Columbia Throttles Freedom
Westwood, Howard
Columbia Throttles Freedom By Howard Westwood EED HARRIS, editor of The Columbia Spectator, the university dally, was expelled from college on Friday of last week. Dean Hawkes explained, in...
...tat whatever field he pick,*, l a u g h i n g at such monstrosities at tbe it...
...It is challenged in unmistakable terms...
...He was not only all that I have said, but be was the bravest man I ever knew...
...Dean Hawkes explained, in calling Harris before a faculty group, that he had been cautioned by President Butler to give the "appearance of a hearing" before taking his action...
...As the editorial columns of The Spectator said on Tuesday, it is unbelievable that such drastic action was based on the dining room charges...
...Lately he bas kidded a lot of regular people into thinking that somehow he Is a "Liberal...
...Tba Now Republic...
...The tune is the old jingle...
...For example, see what you could do with "the Marsellai.se " And while I was about it, for relief from weighing words and scanning stanzas, I got up this little jingle for Unemployed Groups and the Ypsel TodeUss...
...AH of us to be sure, have to devise ways and means of wresting a living out of tba capitalist world...
...That "the effect of open market purchases of Government bonds by the Reserve banks has been largely disappointing to its sponsors...
...War, to an its peace-time manifestations, faced tbe opposition of the editorial staff, which baa fought the ROTC and OMTC...
...The traditional civilization whose foundations* were bud by the barbarism of tba Dark Ages eansot be saved by any modern development of inteiuge »e or wisdom from the Inevitable wreck towards which It b heeding with accelerated speed...
...teas*© bfc?st ^^fj XasOD^sOas^Li last** fsz*( I ti^ftL Stephen RausivaBbusb was about to publish a s aw book a a "The Power r i g h t " and this bright Spring morning we Sad a Copy af It o n our desk, seat to ua from his publishers...
...That one of tbe big retail men's clothing chain stores baa gone into tbe bands of a receiver...
...Take over the mine and the factory, And set the slaves of the timeclock free . . Jo hell with (or)* Get rid of the boss and his charity . . . That's good work . . . •Either phrase can be used according to the tune, place or the girl . . . And for workers that are picketing or a t strike meetings a little workeriaed Mother Goose is always distracting and delightful...
...Ws said last week, after setting rid at a he-grouch which had been burdening oar heaving bosom, that we were going out to roll around to the sunshine and greet the spring and all...
...Three Blind Mice...
...Since, therefore, this has been the character of Spectator, t h e expulsion of Reed Harris on flimsy charges, followed by stateirrN* Trt» by Wie arbntnlajtratlon w h l eh a r e not only conflicting, but sadly 8VSS1V0, can be explained rationally only as the result of i t s policy this year...
...When the idealist has tried hard enough and labored long enough it is always easy to lodge a specific charge against him...
...To write the songs of the Cause ia the purpose and dream ot every rebel singer...
...But tot's hope t h a t we are not trying to kid ourselves and our friends with tbe stale gag t h a t we a r e doing our staff for t h e profit system to order to stack up a big pile and then t u r n around aad bite the hands t h a t feed us...
...Contribs are implored to enter in this service...
...I happen to know a bunch of these self-same people about whom Mbn Carneal writes so magnificently and believe me, aba baa got them down In fine style...
...All of us have to compromise somehow, almost every day of our working lives...
...There may have lived some time, some where, a kindlier, gentler, more generous man than Eugene V. Debs, but I have never known hint Nor have I ever read or heard of another...
...Of course, they assure you, they can't do anything right now...
...Onairadee ar* urged to make reeerveWons...
...Ia the first place, there has been some sort of obvious mismaMng between "Arise, ye prisoners of starvation," and tbe usual banquet table at which so many of our p a r t y deficits are liquidated For yearn it has brought forth many a wise crack at these dinners, and inwardly I have resolved that some day when time could bo made, these words would be altered into a modern idealistic pattern, simple and singable...
...But I've already told you what a valuable weapon this book will make for every Socialist speaker to the coming campaign aad now let's t o r n t o fiction...
...Both sides had recognized that Debs hail been sent to jail because he had led a great fight to benefit the toilers and the poor...
...Buy •as read among Its i«tr«» , . "The Btrtke," by S.A...
...When the idealist has tried hard enough and labored long enough it is always easy to lodge a specific charge against him...
...R o m "The Story of My Life" by Clarence Darrow Published by Charles Scribner's Sons...
...R o m "The Story of 117 Life" by Clarence Darrow PnUltfwd by Oharlei Scrlbtwr's Bona.] Columbia Throttles Freedom And for t h e bread ine breadlosers, we offer In lieu of that disgraceful and distasteful cup of coffee, this brain jerker . . . after Old Mother Hubbard . . . Old Mother Hoover, (please do not reprove her) Wouldn't throw us poor doggies a bone . . . "Bui to bond clipping swonkers and brokers and bankers, He handed a fat, tuicy loan . . . In times such as these, literary exercises like tbe above rhymlets are neither light nor funny . . . There Is something soul-wrenching and brutal about the mad plight in which nearly all of a once fairly comfortable people are floundering toward bankruptcy and despair . . . Perhaps, those of us who take time off from brutal puzzlement and Indulge ia these quips do so only t o laugh that they may hot weep . . . Which reminds me to inform you t h a t tbe American SocbuM Quarterly, that newcomer and welcome "Wthure on p a r t y queaUons and tactics is duo April « tor the second appearance of i t s young Ufa...
