Open forum, vol. 2, no. 1 (January, 1925)

Vol. i.

THE OPEN FORUM

The Greatest Heresy in the World is the Heresy of the Closed Mind.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY 3, 1925

A Pacific World around the Pacific Sea

Theodore Roosevelt summed up the epochs of

history, past, present, and prospective in one wide-

`sweeping sentence.

"The Mediterranean Hra died with the discovery

of America; the Atlantic Era has reached the height

of its development; the Pacific Era destined to be

the greatest, is just at its dawn."

The Mediterranean is by no means a mere memory

yet, but its part in human affairs is still one of

vital consequence to all mankind. Egypt, where

England is lording it over a conquered people now

as ruthlessly as old Rome ever did, in the interests

of an empire which has more dominion to the east-

ward of the Mediterranean than Rome ever had, is

a part of the Mediterranean world. So also is Mo-

rocco, where the Spaniards are losing out and being

displaced by the black empire of France to the

south. And Italy itself, greatest of the powers of

the past on that historic sea, has led the way in

very recent years as she leads the way now in the

domination of her own people by an immediate rule

of blood and iron as rigid as that of the Caesars long

ago. The Mediterranean world is very much a

contemporary fact.

So also is the Atlantic world in the forefront of

present-day affairs. The bulk of the world's com-

`merce is there. There is the training ground of the

world's navies, and. on its shores the barracks of

the world's armies. The long reaches of the easier

`slopes of the world's mountain ranges still send to

the Atlantic the vast mass of the drainage of the

earth on both sides of the globe. The world is

physically an Atlantic world as any careful study

-of its) topography shows. And as to its commerce,

its politics, its social, literary, and religious con-

`tacts, as to most, indeed, of what makes up civiliza-

tion, the world is going to be an Atlantic world

for a long time to come whatever the developments

of Pacific lands may be. Roosevelt's summary is

`more eloquent than exact. It has more of the

`poetry of prophecy in it than it hag of the plain

prose of the true scholar's survey of what is, or what

"is likely soon to be.

Yet, though Roosevelt's phrasing of it be more

`dramatic than scientific the fact is that a Pacific

`Era, following upon the historic eras of the Med-

iterranean and the Atlantic, is quite evidently in

sight. The bulk of the world's population lives and

`has lived for centuries in lands that drain directly

or indirectly into the Pacific Ocean. The waters of

the Pacific cover more than twice as much of the

area of the globe as do the waters of the Atlantic,

`though they draw from not more than half as much

Of the land that is above the surface of the seas.

And to these two facts must be added a third of no

small significance in measuring the tomorrow of

human affairs, that the lands which border the Pa-

cific are as yet almost untouched by the explorers

`and exploiters of the wealth and power which lie

underneath the ground and in the rushing currents

of the great streams. The East had its epoch of

greatness and glory long before our western lands

waked to the civilization of man. But their day

was before civilization anywhere had waked to the

"Wealth and might of coal and oil and the electric

"park. The age of mechanical wonders is still young.

But it is old enough in the west to have largely

exhausted the coal seams and the oil wells of our

Sections of the earth. The East still has its stores

of natural resources practically unsealed, or if un-

Sealed here and there yet hardly drawn upon at

all. The Pacific world is the store-house of a po-

tential energy beyond anything that civilization has

_yet employed.

_. The era of the Mediterranean wags an era of war,

from the days before the dawn of recorded history

until the hour when civilization flowed out through

the Gates of Hercules into the wide sweeps of the

Atlantic. And the prospect there is for more wars

yet to come.

The Atlantic Era has been no less bloody through

its briefer regime. There the ships of Spain rode

down the ships of other nations, and took bloody

toll of all Europe by virtue of the treasures which

she carried across its areas from the New World

for nearly a century after the Atlantic epoch began.

Holland and England and France and Germany suc-

ceeded to the sovereignty of Atlantic waters, only

to streak the oceans they held with the blood of all

the peoples of the earth. And our country counts

more glorious than all its civil achievements, if we

measure by the emphasis of our school histories,

the sanguinary story of a Paul Jones, or a Captain

Lawrence, and other like heroes of naval blood-

letting upon the Atlantic.

It is ominous for the coming civilization that in

our own times the United States has initiated a like

bloody program for the Pacific: It was in Pacific

waters that Admiral Dewey won his spectacular

victory over the fleet of Spain in Manila Bay. It

was here in the Pacific that American imperialism

first revealed itself, in the annexation of Hawaii,

the conquest of the Philippines, and the seizing of

such out-posts as our naval bases at Guam and

Samoa. It is across the Pacific that we eye Japan

today, with a manifest purpose to deal with her

sooner or later as England dealt with Germany. In

vain we protest that the ravings of the Hearst press,

. and the open suggestion by a member of Congress

that we lead the way in a league of the white

peoples of the Pacific area, are of no consequence

and of light meaning. The United States today is

promising the world a repetition in the Pacific of the

bloody imperialisms which Phoenicia and Carthage,

Greece and Rome gave to the Mediterranean world,

and which western Europe has carried on only a

little less spectacularly in the Atlantic.

