Open forum, vol. 7, no. 19 (May, 1930)

2

"

THE OPEN FORUM

`

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

------

Vol. 7

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MAY 10, 1930

No. 19

`May First Sees Violence

Lessened by Local Police

Efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union to

dbtain a permit for the Communists to hold their

May Day parade and which continued to the

seventh hour were unavailing, but fewer arrests

aid less violence were noted than at the March 6th

yemployment demonstration. Eighteen adults were

iaken to City and County jails and a number of

children to Juvenile Hall.

Letters written by C. J. Taft, director of the

Union's Southern California Branch, and signed by

gven others, to Mayor Porter, Chief of Police

sieckel and the police commissioners, asking that

methods similar to those employed successfully in

other cities in dealing with radical meetings and

parades be adopted here, brought a reply from the

(hie, who said that no arrests would be made ex-

cept for actual law violation and no violence used

by police unless arrest was resisted.

Failing to obtain a permit from the City Council,

athough Mr. Taft and Leo Gallagher, representing

the Union, appeared before that body Thursday

morning and were not heard, the Union notified

_ oficials that a number of responsible citizens would

attend the demonstration to observe the actions of

police and to testify in court if called on. This plan

was carried out.

Observers reported that the police allowed no one

foremain in Plaza Park, known as Red Plaza, or to

congregate in that vicinity. The crowd was kept

continually moving, no parade was held and no

speeches made. Although at first those arrested

were blanketed with the suspicion of criminal syn-

diealism charge, on arraignment various technical

misdemeanor charges' were placed against them.

After the smoke had cleared away the demonstra-

lio was found to have consisted of more sound and

wy than anything else, although the law was not

broken in any particular, the Plaza being a free

speech zone. All newspaper accounts of the affair

were greatly exaggerated. Russell Dell, said to have

slugged a policeman, is a diminutive man who re-

cently underwent an operation for appendicitis.

Besides Russell Dell, those arrested are: Anna

Stark, Seema Kaspin, Frank Stark, Martin Shapiro,

David Fradkin, Lawrence Bauersmith, Andrew

Dougall, Lillian Silverman, Eda Levine, Bessie Fink-

stein, Sarah Rubin, Carl Hummil, Jack Olsen,

Harry Schneiderman, Max Rosenstein, W. D. South-

North, Morris Naiditch. Charges included those of

battery, parading without a permit, blocking the

Sidewalk and resisting arrest and bail was fixed in

`mounts ranging from $50 to $625. All defendants

have been released under bond. Trial of the cases

Was set for May 29.

Cheswick Cases Quashed

The cases against eleven Pennsylvania miners

tharged with unlawful assembly, rioting and resist-

ig an officer at a Sacco-Vanzetti meeting held at

Cheswick, Pa., on August 22, 1927, pending without

Nal for almost three years, were dismissed when

Called for trial early in April.

The miners were arrested when mounted state

Dolice attacked a peaceful meeting on private prop-

| tly with clubs and gas bombs, injuring about 200

Men, women and children. After the meeting had

been dispersed, one state trooper attacked an un-

known man on the public highway and was killed.

As a result, the whole district was terrorized for

(ays, Twenty-one men were arrested and held on

high bail. The Civil Liberties Union sent a special

Westigator to the scene. The resulting exposure of

State Dolice brutality attracted national interest.

Two years after the event, one Salvatore Accorsi

Was atrested in New York charged with killing the

tate trooper. Brought to trial in Pittsburgh in De-

`ember, 1929, he was freed by a jury on the

`tength of his alibi. The acquittal of Accorsi doubt-

`S led to the dismissal of the indictment, accord-

Mg to the International Labor Defense and the Civil

ae Union, which have jointly handled the de-

Se,

New Bail Reduction Move

In Valiey Syndicalism Case

Writ of habeas corpus was filed May 6 with EN

District Court of Appeal in an effort to reduce

aggregate bail of $250,000 on which some sixteen

alleged Communists are held in El Centro on an

indictment charging criminal syndicalism.

After the Appellate Court, sitting at Fresno, had

reduced $40,000 bail on each defendant to $1,000, the

bail was raised by that court to $5000 each. On

May 1 the District Attorney dismissed the com- /

plaints and the men were indicted by the grand

jury, thus nullifying the action of the higher court

in reducing bail. The court then set bail on the,

indictments at $15,000 each. The men have been

held in jail three weeks. Their trial is set for May

son of Bakersfield for the International Labor De- |

fense, with which the American Civil Liberties

Union is cooperating.

The arrests grew out of attempts to organize the

workers in the melon fields in Imperial Valley.

Sheriff Charles L. Gillette is reported to have stated

his intention of jailing any others who attempt to

organize the agricultural workers. A _ blanket

dictment was first returned naming many John Does /

and others. who had not been in the Valley for

months. Among the prisoners is Frank Spector, }

local I. L. D. organizer, who was arrested by Los/

Angeles authorities on an El Centro warrant last

week.

