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THE OPEN FORUM

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.-Milton

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY 28, 1928

THE COSSACKS RIDE ABROAD

Kingship in Colorado

As Seen by Outsider

R. W. Henderson, attorney, writes The Open

Forum from the Colorado strike front:

You published more or less of a letter of mine

in which I tried to express my feelings about the

strikers here. If I were not too tired, I should like

to write my thoughts about the other side. The

present Governor of Colorado was elected to abol-

ish the State Rangers. At least that was one of the

planks in his platform. People said of him: "It's

hard to get Billy Adams to make a promise, but if

he promises you anything he will keep his promise."

He did. He abolished the State Rangers. When

the present strike started, his personal advisers ad-

vised him to call out the militia. It required con-

siderable courage not to take that advice. When

they told me that, I laughed. I do not laugh now.

I understand that it did require courage . AS a sub-

stitute, what is called "The State Law Enforcement

Department" was reorganized. Under the law, this

department has authority to enforce no law except

the state prohibition act. However, into its hands

was placed the preservation of law and order in

the strike area. Sheriffs, chiefs of police and district

attorneys rankled under the arrogance of the mem-

bers of this department, but they meekly did its

will. The members of this department have stopped

They have arrested men and women

without any warrant, transported them from place

to place, taken them out on the desert and left

them with orders not to return, beaten unoffending

citizens in no way connected with the strike and

perpetrated numerous other outrages. The Governor

still insists that the establishment and operation of

this bureau is not a violation of his pre-election

pledge to abolish the rangers. Stranger still, His

Excellency seems to be sincere.

Down here in Las `Animas and Huerfano counties,

in the realm of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Com-

pany, all law enforcement authorities have utterly

surrendered to this band of Cossacks. Mine guards

and Colorado Fuel and Iron officials complete the

tale of our rulers.

In the past few weeks, the mayors of our two

largest towns have shown some jealousy of this

power. On December 27, Acting Mayor Espee of

Trinidad issued what was published as a "Call to

arms."

He recruited an army of some few hundreds of

armed men, and assisted by the Cossacks, valiantly

forced the surrender of thirty unarmed strikers in

the I. W. W. hall.

The local newspaper accounts, without so much

as a smile, referred to the part that the State Police

played in this great victory as "the shock troops of

the battle.' The wives and sweethearts of the

valiant citizen army were drawn up in automobiles

at a safe distance beyond the field of glory to watch

their knights win their spurs.

Then the green-eyed monster of jealousy worked

upon the heart of the Mayor of Walsenburg, forty

miles to the north. The little king makers began

to speak of Dr. Espee, Acting Mayor of Trinidad,

as Republican candidate for President. Mayor

Prichard of Walsenburg, a retired lumber merchant,

became ambitious and his City Council proclaimed

him "Dictator." Now it happened that in the coro-

nation proclamation, these. statesmen quoted a proc-

lamation of the Governor which the Governor had

never issued. The proclamation, by the way, was

also signed by Louis Scherf, head of the Cossacks:

When it was discovered that his mighty office rested

upon a foundation of sand, the Dictator meekly re-

signed, after twenty-four hours upon the throne. He,

too, had called for an army, but more discreetly than

Police Found Guilty

Of Killing Strikers

State police were held responsible by a coroner's

jury for the killing of two striking coal miners, one

of them a sixteen-year-old boy, in an attack last

Thursday on the I. W. W. hall at Walsenburg, Colo.

The verdict was returned Monday night. The jury's

`conclusion in the case of Klemente Chevez, one of

the murdered men, read: `"Klemente Chevez came

to death on the afternoon of January 12 from gun-

shot wounds fired by state police whose names are

unknown to the jurors. Said shooting was unpro-

voked and said state police showed a total disre-

gard for human life." Three members of the state

police refused to testify before the jury on the

ground that it might incriminate them after a woman

had testified that she heard one of them give a com-

mand to kill anyone coming out of the I. W. W.

hall.

Kidnap Miners

Mexican miners involved in the Colorado strike

are being arrested in wholesale numbers and taken

to various jails from which they are later spirited

away under cover of darkness into New Mexico and

left in deserted sections without food or water, ac-

cording to a charge made by Rev. A. A. Heist of

`Denver in a message to the American Civil Liberties

Union.

Colorado state police are carrying out such ab-

ductions for the purpose of aiding the coal opera-

tors against the strikers, it is charged.

The matter has been reported to the Mexican Gov-

ernment, according to Forrest Bailey, a director of

the American Civil Liberties Union.

Dr. Heist is pastor of the Grace Community

Church of Denver.

his brother of Trinidad. However, his myrmidons,

like the "spirits from the vasty deep," did not come

when called. Since the abdication, the business of

assaulting the defenseless in Walsenburg is in the

hands of the State Police and the mine guards.

The courts have enjoined General Espee and his

forces from further disturbing the I. W. W. hall.

