THE Chatter-Box
THE Chatter-Box America—Seven Yean Later And now that tk* brats end Uu kirn hurrah, Tk* dance of tkt Hood To tkt trooper'* rhythmic thud, Tkt glint of blades In tkt furl of fin* parades— Tkt...
...But l h«* idlers, the libertines and lounge lizards, find their costly revels curtailed...
...James mournfully observes that "After visiting all the half dozen cabarets—all nearly deserted —I returned to my hotel convinced that the proletariat had certainly put the city's high life next to ruin...
...For Lincoln said of Polk, in Congress on January 12, 1848: "Having originally some strong motive . . . to involve the two countries in war, and trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory—that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood, that serpent's eye that charms to destroy—he plunged into it, and was swept on and on till, disappointed in his calculation of the ease with which Mexico might be subdued, he now finds himself he knows not where...
...Or Lincoln's statement to a committee of the Workingmen's Association of New York City after he became President: "The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, ahould be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds...
...when they or* hazy With fine thought He kas wrought— ; People call him lazy...
...Out of Titusville, California, come* thli gem: To Our Cat Wkere are you, Lady Smolttf We do to mitt you, dear...
...The Senate has decided that it has the authority to initiate a revenue measure to raise funds to increase postal salaries, but enough Senators have not decided that the salaries should be increased...
...In a blundering way...
...For our ruling classes to claim Lincoln and pay homage to his memory is to insult the man and to desecrate his tomb...
...Meantime it dawns upon the ruling clique that the peasant masses may sweep them into oblivion and a few bones are thrown to them In the hope that they will become reconciled...
...Or this from the First Inaugural: "Labor is prior to and independent to Capital...
...A marked rural class of wage workers offers an opportunity which the I. L. P. is now taking up with that systematic planning which characterizes all its work...
...But they also go on to assume that if middlemen are wiped out the revenue which they exact as a toll upon commodities will be saved for the masses...
...Why did they do it...
...Wkere tke rose it He thrusts violet...
...It should be observed that amnesty and granting of electoral privileges to the non-Communist working class organizations and parties are not conceded...
...Land of our yean, Still too young for tears...
...But a few items here and there show that it is the "glory" of the speculators, profiteers and exploiters that is passing...
...New kcrds arise With faitk in witkered litt...
...A monopoly by the nation organized as an industrial democracy is a blessing...
...Terrible prospect...
...j We have found it necessary in our p*» egoistic manner at times to chisel a *°JJ or even a stanza here or there so aa mm it into our standards...
...Another indication of the ripeness of the Socialist movement of Great Britain is the recent decision of the Independent Labor party to win rural England for Socialism...
...To secure to the laborer the whole product of his labor, or as nearly as possible, is a worthy object of any good government...
...It all depends upon who possesses it and in whose interest it is administered...
...It is preparing the economic structure for collective ownership and control—in a word, Socialism...
...TOWARDS MONOPOLY THE very interesting contribution of our friend Western Starr, which appears on another page, presents one consideration which warrants comment...
...o ..if] Dreamer's Eyes Sir hit eyes of lorrouf Staring through Me and you Right into the morrow...
...Yes, Vienna is "a spectre of departed glory...
...They were pioneers and the workers of every country are indebted to them...
...A monopoly of the powers of production, distribution, communication or credit by private owners is a collective curse...
...The most important principles of the Socialist movement are expressed in these statements of Lincoln...
...Try to imagine a Coolidge as the author of such a statement...
...In other words, the dictatorship is not regarded with affection by the peasants and they may resort to an uprising...
...In that we are thor^C] Communistic...
...j' The florist isolates her btauty From him who need* it most...
...Capital is only the fruit of Labor, or could never have existed...
...James who had Leningrad (then Petrograd) burnt to the ground a dozen times and Lenin dead so often that it was difficult to keep the score...
...There are those who see in the middlemen useless functionaries who add to the 'cost of distribution, and they are correct...
...He told the people of Illinois that they bad sent their sons "to record their infamy and shame in the blood of poor, innocent unoffending people, whose only crime was weakness...
...Yet...
...Tkorn* making kin Of pleasure and pain...
...and poetical entriea to our Column end rap ular contests...
...A beautiful thoaaf I ahould belong to no one...
...James admits that the Socialists have carried out an extensive housing program for the workers of Vienna and that the city also has a cash balance of between $15,000,-000 and $20,000,000...
...Guards tke prize from him Wko can only grasp...
...It appears to us that a program of anti-monopoly is futile and an attempt to go back to a former industrial era...
...A great banker ia advising farmers to raise more corn this year, but 'the experience of the farmers the 'oast few years is that raising more emgati to prodtsctag awga fdsuseec tee They Hated Him Alive, But Honor Him Dead *'Clpwn...
...Knowing...
