PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OR PUBLIC PLUNDER?
THOMAS, NORMAN
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OR PUBLIC PLUNDER? Smith Formulates A Plan to Aid the Public Utilities Combine And Calls It "Public Ownership"—A Socialist Criticism By NORMAN THOMAS Socialist Candidate For...
...At any rate the more I see, ! the more food for thought I find in the fate of other progressive movements which did not have our name,' or, what is more important, our philosophy...
...During the three weeks before Election* Day, Comrade Thomas will concentrate on New England and the Middle Atlantic states...
...To keep it they stop at no corruption of democracy as the people have occasion to know...
...The judge who sentenced them is the staunchest advocate of their innocence...
...Florida may follow suit...
...McCulloch stopped him, saying i firmly that there was no good reason for printing them in the record...
...Among the speakers being sent out by the National Campaign Headquarters are: Dan Hoan, Joe Caldwell Morris Hillquit, B. C. Vladeck, Frank Crosswaith, Judge Jacob Panken, William Karlin...
...To ilege and an inspiration for the future...
...He was never too sanguine about the League's possibilities, but, like many other Socialists of the farm districts, saw in It a possible means of tearing the farmers away from the two old parties...
...Or shall we support Otto F laueer, the Socialist candidate fo Sovernor...
...It is our shame and hurt and our children's if we cannot compel Gov...
...According to The Times, Smith went on i "As Owen D. Young said: 'The cost of energy developed from falling water is determined very largely by the cost of capital employed in the development...
...Nine months ago Nye of North Dakota and New" York City was berating Hoover and "the Republicans, but both have now caught up with the party band wagon and Jumped on triumphant if breathless with ah agility that would qualify them for an all around Olympic games championship...
...Cammans had arranged to have Station KSEI broadcast the entire meeting to the farmers within a radius of more than fifty miles...
...b) The establishment of a federal marketing agency, which, in friendly relations with the co-operatives, would seek, to cut the wastes of profit-making middle men in the markettog not of our surplus, but of our whole product...
...Both ' groups have common need for honest |and .efficient government, for the i preservation of liberty, for the establishment of true peace, for the end i of poverty...
...Four years ago Wheeler of Montana was telling all overt the country a funny story,, the point of which was that there isn't a quarter's worth of difference between the two old parties...
...Also in attendance were Judge Ben B Lindsey, and former Governor of Colorado William E. Sweet...
...The party's last candidate for governor issues a proHoover statement listing prohibition, protection and the present Mexican policy as great progressive policies...
...New York City built its own subways and then turned them over under contracts to operating companies which at every turn have sought to cheat their partner, the city...
...I always reply I am fighting for a cause, not a name, .but in my heart I wonder how true the theory is...
...None of us can be as strong as we ought till we who have backed these movements get together...
...We icant Boulder Dam and Muscle Shoals only as steps to this end, And the difference between us and Governor Smith—to aaj nothing of him party—« cJiarneteriatJc of the differences between ^"Ass^y who want to stand in, at tht Socialist Party Forces Advance In All the States National Executive Committee Receives Reports Show- ing Recovery of Old Vigor and Increasing Membership (Special to Trie new utaeri pLEVELAND, Ohio.—Records of concrete achievements were presented to the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party at its sessions here by G. August Gerber, National Campaign Manager, and William H. Henry, Executive Secretary...
...When he left Thursday night, after a good meeting at the Denver Woman's Club, the Socialist candidate left behind him a series of questions addressed to the Democratic nominee and Tammany leader designed to elicit more specific information about his position on vital issues...
...And why...
...Under tbe secretary ship of Roy Nlcodemus, ably assisted by Louis Sky, W. W. Wolfe and others, much work for Socialism is under way and more is planned...
...Or shall we suppoi Mayor Schmedeman, Madison's maj >r, for governor, on the Democrat] icket...
...Omaha an Unexpected Visit Omaha, Nebraska.—A visit to Omaha by August Claessens and myself was an unexpected treat Friday...
...Monday.—A week ago Norman Thomas...
...Entire PocateUo Meeting Broadcast PocateUo, Idaho—An attack on tbi company «"'«¦'-" of the Uniaa Pacific Railroad to vogue, to the Po catello yards of the company, dree, vigorous applause from an andlenoi oi some lour hundred railroad shop\ men and farmers addressed by Norman Thomas, Socialist candidate for ! President, on Tuesday evening in Po\ catello...