As stated above, the Governor has repudiated Dic-

tator Prichard. But the Cossacks still flourish, and

His Excellency cannot understand that a _ state

ranger is still a state ranger when called a deputy

of the State Law Enforcement Department.

The Governor has announced that if his Cossacks

took any part in the battle of San Juan street under

General Espee, he will remove them, but he insists

that he has not yet been shown they took any part.

He really wants to be honest (this aged cattle man

and politician.)

I`did not start this letter with any intention of

contributing to your paper. `The whole thing is too

delightfully ridiculous to resist the temptation to

tell you about it. After all, who could live with

Mammon and Babbitt if he could not shut his eyes

to their brutality and enjoy their stupidity. If you

care to, you may publish any.part of this that you

think would interest the readers of The Open

Forum. I wish that they might have the story from

a more finished hand. If you insist on using my

name, be kind enough to indicate in some way that

this is from a hasty personal letter, and not any sort

of an attempt really to do justice to the subject.

Man has not yet reached his best. He will never

reach his best until he walks the upward way side

by. side with woman.-Eugene V. Debs.

No. 4

Arrested Yale Students

Plan Civil Liberty Fight

The nineteen Yale students who were arrested last

Tuesday while distributing pamphlets supporting

the neckwear strike at New Haven are planning to

make a fight for the right to distribute literature in

New Haven. They plan to test the validity of the

city ordinance under which they were arrested, both

on its constitutionality and as an invasion of the

charter, power of the city. If the test is unsuccess-

ful in the lower courts, it will be taken to the high-

er courts.

Louis Waldman of New York and Philip Troup of

New Haven, attorneys, have been retained by the

American Civil Liberties Union to defend the stu-

dents. The case will probably come up in the New

Haven city court next Saturday.

The students were arrested as the result of a

"warped interpretation of a city ordinance which

prohibits the distribution of printed matter for ad-

vertising purposes," according to Professor Harry F.

Ward, chairman of the American Civil Liberties

Union. oF

Professor Ward's complete statement on the ar-

rests follows:

"The interest of the American Civil Liberties

Union in the arrests of the nineteen Yale students

in connection with the strike of the neckwear work-

ers in New Haven is not related to the issues of

the strike itself. The police arrested these young

men under a warped interpretation of a city ordi-

nance which prohibits the. distribution of printed

matter for advertising purposes. The pamphlet which

they distributed had nothing whatever to do with

advertising purposes in the ordinary understanding

of the words. It merely called public attention to

the elements of unfairness in the situation of the

striking neckwear workers. Thus we have the not

unfamiliar spectacle of the civil authorities taking

sides in an industrial conflict in order to thwart the

efforts. of the workers. to improve their condition.

The American Civil Liberties Union holds such parti-

sanship highly improper. The arrest of `these men

is a clear violation of their fundamental rights and

will be tested for its legality."

Statements in the pamphlets which led to the ar-

rest of the students charged: That union organizers

were illegally arrested and barred from New Haven;

that officials of the anti-union neckwear manufac-

turers prevented other meetings by threatening to

be present and discharge all employes who attended,

and that the New Haven papers suppressed all news

of such activities despite the fact that they were

made into feature stories and given prominence in

newspapers of New York and other large cities,

Barred From College, |

Welcomed by Church

The Methodist Church of Corvallis, Ore., was

thrown open to Kirby Page, noted pacifist, on Jan-

uary 9 after faculty pressure had been brought to

bear resulting in the cancellation of his engagements

to speak on the campus of the Oregon State Agri-

cultural College, according to information sent the

American Civil Liberties Union by Roswell P. Barnes

of the committee on Militarism in Education.

Two professors who had planned to have Mr. Page

address their classes were advised to cancel the ar-

rangements. They complied, as did also a commit-

tee composed of the Y. M. C. A. secretary, the Y. W.

C. A. secretary and two student pastors who had

arranged for the meeting on the campus. Many stu-

dents attended the meeting in the church.

It is charged that persons connected with the col-

lege not only secured cancellation of Mr. Page's en-

gagements to speak, but made every attempt to sup-

press news as to how and why the cancellation took

place.

Mr. Shoaf on Europe

For many months last summer The Open Forum

was made more than usually interesting by the arti-

cles of Mr. Shoaf on his trip around the world.

Readers might disagree with Mr. Shoaf after read-

ing him, but they looked for other articles just the

same.

Mr. Shoaf has an eye for the picturesque; he

tells vividly what he sees or thinks he sees; right

or wrong, he is at any rate never dull; his articles

are always live and readable. The Open Forum

is indebted to him.

Nevertheless, there are some things in regard to

which I think a discussion and a criticism are not

only permissible, but imperative - if your stay-at-

home readers are not to be badly misled.

Mr. Shoaf's point of view, his warm sympathy

with the oppressed, his quick indignation at injus-

tice, his lively partisanship are shown in his first

article. They do not make it less interesting, but

they have to be noted if one desires to arrive at

the plain truth.

