Open forum, vol. 2, no. 10 (March, 1925)

THE OPEN FORUM -

A Pacific World around the Pacific Sea.

LON

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fon, Wels? LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MARCH 7, 1925 No. 10

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I D ed Courage, Friends!

" Consummate 10cy, Vamn

D i By John Haynes Holmes

i lj h ' in :UNEEY; Chicaga, it.

ii H isnness, an orse

Ki OO ; 2 :

how "It is becoming increasingly evident every day that

PH the tides of courage and hope in the hearts of

B j i W Pinkh m Liberals in this country are on the ebb. These tides

y enry . a have been running out pretty steadily ever since

TA" : : : the crushing disappointment of the election in No-

e Association To Abolish War

dat: Secretary, Th vember. This disappointment might well have been

lere encountered without spiritual disaster had it not

tish : ae : been for the fact that it was only one of a suc-

: imi ost a egard the faith in a future life

We Wateis the very limit of homan' folly, the! m Wen ere eure : +8 t cession of disheartening reversals. The sudden col-

idioti ocedure of which men are capable. The -gave as they are bound up with living men, no

tua: idiotic proc : l It i lapse of the MacDonald Government in England and

re quite incapable of the like: They do not corpses. The eye affords a helpful analogy. is 1d

will brutes are qd igen ; es te cent the firm entrenchment of the Baldwin Tory ministry

kill their kind collectively and seldom individually. beautiful in itself, but only when it is an organ ic in offiee for an fideuiite patted) ates atreee ames

is d d, not because it is horrible, not be- the living body. Its function is to serve the life : oe p eR

War 18 coonted, : , i : 3 : if the Herriot ministry in France with its inevitable

it is wicked, but because it is foolish. Rous- that nourished it, and it perishes when that life : :

INT cause it is wicked, e : ; t disappearance just around the corner, the fresh out-

id that the rulers of states would refrain ceases. To die to save one's eyes would be to

Lere seau Sal a is ; : ld not break of brutal tyranny in Italy, the everdeepening

sj if they knew their own interests: "They sacrifice the greater to the less, and it would no : AE ;

310g from war 1 y a g 5 li darkness of misery and despair in Germany, Austria

d to be good, generous, disinterested, pub- save the eyes! Dying that one's country may live

ate, do not need to be good, : : ee: ; : and Hungary and Central Europe generally, the un-

| ic-spirited, humane. They may be unjust, greedy, is likewise a self-defeating procedure the character

Las, lic-spirited, : : ; : : : : necessary and rather silly squabbles among the Bol-

ine their own interests above everything else; of which is hidden by the unconscious assumption ae

eri: putting the : ti. Sheviks in Russia, all these and other signs of the

ly ask that they shall not be fools." That that relatively only a few of the people that consti :

" pecan a t h to t t ill ever do it. A country lives in sweeping reaction that has so suddenly engulfed the

Ling seems a modest request, perhaps no eet ~ i e Be oe 4 y a dae ore Sea aa aad Liberal Renaissance of a year ago, have served to

ity, ask of the people of a country as ae eee = the min sai ae AARNE anieale oERy tee ts die 0Verwhelm, for the time being, the hearts of Liberals

ek eee Big es, (Oday pHa oy. (c) oy i ay Pei eee nie Be ee if would uot live. If everywhere. Enthusiasm has suddenly been trans-

fools." One needs only to look at war in Its e the Gee Re eee Oh tivel formed into apathy, courage into cynicism, faith into

HE reality to see that fools may be graded thus: First, nine-tenths should die, it would be comparatively `i a : (Onesie Gee : :

i i ; fools; third, a very poor sort of country that would survive. Let Momentary despair. , What is the use,' seems

SIA plain ordinary fools; second, damned ; : : ee ee to be the prevailing sentiment. Even the February

ken believers in war. those who prate how admirable it is to die for a :

: : : la. conference of the Progressives, so well warranted

old ; : . country specify the maximum fraction of the popu :

2" There is no doctrine so palpably foolish as not 1GNUEBGE Shae doudid advamiaesolialy tautheccountry by the popular vote rolled up by Mr.-La Follette in

i to have been accepted by some people at some time. ee a ee `eins men amacenied inode the face of the tidal wave which swept the land,

1ey Today war is generally esteemed the only available Sec ete At he well to die whether they can seems to stir no confidence and threatens momen-

ong means by which in certain circumstances precious tablishe Be ak lous Ya mehorhe ckcacded fa the tarily to be abandoned for sheer lack of support.

