TIMELY TOPICS

...Hence I made inquiries in Washington about the situation...

...The state's attorney, a man named Coale, whose removal I vainly sought from Governor Horner when I was in Illinois, was scarcely more than the errand boy for the company lawyer...

...There will be plenty to do here at home in the struggle for peace and for the effective organisation of the workers against Fascism...

...and all the rest of it is necessary...

...The real prosecutor was the attorney for the Peabody Coal Company...

...Tha Russian Trials 'T'HE Tory government in England burnt its fin* gers in premature protest of the certain innocence of these Englishmen brought to trial in Soviet Russia...

...It should apply to all workers of both sexes...

...It is true thst Rossis combines with the best penal system ia the world for the treatment of criminals a ruthless secret police and an open identification of her courts with her political government All ot which means that Soviet justice in the case of political suspects is by no means above reproach...

...Never was 1 more convinced of the necessity of the recognition of Soviet Russia for the sake of the peace and well being of mankind...

...Matozzo and Dupire were leaders of the Progressive Miners...

...On the other hand, if unity can be accomplished "it will be an enormous boon...

...He adds that the Communist P- "s hatred of us is to intense that "it cannot write a single communication without its being full of villiflcation, hinder and lies...

...The work camps seem to be taking on the military aspects we feared...

...I am deeply grateful to friends known and unknown who had already done so much to make possible a trip which I trust is only postponed...

...Comrade Coolidge approved, although aware of the character of Communist actions which he thinks will continue...

...Comrade Hillquit held that the proposal required serious deliberation and should not be disposed of by a mail vote, and also declared that past offers of the Communists had been "insincere and treacherous" and the recent one "bristles with gratuitous slsnders of our party...

...those voting "yes" were Coolidge, Hapgood, Hoopes, Krzycki and Thomas...

...The Legislature MIGHTLY little genuinely useful legislation has been passed by the Legislature in these days of emergencies...

...It is a bad record snd it is a bad record because we have not yet succeeded in uniting snd organising the workers in their own behalf...

...Since the' Wilson administration it has been kept out of politics...

...For Socialists it is a tragedy that MacDonald comes now no longer as a Socialist idealist, but as s muddle-headed orator about peace who consents to be the window dressing for a reactionary Tory administration...

...It is hard enough to see how Socialists could make a Socialist beginning under |he Constitution without magnifying our own later difficulties by appearing now as strict Constitutionalists, It will be time to worry about the Constitution and dictatorship when Roosevelt in Washington does what McNutt did in Indiana or when Congress begins arbitarily to postpone elections, as did the Indiana legislature...

...The Black bill is perhaps most vulnerable constitutionally, and yet it is the kind of bill we want...

...I have repeatedly expressed my doubts of the farm relief plan...

...These conferences to be initiated in Washington will be significant...

...on 'United Front' HP...

...Certainly the case against the Englishmen is convincing, it is net a case se oe answered simply by saying that Soviet justice is ruthless sad unfair...

...Whether capitalist nationalist statesmen can travel at all In the road of real internationalism is more than doubtful...

...I am writing before the final verdict...

...It takes more thsn s Democratic friend of labor in the Governor's chair —a Democratic friend who remains in an old party— to further the emancipation of labor...

...It wss ths whols administration wheih has done nothing to meet the pressing problem of unemployment relief until the people have hsd time to vote in November on s bond issue...

...Reforms and a Program IT is too early ot tell how successful Mr...

...Neither do/we want to appear as rigid Constitutionalists...

...We may disapprove of some administrative bills and still believe that it is not the function of the Supreme Court to be final arbiter of our destiny...

...The minimum wage law may do some good...

...Every day makes it clearer that the money changers are back in the temple and will stay there...

...Comrade Hoopes approved, although he would not trust the Communists, "for with them the keeping of a promise is merely evidence of bourgeois ethics...

...and yet we should be the last to close the door...

...In no way does this imply any loss of Interest in the lessons Russia has to teach us...

...His use to us is that of a warning example of what not to do...

...I have been categorically informed by Major General Ashburn, Chairman of the Board, president of the Inland Waterways Corporation, and by the Secretary of War that under no circumstances will employes of the Barge Line be bothered about politics...

...We want to be on our guard against anything that leads to dictatorship, but I do not j think that as yet America has gone dangerously far along the line of making the President a dictator...

...Roosevelt as Governor or candidate seems to see that there are international implications to the problem of prosperity...

...If its places were now to be opened to the spoils system, it would be a calamity and it would be an exceedingly dangerous precedent in a country which will have to increase the area of government operation...

...Only a capital levy drastically applied to a reduction of the whole burden of debt by scientific determination of the points at which that burden is heaviest will avail...

...Other cases in Christian County remain to be tried, and farther south in Illinois letters from friends as well as the news in the papers tell me that the reign of terror still continues, notably in Franklin County...