For instance, in said article, if I remember it right,

he told of the brutality shown the Chinese workers

by the marines in occupation, and refers to coward-.

ly assaults by four of them at once on one Chinese.

Alas, Mr. Shoaf, we readers of The Open Forum

would be glad all of us to believe, as you seem to

believe, that the working man is such a wonder that

he can beat the fighting man at his own game and

that ruffianism is always coupled with cowardice,

but hard experience has convinced quite a number

of us that it is not so. It was not by being cowards

that a handful of Portuguese ruffians overran the

East so suddenly when once Vasco de Gama found

his way round the Cape, not by being cowards that

a handful of Spanish ruffians conquered Mexico and

Peru, a handful of British ruffians conquered India,

or a handful of Westerners so long dominated China.

I see that the old ruffian, General Dyer of the

Amritzar infamy, died not long ago. This is the

fellow, your readers will remember, who when four

whites had been murdered in that city was not con-

tent with killing four natives in return, nor four-

teen, nor even forty, which surely most military

men would have thought quite enough, but did not

stop till he had killed four hundred. But I saw that

the British papers, many of them, even though they

condemned him and denounced his act more or less

strongly, mentioned more or less apologetically that

when he killed the four hundred he was facing the

risen population of a great city with but fifty men

at his back.

Mr. Shoaf may still believe that it takes four ma-

rines to lick a Chinaman, but I am positive that he

would not succeed if he tried to tell that to the

marines. Tunney, the ex-marine, is still champion,

and I have not heard of any Chinese challenger.

It is probably to console the marines and show

that he can do them justice when he wants to that

Mr. Shoaf in one of his last articles would wager

that if all concerned were armed with nothing but

stout clubs, one regiment of American gobs easily

could walk through all the military opposition either

France or Italy might put into the field.

My point is that the really valuable service which

can be rendered by western radicals to the peoples

of the East in revolt against western domination

is not that of arousing them against western bru-

tality, still less that of exaggerating it, but that of

pointing out to them how that domination became

possible only because of internal weaknesses, only

because of such things as caste and superstition and

religious hatreds in India and of religious rever-

ence for antique authority in China. So long as

there are more "untouchables" in India than there

are people of any kind in Great Britain, the British,

if they want to, or some other outsiders, will prob-

ably dominate; and until China completes her job of

chucking Confucius and of adopting an alphabet, the

westerners can hold her down just as far as it will

pay them to do it.

Well, quite a number of us are temperamental as

well as Mr. Shoaf; we must not expect too much

consistency. But beyond his temperamental incon-

sistencies lies something more important, something

which is almost characteristic in American criti-

cisms of conditions in other countries. Americans

(until lately) have traveled comparatively little

abroad, especially in countries on the other side of

the Atlantic, and, to tell the plain truth plainly,

their viewpoint is too often not merely national, but

provincial. Mr. Shoaf, for instance, tells us about

his troubles in obtaining food and drink-even in

Billion for Navy Is Plea

WASHINGTON. - (F.P.) - Admiral Charles F.

Hughes, chief of naval operations, testifying before

the House committee on naval affairs, said that the

$740,000,000 asked by the administration for the five-

year building program for the Navy is not enough

to provide a "sure" chance for the naval protection

of the country. It would, he said, afford only a

"fair" chance. An adequate building program, in his

view, would require at least $1,000,000,000 in the

coming five years.

England and France. He found that in England it

was impossible to obtain good coffee. I myself sym-

pathize with him keenly. My wife, who is English,

suffered, too, when she came first to the United

States and found that it was impossible to obtain

good tea; and I myself (I am Scotch) presume I

need hardly tell your readers that the stuff a man

is given to drink here cannot for a moment be com-

pared with my native mountain dew. But then,

these are the sort of hardships all explorers are ex-

pected*to endure.

Let me assure him that on one or two points he

is mistaken. His Paris cab driver did not drive

fast and wildly in order to get even with the Ameri-

cans. I remember that when I was twenty he was

driving in exactly the same way, indifferent as to

whether his fare was American or Armenian. His

style of driving is known to every foreigner who has

ever lived in Paris. Let me explain, too, that the

British have not given up eating California fruit

out of hatred to America; they are eating fruit from

South Africa and from Australia instead simply be-

cause traders must both buy and sell and British

industrial products which enter America under a

tariff of thirty-eight percent are admitted free or un-

der a very low tariff in countries belonging to the

British Commonwealth of Nations.

The most serious aspect of Mr. Shoaf's provincial-

ism is due to his typically American lack of under-

standing of European conditions and his ignorance

of European history.

In one of his articles, for instance, he depicted

the capitalists of England sitting coldly alert like

spiders watching for their opportunity to bring on

another war. That sort of thing may go down in a

dime novel, in a cheap movie or in the Daily Work-

er, but it is a surprise to find it put forth by a.

grown-up, intelligent and self-respecting man who

has had a chance to look the world over. If there

is anything on earth one would expect the capital-

ists in England---or anywhere else in Hurope-to

scheme about, it is not how to bring on war, but

how to prevent its coming. As a consequence of

the last war, Britain has lost her former financial

predominance, France has lost her financial solvency,

Germany has lost everything financial, and Russia is

ruined. Why on earth should capitalists seek an-

other one? America is the only country which came

out with prosperity, and that not because she went

into the war, but because she stayed out so long

and did so much business when the others were

fighting.