...It is disowned by the state parties of that name in Minnesota and South Dakota...
...I believe that the McNary-Haugen bill might be improved by further conference so that It would more clearly rebound to the benefit of the working farmer rather than the landlord processer or middle mnn...
...In the first place Governor Smith will not have the...
...Applause, cheers and laughter came quickly as be made telling counts .against Hoover sad Smith and then -> re tensions to the support of lufis —I voters...
...A public corporation whose securities: would be exempt from taxation under the Federal Law and State Law should produce, if properly set up, the required money substantially cheaper than a private corporation could obtain it.* ** Reduced to plain language, the Governor Smith—Owen D Young plan is this t The government is to invest Us funds, earn struct power plants and turn the power developed over to privmU companies (the General Electric certainly not the least amont them) which are to sell the power to consumers at rates to bt set by notoriously ineffecive public service commissions...
...To these Thomas alwayi extends an invitation to Jew the So delist movement If half of them young people mean business, the par ty is is for a glorious bunch of re© rafts...
...The town of Chugwater, where his farm is located, boasts of a large and' successful cooperative undertaking, w h re h brings unearned...
...Young had seen a committee and listened to a masterly argument by Frank P. Walsh in hk» behalf...
...The letters which the 'Capital lines' receives will be printed in The Zoice of the Peopte...
...I favor the St...
...He is in demand for Friday evening lectures and debates...
...At last the power trust, under probe at the hands of the Federal Trade Commission at the order of the Senate, has winced...
...Two things are certain about the farmer situation," he declared...
...As for the pamphlets, he claimed that people were attacking them who had not read themr Indeed, the American schools were now under attack because of these pamphlets...
...Here is the story town by town: I Salt Lake City v Springs a Surprise ¦ Salt Lake City, Utah.—A short letter to The New Leader last week outlined the essentials of Thomas' meeting In the Mormon capital...
...I believe the equalization fee is the heart of the measure and is necessary to keep the plan going and to check over-production...
...The public and the colleges were vitally interested in seeing that the true picture was presented...
...The first is the serious condition of the average farmer and the lack of balance between our industrial and our agricultural economy...
...The second certainty of the situation is that until November 6, both old parties will do everything they can to show they love the farmers, or their votes, except to give the farmers what they wanted by their support of the McNary-Haugen bill...
...In Denver,-' - i A Challenge to Smith Denver, Colorado.—Norman Thomas preceded Governor Smith to Denver by two days...
...What Governor Smith did in Denver was to repeat criticisms of the power trust, its lobby and its Republican supporters, which we Socialists have been making for months...
...In Duluth, " Minneapolis, Portland, Oregon, Utah and Idaho, a litjtle handful of comrades have by now done miracles in reviving the party...
...Also, he instated that the propaganda pamphlets that have been forced Into the public i scnools be printed in the written record, so that everyone may read their text along with the spoken testimony...
...Borah holds his after.' "I think that Borah, Brookhart, Wheeler, Nye and Frazler should have served on the American Olympic games team...
...The newspapers of the state always open their columns to his compelling expressions on current politics, and he had seen to it that the visit of Thomas had been well announced in tbe public prints...
...Billings, alas, is In another prison, and I could not see him, but I also saw Mat Schmidt, convicted In the famous McNamara affair...
...But Mooney permits himself no excess,of hope...
...Louis, presided, and gave an unnecessary refutation of a falsehood that had been spread in some local daily papers that he had endorsed Smith...
...I On three successive nights we held | fine meetings in halls owned by churches and loaned or rented reasonably to us...
...And what we want from the governor is not a parole for the innocent, but a pardon...
...What has sustained him these eleven long and bitter years is his indomitable fight for Justice...
...The membership throughout the country has increased by more than onethird over the same period last year...
...He is in perfect agreement with Mr...
...Some years ago, 12 organizers of the Non-Partiaan League worked under hie direction throughout the state...
...More frequently than not, the Socialist candidate and his party have had to rush to their meetings within a few minutes after arrival in town...
...Because organized labor on the most favorable interpretation is weak and absorbed in other things...
...Charters to States Comrade Henry, Executive Secretary, reported the granting of state charters to Wyoming, Louisiana, Virginia and Mississippi...