: human interests can be saved and human progress e any ae a a tay al This ebbing of the spiritual tide is inevitable, we

3 promoted. The prevalence of this theory does not Passion that wa g : suppose, but it cannot be in any way permanent.

a prove its correctness. In fact it is sheer nonsense, Doubtless there are certain good things that the jt ig only natural that the spirit should occasionally

abysmal folly. Apply a little common sense-just World War brought in the immense complex of its grow weary in its dark hours. "Tired Radicals"

a few grains will suffice-to the subject and you will consequences. But the net result was immeasurable appeared during the black hours of the war, and

sled see that in the nature of the case war is always the loss, immeasurable in particular because no one will yow they are appearing again. The law of move-

a worst course that can be chosen. Franklin was ever know what potential artists, poets, inventors, ment, as Herbert Spencer tells us, is rhythm-a fact

san right when he said: `There never was a good war medical discoverers, statesmen, saints and seers, by which explains the present slump, and which also

vA or a bad peace." For what is war? It is collective whom humanity would have been enriched, there gyarantees a certain revival sooner or later. We

va homicide. The immeasurable foolishness of it lies were among the millions whom the war turned into are now in the trough of the waves, but we shall

a in this undeniable fact, to-wit, that a living human' corpses. We only know that a large part of the goon again mount to the crest. Courage, friends!

10d being is preferable to a corpse. There may be indi- choice youth of the peoples that led the van of The stream of life flows onward, never backward.

fot vidual exceptions to this statement, as defenders of human progress have been killed before their prom- -The stars in their course now as ever are fighting

ont capital punishment evidently hold. Something may ise could be fulfilled, that multitudes more will spend for the right. God's face may seem to be hidden,

1 i be said for the legal killing by organized society of their years with impaired vitality and perverted put he stands within the shadow, keeping watch

Ky individuals that have proved themselves dangerous minds and hearts. The dead can not be brought above his own."

il to human life. But in war the killing is not selec- ack to life. The loss is irreplaceable. Compared irjase gelarae

al tive but indiscriminate. In war good men kill good with this loss, which falls on both sides with approxi-

a .men by wholesale; choice youth from universities mate equality, the military issue, victory or defeat,

ID: 2 b

kill choice youth from universities; honest, home- ig a trifling matter. Human life is the most precious THE MENACE OF FEAR

lovin i i -lovi - i i Seo ss i alth but life," ;

` . Reeaemen wa honest aa ee huey Sete thing, 10 oe yous eae it rt: j : ` Washington.-Fear is today the actual underlying

Ingmen; Christians kill Christians. The word that gaid Ruskin: "that country is the richest which : ; ` oe ry

fit wk i ae : : : : motive of American foreign missionary activity,

S such conduct is insanity. It is irrationality with- nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy where. fermorly the motive waaipitysae lene

out sti imi ; i i = : ` : ; :

ee aoe eee ae eee uM Dyer, "terribly and tragically inadequate,' Dr. Hugh

the more i aati yen ae = aries ane When we succumbed to the general mzdness-and Thompson Kerr, of Shadyside Presbyterian Church,

a use our age or ee - coe er plane's entered the World War, we played the fool. There Pittsburgh, told the Foreign Missions Convention in

oe ne aunaticvasyhun: you have it, plain and flat. To avoid another war- Washington.