Attorney Henderson, who has conducted more /

than sixty trials under. the Criminal Syndicalism A

act, stated that on only one other occasion was the!

bail placed as high as $15,000.

Chief Justice Bans Affidavits

By MIRIAM ALLEN deFORD

SACRAMENTO, Cal_-(FP)-The: same legal dif-

ficulty that formed the Lowell committee's excuse

for confirming the martyrdom of Sacco and Van-

zetti may condemn Warren Billings to perpetual im-

prisonment. Chief Justice Waste of California Su-

preme Court has announced that the investigation

of Billings' appeal for pardon is being held up be-

cause the court is able only to study the court

records of the case and has no power to subpoena

witnesses who have knowledge of the frameup.

"The petition for pardon," says Justice Waste, "is

based largely on affidavits obtained since Billings'

conviction and repudiating the testimony of a num-

ber of prosecution witnesses. There is no machinery

provided for investigating angles of a case that

happen subsequent to conviction."

This is the same ground on which Mooney was

refused a new trial when Trial Judge Griffin re-

quested it. Waste also pointed out that the court

is not examining the case as a body, but that the

petition is simply before the individual members,

who have no executive or judicial power. Even so,

he believes it will be ``some time" before any de-

cision is reached.

The only recourse would be to have either the

yovernor or the pardon board investigate the Billings

case, as the latter body is supposed to be doing in

the Mooney case. While Young is Governor there

is no likelihood that such a request would be grant-

ed; knowing that the Supreme Court is crippled in

its investigation by these circumstances, he has

nevertheless stated several times that he will do

nothing about either case until the two are consid-

ered together.

The greatest burden the workers bear is the very

wealth they produce. In the old days men produced

for themselves, and what they made they largely

consumed. Today a large portion of what men pro-

duce is turned into capital for further exploiting

men, and the more men labor and toil the bigger

capital grows, and the more men struggle the heay-

ier becomes the indebtedness of Labor to capital.-

Robert Hunter.

/his hearing last week.

ever, to act as his own attorney.

in-

Shuler Offered Help by

Union in Contempt Case

Rev. R. P. Shuler, sentenced to twenty days in

jail and $100 fine by Judge Tappaan, Monday, for

`contempt of court on account of his radio speeches,

was offered the assistance of a lawyer to be pro-

lvided by the American Civil Liberties Union, before

Rey. Shuler decided, how-

. The following letter was sent to him by Director

Taft of the Union:

Rev. R. P. Shuler,

1201 South Flower St.,

Los Angeles, Calif.

Dear Sir:

26 and they will be represented by R. W. Hender- A The American Civil Liberties Union has noted

the fact that you have been cited for contempt of

court because of statements alleged to have been

made by you in some of your radio talks. This or-

ganization exists for the sole purpose of defending

the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and of

assemblage and of the press, and it is our opinion

that the contempt proceedings against you should

be resisted vigorously. -

We have no definite knowledge concerning the

subject matter of any controversy you may have had

with or about any of the judges of the Superior

Court. Neither do we have any definite knowledge

as to what statements you may have made. We do

believe, however, that the present tendency to

broaden the scope of contempt proceedings threatens

a serious invasion of the right of freedom of speech,

and that for that reason this organization should,

and it aves tender to you

which it may render in your defense.

hereby any assistance

We are in touch with a number of lawyers who

have had some experience with free speech cases

and we shall be glad, if you so request, to provide a

lawyer without expense to you to be associated with

your own counsel in your defense.

We shall also be glad to provide the same sort of

assistance in the contempt cases brought against

your associate pastor, Mr. E. E. Wall. We think

that in Mr. Wall's case the letter published in the

newspapers and attributed to him does not seriously,

if at all, show any contempt for the court or con-

stitute even technically a contempt of court. For

that reason we shall be glad to afford Mr. Wall any

assistance that we can, without expense to him.

"Right of Asylum" Plea

Fails to Stir Officials

The appeal of the Civil Liberties Union to Presi-

dent Hoover to help "reestablish the right of asylum

in the United States for political refugees" and to

Secretary of Labor Davis demanding that Inspector

Vincent Piaggio be disciplined, have both been re-

ferred to Harry E. Hull, Commissioner General of the

Bureau of Immigration.

The appeals followed a riot at an anti-Fascist de-

bate in New York City on April 5 caused by the

attempt of Inspector Piaggio to arrest for depor-

tation Armando Borghi, Italian anarchist, with the

resulting death of one bystander, the wounding of

another and the arrest of five men on a charge of

"felonious assault" for an alleged attack on a police

officer aiding Piaggio.

The Commissioner's reply to the Hoover protest

declares that Borghi "has flouted the law of this

country" and if he "is deported to Italy, it will be

his own fault." Deportation to Italy, the Union

points out, means almost certain death, as Borghi is

an avowed foe of Mussolini and the Fascist regime.