What are we going to do about it, or is there

anything we can do? Well, it is something to look

the facts in the face, and to see clearly and say

uncompromisingly which way our nation is going.

And it is something more to see this, not as a

manifestation of the mere weakness and foolishness

of men, but to see it in relation to the causes which

are really shaping history. "It is too bad," said

Senator Phelan of San Francisco, at a "peace meet-

ing" in October, 1914, discussing the Huropean war,

then just begun, "it is too bad, but it is human

nature." No wonder that the Senator who gave

that shallow analysis of the world war fell so easily

for it himself when the capitalists held up their

thumbs for us to fall into line in 1917. If we do

nothing more this year than to study resolutely to

understand the world process better, the year will

be worth while.

But we should do more. There are two things

on which all liberal minded folks on the Pacific Coast

ought to be able to unite, and therein even the

most radical of the radicals ought to be able to

make common cause with the liberal.

The first is for a united effort on behalf of free-

dom of expression for us all. At this. point the

work of the American Civil Liberties Union offers

a common camping ground and rendezvous for all

forward-minded folks. They all want the right to

be heard, the liberty to teach and to be taught.

This is the first item in the program which we

propose for the whole Pacific Coast of The United

States. We offer our paper as the organ for such

an effort on behalf of the common enjoyment of

our common rights to speak freely, publish freely,

and gather freely when and where we will.

The second item is like unto it, and in entire

harmony with it. The work of the Fellowship of

Reconciliation, which we are stressing in this issue,

suggests a common course for us at this point.

Perhaps the best way to tell it is to capitalize here

the title of this article as the slogan under which

we may rally "not only the liberals and radicals

of our own Pacific Coast states, but the like-minded

folks of every land, kindred, and tribe, of every

color, tongue, and condition around the whole Pa-

cific Ocean.

A PACIFIC WORLD AROUND THE PACIFIC SEA

Is not this a rallying cry for the greatest fellow-

ship that can be imagined here? Will not our

friends in Australia and New Zealand, in Japan and

China and India and Africa respond to this call

for a Pacific Fellowship in the interests of a Pa-

cific World around the Pacific Sea? Do you fear

the play on words as light and artificial? Why the

word "Preparedness" has been worth incalculable

millions to the makers of munitions and the de-

fenders of militarism. "Preparedness," and "de-

fense," "the war to end war," "the war to make the

world safe for democracy." Will we never learn

to use aS much aptness and sense on the side of

a sane world as they use who are the proponents

of force and fear and the fat pocketbook? We talk

"solidarity" with wearisome reiteration of the word,

but when have the liberals and forward-looking folks

of this Coast ever even so much as tried to get to-

gether? Our little paper is not published to take

the place of the Seattle Union-Record, or The World

or Labor Unity of San Francisco, or Tomorrow, or

any other of the liberal publications of Los Angeles,

or the I. W. W. and communist literature. We seek

neither to substitute for them nor to displace them.

Ours is for these two ends, to serve as a clearing-

house, a center of contact, for the friends of free-

dom here in these coast states, and to serve as a

center and clearing-house for the friends of a Pacific

world around this Pacific Ocean. Will you join us

in this two-fold service? Send us your names. Send

us your subscriptions. Send us other folk's names,

and other folk's subscriptions. Send us gifts for the

work. Send us articles, brief, timely, and to the

point. Come, join with us for a forward movement

in common that we may be free here, and that we

may have fellowship throughout all our Pacific

world.

2

R. W.

a 3

PATRIOTISM

By Fanny Bixby Spencer

The meaning of. patriotism varies continually in

substance and intensity, for it is primarily an emo-.

tion not an idea. Different minds conceive of it dif-

ferently. To some it is simple filial love of country;

to others it is hatred of foreign countries and for-

eign people. In general it is predominating love of

country. It connotes subjection to national author-

ity, rather than responsible civic cooperation. It is

not synonymous with citizenship, nor indispensable

to public morality. It is more inclined to manifest

zeal for existing models than the fervor of reform.

To exalt patriotism without exalting war at the

same time is something like going out to swim with-

out going near the water. In the pursuit of patri-

otism one must either follow it into the deep waters

of war passion, on the basis of "my country right or

wrong," or remain on the shore of these deep waters

in an equivocal position. Back on the terra firma

of humanitarian service, it soon amounts to a denial

of itself, for as it grows it leaps over its national

hedges, becoming international and losing its idenit

as patriotism.

-

___three verse seven, and read as follows:

BRISBUNK |

If the Pacific world is to deal effectively with the

situations which confront us across this greatest of

all oceans there will have to be a deeper wisdom as

regards public affairs and a much greater understand-

ing of a real social science than the Mediteranean

world or the Atlantic world has ever exhibited. The

wise men who came from the Kast, and of whom we

`have heard so much, did nothing for the program

of Jesus, with all their reputed adulation of the

prospective Messiah. There is a lot of supposed wis-

dom which has come to us from the East that is

equally ineffective in forwarding any real program

of world redemption at the point where the Occi-

dent and the Orient confront each other with the

Pacific Ocean between. We are in danger enough

from the insanities and insincerities of fool politi-

cians who break out irresponsibly in Congress and

through the newspapers. But we are in far greater

danger fom the owners of these newspapers them-

selves, and from the "higher foolishness" of clever

paragraphers and special writers who can see noth-

ing for the coming Pacific civilization beyond the

ways which the civilizations of yesterday have pur-

sued. These men who lick the shoe-leather of Rocke-

feller and Morgan in New York, of Henry Ford in

Michigan, and of the Stanfords, Spreckels, and Hunt-

`ingtons in California, and who would make of the

Pacific another arena for the anarchy of individual

competition and a self-seeking joust of shrewdness,

unscrupulousness and wit, are the last men in the

world for whose "gold, and frankincense, and myrrh"

we can afford to fall.