...Today Sky is tbe "works" behind the Socialist movement In this neck of the woods Me is a farmer of high standing In the community, >m<c »i aim i in —st "itirtos WASHINGTON...
...He says that contractual relations and regulatory commissions will take care of transmission...
...From all parts of the country we S«t letters of interest from person* who are willing to help spread the message of the party...
...A four hour visit in Omaha gave us a chance to meet and briefly address Branch 173 of the Workmen's Circle and give them welcome news of the progress of the campaign...
...If I ask the voters what Hoover and Smith would do about this they would probably tell me, correctly, that Hoover is the apologist for the Power Trust, lobby and all...
...It put forward new counsel at the hearing on Sept...
...his step was brisk...
...He is one of the four families of tbe original homesteaders who have stuck it out Before migration to the United States, he had been a Bundist, a Jewish Socialist, in the Baltic province in Russia...
...It was Important, however, that it be not allowed to lapse...
...Marcy B. Darnall, editor of the Florence, Ala., Herald and publisher of Darnall's Newspaper Service— a weekly sheet of "canned" editorials and bright quips—was the witness^He admitted that his editorial policy\s one of hostility to Government ownership of any description in the business field...
...In thnv Sky has been a pioneer...
...Lake too...
...ne> enfls latter *n*> « member ef the New York HiiLsasly...
...Perhaps he has it under preparation...
...California, cheered with the reception almost 3,000 workers had given his presentation of the Socialist message...
...Before Thomas' address your correspondent gave an outline of the Socialist movement and made an appeal for campaign funds which brought a good response...
...Or aha] we support Norman Thomas, the 8c ;ialist candidate for President...
...That the trust had begun to feel public hostility, as a result of the disclosure of its nationwide conspiracy to make up the minds of adults and children alike as to the wisdom of private ownership and the danger in' public ownership of utilities, was already known...
...Many old-timers are back In harases...
...He has been very sick...
...The "Capital Times" puts the problem up to its readers and it is offering ten dollars to the reader who sends the be°t lettpf i" answer to the questions raised by the "Times...
...But still innocent men stay in jail...
...These are Governor Smith's own words on the matter as reported in The New York Times of March 5th, 1926: "When we speak about furnishing cheaper light, heat and power," said Smith, "we mean that we will furnish it cheaper to the distributing company than such company is now able to buy it from the privately owned and operating generating plant.'* Governor Smith then proceeded to acknowledge credit for his plan to Owen D. Young...
...There were about 300 in attendance, a good part of them farmers...
...When Weadock had finally been silenced by MoCulloch's repeated refusals to make the Government a distributor for his propaganda material, the hearings were resumed...
...G. A. Hoehn, veteran editor of St...
...was paying for the ready-made editorials they were using as their own...
...And by no means have these movements died without some valuable results...
...It will never curb the Power-Trust or substantially reduce rates to consumers...
...The Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota has a state ticket which It am proud to endorse...
...But does he...
...TIMELY TOPICS By Norman Thomas Socialist Candidate for President En route to St Louis wrHATEVER else I forget of this crowded campaign tour I shall not forget my visit to Tom Mooney in San Quentin prison...
...After the convention we were virtually offered its endorsement if we would pay its bills—a doubtful bargainFinally, after its secretary had gone over to Hoover, the executive commit' tee of the party met, nominated an almost unknown California colonel for president, tried to nominate tbe unspeakable Heflin tor vice-president and did nominate Senator Reed, who indignantly repudiated the nomination...
...Comrade* Henry, too, took a farsighted view of the present activity...
...At that, it's ail too standardized and its beauty is scarred and marred in every state by the ugliness men make when profit is our God...
...But Thomas' misgivings, if he had any, were baseless...
...sad on Monday before the Women's City Club, over Station WCFU...
...Hauser, the Socialist candi date for Governor, as alternatives fo the readers to consider...
...As at all other meeting*, Ttomasl informal receptions »*:»r um mist hga took place I*, stec...
...What kind of contracts will they wheedle or bribe out of a typical Democratic administration...
...Great stress was laid by Comrade Gerber on the necessity of distributing literature and other supplies...
...Louis...
...Sunday afternoon an audience* that almost filled Amalgamated Auditorium greeted him...
...The records of the National...
...In a turbulent struggle over the platform which lasted from aeon to 5.30 o'clock the next morning, the LaFollette faction was defeated...
...Raskob* Pierre Du Pont, Owen Young, the local southern power magnates are all vitally interested in power and are all Democrats...