The question of providing "right of asylum" is dis-

missed by the Commissioner with the curt sugges-

tion that the Union apply "to the appropriate legis-

lative committee."

Inspector Piaggio's behavior in the attempted ar-

rest, characterized by the Union as a "melodramatic

performance," is held to be blameless by Commis-

sioner Hull, whose account of the episode is at wide.

variance with the press reports of the disturbance.

pei Ey See ON

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

GHNtOn Me Pal tecce ie eae eee unre reuneueeb osespenters Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

Fanny Bixby Spencer Doremus Scudder

Leo Gallagher Ethelwyn Mills P. D. Noel

Lew Head

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Entered as second-class matter Dec. 18, 1924, at

the post office at Los Angeles, California, under the

Act of March 38, 1879.

SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1930

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.

Bail for Valley Workers

Reduced by Higher Court

On a writ of habeas corpus, in the case of the ten

men charged with violating the Criminal Syndicalism

law in Imperial Valley when they attempted to or-

ganize the canteloupe workers, bail for the defend-

ants, originally $40,000 each, has been set at $1,000

each by the District Court of Appeal in Fresno.

Attorney David Sokol applied to the higher court

after a writ was denied by the Superior Court at

El Centro.

The hearing on the writ was set for May 6 at San

Diego.

Frank Spector, organizer for the International

Labor Defense, was arrested Monday on leaving the

. Federal Department of Labor office and charged with

violating the Criminal Syndicalism law in Imperial

Valley, although he has not been in the valley for

some months.

Communists of New York

Granted May Day Permit

Following repeated appeals of the American Civil

Liberties Union in efforts to avert possible clashes

between Communists and a veterans' organization

in Union Square, New York, on May Day, the Com-

munists were granted a permit by the police to meet

elsewhere and then march to the Square after the

veterans have disbanded.

The action of the city officials in permitting the

Communists to meet and parade is in line with the

policy being pursued in many other cities at the in-

stigation of Union representatives, seeking to pre-

vent repetition of the unemployment disorders of

March 6.

Police Subdue Negro Workers

MEMPHIS-(FP)-Two hundred Negro workers,

at the gates of the Murray Wood Products Com-

pany to protest against the abusiveness of white

foremen and the brutality of company detectives,

were forcibly dispersed and the mill placed under

guard.

Police clubbed one young Negro unconscious re-

cently for arguing with another employe and on an-

other occasion detectives hired by the company

called for police aid because a Negro truck driver

objected to being cursed by a white foreman.

Murray Wood Products Company, manufacturers

of auto bodies, does not believe in wasting money

on wages. Unskilled men are started in at 20-25cent

an hour, but even this apparently is not low enough

to suit Murray, which has been operating in Mem-

phis for nearly a year. A large number of colored

women have been brought in to do men's work at

half the pay. For a nominal ten-hour day which in

practice extends to twelve, thirteen and even four-

teen hours, they get $1.25, plus a bonus. A bonus,

however, doesn't amount to more than $1 or $2 a

week for women or $3-$4 for men.

One of the jobs given Negro women is piling lum-

ber on trucks after it goes through the ripsaw. The

saw is run by a man, who sometimes has two

women, often only one to pile for him. :

In busy times the plant employs nearly a thou-

sand, but like most auto industries, work is highly

irregular. Nevertheless, the Memphis branch of the

power trust, welcoming Murray to town, said it

would help.to stabilize employment.

Liberty's "Mystery" Story

SAN QUENTIN, Cal-(FP)-Tom Mooney is in-

censed by falsified accounts of the San Francisco

preparedness day explosion contained in a "mystery"

series in Liberty, reactionary weekly. He declares

the article was prepared from prosecution records

and that no attempt was made to interview defense

counsel or himself.

"To them," Mooney remarked, "it means money,

a bit of public sensationalism and perhaps a few

extra magazine sales. To me it means vindication,

freedom. Why didn't they bother to get their facts

accurate and fair?" Liberty has offered $1,000 for

the best solution to the Mooney-Billings `mystery,'

which is no mystery to those familiar with the

frameup. ;

Police Ride Down Jobless

CLEVELAND-(FP)-Four workers were hurt as

mounted police charged a crowd of unemployed when

a speaker allowed a red kerchief to fly in the breeze

for a second. The unemployed were gathered in the

Public Square to listen to the report of a committee

which had demanded aid for the unemployed from

the Community Fund. The police were waiting for

the slightest provocation to charge the crowd.

Five hundred unemployed workers led by the Un-

employed Council of the Trade Union Unity League

had paraded just previously from the Public Square

to the doors of the Community Fund. They were

greeted by guards armed with police clubs. A com-

mittee of four was admitted, however.