My colleague in the managing editorship of this

paper called my attention, almost as soon as the

words were in print, to the fact that there is

a Bible proverb which seems to be almost a replica of

the modern "as a man thinketh so he is," and comes

nearer to it verbally than the text which I gave as

the nearest approach to it. `out of the heart are the

issues of life.' The words of this other scripture are

to be found in the book of Proverbs, chapter twenty-

"Hat thou

not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither

desire thou his dainty meats; For as he thinketh in

his heart so is he: Wat and drink, saith he to thee;

but his heart is not with thee."

I am not concerned to defend here my former ob-

servation, though as a matter of fact the word used

in the original of this text has nothing to do with

thinking as an intellectual process, and the connec-

tion leads away from our emphasis of thought as su-

perior to life, and not toward it. The word is the

Hebrew, shaar, used elsewhere in designating a gate-

keeper, and has in it the idea of cleavage, separation,

rather than of thinking as a mental process. But this

bit of scholasticism aside, I am referring to it because

the whole passage gets right to the heart of the

thing I want to say here. The writer is urging in

substance: `When you sit down to eat with kings,

or wealthy and powerful folks, be on your guard.

They will show you favors enough, set all kinds of

dainties before you, and tempt you to swallow every-

thing in sight But their hearts are not wtih you,

and there is a great gulf between your interests and

what they are trying to put over. You had better

put a knife to your throat rather than to swallow

eagerly what they give you.

This is mighty good advice to remember when you

read Arthur Brisbane, Frank Crane, The Times edi-

torials, or any of the rest of the verbal "dainties"

served out to you at the tables of the capitalist press

and platform. "Hat and drink saith he to thee, but

his heart is not with thee." All this boom stuff that

Brisbane gets off every now and then concerning

this "vast empire" of Southern California is drugged

wine wherewith to make drunken the middle class

mind which sips so eagerly at the cup of self-in-

dulgent ambition and sectional conceit. Of the same

substance is practically all our promotion literature

and the whole chorus of praise of the Pacific as the

imperialism of tomorrow..

We know what imperialism did for the Mediter-

ranean world, and what it has done and is doing in

the Atlantic world. Boom stuff is the last stuff

which the friends of the Pacific world can afford to

swallow, and we sit at the tables of the mighty at

our own risk whenever their hospitality and bounty

is thrust upon us.

Militarism is the obvious and immediate danger

of the whole Pacific world, on this side and on the

other side of the waters. But back of militarism is

the greater menace of racial, national, and personal

ambition, the old, old stressing of individual interest

and individual cleverness as the way of achievement

and life. "There is death in the cup," as every civi-

lization that has drunken of it has proven We have

less need to fear the loud-mouthed fools of politics

and press than we have the subtle philosophers of

the traditional se!f-seeking schools

"

THE FELLOWSHIP OF

RECONCILIATION

The Fellowship of Reconciliation is a group of

men and women of many races, nations and classes

who recognize the oneness of the world-wide human'

family. We wish to live in the spirit of this true

unity and find out more and more all that it should

mean. To do so we shall have to put away war

and the spirit of enmity, seeking to know instead the

spirit of love that draws men together, in spite

of all differences, in a friendly and united society.

We believe that the spirit of love seen in Jesus of

Nazareth can work through and change all social

relations, industry, politics and international life;

that it is indeed the only foundation for human

society, and the only power which can overcome

evil and call forth the undiscovered good in men.

The attempt to live steadfastly in this spirit will

certainly cost something as the world now is, but

for lack of it the world is going to pieces. War

and famine, imperialism and revolution, racial and

class struggle and almost universal fear abound.

We cannot wait until Somehow the nations are

reconciled, injustice between groups is done away,

or until the churches have found a common path.

War may continue to darken the world and endanger

all that is good; we can take no part in it. Men

may continue to threaten or fear revolution; we

need neither threaten nor fear it, but can give up

the power and desire to dominate our fellows, and

seek to build a common life of such united friendly

effort as will take away the occasion for war and

strife. It will be our aim to let' no interest of self,

family, church, class, race or nation separate us from

any of our fellowmen.

We shall attempt to help one another discover

what this way of life is when it is followed in the

home, in the education of children, in the treat-

ment of criminals, in the relations of commerce and

industry, and in all dealings with our brothers

throughout the world.

We need not wait until all can agree on a theory

or practice of non-resistance or some one social plan;

we are united in seeking such changes in the spirit

of men and the structure of society as shall make

possible the fullest expression of the spirit and

principles of Jesus. Our methods must always be

in harmony with this goal.