...A rigid interpretation of the Constitution would block every bit of Socialist activity...

...It will be a calamity if the Supreme Court knocks out Roosevelt legislation so far enacted on Constitutional grounds...

...Roosevelt as President far more clearly than Mr...

...For example, what we are criticising is not Roosevelt the man, but the capitalist system even if reformed...

...At any rate, his Secretary of State has said some encouraging words on that subject...

...Roosevelt's plan for re-financing certain farm mortgages and the home mortgages, they are doubtless well intentioned...

...Comrade Thomas wrote that he "could not .too strongly urge the adoption of this proposal...

...It is not the President's power, but the use he makes of the potfer which ought to concern us...

...The Barge Line WHEN I was in Louisiana I heard that Senator Huey Long was boasting that he was going to reward his faithful followers with at least 200 places on the Mississippi River Barge Line...

...Even Harding and the Ohio gang let it alone...

...We Socialists in powerwould have to emulate the President's vigor in getting] things done...

...Hillquit added, our International is engaged in negotiations with the Communist International snd "it urgently requests all affiliated parties, including our party, to refrain from separate negotiations," which he considers wise and reasonable...

...Comrade Graham disapproved on the ground that Communists "should cease to malign those whose cooperation they desire" and because we cannot expect organised workers to cooperate with Communists...

...Comrade Krzycki of Milwaukee made the motion and Daniel Hoan disapproved,, holding that we cannot approve until the Communist Party ceases to "take its orders from Moscow and until such time as the internationals get together on a workable program...

...But the acquittal of Matozzo and Dupire is in itself a good omen and shows what a friendly rather than a hostile audience can do in a county...

...For the sake of' our own members and especially the younger people "it must be made obvious that it is they (Communists) who sabotage the united front, not we who disdainfully reject it...

...He missed an immense opportunity in the banking crises...

...Moreover, of the money devoted to public works at least half should go to housing in order thst we may make a beginning under public authority in catching up with a city like Vienna, the abolition of flats, shacks and slums...

...Roosevelt * will be even in moderate reform...

...Indeed, that some one can lead is heartening...

...A Personal Note IT is a matter of keen regret to mo that circum* stances beyond my control have forced me to abandon, at least for this summer, my projected trip to Russia and possibly to other parts of Europe...

...I think, Bowever, we ought to make the nature of our criticism plain...

...Perhaps Governor Lehman has kept some evil politics a little way out of the beer bill...

...He declared his belief that the party may be harmod if "we can be made tgyippcar to bo blocking any kind nr united action," but he was skeptical whether "the Communists will undertake united action on honorable terms...

...He may m»v.e a partially sincere sympathy with the underdog, but he mixes that up with such egotism, unscrupulousness and general ranting, if nothing worse, that he is more of an imitation American Hitler than a savior of the people...

...As for Mr...

...He would like to see the proposal attempted in certain matters, "then we could tell better how far to go...

...It is not clear that he has coordinated program rather than a miscellaneous set of reforms some of which will step on the toes of the others...

...The pity of it is that the probable guilt of these Englishmen snd the premature and excited protests of the British government inevitably tend to strengthen the opinion in Russia that the use of the GPU...

...As some farmers have written me many of them are likely to pay as consumers more than they will gain as producers, especially if they do not produce in quantity any of the commodities allegedly to be benefitted by the plan...

...It was a Democratic Senate which defeated the power bill...

...A Victory for Labor DV contrast with the shame of the Scottsboro verdiet came the good news that Matozzo and Dupire, indicted for murder in Christian County, Illinois, were acquitted by the jury...

...As usual, the politicians covered their tracks by dividing responsibility between s Democratic Senate and Republican Assembly...

...Besides, mortgage holders are likely to get the first benefits of increased prices...

...Incidentally, the fact that Huey Long threatened the holders of these jobs shows what a dangerous sort of demagogue he is...

...IE National Executive Commlttee of the Socialist Party recently had a motibn before it providing for a committee to meet . h committee of the Communist Party to discuss united action...

...Now the Mississippi River Barge Line is s very efficiently run enterprise operated by the government...

...Criticising use President COCIALISTS have plenty to criticise in the acts of the Roosevelt Administration...

...N.E.G...

...This is decidedly encouraging...

...As an emergency measure I should rather see straight pricefixing than this complicated machinery...

...He held that united action is very desirable, but we should have more convincing proofs of good faith...

...Their effect upon the precarious financial structure is doubtful...

...Both are members of the Socialist Party...

...It was a Democratic Sensta which made possible a sales tax which President Roosevelt is supposed to disapprove...

...The motion was lost by a vote of 6 to 5. Those voting "no" were Hillquit, Graham, Hoan, McLevy, Packard and Lilith Wilson...

...But unemployment insurance, charter revision for New York City, a bill to permit public authorities to operate power plants, and a lot of other measures have been doomed...

...Certainly they cannot clean up the situation...