...Hoover...
...Cammans followed wiih a short talk on Idaho issues...
...Because powerful California interests want these "agitators" behind the bars regardless of guilt or innocence of specific crime...
...He said that tons of material had been shipped to Washington, from which only 3,000 papers had been selected as exhibits...
...Finally, may I urge that none of these problems can be solved by dividing the farmers and all city workers...
...When Darnall was resisting the demand of Chief Counsel Healy, for the Commission, that he produce this list, Darnal argued that the papers Were Innocent and that any publicity given them would "be used against them...
...In Salt Lake City, Thomas had spoken in a Congregational Church...
...The gain has resulted from the growth of the English speaking membership, which has practically doubled...
...Statistics on farm incomes and mortgages, the increase of tenant farming and of abandoned farms leaves no room for doubt of the plight of the men who live by supplying all the rest of us with food and raw material for our clothing...
...He added significantly: "It (the fanners' movement) will have to be nurtured carefully in the organization period that should follow immediately after the closing of the campaign...
...Of some of these he spoke and of his feelings that the labor movement officially has been lacking in power and perhaps In desire to open his prison doors—a feeling, alas, all too well supported by the evidence he offers...
...The monopoly might surround and defeat Smith's government enterprises as they have surrounded and defeated some small municipal enterprises .or as a chain store crushes the little fellow...
...profits to no man or woman...
...Because so called progressives, including Senator Hiram Johnson, are cowards...
...Life in America has more color sad more contrasts and is a little leas standard, ized that it seemed after our first tour...
...Mooney's and Billing's imprisonment is the foulest of many black spots on the thing we can American Justice...
...Governor Smith does not conceal his program of turning over the distribution of power generated by the govern* ment to private companies...
...umrtssnta~ C? E^SrsfssS.® t* jeto the rrsgMssire League for Alfred K. Smith as a —ember at ix exeesnive csamnittee...
...Often the Democrats have sought to entice him into their party with "promises of sure election to public office...
...Fine Addresses Made In Chicago Chicago.—Comrade Thomas spoke no leas than five times during his two-day stay in Chioago...
...tonight, the meeting was held in a Morihon church building...
...A record sale of books was made at this meeting, which was also addressed by William R. Snow, George r. Kirkpatrick, George Koop and August Claessens...
...S™T& Goyernor .Smith, through this ingenious phut, hat proved himself aa well or better fitted to serve the power trust than Mr...
...Although the LaFollette wing of the party by a narrow vote in a secret ballot managed to elect their man, Herman L. Ekern, as chairman of the Republican state committee, this is a poor victory...
...Eager Voters Cheer Socialist Message Brought by Thomas Young People Who Crowd Meetings A New Element For Greater Socialist Movement—Hoover ami Smith Programs Attacked By Edward Levinson CHICAGO...
...See schedule of meetings on page 2 "of this issue of The New Leader).' National organizers have been maintained in 38 states...
...Let us see...
...This-has Been done not merely In or der to bave men and women at work during the campaign who are inti jnately acquainted with the grounc they are covering but also with ar eye to building up permanent organizations in these regions after the campaign Is over...
...Nevertheless, officially labor is on record for his pardon and there are signs of renewed activity in bis behalf...
...Organizers and speakers have been sent throughout the country...
...A state organization is in process of formation in Alabama...
...In the Denver audience were a large group of college students, who proved to be among the most iuterested...
...The heart of the problem is transmission...
...By changing the mailing list, he has covered every weekly paper in these four states...
...A wreck on the train ahead of ours on the way from Denver to St...
...There is no better time to make a sound beginning than to roll up this year a big vote for the Socialist ticket...
...Bald statements op fact in a case like this are more eloquent than any rhetoric of denunciation...
...It includes Norman Thomas, tbe So cialist candidate for President, am Otto Ft...
...In Fargo, Cheyenne, Seattle, Spokane, Denver, San Francisco, Oakland and melancholy Butte, we met the kind of people who are tbe hope of intelligent political action in America...
...The farmer, like the rest of us, will gain by the socialization of banking and credit, by improvement in transportation and the nationalization and democratic control of railroads...
...Meanwhile Gus Claessens and your correspondent went on to Omaha there to catch a train at midnight on tbe Burlington for St...
...Company executives, universities, great educators, legislators, Congressmen and Senators had had their names brought into publicity in connection with this probe...