...He said that the United States Government was engaged in "rapine and murder, robbery and dishonor...
...Its various publishing agencies for nearly a decade have been issuing books, pamphlets and tracts that are remarkable in their evidence of research and sound scholarship...
...THE Chatter-Box America—Seven Yean Later And now that tk* brats end Uu kirn hurrah, Tk* dance of tkt Hood To tkt trooper'* rhythmic thud, Tkt glint of blades In tkt furl of fin* parades— Tkt boom, tk* Meat Of tk* mad tpie years Art tckoing in tkt post...
...H ABRAHAM LINCOLN FAT politicians without a modern idea, "thoughtful" people who do not think, reactionaries who venerate Bourbon traditions, hundred percenters who fear important and necessary changes, financial spiders and bloated masters of our industrial life, all pay homage to Abraham Lincoln...
...Please remember, dear friends, ^¦••j poeni should be aa near perfect in fnrB •» j meaning as possible, and where a wore I two changed may help towards that Hon or clearer meaning, it is a tenefe**) nnd not vandalism...
...James is informing readers of the Times that Socialist Vienna is "staggering on the brink of chaos...
...There are restaurants, tobacco stores, shoe stores and other businesses where the middleman is wiped out, but the saving goes not to the masses but to the great corporations that have entered the field of distribution...
...But it was inevitable that leadership should pass to the British Socialists following the end of the World War...
...Corrupting the heart d With hurt...
...Meantime, Coolidge would have the postal workers "keep cool" even if they cannot keep quiet while the Senate juggleB with the matter...
...Cloying nostrils...
...The elimination of middlemen is certainly desirable, but not for the reason often advanced...
...If Stanton said at Lincoln's death that "now he belongs to the ages" we may also say that he belongs to the working-class not only of this country but of the world...
...o Rote in a Florist's Shop Scarltt, alivt, hynotie, Passionate...
...These organizations suspended their criticisms and opposition to the dictatorship during the civil war...
...Beauty from wJJJJ ever source ahould immediately become K, j lie property...
...Great Britain is the most advanced capitalist country abroad and the English working class has risen to its responsibilities since the end of the war...
...The past must be buried," but the great crime that cannot be forgiven and for which men and women must rot in prison and exile is to believe that the Bolshevik program is not adapted to Russia These working-class prisoners may continue their hunger strikes and commit suicide as a protest, but there is no relief for them...
...Here are some of the reasons: Lincoln, as a member of Congress, denounced the war against Mexico...
...We believe this to be an erroneous conclusion...
...He observes that the night revels of the new-rich spawned by the war are disappearing...
...Ok, faitkful, gentle eat, . , Are you, in Paradise— ¦' •, Getting sleek and fat On heavenly milk and mket Alfred G. Sanf tleben...
...In 1847 he had written that "Inasmuch as most good things are produced by Labor, it follows that all such things belong of right to those who produced them...
...We congratulate our British comrades upon their inheritance from their German comrades and their taking up the new and fruitful work that lies before them...
...stances we have heard fierce shrieks of P*" from the poetical parents, and quite the aw jorlty of these have Insisted that we pubusf...
...And in I Iff...
...Somehow, it seemed to be a shame to do that to Vienna...
...A NEW ERA OF BRITISH SOCIALISM ALL observers of the international Socialist movement are aware that the leadership has paneed from the Germans to the Brit-talk...
...Still spoiling away Tke tpltndor of a day...
...VIENNA'S°"SHAME" AFEW years ago if you wanted to be misinformed on Russia you could fill your head with everything that was not so by reading the dispatches of Edwin L. James to the Times...
...However, the ignorant masses who made up the Czarist armies receive the blessing of the dictators...
...Mark hi* eye* of wondor, Eager, glad, Shy and tad— Power there, like thunder...
...Every business men's club and association of manufacturers heaped insults upon the man whose memory we celebrate today...
...He declared that President Polk "is deeply conscious of being in the wrong, and feels the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to heaven against him...
...ourself few well, we also know how herd a lot of p*J pie poets be to satisfy In everything...
...One important thing accomplished by the elimination of middlemen, h<r*-•ver, is to advance the work of <<>i-', lective and scientific organization of •*^»^*ie»s»s»rtsCy l**\ ^B^&QXQ^**^^^ dCstJef aW,,e» j cialization...
...He urged concessions to the peasants in the matter of criticism "or else they will resort to criticism by means of a rising...
...And if any of our iaaa"Jj find flaws or have suggestions of chang' j make in any of our poems, eend them a" and we ahall even be glad to make I*~j j acknowledgment, if the change will P~fql er aahaaoo...
...Monopoly may be good or bad...
...RUSSIAN "AMNESTY" REPORTING to the Moscow section of the Communist party, Stalin last week said that officials returning from the rural districts often made misleading reports that "everything goes well...