i Invariably each belligerent group deems itself adapting Rousseau's language-we do not need to "Fear presses on all sides," he said; "racial fear,

1 Tighteous and the enemy wicked. In point of fact, be good, generous, disinterested, public-spirited, hu- fear of ga possible rising tide of color, economic and

pe both sides inevitably sink to practically mane. We may be unjust, greedy, putting our Own industrial fear, fear lest the great surplus of raw

2 ae ee level far Belov Ss instinctive life interests above everything else; provided only that material in Asia and Africa and the unlimited sup-

4 a es. The Moral Order inflicts on each side we shall not be fools. ply of cheap labor may in time slow down the

- aa ooo meenproximately the as DUD ay As the counterpart of Winston Churchuill's strik- Wheels of our own industrial life. Then there is

on indicates that the transgression of each is ing "Shall we Commit Suicide?" let us ask, "Shall Political and military fear, the fear of arming mil-

a es the same. History fully warrants the We Be Fools?" And further "shall We i8e Damned lions of the Hast, who can count hundreds to our

set atta on ee Chitstausy praise Put do." woqisdiy aang etill fubehebacShall (we ha pamced unites?

` : y that take the sword shall perish Pools Bluse -Federated Press.

i the sword." If war were universal and perpetual, ` a ge

euro race woul i j : A

man life nt oa a oe heres ee An effort is being made to repeal the criminal They are slaves who fear to speak

tion. cil in the process of self-destruc- syndicalism act at the legislature. Friends of the For the fallen and the weak,

; law need have no fear about its safety, for any legis- They ane Slaves who dare not be

No idealistic aims can possibly justify the collec- lature that passed such an idiotic piece of hokum will In the right with two or three.

ae destruction of human life. For even of the never have sense enough to repeal it. Until: the -_-_- ax-___-

ave commanding ideals it is true, as Jesus said of present body is cleaned out, the act will remain one "Hyde Park meetings and soap-box oratory consti-

a a Sabbath, that they were made for man and of the most unjust laws of the state. tute the most efficient safety-valve against resort by

`oll `Ol man for them. However beautiful in themselves, . -Douglas W. Churchill.

idea : ;

Is have no authority, value, or reality, as far as

In Illustrated Daily News .

discontented to physical force.'

Justice Hughes (trial of N. Y. Ass'ymen).

EEE UR Noreen BS ce a ean

What Labor Gets

By Leland Olds

Federated Press Industrial Editor

Machinists, boilermakers and molders got a smaller

proportion of the value which they created in 1923

than they received in 1914 according to the census

of manufacturers for which preliminary figures have

been issued by the department of commerce. In

the 10-year period the per capita value of the work

done by these metal trades mechanics has increased

122.2% while their per capita wage has increased

only 113%.

The 1923 figures for foundry and machine shop

products shows 449,040 workers employed in 8,532

establishments in contrast with 362,471 employed in

10,640 shops in 1914. The industry is gradually con-

centrating in fewer and larger establishments, the

average number of workers per establishment rising'

from 34 to 52.

The total value of foundry and machine shop prod-

ucts in 1923 was $2,337,807,997 and the value added

in the process of manufacture over and above the

cost of materials and supplies was $1,401,079,988. In

1914 the industry produced goods with a total value

of $866,545,000 and the work performed was worth

$508,423,000. The wage bill for performing this work

was $244,146,000 in 1914 and $642,649,017 in 1923. The

Share received by the workers decreased from 48%

to less than 46%.

Comparative data from the four consuses of this

industry in the last decade reduced to a per capita

basis are as follows:

Per capita 1914 1919 1921 1923

BW OSes eye GR se oS. 673. -$1,288) 7$1,283 $1434

photad. OULDUT. sas DOO es 44d Odd 20D

Walle saAdded (22.4 LSSUB a Ae Som ea Di OSOL toy Loe

These figures do not cover all the workers in the

country employed in foundry and machine shops.