...As Comrade Gerber described the rising tide of Socialism: "Now in every part of the country where three months ago there m no organization or activity the cojaradee are about and doing...
...Tbe size of the audiences that have turned out to hear Thomas—about 900 in Duluth, 1,000...
...Whatever our vote in this campaign of unreason and prejudice evoked by the three R's of rum, race and religion, I am hopeful of the future because of the regathertng of eur forces...
...There is not and cannot be such pretense in California since the perjurer confessed his crime...
...Various groups have be en $coo Derating^ with the National Campaign Office "in furthering the candidacy of Thomas and Maurer...
...neither group can prosper long at the expense of the other...
...Big Turn-out In St...
...Weadock pleaded that eminent persons and Institutions, including educators, 'had been put in the wrong by the \ press reports of the investigation thus far...
...Borah...
...fighting Socialist organiser of the State...
...Comrade Cammans, with Comrade George F. Hibner, Feltner and others, had come from Boise to run the meeting, since there is no local in PocateUo...
...Tbe magnificent audience in Los Angeles was an Inspiration...
...Louis in time to meet reporters of the evening papers was well worth while, as was proven subsequently...
...Power Trust Boys Whine Over Probe Power Feudalists Assume Virtuous Attitude Over Disclosures Regarding Their Poison Squads By Laurence Todd WASHINGTON...
...The meeting was opened by Alice Higby of Boise...
...Wherever Thomas has gone old party politicians have openly expressed envy of the size of his audiences...
...States Socialist Position "My own position, which is the position of the Socialist Party, is more clear cut...
...He has done nothing to dig us out of the transit mess into which Tammany has landed" us New Yorkers...
...A few minutes ago he completed an addrrs: Before a Chicago ¦ audience of 1,200 that almost filled the htr,c Amalgamated Auditorium...
...d)_A scientific program of taxation to lighten burdens, to reduce profiteering and land values and hence decrease tenant farming, (e) Social insurance against weather hazard...
...Louis was well over the 1,500 mark this Saturday...
...Thus we may summarize it: "1...
...Both Comrades Henry and Gerber appealed for finances...
...At that time it seemed that there would be six states in which a Sociallet ticket might not be placed before the voters...
...Socialist presidential candidate, left Los Angeles...
...Comrades A. Filler and Weintraub, Forward representatives, had worked hard and well, with the assistance of the Jewish Socialist Branch, and the meeting was to Comrade Thomas one of the most satisfactory of the trip...
...in Cheyenne...
...See schedule of meetings on page 2 of this issue of The New Leader...
...For that reason the feasibility of a "stiCker" vote In these states Is being seriously considered...
...He demanded that the power companies be given a chance to present their own story of their doings, in their own way...
...While crossing more than half the vast expanse of the continent Thomas had stopped enroute for a number of addresses...
...A t|resv«^Ati «is»mm...
...Shall thl newspaper support Hoover and Cur tis and agree to the contention o those who maintain that Hoover 1 a* great humanitarian and idealist' Shall the 'Capital Times' lend It influence for the advancement of th Smith and Robinson ticket...
...Then they would say that Smith stands for public ownership for super power...
...the labor station, and, tn the evening, in pullman...
...When we were in Idaho the so-called progressive leaders of that state who once had a Progressive party were wrangling over Smith and Hoover with issues flung to the winds...
...About 29 years ago he was one of a group of 40 Jewish families who staked out farms on what was then practically deserted Wyoming...
...Comrade Gerber told of numerous men active in tbe farmers' cooperatives and granges, many in responsible positions who have joined the party as individuals and promised to promote the_interests of the Socialist Party within their organizations...
...Winning the Farmers Particularly encouraging has been the work among the farmers...
...They , charge domestic consumers on the average of 7 cents per kilowatt hour against less than 2 cents in Ontario, where the government generates and distributes electricity...
...Louis, Mo.—Saturday night is usually a night for less serious occupation than attending political meetings, yet the audience that turned out to hear Comrade Thomas in St...
...Campaign Office indicated that "the party strength has at least doubled during the last two months...
...Onjy in Louisiana and Nevada will the electorate not find the names of the Socialist nominees on the ballot...
...Between 30 and 40 names of prospective Socialist party members' were obtained and it should not be many more weeks before Denver reports a large and active party local...