It is certain that for such a way of life divine

power is needed. We believe that such power will

be ours increasingly as we venture upon this way

of service in response to the leading of the one

Spirit that unites men in a vast family of brothers.

In order to develop the resources of fellowship,

we seek to express this way of life through existing

institutions rather than to build up another or-

ganization in the usual sense of the term.

Members of the movement are to be found in

- North and South America, in most of the countries

of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in the Islands of

the Sea.

Will you enter the Fellowship? Or, if not ready

to become a member, would you like to be on our

mailing list? You are invited to write to the

secretary. :

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

Sef hase ia acre tsy sic lsioys Cis ies ay Ae een ace IO 2. ki,

The Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation,

396 Broadway, New York City.

I have read the foregoing statement. I am in

agreement with the principles, spirit and aims of

the Fellowship of Reconciliation and ask to be

enrolled as a member.

Na Mey 3. ei arinath ah. cavitiad Hab cla ee peas

(Mr., Mrs., Miss, Rev., etc.)

Address

SOA RAGS OPAL OLS Oni6 Hele #6) "e ue Xa).6)' 0h'56 9 1S)18 10 eles e.laite ele cei eee te

Ge Aer ee sere epee these yen a0 MEO :-0 108 eNO sey oe ee are eel ee sl eters

Occupation cer nn, fan ie

eeeeevece

Note.-If you prefer to be enrolled with the Fel-

lowship of Youth for Peace,-those who are under

thirty, DIeAge Indicate Jt NETGs e cs ses seme' ncadcas,

The movement is supported by the voluntary con-

tributions of its members.

---_-hdr-_-_---

The best way to guard your own liberty is to be

very jealous for other people's rights.

THE VIOLENCE

OF THE RESPECTABLE

CALLES' HOPELESS TASK

By Scott Nearing

Gen. Plutarco Elias Calles, recently inaugurated

president of Mexico, has no more chance than the

retiring President Obregon to conduct a people's

government.

Between 1576, when Porfirio Diaz came into power,

and 1911 when he resigned the presidency of Mexico

under pressure, the country enjoyed peace and order

of a kind. Through these years Mexico grew rich

but the vast majority of the Mexicans were so poor

that they could barely keep body and soul together,

The bulk of the valuable properties were in the

possession of foreigners.

When Diaz came to power, Mexico was an agri-

cultural country, whose land was held in great tracts,

some of them totaling millions of acres. At the

same time, there were many Indian tribes that lived

in communal agricultural villages. Concession to

railroad, mining and other business enterprises help-

ed establish a class of business men in the northern

and eastern sections of the country. Francisco Mad-

ero, leader of the revolution of 1911, was one o

these business men. :

The crucial economic difficulties of Mexico came

with the discovery of oil. H. L. Doheny and a group

of American capitalists began buying up prospective

oil lands in 1900. The first official records show a

production in 1904 of 220,000 barrels; in 1919 pro-

duction stood at 3,332,807 barrels; the next year

it quadrupled. In 1910, Diaz lost his power over

the Mexican people, and he lost it at least in part

because he was then strongly favoring the demands.

of the British (Pearson) interests for oil concessions.

During the revolutions and counter-revolutions of

the next seven years oil played a leading role. At

the beginning of the revolution the struggle was

between business men and landholders. During 1913

and 1914 the agrarian program advocated by Zapata

developed into an effort of the Mexican peons to

secure the land, and of certain wage-earning groups

to influence the revolution in the direction of social

reform.

In consequence of these two powerful forces,

which have practically turned the tide of Mexican

politics in every crisis since 1915, the constitution

of 1917 appeared with two geries of provisions which

were, up to that time, the most advanced in any

constitution. One was the principle that the subsoil

' rights belong to the Mexican people, and not to the

owner of the surface. The other was the code of

social regulations aimed to protect the worker.

The constitution of 1917 is the charter of liberties

which the Mexicans have ever since been striving to

enforce. They have found themselves hindered by

the rich Mexicans and the richer foreign capitalists.

President Obregon carried out certain provisions of

the agrarian program and at times enforced the labor

code, but for the most part he had his hands tied

by the state department at Washington, backed by

the army and navy of the United States.

Has Calles a better opportunity? Not a whit!

He enters office as a Socialist, although in Great

Britain he would be called a Liberal. He is a man

of great energy and determination, and a man who

seems never to have lost sight of the masses. At

the same time, he is at the mercy of the United

States authorities, and should he depart from the

mildly liberal government of his predecessor, he may

expect to reckon with both Wall Street and Wash-

ington.

Mexico needs money and diplomatic support if she

is to make any headway against the oil men. There

is only one way to get that support from the United

States-to do what the oil men want.

---4-_ -___-_.

Will Resist, Law or No Law

CALGARY, Can.-Radical governmental changes

obtained by parliamentary, constitutional methods

must be met by force of arms just as sternly as.

those obtained by violence, declared Gen. Griesbach.

of the Canadian forces to the military institute at

Calgary. He said: "I take it that as soldiers and

citizens loyal to their institutions, you are not pre

pared to accept the dictatorship of the proletariat

patterned on the Russian model WHETHER OB:

TAINED BY CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS OR BY

FORCE. We will best maintain peace by frank de-

claration that Communist propaganda carried to its

conclusion means war."