There are many such establishments connected with

specialized industries which are included with those

industries in the census like agricultural implements,

automobiles, cast iron pipe, electrical apparatus, -en-

gines, locomotives, machine tools, stoves, etc. The

more general shops making a variety of products

are represented here. But they show the general

situation of workers in the metal trades unions.

The average wage is insufficient to support a nor-

mal family in decency and comfort. It is in every

year so close to the bare substance level as to mean a

constant menace to the growing children dependent

upon it. The inability of these wage earners to

secure the greatest possible improvement in their

situation is due to capital's steadily increasing share

of the industry.

LS Gone Sve

HELP FOR THE FILIPINOS

A new move to help the Filipinos in their efforts

for independence has been organized by the Fellow-

ship of Reconciliation, an international religious-

pacifist organization with American headquarters in

New York City,.of more than 3400 members scatter-

ed throughout this country, according to a statement

given out at the Fellowship offices today.

In forming the Committee for Philippine Inde-

pendence, the Fellowship is the first organization to

cooperate with the Filipinos in bringing pressure to

bear upon Congress for complete independence for

the Philippine Islands.

As a demonstration of its spirit of cooperation the

Fellowship plans, among other things, to send a

delegation of Americans to the Islands bearing the

message of good-will and the promise to work for

Filipino freedom.

"The Fellowship sees in the continued holding

of the Philippine Islands by the United States an

act of imperialism which will increasingly foster

suspicion and hostility on the part of the Filipinos

and repressive methods on our own part, both lead-

ing to the possibility of ultimate conflict," Bishop

Paul Jones, Secretary of the Fellowship, states.

"Instead of waiting for this crisis to arrive the

Fellowship, in accordance with its policy of foster-

ing understanding and good-will among all races,

nations and classes, has organized the Committee

for Philippine independence to create a nation-wide

public opinion which will redeem the assurances of

independence we have given to the Filipinos."

Among the members of the Committee for Philip-

pine independence are Roger N. Baldwin, Scott Near-

ing, Jackson C. Phillips, Edward Richards, Josefa

Llaunes, Paul Jones, Charles Ervin, Kirby Page and

Anna N. Davis, chairman.

BRISBUNK

The very emphatic denunciation of war with which

Henry W. Pinkham leads off this issue of THE

OPEN FORUM may offend some of our ultra respec-

table readers with its plain-spokenness, and espe-

cially with its appeal to the language of the street in

setting forth the colossal stupidity of war. The

writer of it, when I first knew him, was a Baptist

minister, but revolted from the formalisms of that

degenerate denomination and went out from their

decadent dogmatisms to the intellectual modernism

of Unitarianism. Pinkham has fared very little bet-

ter with the Unitarians than he did with the Bap-

tists. His personal excellence was admitted in both

instances, and his character has commanded a cer-

tain personal toleration denied his views. But the

Unitarians are like all the rest of the sectarians,

cowardly conformists and traders in theological tech-

nicalities who seek to cover up their present truck-

ling to the powers that be by shouting loudly the

names of the heroes of the past. They were as

crazy for the war as any other bunch of religious

Pharisees, and they are as set on the service of

Mammon as any orthodox crew of religionists

could be. Pinkham has held his ground, and at

large cost to himself has managed to keep up a con-

tinuous testimony against war. He is now the Sec-

retary of "THE ASSOCIATION TO ABOLISH WAR,"

whose address is 7 Wellington Terrace, Brookline,

Mass. In his letter accompanying the article he

writes:

"Perhaps my title is somewhat raw for your deli-

cately nurtured readers. In that case I suggest as

a substitute: `WAR THE UNAPPROACHABLE

LIMIT OF IRRATIONALITY.' That will sound bet-

ter to some than damfoolishness. My last three line

paragraph may be omitted if it is deemed too heav-

ily laden with damns. (I do like that word damn.)

I like `THE OPEN FORUM' very much. Success to

you in all your good enterprises."

