

you are sure of an echo from the crowd. The fewel

the voices on the side of truth, the more distinct anl

strong must be your own.-Channing,

-- 2

Liberty is not a means to a higher political etl

It is itself the highest political end.-Lord Actol,

EXPIRATION NOTICE

Dear Friend: If you find this paragraph encircentlel

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