...So that's that...
...The past must be buried," said Rykoff...
...Aa* furthermore, we have always announce* that poetry can aave itself a great deal • unnecessary hardahip by being as bad ai» might be within the fewest possibls lie* So please, defer contribs, let us all be I*" sensitive and,more sensible about our bra* children...
...Many of them were killed and many were crjppled for life...
...When the Union League Clubs and Chambers of Commerce rise after heavy meals to toast the name of Lincoln next Thursday, let them read aloud this charge that the (ireat Emancipator hurled, in the midst of war, against a President of the United States...
...0 k—.eTsleedhaaeafl modern capitalism...
...H. L. at...
...Believing that it now has working organizations in most of the cities and towns of England, it begins the campaign for winning the countryside...
...Javek or Fate, attend ut in our hate, Or we may ttray...
...And every day Men die for aged blunder...
...How like the half-insane mumbling of a fever dream is the whole war part of his late message to Congress...
...For tkot* wko tang And madt tuck brave harangue, And ligktly reaped Wkile stiffened cotpstt htaptd, A nd that* wko told God't greatest gifts for gold, Tktrt it no vert* In all anatkema to tptak the eurtt...
...Even in this field the British workers have supplanted the Germans...
...We submit that if any American city could show this excellent achievement it would be regarded as remarkable, but Mr...
...That was the Lincoln of real life, now draped in the clammy shroud of homage from our patrioteers...
...These we can only ani**ft with an editorial hauteur and arbitrariness that the choice rests with ua, and if we eA then we just err...
...Now Mr...
...Every great employer of labor jeered at his name...
...James has not revealed the shame of Vienna...
...The f newer rwdawd iatalMtiii the earliest example of political organization...
...The Socialists, in spite of the inheritance of terrible misery and poverty from the war, have carried out a remarkable program of housing the workers and also have a handsome surplus to show as well...
...But there is no amnesty for the latter, no restoration of electoral privileges...
...disown them from their "cured" preg...
...We think it was Mr...
...This is the trend of the times and it is one that is desirable as well as inevitable...
...the general excellence of the contribution...
...Well, we are able to restrain our indignation...
...This decision is evidence that the movement in England has not only come of age but that it has reached a period when it must make the last drive that is required to batter down the walls of the capitalistic Jericho...
...How will you learn Wken men never learnt New leadtrt comt And pound tke ancient drum...
...It seemed a shame to do that to Vienna...
...Gorilla," ami "Traitor...
...Certainly this "republic of the workers," so much lauded by its organized squads and some "liberal" dandies here, once so promising and now so disappointing, is the queerest thing ever spawned...
...You tquander your nightt For silly lit tie lights— And ttart and moont Art only tints of tinsel For your silly tunes...
...It is a case of big fish eating smaller fish, but it brings no relief to the great toiling masses...
...They were the epithets hurled at Abraham Lincoln by the rich and reactionary "patriots" of seventy-five years agoEvery flag-waver spat at Abe Lincoln during the war with Mexico...
...Labor is the superior of Capital, and deserves much the higher consideration...
...If he lived now and said what he is known to have said, his speeches would be burned and he would be pillored as a "dangerous radical...
...The Internal Revenue Bureau sends out a warning to taxpayers not to overpay their income tax although it ig understood that the textile workers have not offended in this matter...
...He has only given us an opportunity"to look into his own mind and see how it works when the "departed glory" of former ruling classes stares him in the face...
...The Socialists have heavily taxed the drinks of the rich and Mr...
...This week Premier Rykoff announced to the congress of the Soviets of the Northern Caucasus that those who fought with the Czarist generals in the civil war against the Soviets would be granted amnesty...
...Henry Harrison, -oWe have received innumerable complain!* about our not being1 entirely considerate...
...British agriculture is more simple in its class divisions than in the United States...
...We kardly felt tk* yoke Of lift wkile you were near...
...However, we are not long left in doubt as to what he means...
...Before the British election that brought the Labor party into power he also solemnly affirmed that it would suffer a heavy loss...
...Tkere it still murk to tayi Muck that it bad— And all of ut art mad— So little good— Save wkere the ttickt of wood A nd mounds of tod Smile tkeir mate kerety At every god...
...Their electoral privileges would also be restored...
...Monopoly is not an evil in itself...
...Useful labor as the source of all wealth, the right of the workers to enjoy the fruits of their labor, the international solidarity of the workers of all countries, and capital having its source in the toil, sweat and genius of the toilers...
...James can only see in this an Austria "staggering on the brink of chaos...
...Their members fought in the Soviet armies against the Czarist generals...
...To mention Lincoln and to quote hit fundamental opi.tions is to e*tab-1 Itah a contrast beseem him and tke «...----a...
Vol. 2 • February 1925 • No. 6