Notice

Notice is hereby given of the registration of fic-

titious firm name, THE WORLD HUMAN CUL-

TURE FEDERATION, on April 23, 1930, by Dr. John

T. Miller and Charles O. Vandivier as the sole own-

ers of the name and business, an educational and

publishing business located at 1627 Georgia Street,

Los Angeles, California.

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SUNDAY NIGHTS, 7:30 O'CLOCK

Come at 7:30 if you would not miss the tremen

dously interesting and instructive talks on current

events with which Prof. Oscar L. Triggs, formerly

of the University of Chicago, opens the meetings.

each week.

May 4-AMERICAN PRISONS, by Kate Richards

O'Hare, who from her own prison experience wilj

describe the average prison and explain what should

be done to remedy conditions in favor of a more hu-

mane and just system: of handling prisoners.

May 11-VARIETIES OF SOCIALISM AND How

THEY WORK OUT, by Prof. Arthur E. Briggs, Pres.

ident of the Metropolitan University, Log Angeles,

We have heard the professor on several previous

occasions and will want to know how he handles

this interesting subject.

May 18-THE SITUATION IN CHINA, by Orwyn

W. E. Cook, professor of International Relations at

the University of Southern California. Professor

Cook has lived in the Orient and has already spoken

to the Open Forum audience on Mexico and the

Philippines.

Shelley Club

The next meeting of the Woman's Shelley Club

will be held at Turnverein Hall, 986 W. Washington

St. at 1 o'clock, Wednesday, May 14. Clinton J. Taft

will speak on "All Commotion on the Western

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FREE WORKERS' FORUM, lectures and discus

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(B car); dance and entertainment last Saturday in

month.

SOCIALIST PARTY, headquarters. 429-30 Douglas

Building. Telephone, MUtal 7871. Office open from

9 a.m. to 10 p. m., except Sunday. Circulating libra-

ry. Young Socialist League meets every Wednesday

night.

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FROM VARIED VIEWPOINTS

Three Queries to M. Karolyi

pditor The Open Forum:

_ The title of Michael Karolyi's talk at the Saturday

Lunch Club on "A United States of the Peoples of

gurope" had raised the hope that he would, in some

way, make clear the eternal conflict between "the peo-

ple" and "the state," the government and the gov-

ered, the commissar and the mushik. But he blithely

neglected that conflict and proceeded to predict the

necessity of a United States of Hurope, consisting of

, number of governments patterned after the bolshe-

vik example.

Given a United States of Europe under the hegemony

of the U. S. S. R., the question arises: Should these

United States of Europe use the hell holes of Siberia

aga united dumping ground for all of their respective

qitics, including those who merely hold different

opinions ? If so, would Siberia be big enough to hold

them all?

Question two: Would not the centralization of

power, supervision, spy systems, checkas, etc., afford

, pleasant sort of dodge-me-if-you-can life to the ordi-

nary mortal who foots the bill and does all the work?

Eyerything could be so nicely arranged by the `"`ad-

vance guard" for the backward mass of the people!

Wouldn't everybody have to behave if we had a sort

of universal Bertillon system for tabulating and finger

printing everybody! Everybody, not only the aliens,

as proposed in this country! No Count with critical

ideas could then get into our United States-of Europe.

Question three: What's the matter with a little lib-

erty with which to experiment? Where have the Com-

munists shown omniscience that they should have

omnipotence? Have they not made the most egregious

blunders? And are they not still making them?

No, friend, the last word on social organization has

not been spoken as yet; the Science of Society is still

in the making. Then why throttle it? The great

crime of the Lenin crowd was that they interrupted.

the first clear cut experiment in industrial unionism

in history, made by the Russian People (not govern-

ment) in 1918 and 1919, when the peasants seized the

lad and the workers took over the factories-for

themselves. The bolshevik interference with this ex-

petiment brought the country to economic ruin, as ad-

nitted by Lenin in his speech of October, 1917.

A little less of the God-Almighty attitude from the

self-appointed `advance guard of the proletariat," less

jogmatism and cock-sureness from such egregious

blunderers, a little more faith in the creative ability

ofthe people, the common man, the non-officia} -and

| We shall continue to have progress.

If liberty to investigate, experiment and criticize

Was needed in the Middle Ages, it is needed now. And

liberty was successful then in dispelling the fogs,

itcan be trusted now. Mankind knows of no other

nethod to find out the truth.

[have an idea that such a fine, courageous and sin-

tere man as Michael Karolyi already feels this neces-

sity. Don't forget, he calls himself a `free lance."

Freelancers are under suspicion in U. S. S. R., if not

in jail, in Siberia, or dead. The chances are that

Karolyi would find himself in jail in his own United

| States of Europe, should his dream come true.

L. A. RALL.

No Bread or Red Bread?