...AT THE LABOR TEMPLE Dr...
...Ask s a y one of them to s t ep out Just once and do something about bringing in the social order tor which they pretend t o yearn and then watch their dust...
...He really got off easy...
...And to leave no book on which even a harmless witticism could be hung...
...If i t takes o n , w i th the comrades and a demand ia made for additional verses, lt shall be my duty and Pleasure to render further offering...
...Convinced of this causal nexus, and enraged at the administration's inadequate explanation of its disciplinary action' aa amount ing to nothing abort of arbitrary suppression of tbe freedom of the press, the League for Industrial Democracy, the Social Problems Club, and a large group of sym pathisers called for a protest s t r i k e This strike, on Wednesday was a thorough success, supported by a spontaneous movement that spread rapidly throughout the graduate schools, and on tbe cam' puses of other universities...
...Harris Is to be congratulated on the enemies he bat made tn bis brief career as a rebel...
...Eugene Debs was sent to jail in Woodstock, III, for trying to help his fellow man...
...He gets up and tears his shirt about war and how much better peace to than war, war, war all day long and tbe pacifists give tbe old gent a big hand...
...Both sides had recognized that Debs hail been sent to jail because he had led a great fight to benefit the toilers and the poor...
...He was not only all that I have said, but be was the bravest man I ever knew...
...Tbe event is in tbe hands of the Columbia administration...
...Complete announcement of a novel program for the dinner will be made In the next Issue of The New Leader...
...l rise, and tee the mm doom breaking, Arise, for we have slaved too long . . , I he wealth of earth is ell oar making...
...He had the courage of the babe who has no conception of the word or its meaning...
...And on top of this comes a book by Robert BriffauH, a big shot among enUiropologliit*, called, "Breakdown, The Collapse cf Traditional civilization," published by Brentano's, to which toe author says: "The structure of capitalistic Industrialism la aa engine of depredation...
...But some day, "The Great Day," they win be to there fighting alongside you t o the b i t t e r end...
...t* 60...
...No college paper In the country, are venture to say, has shown the intelligence and courage exhibited by Spectator this year...
...Many of tbe old familiar rhymes can b e converted into tickling dynamite . . . I pray to offer for example . . . Hickory, Dtckory, Dock Hickory, dickory dock, The boss had a factory clock . . . Th* workers struck as one . . . And down it run . . . Hickory, dickory dock . . . Clarence D a r r o w on Debs By Clarence Darrow "EpUGENE V. DEBS has always been one of my heroes...
...Here in devastating manner, Miss Carneal shows up t h e hypocrisy of these alibi a r t i s t s who a r e working in Wall s t r e e t offices, in advertising agencies, to the hog-troughs of tabloid newspapers...
...Wherein We Get Bookish Here, bars, w a must mop u p o a our home readJaL^jsa...
...And when we get particularly low to our minds we...
...THE ANNUAL DINNER Reservations are now being accepted for the dinner on Sunday, May 8, at which Hendrik Van Loon, Heywood Broun, B. O. Vladeck, Norman Thomas and Morris Huqultt are to participate...
...Finally there came the active support of tbe student t r i p to Harlan County, All in all, t h e editorial policy of Spectator this year bas been admirable, but one hardly suited to encourage alumni enthusiasm, when those alumni are concerned with the stupidity of bourgeois society...
...Men and women, many of them young enough to know better, who pretend to bate their work, who sob around about being misunderstood in a cruel world, but who nevertheless are right there a t the head of the line when tbe ghost walks...
...You boys aad girls who have friends who a r e always telling you t h a t soma day they will "get away from It alt" and hitch up with you la the struggle for a batter deal, will cotton to this book...
...But Spectator did not atop with the campus affairs...
...That a new typesetting device will throw a whole lot more printers out of work s a d t h a t the coalmines of tbe old Central Competitive Fields a re nearly all closed down...
...o. T, 0, McAllster Coleman Clarence Darrow on Debs By Clarence Darrow "EUGENE V. DEBS has always been one of my heroes...
...We want work, we want work...
...For probably the first time in its history, it discussed outside Issues, and the political bankruptcy of America was examined in t b e editorial columns...
...In t h e light of the cumulative criUciam piled on Harris's editorial policy this year, it would seem that Dean Hawkes's action can be explained only as an indication of dlacomforture at persistent refusal t o follow a "yes, yes" policy and aggressive insistence oa discussing and criticising things Inordinately dear to the hearts of conservative alumni...
...It i s a sad commentary on liberal university life if such student publication Is t r be subjected to the unreasonable gagging that bas apparently been attempted at Columbia this past week...
...For example a bitter, vitriolic novel called, "Tbe Great Day," written by Georgette Caraeal a n d' published by Uverlght...