I am publishing the article just as Pinkham sent

it. If the verbal emphasis offends any of our read-

ers I will gladly publish, not their protests, but any

evidence they have to offer that they are doing them-

selves anything serious in the effort to withstand

war, or making any such sacrifices as Pinkham has

made. Ninety-nine one hundredths of the nice peo-

ple who are protesting nicely against war will be

hollering for it like bloody Indians as soon as the

next war gets fairly under way. No moral reac-

tion against war that does not drive the man who

feels it to the point of desperation in expressing

himself is likely to be strong enough to withstand

the social pressure for war when an actual war crisis

comes.

But it is not for this I am commenting on Pink-

ham's article in this column. Much ag I admire

him, and glad as I am to give space to his spirited

denunciation of war, damns and all, I am bound

to say in all openness that his argument to my mind

falls far short of being the last word. There is a

good deal of Brisbunk about the notion that all you

have to do to stop war is to tell folks how utterly

stupid it is. Adding cuss words to your statement

of the case against war may relieve your own feel-

ings, but it will not add to the actual idiocy of war,

nor to the power of that persuasion to put war out

of business.

Men do not fight because it is sensible to fight, any

more than they fight because it is Christian to fight.

Christians;,in spite of all their lying to themselves

and to others, know that war is the repudiation of

Jesus. Also folks who do not call themselves Chris-

tians know that war is the repudiation of common-

sense. They know they are fools to engage in war

under modern conditions, damn fools, if you please.

But they fight because they are dominated by the

State, and because they abdicate both their religion

and their sense when the State tells them to do it.

As long as the State says fight they will fight, though

fighting becomes a hundredfold more unchristian

and more idiotic than it is. Hither the State will

repudiate war, or else to get rid of war men will

have to repudiate the State. There is the whole thing

in a nutshell. Patriotism means war ag long as

States resort to war. And States will resort to war

aS long as the folks who run States want war. The

issue is, How can the Masters of States be brought

to see that' war must not be?

The, vert doubtful whether they can be brought

to that decision so as to act effectively upon it un-

til they hav ceased the economic warfare which as

. mess of pottage?

Land of the Free

As a result of a speech before the Terre Haute

Open Forum by Roger N. Baldwin on last Armistic,

Day the Fort Harrison Post of the Legion has adop}.

ed a resolution asking the Open Forum hereafter ty

allow it to censor its speakers. The Legion objectej

to Mr. Baldwin's record as a conscientious-objecto;

during the war and criticized his address on Armis.

tice Day as an insult to ex-service men.

Mr. Baldwin has sent a reply to the Legion's rego.

lution in which he says:-

"Tf you gentlemen are as patriotic as you Profess,

you ought to be familiar with facts and principle

which you appear to ignore. Is it possible that you

do not know that free speech for everybody is one

of our most cherished American traditions? Do yoy

know that suppression and censorship are the auto.

cratic weapons of tyrants,-indeed of that Prussian.

ism against which you fought in the World War?

Do you not know that there is more danger to Ameri.

can democratic institutions today from the suppres.

sion and intolerance of reactionary interests than

from all labor and radical crowds put together?

"Is it possible that you do not know that liberty

of conscience is another principle embedded in

American law and tradition? Quakers, Mennonite

and other religious sects which came to this country

for religious freedom, are all opposed to war as a

method of settling anything,-and hundreds of their

members refused military service as conscientious

objectors. Do you account them as less patriotic

than you because they obeyed their conception of

Jesus' teaching?

"If you gentlemen support the constitution you

must support free speech. You cannot reconcile

loyalty to the Constitution with your request to the

Open Forum to censor its speakers."

Eugene V. Debs has taken up the cudgels on be

half of an uncensored Forum and is preparing to

take public issue with the local Terre Haute Legion,

3B Federated Press.

e-_-_-_----_

"And though all the winds of doctrine were let

loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field,

we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to

misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood

grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in

a free and open encounter?"

Milton, Areopagitica.