The Times in a recent editorial, "Red Bread,"

nelers no bread to red bread; evidently not realiz-

ig that until the bread and butter question is settled

or all people everywhere there will be unrest, pro-

lest meetings, parades and anything else needed to

Vake up the masters to the responsibility of their

jobs. How blind, how stupid, to ignore the common

Welfare of the great inarticulate masses, and blame

Communists for bringing these unjust conditions to

the attention of the powers that be! Yes, bread;

that ig the biggest question today, as it always has

been, and will be until it is settled. Bread should be

`S free as the air we breathe; for without either we

"umnot live, and because we are born we have a

| "eht to everything life has to offer, and without

Iniee, It ought to be too obvious to be worth stat-

Ng-and yet there are those who think, and say

Wite frankly, a man should not eat until he has

Vorked, J say he cannot work until he has eaten;

`Md along with that go shelter and clothing. So by

oe Mr. Editor, let us have bread, be it black,

euro or red, for the lack of it has overturned

`ttones in the days of old, and can do it again.

* Temember, we have our breadlines, as well as

Ssia,

" for me, I much prefer the title, parlor pink, to

cunge lizard," or bridge-playing addict.

Kk C:G;

We welcome communications from our read-

ers for this page. But to be acceptable letters

must be pointed and brief-not over 500 words,

and if they are 400 or less they will stand a

better show of publication. Also they must be

typewritten-our printers can't take time to de-

cipher hieroglyphics.

It's the Fault of Electors

Editor The Open Forum:

Why is our wealthy nation, full of money, mate-

rial and needed work, disgraced with millions of idle

people?

It is the fault of our Government and the preda-

tory rich who dictate its policies.

What can we expect with a President who openly

flouts public ownership and champions predatory

private exploitation of the people, and who would

give away our Boulder Dam and Muscle Shoals to

the Power Octopus? As we electors sow so shall

we reap.

Why all this rot about how to cure unemployment,

the canker that is eating out our life and creating

bolshevists? It is simple and easy. Put all to work

with a six-hour day at the same wages. Even at

that the figures prove that the employers would still

pile up too much dangerous wealth, or rather graft.

The spectacle of a few piling up the lion's share of

the nation's wealth, while millions go hungry, is

brutal, shameful, unnecessary, idiotic. . But with our

electors, dumb-bells, cowards and careless louts,

what are we to do? We have the remedy at the

polls, but we cast our ballots like cowardly, spine-

less, ignorant sheep. If a candidate has nerve and

honesty, we allow him to go down to defeat, not by

the voters who go to the polls, but by those who

do not go.

When this nation has sense enough to have its

bank, issue its own money, quit paying usury to the

money trust, use the vast national wealth, instead

of gold, as a base, we will then become prosperous.

All will, not a greedy few. And we might add-

stop the return of income taxes to the millionaires!

CHARLES H. V. LEWIS,

Calif. State Senator, 1923 to 1927.

Equalization and Sterilization

Editor The Open Forum:

P. D. Noel's statement in a recent issue of The Open

Forum, that medical authorities agree that abortion is

without danger or bad after effects if done by a doctor

before the foetus is two months old, is contrary to the

fact, statistics from Russia notwithstanding. It might

be true were all human beings physically perfect with

no lurking foci of infection ready to flare up, when

physiological processes are interfered with, and a

spongy bleeding surface is left where bacteria find

ideal conditions for growth, and from which they are

disseminated throughout the body if the patient's re-

sistance is low. Not only is there danger of septi-

cemia and death from abortions, even when performed

by those skilled in this reprehensible practice, but

they result in much chronic invalidism due to damage

to the pelvic organs. Moreover, the disturbance of the

normal rhythm of the glandular system, when preg-

nancy is interrupted, at times results in grave ner-

vous disorders.

Obviously, life holds very little of real happiness

for the wife who lives in constant dread of pregnancy

which she cannot afford, and who submits to abortion

after abortion at a tremendous sacrifice of health,

family harmony, time and money. Parenthood would

not be the fearsome economic burden it is to many in

the United States today, if measures were enacted to

equalize income and stabilize employment so that men

and women who are physically and mentally fit to re-

produce need not limit their families because of eco-

nomic insufficiency. When, however, a husband and

wife agree that they have borne enough children, the

State should legalize and encourage, not the barbarous

practice of abortion, not the use of crude, injurious

and unreliable contraceptive devices, but the sterili-

zation of the husband. `This is a simple procedure,

practically devoid of danger, and forever eliminates

the fear of unwanted pregnancies in the families

where it has been performed. '

B. V. FOLER.

`The most pitiful story of the week came from Ohio.

Bandits robbed a bank only to find it had already been

looted by the proper officials Howard Brubaker.

/live on the fat of the land?

The Humanitarian Times

Editor The Open Forum:

Of course the Times finds many reasons for ob-

jecting to unemployment insurance. Anything hu-

mane must necessarily be laid to the Socialists and

Communists.

"Work or wages;" yes, not a bad idea. But to the

Times, the crime of crimes is to put bread into the

mouths of hungry out-of-work people. The "reds"

must be blamed for such Christian doctrines as, feed

the hungry and clothe the naked.