-Federated Press.

Not socialism but oil will rule Mexico, '

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FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS

"K

Faith versus Fear in

International Relations

By Clinton J. Taft

Bernard Russell begins the closing chapter of his

book, "Proposed Roads to Freedom," with this signifi-

cant paragraph:

"In the daily lives of most men and women, fear

plays a greater part than hope; they are more filled

with the thought of the possessions that others may

take from them, than of the joy that they might cre-

ate in their own lives and in the lives with which

they come in contact."

J think most of you will agree that Mr. Russell is

absolutely right in this declaration: fear does seem

to be the dominating force under which we cower

and cringe most of the' time. We are barricading

ourselves against this or that foe-imagined or real

-practically all of our waking hours. And frequent-

ly we start up feverishly in our sleep, disturbed by

phantom fears that sweep in upon us out of the dusky

region of the subconscious.

International life is lived upon the same plane.

Harrowing fears grip the hearts of the nations. They

glare at one another across artificial boundary lines;

they jealously watch each others' moves and usually

put the worst possible construction upon everything

that looks the least suspicious. They assume toward

each other the "chip-on-the-shoulder" attitude. "Knock

it off if you dare!" is the veiled or sometimes vocifer-

ous threat.

The psychology of fear is back of the entire mili-

taristic system. It keeps armies and navies going-

and taxpayers digging to pay the huge bills for the

same, now totaling in this country more than 90 per

cent of the national revenue.

Fear inspires the jingoists in all lands to wave the

bloody shirt and keep the people restless.and appre-

hensive of trouble with their neighbors. The yellow

press is constantly engaged in the unholy task of

stirring up suspicions and hatred.

An additional holiday-Mobilization Day, Defense

Day or whatever one of a variety of names applied

to it by the camouflagers you care to call it-was

created in order that we might make a fearsome,

menacing gesture to the rest of the world, especially

Japan.

The exclusion clause of the recent Immigration Act

was another way of saying to the little brown men of

the Sunrise Kingdom: `Keep back-fear Uncle Sam,

for he's a mighty giant, who does not desire you in

his realm. Stay on your side of the Pacific; you are

not worthy of citizenship in this civilized world-

keep your distance."

The "5-5-8" talk that emanates from Washington

and other quarters nowadays is along the same line.

We must increase our naval-building program, we

are told, in order to be "prepared" for a struggle that:

is likely to come with our Oriental competitors.

And the other day Representative Britten of Illinois

jumped up and proposed a conference of the white na-

tions of the Pacific. Why? To further aggravate the

fear in the hearts of the brown and yellow and black

men living around the Pacific.

What an unseemly mess of things this fear propa-

ganda is making. Why not try faith for a while?

Fear harks back to the jungle way of doing things,

it is a reversion to the original type-the animal love

of life-and it is twisting and perverting our modern

world into an unlovely, unshapely mass.

Evolution calls for faith for the progress and per-

fection of her work. Science suggests that we adopt

faith instead of fear as the ruling motive in the

modern world. Every discovery of science in recent

times reveals that the parts of the world, physically

Speaking, are in close alliance with each other; there

is found to be much surface diversity, but under-

neath all there abides fundamental unity.

Anthropology emphasizes the essential unity of the

human race, and if it were not for artificial barriers

raised constantly and magnified we would be dwell-

ing together in fellowship today and working out the

problems of common humanity. Inventions are bind-

ing us together-the railroad, steamship, telephone,

telegraph, automobile, airship, radio, etc. The earth

*K

*K

Five Years of

Labor News

With December, 1924, The Federated Press com-

pletes the first five years of its functioning as

Labor's daily cooperative news service on an inter-

national scale. The 18 labor editors -who incor-

porated the organization in 1919, saw an immediate

expansion that gave the new service promise of

great influence and prosperity.

But the postwar deflation, from which Labor has

not yet fully recovered, brought deperate times to

the F. P. Like the American Federation of Labor

with its successive shrinkage of membership from

1920 to 1924, The Federated Press felt the effect

of the heavy hand on labor by the openshoppers and

the government. Labor papers, on whose assess-

ments for news service the F. P. relied for its in-

come, died like local unions after a long and bitter

and unsuccessful strike. Papers that did survive

had to economize by reducing expenses. Promises

to pay for news service in many cases were not

kept. The F. P. deficit mounted higher. Bond sales

to friendly unions and individuals kept the organ-

ization afloat but added to the deficit.

Still the steady grist of reliable and intelligently

written labor new from the great centers of the

country and from abroad went out day by day to

the labor papers that were able to hang on. New

standards of accuracy and enterprise in labor jour-

nalism spread where the F. P. influence became

known. New toleration within the labor movement

developed where the F. P. motto of a fair deal to

all within the labor field and a fighting front against

all labor's foes was adopted.