Mr. Shoaf thinks these English politicians are

spoiling for a fight with Russia. What on earth do

they think they can get out of it? How would they

fight her? Invade her great territory? Surely the

fate of Napoleon is not yet forgotten. Does Mr.

Shoaf imagine that the British workers, too, would

be cheerfully submissive? And suppose that Russia

were invaded all over and held successfully, what

does he think could be got out of her? The present

Russian Government is bankrupt; the country is

wretchedly poor. What financial tribute could be

obtained? If the farmers will not grow wheat for

the Communists why should they do it for the capi-

talists? 9 Dut tuu, Mr. Shoat:

It is only, as I hinted, a man ignorant of Huro-

pean history and conditions, or a fanatic going

through the world with blinders on who can believe

this capitalist cause theory about European wars.

Of course, it is true that capitalism seeks to benefit

by wars, as it seeks to benefit by everything else,

and it is true that always some section of the capi-

talists is so benefited. It is quite true that they are

very willing to have their governments bluff and

threaten for any financial advantage it is possible

to gain. But surely Mr. Shoaf knows that if the

workers furnish the lives in war it is the capitalists

who have to supply the money, that they lose it

hopelessly if defeated and that they do not get it

back even if they win.

(To be Concluded Next Week)

Who's Who in Battle

For President's Chair

(Lew Head has consented to write a series of articles for

The Open Forum on pre-convention politics, of which the fol-

lowing is the sixth. THE EDITOR.)

By LEW HEAD

Yes, there will be a third party in the field for

the forthcoming presidential campaign. I give this

as my personal opinion, in reply to a large number

of requests.

about is a difficult question to answer just now.

Third party sentiment is crystalizing at this very

moment. It is a bit earlier than in previous cam-

paigns.

Of a few things I am certain.

Borah and Senator Norris have been urged to

"break" from the Republican party before the June

convention and give the independent voters a chance

to organize ten months before election, instead of

four or five months, between the major party con-

ventions and election day. Neither of them will

accede to this request. Of the two, Senator Norris

is more likely to do so. I believe Senator Borah

will decline. If he does decline, all chances of his

ever becoming President of the United States will

fail.

The Socialists, constituting the real third party

of the country at the present time, are still the loyal

and sturdy nucleus around which the independent

and liberal voters of the nation may have to rally.

On the other hand, there are certain activities being

planned just now that the Socialists may decide to

assist.

The Socialist party is rightfully called the third

party for the reason that it polled the third largest

total in the years 1904, 1908, 1916, 1920 and 1924.

Only once in this period, 1912, did the Socialists

rank fourth and that was when Theodore Roosevelt

ran as a "bull mooser." It was an interesting fact in

this year that the Socialists polled the largest vote.

of any campaign of its history, up to 1920.

`The Farmer-Labor party, in 1920, when Parley P.

Christensen was its candidate for president, jumped

into fourth place. In 1924, the Farmer-Laborites

joined the Socialists in their support of LaFollette.

While their name was submerged that year, it need

not be concluded that the Farmer-Labor party has

disintegrated. On the contrary, I have just read

some tremendously interesting correspondence be

tween the leaders of the Farmer-Labor party that

will be of value to the Socialists. First, the Farmer-

Labor party will hold its national convention this

year in Milwaukee, the same week that the Social-

ists meet there. I am at liberty to predict, with

some degree of assurance, that there is a strong

likelihood of a coalition between these two parties

and the outcome may be a joint nominee.

The state of Minnesota, where the Farmer-Labor

party has reached its greatest success in electing

two United States senators, is again taking the lead

in an endeavor to summon all liberal groups to 4

conference at St. Paul in the near future. This

will be in the nature of an advisory committee to

the national convention. I am informed that some

Los Angeles liberals and Socialists will be invited

to participate.

It is also an interesting sidelight to learn that the

state of Colorado committee of the Farmer-Labor

party recently met in Denver and besides naming

its delegation to the Milwaukee convention of that

party, instructed its delegation to support Senator

Smith W. Brookhart for the presidency. To the it

siders, however, this is declared to be a move to

keep Brookhart in the limelight and enable him to

put the state of Iowa behind almost any candidate

that he may designate. The Iowa delegation to the

Republican convention will also rest in Brookhart's

vest pocket. If he cannot have his will in the G

O. P. convention, he will be in an excellent strategicent

position to bolt the party convention and throw

Iowa into the ranks of the third party.

In addition to the Farmer-Labor-Socialist coalition,

there is quite a stir among the Illinois Progressives.

