Sailors' Freedom Imperilled by League of Nations Code:
FURUSETH, ANDREW
Sailors' Freedom Imperilled by League of Nations Code: By ANDREW FURUSETH Piesident, International Seamen • Uuiea THE seaman of every country, . save and except the United States of America, ia...
...Whan tea gee* men mat by theantalvae at Geaoa, and in the meeting there were osB-csrs at well as men before tha mast, a resolution asking the work...
...In the first twelve months of its existence, The New Leader, under the competent direction of its able editor-in-chief and his associates, has been an invaluable source of information, a wise counselor and a reliable guide to all of us...
...If we were to apply the same ideas that are being accepted by the League commission as to what is of a public character and what is a private matter, there would be nothing to hinder the establishment on shore of term contracts to labor, enforceable by imprisonment, on the railroads, in the | mines, in the factories, or in any : other l-tisinesx or vocation...
...During the short twelve months of its existence it has given valuable service to the workers in arousing them to the necessity of organizing on the political field as well as in industry...
...The seaman is held to the vessel by owing service and labor to the vessel, which he must continue to pay until the term of the contract is ended...
...There exists a great necessity in this Eastern part of our country for a clear-cut, strong-voiced publication like The New Leader...
...Under the laws prevailing in northern European countries he was a freeman...
...The captains of finance and industry have a powerful press ever ready to do their bidding...
...There was hardly a time in the history of Socialism in (his country that called for greater clarity of thought and wisdom and unity of action than the present...
...It is for this reason that the ideas underlying the provisions in the proposed code would go toward reestablishing the "Babylonian concept of human society," namely, that of master and slave...
...In general the editorials are broad-minded and I am sure that they command the respect of all progressive elements...
...to the ship...
...And a sin...
...The New Leader is still a youth and ia aubjeet to the law of development...
...Your publication has at all times consistently defended the cause of Labor from the sincere viewpoint of its editors and its power and influence are growing with each succeeding issue...
...lead among Labor publications' "The Beit Service Possible" By PHILIP ZAUSNr^ 1REALLY do not know what to suggest to make a better Leader...
...This was to be expected considering that it has represented the Socialist Party in the matter of political action and the aspirations of (be progressive trade unions...
...t By JOHN M. WORK Associate Editor, Milwaukee Leader IT IS a genuine pleasure to ma to see The New Leader attain success and enter upon its second year with excellent prospects...
...While some differ in the character of the material they would have The New Leader carry they are in general agreement regarding the kind of publication it should he...
...Deserves 100,000 Readers" By BERTHA HALE WHITE Executive Sec'y of the Socialist Party AN ANNIVERSARY] Anniversaries announce the passing vcars...
...In other words, through the civil law, which in lieu of suits for dsmsges provided specific amount'- Manifestly, this is not equality before the law...
...pass 1,000 years of egotistic la/.i...
...It was started to fill a keenly felt want and Is filling it effectively...
...Acknowledged With Thanks -TIn asking representatives of organizations and institutions supporting The New Leader for a few words greeting It upon its first anniversary we have also asked them for suggestions and criticisms...
...xo\ m,._»,' jiiaTisqiiuos...
...Let them employ themaelves in finding aoma Way to> abolish slavery in Hedjaz or in some other place where slavery is rampant within the league's jurisdiction in place of trying to abolish freedom where it hat been gained.—(Front letters written to Albert Thomas, Chief of Labor Office of the League of Nations...
...The New Leader's editorials, special article!!, book reviews, party news, discussions of tactics and party management, always informing, all done in wide-minded fairness, good taste, sound judgment and fearlesH loyalty —make The New Leader's arrival a matter of significance to me...
...Comrades of The New Leader, you who have brought the paper to its first anniversary through a year of splendid service to our sacred cause, accept, please, my assurances of great admiration and sincere gratitude...
...under the circumstances, to the trade unions, as well as to the Socialist movement...
...In other words, the contract ia enforced on the seaman through the Criminal Law and the loaa of personal freedom, either as a seaman on the vessel or as a prisoner incarcerated in a jail...
...gle year, devoted, with force, cour-, ace, and intelligence to the high service of a great ideal may far sur...
...Nothing except the pleasure of the master of the vessel, sickness, or the changing of the national flag ran release the seaman from his contract, which in his own country is enforced by imprisonment or by being placed against his will on hoard of the vessel under the laws of such country, In a foreign country it is enforced by treaties between states or nations, The shipowner can, in every country, release himself from the contract "for cause" without compensation for the violation of contract and without any cause upon the payment of from one to three months' extra wages...
...I have iniit-li cause to realize very clearly the great value of The New Leaner to tno Socialist movement and the cause of Labor's greater life in this country...
...in ] feelings, not in figures on a dial...
...to liberate the teamen was defeated, the officers generally voting for its continuation, those representing the seamen before tha mast voting for its abolition...
...Upholsterers' International Union of North America MY heartiest greetings to The New Leader on its first birthday...
...and in that conference tha resolution which was defeated at Genoa was unanimously adopted...