...For my part I play no favorites and will gladly round cot the circle by speaking in a Jewish temple or a free thinkers' lodge...
...Everybody knows that the Committee of 48 is dead...
...Specific remedies for agricultural depression will include: (a) The encouragement both of consumers' and producers' cooperatives...
...nd we are offering $10 for the bee etter to be printed in the Votes « he People on the course which thh newspaper should follow...
...Comrade Louis Sky The Wyoming movement is duplicating the movement in other states visited by Comrade Thomas...
...Louis St...
...These questions followed, along the line of those framed by Thomas In "Timely Topics" in The New Leader of two weeks ago...
...Comrade Claessens and I parted with Comrade Thomaj at Lincoln, where he took a train on another line to St...
...It imposes upon Ekem the necessity of either serving the reactionary wing of the party and accepting the approval of Hoover and Curtis or resigning...
...I shall not even repeat Mat Schmidt's salty philosophy of life sad freedom in and out of jail, and bin comments on the labor movement...
...That Socialist faith which brings comrades hundreds of miles to our meetings in states of magnificent distances like those in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado, never fails to thrill me...
...And there is no doubt but that it will...
...We had already bought our tickets on the Burlington 'through St...
...When Weadock asked that further hearings be given and the school pamphlets on electricity, gas and street railways be printed in the hearings record, he began with a long argument as to the "tremendous burden" the inquiry has brought upon the power companies...
...Over and over in this campaign I am told that the Socialist name is a handicap...
...This is about Tom Mooney...
...In Washington," said Thomas, "they have a riddle about Mr...
...In every case but four the field men are native to the territory in which they operate...
...We get hundreds of requests from ¦Mi and women with whom we have made contact recommending the —Wee of other men and women to Whom we should send our literature...
...Young to heed us rather than those who would sacrifice innocent men to their passion and prejudice and greed...
...Them commissions are to make contracts with an admittedly corrupt and unscrupulous public utilities combine, that, every day, thank* to the breakdown of Governor Smith's vaunted regulation gram more powerful...
...Norman Thomas, the Socialist Presidential candidate,'has completed one tour from West Virginia to Michigan...
...In addition the following committees bave been or are about to be established: Ministers and Educators', a Writers' and Artists.' a Farmers,' a Trade Union, Socialist Workers' and an Independent Committee for Thomas and Maurer...
...Tbe Jewish Socialist Verband is also conducting lecture tours of its •own...
...Young due credit...
...Explains Farm Stand To Cheyenne Audience Cheyenne, Wyoming.—Traveling a full 20 hours in a grimy, dirt-laden day coach, with no sleeping accommodations and only one stop for meal, Thomas arrived in Cheyenne Wednesday evening from PocateUo...
...Then he comes out with his familiar program: public development, state or national, of water power sites and regulation of transmission companies by contract and by the power of regulatory commissions...
...But when I survey the facts I doubt if our handicap lies in our name, and I am sure that our Socialist faith has given us a vitality and power indispensable to any real political move-' ment of farmers and workers under any name...
...They remained after the meeting to tell of their interest and support...
...It named Wolfe, who addreased the Thomas meeting, candidate for United States Senator...
...Its little Chicago convention would have endorsed our ticket (as the National Party with headquarters in Indianapolis has done) but for a trick of the leaders...
...For a more permanent cure the farmer, like the city worker, must look to a saner system than our profit-seeking scramble offers...
...It' is only by thinking how hard they hate Hoover that any farmers wil find It possible to vote for Smith, or how they bate Tammany that they can be for Hoover...
...Arriving early in PocateUo, which is an overnight trip from Salt Lake City, Thomas was met by a delegation of comrades headed by C. H. Cammans...
...Governor Smith's New York Commission has recently sanctioned a New York City merger that puts any state power development on the St...
...Louis had caused us to miss our connection by three hours at Lincoln, Nebraska...
...Lawrence Waterway Development...
...Send your views...
...a lesder in what intellectual life there is...
...Louis...
...The Party Press The party press has been greatly benefited by the campaign...
...The turn of events in the LaFollette movement in this state brings a problem to the LaFollette voters which the "Capital Times" of Madison outlines in a recent editorial The Democratic party in this state, which has been an invalid for many years, hopes to win the affection of the LaFollette wing for Tammany "progresstvism," but Smith as a successor of the ideals of the late Senator LaFollette is a gag for most LaFollette workers...