--_ 3-____-__

AFTERMATH

Indignant Citizen: "Anybody who says only people

who were scared voted for Coolidge, is a liar! |

voted for him and I aint scared of anything or any:

body-I voted for him because there would have

been a panic if he hadn't been elected."

The Other Fellow: "But I don't see why a brave

man like you should care whether things stay as

they are or get worse-you should be perfectly in

different about the matter."

Indignant Citizen: "I voted for prosperity, you

boob, prosperity, understand?"

The Other Fellow: "I. get you. Let's talk about

something else. Ever hear of that parable in the

Bible about the gent that sold his birthright for 4

Very interesting, I assure you.' |

Indignant Citizen: "Why the dickeng can't yol

fellows stay on one subject?"

a continuous policy results in the occasional explo

sions of military violence.

American financiers today are mixing more and

more in foreign investments. The American State

is more and more openly the servant of the Ameet:

ican financier. If our financiers can arrive at some

"gentlemen's agreement" with the financial free-boot-

ers of other nations, so as to secure an amicable -

division of the spoils, capitalism may possibly work

out an international pooling of plunder which cal

be carried out without resort to international warfare.

In that case the class war will become a vast intel

national conflict against a vast internationalism of

exploitation. This is the nature of that peace whicl

capitalism is going to give us, if it can give ws

even this much. And cussing about it ig of 20

particular consequence if we do not see that only -

the Super-State can prevent the local State from

driving us into the shambles again, and unless the

Super-State is the Workers' State it will be the St

preme Tyrant which the United Workers of Ticent 0x00B0

World will have to overthrow.

ve

us

U

-appear and they were forthwith dismissed.

FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS

"K *K *k

The Aftermath of Los

Angeles' Washington

Birthday Celebration

That the police had no real reason for arresting

the men at the Plaza on Feb. 22nd is beginning to

appear. They released two of them the next morning

without placing any charge against them. Thursday

afternoon when the cases of two others came up

pefore Judge Richardson the prosecution failed to

The

city attempted no prosecution because they realized

that they had no damaging evidence against these

men. It is doubtful if any of them will be prose-

cuted when their cases are called. Several, includ-

ing Attorney Gallagher, have asked for jury trials

and their cases have been put over until April 6th.

Last week officials of the Civil Liberities Union

had a number of "heart to heart" talks with the

mayor, chief of police, captain of the Plaza precinct

and city prosecutor relative to the arrests that were

made on the 15th and 22nd of February, and as a

result the police are likely to be a little more cautious

how they "put their feet into it" again down at the

Plaza. The Union conducted another free speech

meeting there last Sunday afternoon at which At-

torney Gallagher and Rev. Clinton J. Taft spoke.

Neither of them were molested by the police, and

though the crowd was a big one the meeting

went off in a most orderly way. It was made plain

by both speakers that the Union had no intention

of aiding or defending rowdyism, but that it would

gladly assist those whose constitutional liberties

were being trampled upon.

Rev. Bob Shuler spoke at the Plaza immediately

after the close of the meeting conducted by the

Union. He declared himself for free speech in that

area for the "atheists and infidels" as well as the

preachers, and during the question period which

followed he made it clear that he did not approve

of the sort of arrests that have been made there

during the past two Sundays. No one was picked

up by the police down there last Sunday.

The wretched, unwarranted experience to which

these men were subjected-the ones thrown into

jail-is well brought out by the following letter from

one of them:

* * *

Los Angeles, Cal., 2-23 725.

Mr Ce Je watt,

Chairman Civil Liberties Union,

506 Tajo Bldg. Los Angeles, Cal.

Dear Sir:

The following is a statement of an arrest I was

Subjected to yesterday, Feb. 22nd. I arrived at the

~ Plaza somewhere around 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Shortly after my arrival street meetings had come

to a close, and as I was about ready to leave I was

approached by a man who handed me some literature

which was of a religious nature. This same person

started a discussion and explained to me all about

his religion, and I in turn gave him a piece of my

"mind. The whole discussion was of a friendly

nature and lasted for about ten or fifteen minutes.