...The public officials dealing with the seamen would, of course, ba the consuls, and my experience with nearly all of them, either through my own personal contact or the contact of my shipmates, has been such that we seamen nearly always expect the consul to use his power to sustain the master...
...A number of contributors have accepted the invitation and their views will be found in this issue...
...He Knew bondage as it applied to others, never as applied to himself...
...Common Law forbids one person to leave any other person where hia life may be jeopardized, and, of course, that should apply to (he seamen just like to other persons...
...If the jurists can not under* ttand that, they had batttr leave, the sea to the seamen...
...In conclusion let me t-oiigralulaln The New Leader on its editorship and management whose - initiative made it possible to take its...
...Sailors' Freedom Imperilled by League of Nations Code: By ANDREW FURUSETH Piesident, International Seamen • Uuiea THE seaman of every country, . save and except the United States of America, ia working under a contract running a specific time and enforceable by imprisonment 01 fcy being arrested, detained in prison and then, upon order oi the master, returned to hie ship...
...And, after all, that is reasonable, because he is there to look after trsde and commerce mainly, and because he is usually saturated with the ideas that a aeaman is lying in order to be permitted to leave his vessel...
...When will your jurists understand that when a vessel Is in motion sha is in danger to herself and her surroundings, and then the man on board must obey orders...
...When a vessel is in motion there danger...
...He was never a freeman...
...While it is impossible to fullfll the wishes of each reader because of the certainty of varying opinions, we are glad to have these various views presented...
...when the is moored there is none...
...Therefore, whenever an effort is made to publish a workers' newspaper to serve the wage earners and to throw light on the poison propaganda spread by the daily press contrpjlea by the open shop advocates, it .becomes our Imperative duty to recognize the...
...I should like to take this opportunity to say I hope the locals and branches will avail themselvea of Comrade Laidler's lessons for study classes, which constitute one of the many good featurea of the paper...
...The boy learned the value and beauty of freedom, and there arose a contest—very largely a silent one—between the status of the seaman and the concept of human freedom and human equality scf up as fundamental maxims of human life not only by the Christian religion but by the political philosophy coming as a blessing out of the great French Revolution...
...but when a vessel is in a safe hsrbor sha ia more safe then a house on shore, and there is no need of any compulsory labor...
...I think you are doing your very best and that, the Leader ia giving the best service possible...
...The peon is held to his mastei by his debt, which he owes to the master and which he cannot pay...
...May it steadily increase in power and extend to even wider fields of wholesome influence in the years to come...
...1 attest my good opinion by reprinting from its editorial or other columns...
...I have sailed under seven different flags...
...While the contract runs there is no distinction between the status ot the slave and the seaman: the slave belongs tc his master, the seaman belong...
...The Leader Among ! Labor Publications" By WILLIAM ROHN President...
...Later on in the same yealttthere was a conference at BrustelsTin which seamen, exclusive of licensed officer*, from the different nations were rep-resented...
...Until the modification of slavery came through the Christian religion, changing the slave into a serf—and that concept was applied to the seaman, making them tha children of the ship as the serfs were the children of the house—the seaman remained free...
...With the abolition of serfdom coming as a blessing from the French Revolution and the gradual abolition of slavery the workman on shore became a freeman, and it became imperative for the employer to give some consideration to the laborer's condition, because the laborer might leave him at an inopportune time...
...This caused sn improvement in the wages and condition of the laborer on shore...
...Being the official publication of the Socialist Party whose aim la to build up that organization, The New Leader is always mindful of that fact, but its editorial policy has not been narrow or dogmatic...
...We like it because it represents the sound policy and viewpoint of the constructive elements in the Socialist movement who consider the Labor movement not as a mere adjunct and handle to the political organization of the workers, but as the steady, irresistible and constructive effort of the wage-earners of America to organize within the shell of modern society the fundamental forces of the coming industrial cooperative commonwealth...
...Having reached its first anniversary The New Leader should continue the good work for many years jio come...
...It is our hope, with the aid of Ita devoted friends, to eventually make it the most pewarfnl weekly in its field, one that «ill he a potent influence in the Labor movement and that will help in strengthening the forces which are la reorgsniie the world for peace, equality af oapertunity aad Labor's emasripatiam...
...the hurrying flight of '' time, that's all—in so many cases, i For even 1,000 years may be empty, I barren as a desert, sterile as wide wastes of Arctic ice are sterile j through aeons of time...
...Beyond that no one should go...
...He is described as the chattel slave in the laws of Hammurabi of Babylonia...
...It has been a wolcome addition to the already established progressive publications...
...The boy who had in him the material out of which real seamen can be made, refused to go into a calling in which he was compelled to sacrifice that which he had been taught to consider the highest of all things in the world, and as a result there has been for sixty or seventy-five years a constant deterioration in the kind of boys and young men who seek the sea, until a cynic has described the personnel as very largely composed of "the takings, scrapings of hell, bedlam, and Newgate...
...The New Leader is the rightful inheritor of the old New York Call, which had fought the battles of our workers for a long string of years, and the.absence of which is still sorely felt to this day...
...With all my heart I join the thousands of its readers in congratulating our excellent paper on its first birthday...