Two years ago, when Parley P. Christensen was

Progressive candidate for United States senator in

Illinois, against the notorious Frank L. Smith and

George E. Brennan, he ran third in the race and,

had he pledged himself to support Calvin Coolidge,

there is good reason to believe he would have been

elected. He refused and was defeated. He is 4

bigger man for that. Illinois Progressives are very

much alive.

(Continued on page 4)

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what is put before the young mind.

FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS

From the Field

Editor The Open Forum:

While the public utterances of our unique and

only Henry Ford almost always have a racy value

worth attention, his latest word, that the people

are becoming too intelligent to keep up warfare,

that "idleness is the cause of war,' meets a strik-

ing coincidence in an article just in from J. A. Hob-

son, the up-to-date English economist, the summing

up of which may well be passed to Open Forum

readers, as follows:

"People consciously absorbed in doing things to-

gether cannot fight. This has been one of the dis-

coveries of Geneva, the silent generation of an in-

ternational atmosphere and spirit as the product of

intercourse and common action. Though this posi-

tive internationalism has not yet had time to work

back with great effect upon the foreign ofiices, it

will in time go far to sap the will to war, so far

as this survives in diplomatic intercourse. Since

most dangerous quarrels between nations are of eco-

nomic origin, the new movements towards construc-

tive industrial peace, within the several nations and

on the international scale, should at no distant time

mature in that real, though limited, federal world-

government, which is the only alternative to a col-

lapse of civilization. But, in the last resort, all

hinges upon the problem of minds, whether there is

among active men of different nations and classes

a sufficient sense of justice to see that they cannot

be fair judges in their own cause and to be willing

to substitute law for war in the settlement of their

differences. ;

"The very fact that modern industry, trade and

finance are in every civilized community more and

more implicated in politics, favors the belief that

these constructive business processes are likely to

do more than any of the antiquated practices of

foreign offices towards laying the foundation for

world peace. For in our world business molds poli-

tics, and will mold new forms of government to fit

the needs of an age, when men left to themselves and

their chosen pursuits do not want to waste their

lives and substance upon wars and armaments. If

peace can be gotten in the industrial field, it will

be extended towards the political field.

"For this achievement, however, the connotation

of the term peace itself needs a change. Peace

must no longer be treated as a negative concept,

the absence of war; it must be envisaged in the

active positive processes of human co-operation."

FRED K. GILLETTE.

Right or Wrong, Which?

Editor The Open Forum:

Education plays an important part in the develop-

ment of human beings, so in this jazz age it would

seem that we should be all the more watchful of

In the show-

ing of the picture, "The Fox" (William Edward

Hickman), what will be the gain? What will be

the influence on the young people who will see this

picture? Will it be the means of developing thought

of love and truth, or will it give them courage and

daring to try the same kind of adventure?

The movie is a great educator and it seems to

me that such questions as the above should be con-

sidered, especially when showing pictures of crime.

Could we not better educate our boys and girls by

showing them pictures of some worthy character?

Peace means more than disarming; we must have

peace within our souls and we must build peace

into the minds of the young people, not peace as

the opposite of war alone, but that peace that means

love and kindness to all humanity and to all crea-

tion, and that will lift the youth of our land above

such atrocious crime. Can we do this by keeping

before the young minds pictures of crime and wrong

doing? Let us stop and consider. Let us look well

to the future. The boys and girls of today are the

men and women of tomorrow, and it is for the men

and women of today to build into the youth nobility

of character, a standard of honor and a love for all

humanity that they may be the better able to build

for betler conditions for their future generations.

Are we doing our full duty?

DR. ELZORA GIBSON.

`Minnesotan Praises

Gartz, London, Sinclair

Attorney G. A. Brattland of Ada, Michigan, upon

receiving copies of Mrs. Gartz' three pamphlets,

"The Parlor Provocateur," "Letters of Protest,' and

"More Letters,' wrote her as follows:

"IT feel the spirit that is behind the sending of

these pamphlets to me, an unknown of that great

big mass of humanity. Like a stray petal, scented

with the sweetest of all emotions-that of brotherly

understanding-it has come to me and it is remem-

bered. It is the responding chord of the note which

will, I hope, some day actuate the world. Not the

strident, conflicting note of self-interest, but one of

universal interest. I thank you and trust that there

may be none who will abuse the spirit and the faith

that you have in humanity...

"I met Jack London once while out West and had

an inspirational visit with him. I have never met

Upton Sinclair. It is wonderful to be able to speak

to the reason of such a multitude as they have been

able to do, and as Upton Sinclair does now. Jack

London was only the leaven and the sweetened car-

rier for a message which Sinclair so effectively

brings home. It must be to him, as it is to you, a

thrilling adventure."

Labor's Friend Knows

Nothing of Big Strike

By LAURENCE TODD

WASHINGTON.-(F.P.)-Representative White of

Colorado, a Democrat recently elected to fill the

vacancy caused by the death of the Republican mem-

ber from the Denver district, has heard of "the up-

rising," as he called the suppression by state police

of a parade of coal strikers. However, he refused

to be interviewed as to whether a Congressional in-

quiry into the Colorado strike would be desirable.