Today the F. P. news sheet is mailed every day

to 67 labor papers, including 11 dailies, 44 weeklies

and biweeklies and 12 monthlies. They form a chain

of labor publications of diverse interests and work-

ing creeds but united in their resolve to cooperate

in obtaining labor news independent of the capitalist

`news agencies that are under immediate and con-

stant suspicion where labor interests are concerned.

Whether the F. P. will live to celebrate its 10th,

15th and subsequent birthdays, until it is the dom-

inant news service in an American Labor common-

wealth depends on the integrity with which its tra-

ditional policy is pursued, on the enlightened sup-

port of labor editors of all groupings and on the

resources the organization can tap in personnel and

in money.

has shrunk as it were to the size of a hand-bill; we

can hear nearly all the way round it, and soon I pre-

sume we shall be able to see around it. Physical

proximity of peoples of the earth is becoming more

intensified daily,

Why then should we keep apart socially and spir-

itually? Why not recognize the Biblical dictum as

sound-I mean the one that runs: "God hath made

of one blood all nations that dwell upon the earth,"

and act upon it? Why this everlasting bickering and

backbiting? Why not try the art of fraternizing for

a while? Why not call a congress of,all the peoples

around the Pacific, and there face our common prob-

lems in frank, scientific fashion. Let's begin to treat

each other as brothers and see how the plan works.

Suppose we accentuate similarities for a while in-

stead of differences. How will it do to talk faith

rather than fear for the next ten years?

Perhaps we will actually get to liking one another.

Maybe we will discover unsuspected qualities of good-

ness and genius even in those whom we have been

wont to despise. Underneath skins that are drab

and dusky we may be able to penetrate to hearts that

beat to the highest idealisms, and that can easily

be enlisted in the building of a better world.

Anyhow I think it is high time we quit injecting

fear into the other fellow. That sore of philosophy

and practice has brought the world wellnigh to the

abyss. We can't travel much further along the fear

road without utter destruction. But Faith reaches

out her hand to the nations and promises a new civ-

ilization, a brotherly world based on justice. May

we have the sense to grasp her hand and follow her

lead,

"K

K

A Fellowship Letter

Special Delivery to You through

the Columns of the Open Forum

The members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation

in Los Angeles are hereby asking and urging a close

alignment and affiliation of all the forward looking

people who would like to be associated for the ac-

complishment of the following purpose:

To give a channel of expression to the many indi-

viduals and groups on the Pacific Coast and around

the Pacific Sea, who sincerely wish to avert or to

lessen pending strife and war, and to achieve be-

tween divergent and clashing elements, understand-

ing, fellowship and reconciliation.

We bespeak your cooperation now, this first week

of the first month of 1925, along the lines listed

here:

1. Correspondence. Make yourself known to us.

Tell us of yourself, your associations, church, labor

organization, progessive club.

2. Literature. Put yourself in possession of Fel-

lowship material and pass it around. Much of it is

free, the rest obtainable at a small price. There are

leaflets and pamphlets, and The World Tomorrow,

(monthly $1.00 a year); International Fellowship

News Sheet (monthly 50 cents a year); The Open

Forum (weekly, $1.00 a year)

3. Write, yourself, or give us the names to whom'

Wwe may write, of persons in any other land bordering

on the Pacific Ocean who might wish to join us in

this effort of reconciliation, or who might be able to

send us information bearing on our point, as to con-

ditions on these other shores.

4. Write out briefly the important things which

you believe should be said along these lines. and

send to the Editor of The Open Forum, the Pacific

Coast journal for free expression of opinion.

5. Wherever there is a possible opportunity of a

few, or of many, in your community gathering to-

gether, for discussion, for residence meetings, for a

regular forum, or for study or action along these

lines, let us know if you would not like a visit from

one of our speakers or members. Mr. Robert Whita-

ker, Field Representative of the Fellowship for the

Pacific Coast, will give special attention to these

calls.

6. Tell us whatever you can about your commu-

nity and other persons or groups who might be inter-

ested. Give us, also, any suggestions which might

occur to you, that we may make this matter of Pa-

cific fellowship and reconciliation a living issue,

The members of the Fellowship in Los Angeles are

trying to start at home to establish our unity with

the misunderstood and persecuted peoples in our own

city. Racial and class distinctions are strong and

bitter, and we wish to supplant them with under-

Standing and cooperation, that together the peoples

of our own town, reconciled to each other, may face

and solve the larger problems of our Pacific lands.

So we ask you with us to be definite and concrete

in thinking and acting, until the whole fabric of our

individual, civic and world relationship shall be con-

sistently woven in the pattern of a unified human

race,

Write to us and keep in touch with us.

at 506 Tajo Bldg., Los Angeles.

ETHELWYN MILLS,

Secretary, Los Angeles Group,

Fellowship of Reconciliation,

553 Western Ave.

-_.%___.

The greatest peril of modern society

Is the combination

Between the purchasers of special privilege,

And their parasites,

And the vendors of vice,

And their victims;

Between respectable and disreputable lawlessness.

"Hixtremes meet" in the essentially equal rottenness

Of the "Higher Ups" and the "Slums."

--- -___-_

No man need fear his enemies who is big enough

to withstand his friends.