...Aa long as serfdom existed on shore and the world had not yet perfected the system of insurance and limitation of liability the seaman's condition was superior to that of the average workman on shore...
...ropa who take a different view from me on this question...
...It is my personal hope, and I am sure it is the hope of all sincere friends of the Labor movement, that The New Leader will grow in influence and power, and that, after the present transitory period is over, it may serve as n nucleus for a big and influential Labor and Socialist daily paper in the East...
...The political policy of American Labor, which is, after all, the prime concern of our movement, will be fashioned for good or evil within the next few years, and the part which the Socialists will play in shaping its course will determine their future as a factor in the political life of the country...
...I am sura that all of the trade union newa and topics in need of publicity will always find space in The Leader...
...for verily—after all—we do 1 "live in deed?, not years...
...As a Socialist and a trade unionist I like The New Leader very well and I know that my sympathetic attitude towards it is shared by hundreds of other aeiiv> Labor men in our ranks...
...The Spokesman For Socialism" By ABRAHAM BAROFF General Secretary-Treasuirr, Int'l Ladies' Garment Workers' Union THE NEW LEADER, the Socialist weekly of New York, is one year old and has, during this brief space of time, earned for itself the position of spokesman for the Socialist movement in the eastern part of our country...
...worth apd value of such an effort and help it along...
...Through the ages ho worked himself out of that status into the status of a freeman as a member of the Roman collegia...
...How Slavery Came It is perfectly true that the banian of Mediterranean countries never knew freedom...
...Believing that The New Leader is a cooperative achievement of its readara and supporters, we also believe that tbey are entitled to share in the presentation of views as to whst they believe The New Leader should be...
...1 found the lawi substantially alike...
...The shipowner msy release himself and the vessel by the payment of a small amount of money, so small that it is of very little consequence to him...
...Every week you pour into our movement the general news, both national and international, most intelligently digested and interpreted...
...Both the business snd editorial staffs are grateful to contributors for their suggestions and they may be asaured that their viewa will be considered...
...If this goes on, sea power inevitably will go to , rum and nations in which the American and European concept el human liberty baa not been developed or id nonexistent...
...How happy I should be if The New Leader might have, right soon, its deserved 100,000 readers, in-structed and thrilled each week for the supreme task of -oinr time, the dethronement of the masters of the bread, the freedom and the fairer Ufa for the tons and daughters of toil...
...rifice through so many years, the idea of a weekly paper was conceived as the only practicable though an entirely inadequate substitute...
...Thire ia no material distinction be tween the aerf and the seaman: the serf belongs to the estate and car not leave it legally without the mas ter's permission, and that is exactlj the condition or status of the seaman...
...i Such a thought is natural when ! my mind turns to the lusty young i New Leader, now but one year old...
...Thus following what the seamen understood to ba the action of the International Labor Conference held under the auspices of the Labor office at Genoa...
...4 Orientals Back Purussdb * The statement is mad* thai uwre are representatives of seamen in Eu...
...I have had a rather wide experience in a practical way with maritime laws...
...Be* yond that no one has any right to go...
...His wsges doubled, quadrupled, and even quintupled, while the seaman, held in the shackles of his status, found his condition deteriorating from what it was, not only as compared with the laborer on shore but in many respects as a matter of fart...
...All good wishes for The New Leader...
...r "A Wise Counselor" By MORRIS HILLQUIT W-jhs pun aiJ»8nj}g A|iap uj uieqi ,Cq pouitqutmu uaaq puq ipiifM 'lisj eqi ;o jotju.i.unti »tri 'j.tpw.rj Apttp eq) jo uotiB3l[qnd pu.iilsnn ot pjj.m...
...The New Leader in the first year of its existence has demonstrated that a good weekly publication has a distinct and important place in the movement whieh cannot be filled by a dnily paper, no matter how well edited^ A weekly magazine addresses itself to the meAnd women actively engaged in the Socialist movement and keenly interested in its theoretical and practical problems, rather than to a larger and more fixed circle of readers...
...boss...
...The demand that education be extended to the common man caused schools to be established, and the schoolmaster went not only into every city and town but into every village...
...it can survey social and political events in a more reasoned and deliberate vein than a publication forced to follow the swift and hectic current of daily or hourly "news," and, above all, it- can serve as an efficient me-aiuni for the exchange of thought and formulation of policies in connection with the daily work of our movement...
...Laagua Plan Spclla Bondage As I understand the Cenoa instructions, regulations of a public character would have to do with the seaman's conduct at sea or when a vessel is in motion, and hence a danger to herself or her surroundings...
...1 have studied the status of the seaman, so far as literature could give it to me, and I have found in that status the cause for the deterioration of the personnel at sea and the reason why high-spirited boys and young men are refusing to seek the sea for a livelihood...
...The difference between the concept advanced at Genoa and the concept which I am contending for is in what is held* to be of a public character as distinct from those that partake of a private character, and arise out of the relations between the master and the seaman while in harbor...
...the Japanese, as ft whole, voting for its abolition...
...manifestly, this Is not in accordance with the decision made by the Genoa conference...
Vol. 2 • January 1925 • No. 4