White was elected by the help of organized Labor

in Denver. He was asked whether he thought an

investigation by the house committee on mines-the

committee which probed the Rockefeller coal strike

in his state before and after the Ludlow massacre

of a dozen years ago-might help to restore civil

liberties.

The new congressman evaded this and many other

questions as to his attitude toward the strike, and

finally forbade any quotation of his remarks. He

pleaded that he did not know the facts, although he

had read the press. He would not concede that ar-

rests were being made illegally. He said that ar-

rests without warrant might still be legal. He ad-

mitted being opposed to deportation of strikers from

the state, but would not acknowledge any opinion as

to whether Governor Adams had been violating the

law by sanctioning the arrest of strike leaders.

In general, he was anxious that nobody should

question the right of Colorado-meaning Governor

Adams and his police-to ``deal with purely domestic

matters within the state."

Challenged to secure the facts which he said he

lacked, White made no promise. He insisted on the

other hand that he was in very close contact with

organized Labor in Colorado, and that organized

Labor had not asked him for any action.

Resignation Not Result

Of Free Speech Row

An inaccuracy contained in a recent news release

by the American Civil Liberties Union concerning

the resignation of President Trotter of the Univer-

sity of West Virginia has been acknowledged for -

the publicity department of the Union by Forrest

Bailey, a director of the organization. The release,

which was used by The Nation, resulted in criticism

of that publication by the New Dominion of Morgan-

town, W. Va., which is in close touch with the situ-

ation and which has made a strong stand for fair-

ness and free speech in connection with the inci-

dent reported.

The news release in question directly connected

the recent resignation of Dr. Trotter with an inci-

dent occurring shortly before in which a pacifist

speaker was arbitrarily barred from the campus

and the president was charged by certain individuals

and newspapers with the suppression of free speech

and thought in the university. President Trotter's

Fear Whites-Not Reds

Mrs. J. D. Sherman,

Estes Park, Colo.

Dear Madam:

A woman holding your position, Chief Director of

Women's Clubs, should be cast in a broader mold

than the one from which you hold forth. You

haven't overcome your fear of the "Reds." You will

not take the word or listen to the counsel of men

in high places in our Government (which you ask

us to uphold)-men like Borah, who is a man of

presidential caliber, and whom we ought to UPHOLD

if we are patriotic!

You ask us to be patriotic when patriotism makes

for war, instead of the bigger thing, international-

ism, which Russia preaches. You ask us to be re-

ligious when churches sanction war. You ask us

to have respect for parents when we can only feel

respect where respect is due.

When Russia is the first to ery out for peace, We,

great big We, impute ulterior motives and direct

our Navy to squander three more millions for engines

of destruction, after a war to end war. And then

you say: "Fear the Reds." I say: Fear the

Whites, who promised peace with no intention of

giving it to us.

No, indeed, women's clubs should come out un-

compromisingly against any more war, and should

fear the propaganda of "Vested Interests"-not

Russia, which would have effected a settlement of

its internal affairs long years ago had it not been

for our unrighteous interference.

Sincerely,

Ker:

Florida Citizenship Rights

A. Philip Randolph, general organizer of the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was barred

- from Jacksonville, Fla., by the Mayor, whose atti-

tude was prejudicial and narrow. Mr. Randolph had

planned to tour the southern states in order to de-

liver his message to the Pullman porters of the

South; in order to bring to the porters throughout

the United States higher wages, shorter hours and

the "no tipping' system as a means of livelihood.

The attitude of the Mayor of Jacksonville is be-

lieved by the officials of the Brotherhood and Mr.

Randolph to have been caused by Mr. Cooper, super-

intendent of the Pullman Company in Jacksonville.

The Mayor is quoted as saying about Randolph's

proposed visit: "I know all about it, but he isn't

coming down here. I followed his record and know

all about him and if he comes here to Jacksonville,

Pll put him in jail and anybody else who has any-

thing to do with his meetings."

This brings to mind the case of Bennie Smith,

field organizer of the Brotherhood, some eight

months ago, when he was in Jacksonville, Fla., in

connection with the sale of the "Messenger" maga-

zine. He was hounded and persecuted by the city

police until he was compelled to leave.

In speaking of his own case, Mr. Randolph says

that the Mayor attempted to hide behind a smoke

screen by pretending that if the Brotherhood was af-

filiated with the American Federation of Labor he'

would have been permitted to speak in Jacksonville.

Whether or not the Brotherhood was affiliated with

the American Federation of Labor has nothing what-

ever to do with the civil and constitutional rights

of an American citizen in speaking in any part of

the United States.

Mr. Randolph has placed the case in the hands

of the American Civil Liberties Union and has also

referred it to William Green, president of the Amer-

ican Federation of Labor. As a result of the un-

pleasantness of the Jacksonville situation, Randolph

has been forced to cancel his southern tour.

GEORGE S. GRANT.

resignation did not result from this incident, the

New Dominion charges.