...They have to bold down the Job for tba sake of t b a wife s ad kiddies, same as burglars and bootleggers...
...No other offense has ever been visited with such severe' penalties as seeking to help the oppressed...
...de Wht...
...He never felt fear...
...We can move a mountain or dig a ditch, We can build and hammer and sew a stitch, We don't want to loaf like the lasy rich . . . We want work . . . There is work, there is work...
...all neatly wrapped ta cellophane, it should be done up to asbestos, because It's a red not book, which will smoke out for I t s readers (aad I hope you will be one of them) a lot of the power trust falters...
...Unless it makes clear i t s position, gives Reed Harris a fair and open hearing, institutes an examination of tbe dining room conditions and the other campus affairs which have been subjected to serious charges, and allows student representation in that Investigation, a a d unless It shows unequivocally that It will permit and encourage absolute freedom of Tbe Spectat o r ' s columns, that administration stands branded as a dictatorship of tbe worst sort...
...the world is our nation, Every worker is our kin, Together wo can build the world anew, And now we can begin...
...Eugene Debs was sent to jail in Woodstock, III, for trying to help his fellow man...
...And thrown him out without even going through the motions of granting htm a hearing...
...a. F. Beck win speak on The Earlier Playa of Eugene O'Neill," Sunday at 0 P. M„ In tbe Labor Temple, 14th street and Second avenue...
...At 8 o'clock, Haridas Muzumlar will speak on "Tbe Crisis In India...
...He really got off easy...
...After all, l t is t b e most popular of the few good fighting songs we have . . . and singing is a serious business with those who march in the dream . . . What I offer above is in the nature of a sketch...
...mn»r<IUrf«lf for tlm tie : H » I M w m i l i w s to be v«rv tame The Chatterbox Net Words for Old Songs i hi ImStm^HuiioHait...
...But every time, in my memory, at any rats, which goes back as far as Columbia affairs are concerned much farther than I care to admit, that there has been s show-down on the liberalism of Butler, he has flopped This time, he and his yes-man Dean Hawkes have thrown out the fighting editor of the college daily up at Columbia, a kid named Reed Harris...
...Reed Diaeassed tbe Depression Tbe football racket, continued secrecy as t o t h e financial affairs of the Athletic Association, the fraternity system, tbe hollow campus traditions, tbe paste-board Student Board—these things to t h e university life have been repeatedly attacked Tbe tactics of t h e administration j in its attempt to force submission of Spectator editorials to.Nacom— I Senior honorary society- before they were to appear, came to for s t e rn attack...
...And we did and now we've got a new sold in our note and are gloomier than ever...
...Further substantiation at that time was impossible because the waiters on whose protests Harris had based his action refused to press their complaints in view of the danger of losing their positions...
...That dividend payments of the mortgage guaranty companies have been cut to tbe bone...
...Shake them of and sing in words of thunder, "W* will hove no more of you...
...Continuing our home work, we read to a recant Issue of "Tbe Journal of Commerce" that power output for the fourth week of last March as compared with tbe corresponding week J n 1981 dropped off ten per cent...
...Classes Are Deserted Mass meetings on Monday and Tuesday of this week, attended by hundreds of students, were fol lowed Wednesday by a meeting lasting all through the morning and far into the afternoon as students urged support of the strike, cheered the reports of the shutting down of classes as each hour rolled around, and uniting in enthusiastic support of the demand that Reed Harris be reinstated...
...iBJfo & sr^(MP 0*s^l^PsWlV^m JfOU JftAjT ^iiabe^aases' -Jfcaat have given up reeding enUrely s a d are devoting our time to being disagree aula s90Esa...
...These words a r e tentatively offered after so many requests and remarks have been made regarding the unslngability of the Kerr translation out of Eugene Potter's stirring French...
...No other offense has ever been visited with such severe' penalties as seeking to help the oppressed...
...He never felt fear...
...Charged with libel against the college dining room, Harris showed that the particular libel of which he was accused consisted of quoting from last year's Spectator...
...The expulsion followed...
...CHOKUS : Th* Red Down's breaking, Th* dread night is done . . . Together let us rise and lake Our place beneath the sun...
...I hone he goes right on...
...There may have lived some time, some where, a kindlier, gentler, more generous man than Eugene V. Debs, but I have never known hint Nor have I ever read or heard of another...
...Miss Carneal has set her spineless crew down ia tbe depths of a Bernarr MacFadden gutter, but she .could have found their counterparts almost everywhere, even to the comfortable offices of college professors, who sneak around and ten you on the q.L that they a r e with you, but that they can't say anything about it, a t least not B O W , with tbe board of trustees listening to...
...IV t can tome U with a song . . , For too long hove wt been burdened under By th* masters aad their crew...
...That Senator Cousens fears that tbe railroads have got into such a mesa that government, ownership of tbe weakest of them may be their only salvation...
...He had the courage of the babe who has no conception of the word or its meaning...
...revert to one of our favorite themes, namely tbe disgusting hyprocrisy of Nicholas Murray Butler, our onetime college president...
Vol. 13 • April 1932 • No. 15