Address us

c ATT TR renin eM ty oe RTE Le

ac PTE

Haffner gE ST aN

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

LITERARY EDITOR

Esther Yarnell

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

Fanny Bixby Spencer

Leo Gallagher Ethelwyn Mills

Clinton J. Taft

J H. Ryeckman

Doremus Scudder

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 second-class rates pending.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1925

THE FAITH OF MEN

Oh for a faith, a living faith in Love!

How have we served the gods of wrath and war;

Jehovah, Jupiter, Osiris, Thor:

How have we scorned Heaven's chosen sign, the

Dove,

For eagles screaming in the skies above;

For the maned lion ravaging afar;

The stolid bear beneath the Polar Star;

For the mailed fist, and for the ring-flung glove.

And how have we distrusted gentleness;

The patient, pitying, forgiving mood;

Trust toward our fellows of whatever blood;

The quest for service, and the will to bless.

Strange, when Love opens freely Heaven's Gate,

We are so eager for the Hells of Hate.

ake

ee

WEATHER REPORT

_ `The whoie country appears to be "keeping cool

with Coolidge." Colder weather yet is predicted be-

fore this administration is through.

ee

COMING EVENTS

ROR Rw KK ke ok

NOTE:-No charge is made for these announce-

ments of meetings, but our space limits require that

notices shall be very brief. Meetings mentioned here

must be of some interest to our constituency, and

preference will be given to those not able to advertise

in the capitalist press. Notices must be in our office

not later than Monday night.

-_-__4__

Los Angeles Open Forum, Music-Art Hall. 233

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

1 4-______

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

IL.W.W. HALL, 224 S. Spring Street, Room 218.

teresting Speakers-Interesting Subjects.

Subjects for the Month

Jan. 3-Industrial Unionism....... Jack Blair

Jan. 10-French Syndicalism... Tom. Bell

Jan. 17-"Things as They Are"____ Robert Whitaker

Jan. 24-Non-resistance-a Revolutionary

Theory

Paar ak

FREE WORKERS FORUM-FOLK SCHULE,

420 North Soto St., Los Angeies

Jan. 5-Popular Misconceptions of the Race

Problem. Some Modern Aspects of

FAMUDTOPOlOL Ya tsetse ols ret oe ie AsoRall

Jan. 12-Place of Karl Marx in the Labor

Movement

Jan. 19-Nature's Way of Turning Disease Into

FLOQlth 2280) 20 03 D. J. Haskell Kutzer M.D.

Jan. 26-The Fetich of Liberty____ Robert Whitaker

L. J. Greene

_G. Evans

Hind herewith $. 2.72.24. as payment for........

{ Yearly

4 Six Month

{| Three Month

subscriptions to THE OPEN FORUM.

ENGL O casein ere ee nies A eC ei eRe ete at ieee

PROOMO GRE Lele Rei incc tg uo etme su tas ORC,

(Daterassid aloes SS SR ea HA,

"Phe Church of the

New Social Order

The Church of The New Social Order began its

work in Los Angeles, Sunday morning, November

2, 1924, and has held its service each Sunday morn-

ing since that date. The place of meeting is Cleve-

land Hall, in the Walker Auditorium Building, 730

South Grand. The hall is not large. It will seat

comfortably seventy-five or eighty people. By actual

count we have had as many as seventy-eight there

on a Sunday morning. So far we have done little

advertising, both because we are following a con-

servative program with respect to expense, and be-

cause we have not wished to invite the particular

attention of the sensation mongers and the emotion-

al-jag seekers. Any church that goes out after big-

scale expenditure must of necessity make terms with

those who have money. This we know, and there-

fore we are holding our expenses down to the point

where they exercise no restraint upon the freedom

of our message. And every new movement on re-

ligious lines inevitably attracts a considerable fol-

lowing of faddists and fanatics, who will soon find

that they have little in common with our work.

The Church of The New Social Order has no

creed, no membership, no ritual. It is a fellowship

and a platform, a fellowship where all who will

may come together for an hour on Sunday morn-

ings, a platform where the speaker says what he

thinks without concern for any creed or denomina-

tion, and with no desire to emphasize any necessity

of agreement with him. There is a program of

music, reading and teaching, but the Sunday morn-

ing meeting is not a Forum or a Debating Society.

Those who are responsible for the meeting do not

think that such is the most effective way of getting

over the measure of the new church. And it is a

church, however different from other churches it

may be, because some of us think that the church

idea is one we cannot afford to wholly abandon to

those who are serving the established economic

order.

Although the' Church of The New Social Order

has no creed, it has nevertheless a very distinct

and definite foundation of conviction. It is com-

mitted openly and insistently to the repudiation of

the present capitalist system, the whole profit-

making idea as the basis 6f our economic life, and

it is for the new social order of cooperation and eco-

nomic equality as against special privilige and ex-

ploitation. Call it cooperation, socialism, commun-

ism, what you will, we are for the full program of

a non-exploiting society. But as to the manner in

which that society shall come, our's is a "wholly

catholic" church, that is we are willing to fellow-

Ship each other in seeking the new order though we

seek it by different ways. No church can live ef-

fectively without something of a "conviction of sin."