Mr. Bailey's letter to the New Dominion says in

part:

"On the face of it, it would have appeared that

the sequence of events justified our interpretation,

but we are quite ready to stand corrected on the

basis of information which your editorial makes

available."

The Nation was absolved by Mr. Bailey of all

blame in connection with the error. `

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 1022 California Building,

Second and Broadway,

Los Angeles, California, by The Southern California

Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union.

Phone: TUcker 6836

lIAHOMAIs Se LATGI cathe ee EU RU a Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

Fanny Bixby Spencer Doremus Scudder

Leo Gallagher Ethelwyn Mills Robert Whitaker

P. D. Noel Lew Head

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.

Entered as second-class matter Dee 18, 1924, at

the post office at Los Angeles, California, under the

Act of March 8, 1879.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1928

This paper, like the Sunday Night Forum, is

carried on by the American Civil Liberties

Union to give a concrete illustration of the

value of free discussion. It offers a means of

expression to unpopular minorities. The or-

ganization assumes no responsibility for opin-

ions appearing in signed articles.

Studies Liberty; Faces Jail

NEW YORK.-(F.P.)-Europe has nothing in the

way of dictatorships and oppression which we can-

not match here at home, Roger Baldwin, director

of the American Civil Liberties Union, told a gath-

ering of 500 who gave him a welcome-home dinner.

He announced his intention of starting an organi-

zation against imperialism which will have a world-

wide united front.

Baldwin was in Europe six months and entered

every country but Spain and the Scandinavian ones.

He was studying minority movements and the state

of civil liberties abroad. Over two months of his

time he spent in Russia . Upon his return to the

United States he was resentenced to six months in

jail for a free speech fight at Paterson, N. J., during

the 1924-25 silk strike. He is out on bail, pending

further appeal.

In Italy ninety per cent of the population opposes

Fascism, Baldwin estimated. `There was never so

much misery in that country, he said, and he has

visited it before. The opposition is completely

silenced, from scientist down to the humblest peas-

ant.

Poland, Italy, Spain and Turkey have one-man dic-

tatorships, said Baldwin. Austria, Germany and

France are the freest, outside of Russia. Dictator-

ships occur chiefly in countries where landlords,

aided by bankers, are in power.

The youth spirit pervading Russia impressed Bald-

win. There are no political rights for the bourgeois

and former landowners, but workers and peasants

have real liberty, he said, and "that kind is the one

hope for real liberty in the world." Freedom of na-

tionalities, of religion and anti-religion, of women

and of education, Baldwin found in Russia. Censor-

ship is mild. But civil liberties in the sense they

are known in the United States are non-existent.

In his own country, Baldwin sees as most impor-

tant the struggle against the repression of workers,

militarism and imperialism. The forces with whom

we must work, declared Baldwin, are the workers

and peasants and colonial peoples.

He who endeavors to control the mind by force

is a tyrant, and he who submits is a slave--Robert

G. Ingersoll.

EXPIRATION NOTICE

Dear Friend:If you find this paragraph encircled

with a blue pencil mark it means that your sub-

scription to "The Open Forum" has expired.

Pnelosed, Nd Sx sce ek for which continue my

months

SUPSeMPLONNtO the paper TOM se oes oy

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PAT OS Soe ete wih ered ns ey Rae NS i Si

Coolidge Oozes Goodwill

By Federated Press

HAVANA, Cuba.-In a speech which mocked at -

Latin-American resentment of the conquest of Nica-

ragua, by solemn declarations of the peaceful and

benevolent policy of the United States, President

Coolidge opened the Sixth Pan-American Conference

January 16. ;

Probably never in the history of the western hem-

isphere has a chief executive of the American Gov-

ernment so boldly denied the evident facts of im-

perialist progress southward as did Coolidge on this

occasion.

"An attitude of peace and goodwill prevails among

our nations," he declared. "A determination to ad-

just differences among ourselves, not by a resort

to force, but by the application of the principles of

justice and equity, is one of our strongest character-

istics. The sovereignty of small nations is re-

spected."

Referring to Cuba, now passing under a dictator-

ship, Coolidge observed that the Cuban people "have

reached a position in the stability of their govern-

ment, in the genuine expression of public opinion at

the ballot box, and in the recognized soundness of

their public credit that has commanded universal

respect and admiration."'

"Our most sacred trust,' Coolidge remarked with

unconscious irony, "has been and is the establish-

ment and expansion of the spirit of democracy.

Next to our attachment to the principle of self-goy-

ernment has been our attachment to the policy of

peace. All nations here represented stand on an

exact footing of equality. The smallest and the

weakest speaks here with the same authority as the

largest and most powerful.

"If you are to approximate your past successes, it

will be because you do not hesitate to meet facts

`squarely. Your predecessors have shown great wis-

dom in directing their attention to the matters that

unite and strengthen us in friendly collaboration."