When ready to depart I was approached by two

characters who represented themselves by showing

a bolice badge as. officers of the law. I was told

I was a very active person, and after being searched

On the public street I was taken to the city jail and

locked up. When I protested against my arrest and

pointed out the partiality shown by arresting me

and not the other person I was told that he was

alright as he had religious opinions.

At the city jail I learned that my arrest was made

by a person with the name of Edwards, and I forget

the name of the other. I was held on suspicion of

Criminal Syndicalism. I made a check of the prison-

i were in the same tank where I was confined,

pi Sere 43 men and 36 bunks. I tride to sleep

er a half hour or so was forced to abandon

ee as the vermin were crawling over me and

Wane me from sleeping. I also saw other men

tn tine S ihe Steel floor in front of their bunks, and

in Heys et I was informed by them that sleeping

eae, unks was impossible. At five o'clock we

en a breakfast of hash, dry bread and black

. damentalists is practically this:

coffee. About nine o'clock I was with other prisoners

taken to the office where my finger prints were taken

several times and also two pictures. Around 11

o'clock I was taken to the office again and after a

number of bulldozing remarks I was finally released.

My belongings were returned to me except a union

card of an organization of which I was a member

at the time of my arrest, and also a membership

receipt from the Civil Liberties Union and receipts

for subscriptions to various papers. This ended my

experience with law and order.

In conclusion I wish to state that I have lived in

Los Angeles for more than three years, have always.

made my living by the hardest kind of work, own my

own home, and have been steadily employed for the

last year on the same job. I enclose a newspaper

clipping which might result in my discharge from my

job. Thus a masterly piece of work by law and

order and its mouthpiece will have been completed.

Sincerely,

(Signature)

a

Modern Inconegruities

By Fanny Bixby Spencer

I am sitting by the fire this morning reading The

Times, but I seem to be standing on my head.

Hither I or the world is upside down-I am sure of

that.

I am contemplating the headline, ``Women Strike

New Note." It seems that a conference of women

is convening in Washington to discuss peace.

"Women! New Note! Peace!" Could anything be

more hope-inspiring? I look further. It is the

Women's Council of National Defense. Its purposes

are "summed up" as follows:

"We are gathered here to hear intelligent discus-

cussion of the safety of our country and not pro-

paganda in behalf of the wide world.

"We are those women who are not and were not

afraid to raise our sons to be soldiers.

"We are those women who wonder what would

have happened in '76 if the Colonial mothers had

been afraid to raise their sons to be soldiers.

"We are those women who felt the intimate touch

of war and who therefore believe it is necessary

for us to know what measure of national defense

is necessary and what measure of national de-

fense exists.

"We are those women who believe that the protec-

tion of national rights is righteous and that the

way to protect them is to be prepared to protect

them."

The program follows: Brig-Gen. Hugh H. Dunn on

"Causes and Prevention of War"; Dwight F. Davis,

Assistant Secretary of War on, "Industrial Prepared-

ness", Maj.-Gen. Ely A. Helmich on "Undermining

the Youth of the Nation."

Visions of Hindenburg and Ludendorf! The ap-

peal of the Kaiserin to the Mothers of the Father-

land in 1914! Women! New Note! Peace!

I turn to the local section of the paper, hoping to

find something less puzzling to the lay intellect. I

learn that Rev. W. B. Riley, nationally known pioneer

fundamentalist speaks tonight at the Bible Institute

on the subject, "Resolved that Evolution as Taught

in the Public School is Unscientific, Unscriptural

and anti-Christian"; also that he is organizing a

"Society of Defenders of Science."

Again my unprofessional mind is put to it to work

out the motive. I suppose that the attempt of the

fundamentalists to wrest science from the scientists

and defend it from its rightful sponsors is the logical

complement of the modernist movement which

would wrest religion from the religionists and ration-

alize its ancient superstitions. The retort of the fun-

"Tf you take from

us our stock in trade by destroying our literal

dogmas, we will encroach on your preserves and dis-

tort your findings."