That conviction with us is the "sin" of the present

social system, with which we will make no com-

promise. No church can live without some assur-

ance of "salvation." Our salvation is social, the new

order "in which dwelleth righteousness." But we

are committed to no party, no platform of political

reforms, and to no special program of supporting

this or that man or woman, or set of men and women

for office. It is the need of a new order we em-

phasize, and the spirit of brotherhood in which it is

to be realized.

Robert Whitaker is giving the morning address at

present, and through the month of January will

speak on the following topics:

January 4-CIVILIZATION AND HOMICIDE, A

Study of the Story of Cain.

January 11-RELIGION AND SCIENCE, A Study

of Miracles.

January 18-SAMSON AND "THE PHYSICAL

CULTURE FAD

January 25-JONAH AND THE PRODIGAL SON,

A Study in Religious Exclusiveness.

Services open at 10:45 A. M. Come early if you

want to get a seat.

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

_ Linotyping and press work done in Union

Shops. The make-up is our own.

Los Angeles

OPEN FORUM

MUSIC ART HALL

_ 233 South Broadway

SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7-30 O'CLOCK

With the opening of the New Year we enter upon

our seventeenth month at the Los Angeles Open

Forum in Music-Art Hall, 233 South Broadway. The

Forum has been a going concern from its inception,

The hall was filled the very first night, and frequently

since then seats have been at a premium. On several

occasions people have crowded the place to gsuffoca-

tion, many standing for two mours or more. At least

once several hundred were turned away for lack of

space to accommodate them. The average attendance

has been 438. No vacation period was observed dur-

ing the summer.

But more than all this, a high grade of utterance

has been maintained usually from the platform of the

Forum. Speakers who are specialists in their Vari-

ous lines have been sought and secured, and the ut-

most freedom has been accorded them. The ques.

tions and discussions. from the floor have not always

evinced clear-headedness, but they have shown at

least that people are pressing their way toward the

light with whatever degree of intelligence and un-

derstanding they possess. and that the Forum inter-

ests them and helps them.

We repeat therefore what we have often said be-

fore, that the Forum type of meeting is, one that

should commend itself to every community. It makes

for democracy and cultivates the give and take spirit

in humanity.

Our January program, submitted below, will prove

an attractive one we fancy It is one of the best

that we have been able to arrange, offering great va-

riety in the subjects to be presented, and at the same

time dealing with vitally important issues If you

are an enthusiast for the Forum yourself then get

others to come and share its blessings. Let's make

January the banner month of the seventeen. Here

is the menu we have to offer you:

JAN. 4-`MY FIFTY YEARS' FIGHT FOR JUS:

TICE TO THE WORKING MAN," by "MOTHER"

JONES. She is one of the greatest friends that the

cause of labor ever had in America. Like old John

Knox of Scotland, she `never feared the face of

clay." Her efforts in behalf of the miners and oth-

ers oppressed by capitalism have taken her into the

presence of presidents and other dignitaries, where

she has won her cause often when others have failed.

She is now ninety-five years old, but strong of voice

and keen of intellect, and possessed of an unquench-

able desire to obtain justice for the oppressed. To

hear her will fire you with a passion for righteousness

such as you have not hitherto felt. Music by M.

FISH, baritone-a series of Russian songs.

JAN. 11-"SHALL WE GIVE THE NEGROES OF

THIS COUNTRY A SQUARE DEAL?" There will

be two speakers, MRS. LILLIAN WILLIS on "FUN-

DAMENTAL WRONGS," and DR. H. C.. HUDSON on

"THE DIFFICULTIES AND HOPES OF THE NE-

GROES.' The latter is the newly-elected president of .

the local branch of The National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People. Both are excel-

lent speakers and will strongly present the case of

the black man. Th program will begin with music

by colored people, the names of the artists to be an-

nounced later.

JAN. 18-"BIRTH CONTROL," by MARGARET

SANGER of New York-yes, we mean the original

and only Margaret Sanger, the one who has pio-

neered and suffered through the years in her insist-

ence upon the right of women to know how to con-

trol the number of their offspring. -She is coming to

the Pacific Coast to deliver a number of addresses

and will give the first one at our Forum. Music by

MISS HELEN MUCHNIC, child violinist

JAN. 25-DEBATE: "RESOLVED, THAT THE

1924 IMMIGRATION LAW SHOULD BE SO AMEND-

ED AS TO ADMIT JAPANESE ON THE SAME BA-

SIS AS EUROPHANS." Students of the University of

Southern California will be the debaters, the affirma-

tive being upheld by LELAND TALLMAN and AL W.

GRIEWE; and the negative, by RAYMOND BREN-

NAN and ADNA LEONARD, JR. This is one of the

questions that will not down; come and hear both

sides of it discussed: Music by students of the

School of Music connected with the U.S.C.

An appetizing program I believe you will say. Re

member that Sunday night, 7:30 o'clock, is the time.

`Be prompt, get informed in advance on the subjects

to be presented, come prepared to ask questions to

the point and to add: something of value to the dis

cussion, and withal practice tolerance toward the

other fellow always. Pea BAITS,

Wp ae AE cate aia iia a ncaa Balke foe

eg eee a os Se eee ee a Re ee ee gee ee.