This final hint that the conference should keep

off the subject of Nicaraguan and Haitian conquest

by the United States was followed by a suggestion

aimed at Geneva. He declared that the American

republics "must join together in assuring conditions

under which our republics will have the freedom and

responsibility of working out their own destiny in

their own way."

Coolidge summed up his preaching in the sen-

tence: "Our republics seek no special privileges for

themselves, nor are they moved by any of those

purposes of domination and restraints upon liberty

of action which in other times and places have been

fatal to peace and progress."

Meanwhile, the delegates sympathetic with Nica-

ragua's struggle for independence, and with Haiti's

hopes of liberation, await the moment when the

whole issue of military and economic conquest of

Latin-America by the United States shall be brought

into the open for frank debate.

(Continued from Page 2)

In the matter of the Socialist party, there are two

outstanding candidates mentioned: Norman Thom-

as of New York and James H. Maurer, president of

the Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor. Thomas,

I understand, is willing to make the race or merge

his following with a coalition candidate with better

chance of success. Thomas is the kind of a Socialist

who seeks victory and not personal aggrandizement.

Maurer, on the other hand, will try to avoid being

the Socialist candidate. He is soon to resign the

federation presidency, I hear, and gives as his reason

that the labor element of Pennsylvania is so reac-

tionary he is entirely out of step with it.

All of which leaves us somewhat up in the air,

but with the lively expectation that there will be -

a third party; that it will be in the nature of a

joint movement, as in 1924; and that the Socialist

and Farmer-Labor parties will be the vessels on

which the third party candidates will be charted to

tour the channels of a snappy campaign. All who

are through with major party politics should hold

themselves in abeyance until sentiment has solidified

and all can join hands and establish a permanent

third party that will be a major party in 1932.

(This concludes the notable series of articles on

presidential possibilities that Mr. Head has been

giving us. I feel sure that many of our readers feel

deeply grateful to him for his efforts at our enlight-

enment along this line.-Editor.)

Los Angeles

OPEN FORUM

Lincoln Hall

Walker Auditorium Building

730 South Grand Ave.

SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7:45 O'CLOCK

Jan. 29.-WHAT'S HAPPENING IN COLORADO

COAL FIELDS AND WHY, by Byron Kitto,'I. W,

W. publicity man, who left the Colorado Fuel and

Iron strike front a few weeks ago to keep out of

the clutches of the state police and to acquaini

friends of labor with the unfair treatment. accorded

miners by the operators in the most tightly con

trolled territory, by the world's greatest agegrega.

tion of capital, in America.

Peco ples

cain Bank :

Bank/ |

409 So. Hill St.

Unemployment

WASHINGTON.-(F.P.) - Decreased employment

is reported from virtually all industrial centers by

the United States employment service. While con-

ditions in steel and certain other industries are de-

clared slightly improved, part-time employment is

shown in many lines-notably in textiles and shoes.

If a man makes himself a worm, he must not com:

plain when trodden: on.-Kant.

Half the truth is often a great lie -Benjamin

Franklin.

Coming Events

FREE CLASS IN ENGLISH, 224% South Spring

Street, Tuesday and Friday, 8:00 to 9:30 p. m. Morti-

mer Downing, teacher.

WORKERS' PARTY Class in Elements of Politi

cal Education, by Sid Bush, 105 Henne Building, 122

West Third Street, Tuesday 8 p. m.; Public Speak:

ing class, Friday, 7 p. m. .

I. B. W. A. FORUM, Brotherhood Hall, 107 Mar-

chessault Street, north side of Plaza, cae 4,

Tuesday, 7:30

I. W. W. FORUM, (Emergency Program), 224

South Spring Street, Saturday, 8 P. M.

NEGRO FORUM, Masonic Temple, Twelfth and

Central Avenue, Sunday, 4:30.

SOCIALIST PARTY, headquarters Bryson Build

ing. R. W. Anderson, secretary C. C. C., VErmont

6811. C. C. C. meets first and third Mondays, branch

central, Thursday evening.

WOMAN'S SHELLEY CLUB, coal and fourth

Wednesday, 936 West Washington Street. Fifty-

cent luncheon, 12:30; MUtual 3668 for reservations.

Program 1:45 P. M. Ione G. Woodard, president.

HUmboldt 7668-W.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD-

VANCEMENT OF ATHEISM, 224 So. Spring Street,

Friday, 8 P. M.

I. L. D., English branch, Cleveland Hall, Walker

Auditorium Bldg., 730 S. Grand Avenue, first and

third Thursdays, 8 p. m.

WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE educa

tional lectures on peace and war: Public Library

Lecture Hall, Wednesdays, 8 p. m.; Mondays, 2:15

p. m.

Proletarian Economics Class, 337% South Hill

Street, Thursday, 8 P. M.

LOS ANGELES BRANCH I. W. W., Room 701

Bryson Building, 145 South Spring Street. Business

meeting Tuesdays, 7:30 p. m.

FREE WORKERS' FORUM, 800 North Hyergraam

Avenue (B car), Mondays, 8 p. m.

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