The `Times deplores politics or government doing

anything for humanity's sake; but let the government

squander 72% of its national income for destroying

humanity, and the Times hasn't a word to say.

Because the Labor Government of England wishes

boys of sixteen to still be allowed to go to school, they

too are wicked.

If it is right for government to prepare to kill us,

why isn't it infinitely more right for it to make us

happy?

If we were born lazy, why should we be expected to

work eight hours a day cheerfully, that others may

But as a matter of fact,

"self respecting' men do want to work for a living.

What they ask is a never-ending right to work-or else

insurance. If there is not enough work for all, why

not encourage birth control, instead of encouraging

large families, and putting its advocates into jail? Is

it because we want more cannon fodder, or just what

is the reason for cluttering up the world with people

only to kill them off? Is a human being the cheapest

thing in the world, or is he sacred in the eyes of the

Giver of life? :

Let us not fear paternalism, as we are all groping

children anyway. It seems to me a terrible thing that

people should have to spend their lives "saving for a

rainy day" and have no time for enjoying life as it

goes along. Insurance will relieve the drab, dull rou-

tine of daily life; let the workers live while they are

alive.

No man wants to be permanently unemployed, be-

cause he isinsured to carry him over from one job to

another. That is, no one wants it, unless he is a

moron-then he never should have been born. Let us

have not only birth control but permission to bring

life into this chaotic world. The Times doesn't seem

to realize what it means to be. "laid off" or to "hunt

for a job." It simply means that poverty is eating the

heart out of eighty per cent of our people. It is the

worst of all maladies. It dogs the footsteps of every

man, woman and child in this country, boastful as it

is of its prosperity.

Every penny of public money comes out of private

pockets; so the more the Government spends of our

money, the less there is for us to spend. The war

cost 51,400,000,000 dollars of our money, without our

leave, and still there are those who begrudge spend-

ing it on ourselves to save our lives. Let us spend

these millions, yes billions, for security, at all times

and under all conditions. Such should be our twen-

tieth century advance over barbarism.

K. C.-G.

Excellent Book on Banking

Editor The Open Forum:

It appears that both branches of Congress are

about to make a long needed investigation of the

subject of our banking system, and the service it

has rendered to the promotion of speculation.

I want to call the attention of your readers to the

most useful book on banking that I have ever read,

"The Strangle Hold" by Henry C. Cutting, 2416

Highth Avenue, Oakland, Calif. Mr. Cutting is a

former banker and knows the game from beginning

to end. He has a gift of lucid exposition, and a

simple program whereby he believes that banking

could be turned from an institution of special privi-

lege to one of social service. Mr. Cutting would

make an admirable witness, and I am venturing to

suggest that those who read his book should write`

to Senator Peter Norbeck and Representative Carter

Glass, recommending him to be ealled.

UPTON SINCLAIR.

Our governing classes consist of people who, though

perfectly prepared to be generous, humane, cultured,

philanthropic, public spirited and personally charm-

ing, are unalterably resolved to have money enough

for a handsome and delicate life, and will, in pursuit |

of that money, batter in the doors of their fellow men, .

hold them up, sweat them in fetid dens, shoot, stab,

hang, imprison, sink, burn and destroy them in the

name of law and order.-G. Bernard `Shaw.

Ze

Old Time War Recalled on

Mother Jones' Birthday

: By LAURENCE TODD.

WASHINGTON-(FP)-Mother Jones, veteran of

so many years of battle for the emancipation of

Labor that she seems never to have known indus-

trial truce, is credited with coining the name "yellow

dog,' now universally applied to the contract forced

upon workers to keep them out of Labor unions.

Whether or not the stout-hearted little Irishwoman

with the compelling blue eyes and the fiery speech

was the first to use that term of scorn for the anti-

union shackles placed upon helpless coal miners by

their bosses, she at least has used it with a jolting,

re-dignifying force that no Senator can ever achieve

in mere debate. Coal miners heard her use it with

every intonation of rebellious scorn, with appeal to

their manhood, with a defiance of the company of-

ficials and their political servants that seemed to

run straight back to curse their ancestors for three

generations. "Yellow dog contract" was a declara-

tion of war which she accepted, met halfway, and

with which she gave the West Virginia slaveholders

a grim realization that they had invited the doom

of all slaveholding classes the world around.

* * *

So, lying back on her pillows in the little farm-

house in the woods, ten miles from the Capitol

building where the yellow dog contract was deter-

mining the fate of Judge Parker and the United

States Supreme Court, Mother Jones met the morn-

ing of her one hundredth birthday, May 1, with

smiling serenity. Off there in the Senate chamber

the real celebration of her anniversary, and of the

International Labor Day, was being held. Close at

hand were her friends, Mr. and Mrs. W. HE. Burgess,

caring for her every material need. Ed. Nockels,

secretary of the Chicago Federation of Labor, was

there with his arrangements for her birthday party,

to be attended by American Federation of Labor

officials and employes. And Nockels had arranged

a special program to be broadcast from station

WCFL, in Chicago, in her honor. Yet, after all,

fighting for humanity was her essential joy in life.