...Previously I have written of the decline of the LaFollette movement in its native state, of the complete disintegration of the once powerful Non-partisan League, and the clouds on the future of the Farmer-Labor party in Minnesota...
...Karl M. Chworosky...
...If the press had not published all of their text, that was a mater for the judgment of the press...
...The investment on extra fare to get Comrade Thomas into St...
...So far so good...
...During the campaign all contributions should be directed to the National Socialist, Campaign Committee, 15 East 40th Street, New York City, or to any local Socialist organization...
...In the Centralis case the victims did shoot, though in self-defense...
...He said: "It has been a habit in the past to allow the enthusiasm to die down for a month or more after the close of "lection before "any real constructive work was mapped out . . The contact gained during the campaign and the great necessity for attempting to crystallize it into party members should be taken advantage of without any delay so that we may give every possible effort to the strengthening of Party organization...
...In Comrade Sky, we met a Socialist who deserves a stsry by himself...
...support of his own party in establishing effective control...
...In the second place public service commissions, including Governor Smith's own commission in New York State, have notoriously broken down in regulating all public utilities including power companies...
...But confession that the trust felt it necessary to give a lot of character testimony in its own defense was news...
...Lawrence River at the merger's mercy, so far as transmission of power to the consumers of New York City is concerned...
...Governor Smith, advocate of the contract plan, is notoriously friendly with the transit magnates and politicians, like Comptroller Berry, of New York who have advocated the seven or ten cent fare...
...Smith under pressure in New York dropped his flirtation with the equalisation fss and talks vaguely of some future conference...
...While the farmers are entitled to a subsidy direct or indirect if manufacturers get it from the tariff which can not benefit our cotton and grain growers and ship owners get it from the shipping law, no subsidy is a permanent and fundamental cure...
...that when he asked Smith If he couldn't trust hfc constltueuts te vote on It, Smith replied that he would save them the trouble ef thinking...
...In Cheyenne Thomas dwelt largely on the farm question...
...a course, there i* u steady eh asm « Socialists Or one-time BodaHsta jager to press their candidate's ham ind wish him welL But these han been outnumbered by far by the bun dreds upon hundreds of young msi and women to whom Socialism is I new story, and to whom the heart breaks and failures of past years an unknown...
...The question is, 'What is the difference between our revolutionary forefathers and Senator Bo - rah?' and the answer is given thus: 'Our revolutionary forefathers held their fire until they saw the whites of their enemies' eyes...
...All the water sites still in public possession are, as everv engineer knows, capable of producing only a small part oi "~»tal electric power which America needs...
...His color was good...
...Though it has been years since Salt Lake has heard a Socialist speaker, the crowd took to Thomas' views and mode of expressing them with alacrity...
...Funniest—or maybe saddest—of all the fate of the alleged Farmer-Labor party claiming descent from the party of that name which entered the campaign of 1920 with the banners flying...
...Yet in the face of this experience he still talks the contract system for regulating transmitting companies...
...Sunday night Thomas spoke in Elmhurst...
...But this partial program is a million miles from what we need...
...The audience proved to be one of the most responsive Comrade Thomas has met...
...That is vain hope...
...He made a plea for allowing no lapse in the party work after election day...
...The Democratic record is as had a* the Republican, Smith's running mate, Senator Robinson, had a batting average of .667 in favor of the power trust in three critical votes in the last session of Congress...
...When we saw him he was on the third day of one of those occasional self-imposed fasts by which he seeks to conquer his disease...
...After paying 25 cents each as an admission fee, the audience contributed $275 to the campaign fund...
...Of the gray walls of San Quentin washed by the waves of beautiful San Francisco Bay I shall not speak, nor shall I try to put on paper my reflections on prisons and prisoners and the men who keep them there...
...Cammans' fine record of battling for Socialism is matched by his activity today...
...James H. Maurer, the Vice-presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, will leave his councllmanlc duties during the month of October for a tour which will take him to San Francisco and Los Angeles and back...
...Each day's delay adds to California's disgrace and ours...
...Behind these failures lie too many noble hopes disappointed...
...The filing situation, Comrade (Server stated, was better than it appeared it would be at the July meeting of the National Executive Committee...
...And to them all I'll tell the same story: the political- issue in America is not to whom men p-r-a-y and how, but en whom they p-r-e-y and why...