I am reminded of a young man of my acquaintance

-a very good and sincere young man-who has

specialized in science in his university course and

Aeroplane Brisbunk

Mr. Arthur Brisbane,

Hearst Papers, New York City.

Dear Sir:

We are "sick and tired" of your everlasting harp-

ing on the building of airplanes. We expect some-

thing different from a man of your supposed intelli-

gence. In the first place, why did we go to war-

to end it? Then why does a leader of thought con?

tinue to stir up the hatred and rivalry of our former

allies and demand the building of 10,000 airplanes at

the cost of hundreds of millions of the people's "hard

earned money' when we have already paid

$1,000,000,000 for-not one.

Why not in your position, reaching the. ears of

millions of people every day, preach and teach the

outlawry of war and make your column educational

towards a better world, not a stirer up of hatreds?

Now that the League of Nations has added a proto-

col with the firm intention of outlawing war as a

method, and setting up a tribunal for the adjudication

of governmental disputes, as we have for personal

disputes, let us not stand aloof with a chip on our

shoulder just looking for or fomenting trouble, but

let us join the international congress and find the

better, juster way, and then we will have all these

billions to use for the benefit of all the people

who created them. We could then eliminate the fear

and poverty of old age by all kinds of social insur-

ance, by the people, and for the people. The govern-

ment has no right to tax the people and use it for

destructive purposes. The object of government is

to see that justice is done to all its people.

Have we arrived at that state? I need not tell

you that we have not-but you, the mouth-piece

speaking to. the masses, for the masses, have the

greatest opportunity of all. Pray use if for the

making of the best of all possible worlds.

Kate-Crane Gartz

who is now bending all his mental forces to find

scientific proof of the virgin birth. He tells me ear-

nestly of lice that breed without spermatozoa and a

hermaphrodite chicken which laid and hatched a

self-fertilized egg. I have asked him three questions:

"Why do you wish to prove the virgin birth? If this

belief is vital to your happiness, why not take it on

faith and stop perverting science? Are you not de-

stroying the poetry of the doctrine by exposing it

to the scrutiny of science?"

I wish that Dr. Riley and my young man friend

had the good sense of a science instructor whom I

knew at Wellesley College. She was an orthodox

Episcopalian and said frankly that she kept her

science and her religion in separate boxes. This

segregation at least keeps science pure.

Peace and national defense; the virgin birth and

science! Juxtaposition is the secret of color. This

precept I was taught in the art school. Put: green

beside red to intensify the latter; a dash of blue will

bring out your orange. My mind now thirsts for

briNiant contrasts, strident "new notes" and bold

juxtaposition of color.

I find my satisfaction on the last page of the paper.

"Wobblies Counsel in Plaza Row." Leo Gallagher is

arrested on a charge of "disturbing a religious meet-

ing." It is said that the disturbance occurred `in

the `free speech' district of the Plaza." I gather from -

the somewhat involved article that Mr. Gallagher was

making a speech. Apparently he was both practic-

ing and advocating free speech in the "free speech

area" of the city. He was accompanied by Clinton

J. Taft and Robert Whitaker of the American Civil

Liberties Union. To protect the "free speech area"

from speeches on free speech by intelligent and

rational speakers the police "averted a riot'? by caus-

ing one, and a religious meeting in progress near by

was disturbed. The.right of free speech is enforced

by the heroic method of forcible suppression.

My morning reading has given me the feeling ex-

pressed by a tramp boy who used to "blow in" oc-

casionally at the Newsboy's Club which I kept years

ago. When complications would arise in the life

of the club he would knit his brow-unused to the

painful processes of consecutive thought-and say

disconsolately, "It would take a Chinie lawyer to

straighten out this mess."

OE Awe ONS

eS Ne neGereees 0 Loney SSS SSD ESE STUER TET TT

THE OPEN FORUM

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