And organized Labor, organized radicals, had started

such a fire over Parker and his yellow dog injunc-

tion that the Senate was the focus of national in-

terest on her centenary, and there her heart was,

listening.

* *. *

Writers for Labor-baiting papers had invaded her

last days with new lies concerning her work. They

had pictured her as an anti-Socialist, a conservative

as to private ownership of the jobs of great masses

of workers. Mother Jones, friend of Debs and com-

rade of ten thousand Socialist and Communist agi-

tators in the course of her long struggle to arouse

the rebel spirit in the American working class,

could afford to laugh at such effrontery. In the hard

years when the 'I. W. W. were showing the lumber

barons of the Pacific slope and the Minnesota woods

the meaning of class solidarity, and in the days

when the Western Federation of Miners was chal-

lenging the mastery of the Rocky Mountain states

by the mine owners, Mother Jones flung the claims

of sacred private capitalism back into the teeth of

judges, preachers, sheriffs, bosses alike. Today she

is sending messages to the Governor of California,

urging the pardon of Tom Mooney, radical Socialist

when he entered San Quentin prison as the victim

of a class frameup.

* oo *

One of the chapters in her life which Mother Jones

recounts with especial pride is her part in the de-

fense of the radical leaders of the Western Feder-

ation of Miners-Haywood, Pettibone and Moyer-

after they were kidnapped from their headquarters

in Denver and taken to Boise to be tried for the

murder of Governor Steunenberg, who had sup-

pressed by military force a strike of the miners in

the Coeur d'Alene district. The Supreme Court had

obediently ruled that the kidnapping of the Labor

leaders was legal, and there appeared a good chance

that they would be convicted by a farmer jury and

hanged. 'Gene Debs raised the alarm throughout

the radical press. Mother Jones went on a speaking

tour of the country. Debs' special edition of the

old Appeal to Reason, with its flaming caption,

"Arouse, Ye Slaves!" went into a sale of millions,

while the burning eloquence of Mother Jones brought

defense funds from the pockets of scores of thou-

sands of workers in mine villages, factory and rail-

road towns and the big cities. Clarence Darrow,

who sent Mother Jones a special letter of greeting on

her one hundredth anniversary, took charge of the

defense. And young Borah, special prosecutor then,

is today leading the attack on yellow dog slavery.

Comparatively a Paradise

Extracts from a letter to Upton Sinclair, written

by the head of a large manufacturing enterprise .in

Pennsylvania:

It would take a volume to tell you what I saw and

I intend writing a circular letter when I get back but I

can definitely tell you certain things after spending

some time talking.

I. There is no starvation in Russia. Food is a prob-

lem and it is true that the housewives have to stand

in line for an hour sometimes but they get a Russian

pound (14 oz.) of black bread and a quarter pound of

meat per day as-well as eggs and milk for children

under fourteen.

Il. There is no organized prostitution in Russia.

Street-walking has disappeared. The so-called com-

munization of women is a myth.

Ill. There are almost no waifs. Those that are

still on the streets are fugitives, the rest are in com-

fortable homes.

IV. The people in general are in favor of the present

government.

V. `Travel is comfortable but not luxurious. The

sleeping cars are the best in Europe though service is

indifferent.

VI. The peasants are not fleeing into Poland.

VII. Living for foreigners, non Communists and

people who do not belong to co-operative societies is

very dear.

VIII. The Five Year Plan is operating on schedule.

IX. The Red Army is terribly efficient and power-

fully armed. Its equipment is more up to date than

ours.

X. One is safer on the streets of Moscow after mid-

night than in America.

XI. The workers are not as well off as in America-

that is, those who are employed; the unemployed, due

to doles, are naturally much better off.

XII. They do not search you to the skin at the

frontier. On the contrary, they are far more lenient

and courteous than the American customs authorities.

XIII. There is a decided anti-religious program on

at present, but they are only closing those churches

which are too poorly patronized to pay taxes.

Moscow had `40x40' churches-ten times too many

-and they have not as yet closed a single Roman

Catholic nor other foreign church or mosque and only

five synagogues.

Finally, your three-line letter proved better than a

passport. The very name Upton Sinclair is a pass-

word.

Take this letter, not as propaganda, but as from

what Iam, a capitalist. Don't believe a word you read

in the papers about Russia, but at the same time I saw

nothing in Russia that would make me want to see the

experiment tried in the United States.

While the people are lots better off in Russia today

than in 1917, or rather 1914, remember that Russia

was always a backward country and that the peasants

and workers were always on the verge of starvation.

Life is very drab. All is work-even the children's

play. Everywhere I saw little children, eight years

old in fact, being taught how to use gas masks, close-

order drill and other military propaganda that the

Reds decry in America.

Children over fourteen, boys and girls alike, are

everywhere taught not only how to shoot, but how to

take rifles apart and those over sixteen are taught

machine gun tactics.

Free speech is as dead in Russia as in America.

In conclusion, I might add that while sovietism may

be-and I am denying that it is-good for Russia, I

see no need for any such drastic measures in the

United States.

Might I suggest that you visit Russia yourself? The

V OK C and the Railway Workers extended through

me a cordial invitation to you, and I do not believe it

would cost you a penny while in Russia.

Russia is not, as a young lady told me in the Amtorg,

a glimpse of heaven, but it may seem like Paradise to

those who have been in hell.

Warsaw, April 7, 1930.

Newark Union Committee

The Civil Liberties Union is forming a local com-

mittee in Newark, N. J., to aid attorneys in handling

seven cases now in the Newark courts resulting

from arrests at meetings of the unemployed.

The most serious case is that of ten Communists

charged with sedition, who will go to trial on May

13. They were arrested at a meeting in a private

hall and charged with seditious utterances, although

none of them made a speech. This is the first

sedition case in New Jersey in ten years.

In addition to offering legal aid, the committee will

campaign for a change in police policy so that

future meetings may be held without interference.

ed

NEWS AND VIEWs

By P. D. NOEL

Much Ado About Nothing

Frequently we have almost hysterical editorials in

the wet papers over the alleged intention of Presi.

dent Hoover to deprive defendants in booze Cases of

the right of trial by jury. Nothing more has even

been suggested than to allow the accused to be

tried by the judge alone, if he so desires; to Waive

a jury. This is what we now have in California, by

a vote of the people. A Communist or other "out.

lawed" defendant would stand a much better chance

of obtaining justice from a judge who knows Some.

thing of fundamentals than from the average ig.

norant, prejudiced and stupid jury.

Communist Tacties

The article in last week's Open Forum by Shoaf,

trying to analyze the methods of our Bolshevik

friends, should be widely read. These folks are get.

ting much more publicity than their numbers war.

rant, and I, for one, think it about time to take

stock. They deserve credit for their courage ag the

shock troops in fighting for civil liberties, though

that is not the end for which they are so ardent, but

there are such things as discretion and common

sense. This country is established upon certain

principles, which are almost unanimously accepted

by our people. So it seems almost childish for these

few foreigners (which the great mass of them are)

to butt their heads against this "native American"

wall. Then we are appealed to for assistance.

May Day Riots

If the newspaper accounts of trouble in other

centers were as exaggerated as were those of the

doings around the Plaza here then the day passed

most peacefully. Several of us spent a couple of

hours in an almost constant hike through the streets

adjoining the supposed storm center. Though

eighteen were reported arrested, we only saw one

such, though a young girl was already in the auto

into which a young man was put. With a few ex-

ceptions, the police were quite decent in keeping

the crowds moving and in preventing anyone from

reaching the Plaza itself. Probably this latter ma:

neuver prevented the Communists from having a

meeting and possibly an unlawful parade, as no

permit was given for a procession. But, the Plaza

is in a free speech zone, even having two nice con-

crete forum stands erected by the city for spouting

purposes, so this action of the police was without

excuse, being another sample in their long line of

law breaking. On the one hand an expensive dis:

play of illegal officialdom, and on the other much

publicity for a small group.

Russian Farming

Though Stalin has checked somewhat the very

rapid socialization of the land, up to date fifty-five

per cent of the arable land has been made into col:

lective farms. Modern methods of culture will pro:

duce this year per acre thirty per cent more than

will be the output from the privately cultivated

lands, with their crude methods. This will be quite

an object lesson to the mujiks, or peasants.

Dangerous Doctrine

The Archbishop of Massachusetts in speaking of

the dry law says "there is no obligation to obey 4

bad law." Pretty dangerous stuff in a country based

on law observance. While the average person ob-

serves many laws because he is afraid of the pel

alty for not doing so, he realizes that such codes as

this are dangerous to society. It is the old idea of

"the end justifies the means." Possibly the Arch-

bishop is a Jesuit, with a peculiar interpretation of

their slogan, "Ad majorum Dei gloriam" (For ue

greater glory of God). Imagine the furor which

would be created if some Socialist, for instance,

enunciated such a dogma.

Atlanta Trial Postponed

The trial of M. H. Powers and Joseph Carr, Com

munist Party organizers who face the death penalty

at Atlanta, Georgia, on.a charge of "inciting t0 '*

surrection," was postponed until May 6. The two

men are indicted under a statute passed in 1866 a

not used since. Their sole offense was to appeat y

a meeting composed of white and Negro workers a

which they were billed to speak. The America?

Civil Liberties Union is cooperating with the Inte!

national Labor Defense in fighting the case.

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