...Of course, the politicians are lining up by labels...
...And he has accorded Mr...
...What the moral of this is, if any, I leave to you...
...If they but knew the apathy °f the voters, as brought about by disgust for the two old parties, these meetings would seem little short of miracles...
...This was the order: In Salt Lake City a meeting in tbe Congregational Church with a Mormon Socialist presiding...
...In each city the response was similar,—earnest eager voters drinking in the Socialist message, fed up on Repubiico-Democratic humbug...
...Young, Gerard Swope, and others among hit political backers, that cheaper light is to be furnished, not to the consumers, but to the distributing companies...
...None of this dd I record with joy...
...San Francisco develops power at Hetch Hetchy, sells it for a song to a private company which charges the consumer the old rates...
...For plain and fancy hop, skip and jump onto the old party band wagons they can't be beat...
...He has for more than a year been sending bis material attacking the Government Ownership of power dams at Muscle Shoals, Boulder Canyon and elsewhere to 200 weekly papers in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida, at the expense of the Alabama Power Co...
...In the audience were farmers with their wives and families who had come long distances in flivvers to hear Thomas...
...As an immediate measure, we should support the McNaryHaugen bill unless the farmers themselves agree that it can be improved...
...This isn't a travel talk or a description of scenery, but I may be permitted to bear testimony to the beauty j I have found in tins land of ours— that is, ours sad the landlords...
...More recently other facts have come to hand...
...The Socialist standard-bearer did not reach j here until 10.20 p. m., but he found that August Claessens, his traveling partner, who had gone direct to Cneyenne from Salt Lake City, had held the audience in their seats...
...We Socialise repeats nothing lew will do than a net woH of integrated public authorities, federal, state and municipal, tot developing and transmitting all power produced by coal or water...
...Support Kohler, the Republ •an nominee...
...Every mail brings as requests for literature from persons who have read •bout us or who have through one ohanoe or another come in contact With some of our leaflets, Many requests come from people who have heard about us through the radio hroadcastings that have dealt with •or campaign...
...The farmer in his difficult task of adaptation to an increased use of machinery, will gain by a national super-power system managed for the use of the people and by an enlightened program to put the unemployed to work...
...A state convention has named Dick Rozema, Blanche Kaufman and Lee Kruger as Thomas and Maurer electors...
...The con set will close one week from Saturday and the prize winner will be enounced one week from next Sunday...
...La Follette Wing Loses In Wisconsin Reactionary Faction Gets Platform and Endorses Hoover—LaFollette Organ Considers Socialist Candidates as Alternative MILWAUKEE, Wis.—The LaFollette section of the Republican organization of Wisconsin was defeated at the slate convention in Madison last week and with the rise of the reactionary wing to power the LaFollette men are puzzled as to what they mould do...
...Five companies control 50 per cent., fifteen, ' control 80 per cent, of the power we use in America...
...Many new comrades have Joined the party and are carrying on the party work...
...Socialist organizations of this kind have been the Workingmen's Circle National Campaign Committee, Paole Zion, the Jewish National Socialist Workers* Alliance, the Jewish Socialist Verband and the Forward Association...
...Nor can any contract save us so long as parties are unreliable as the two old parties, which belong to big business, make the contracts with unscrupulous monopoly...
...Hence it is that men like Herbert Hoover, almost neighbor to San Quentin and informed on this case, can seek the highest office in our land and not declare himself for justice...
...The number of such states «aa been reduced to two...
...Wot my part I bave little hope save as the pressure of public opinion and especially labor opinion grows stronger...
...in Minneapolis, 300 in Fargo, 400 in Butte, 1,000 in Portland, San Francisco and Salt Lake, and more than 2,500 in LosAngeles may sound small to The New Leader readers in New York and some other large cities...
...Here, as in most other matters, there is no real difference between the Republican and Democratic parties or their candidates...
...Thomas took the opportunity of speaking in Idaho to pay his compliments to Senator William E. Borah, the somewhat unstable progressive...
...The statistics showed that this work has been progressing very welf...
...Louis...
...If the power companies were dissatisfied with the attitude of the press toward the pamphlets, that was a matter between the power interests and the newspapers...
...Both have need of their own party, a party of workers with hands-and brain, to advance their interest as producers and consumers against the powerful groups who finance the two old parties to protect them and their special privileges...
...But he made it very clear that that date would not be fixed right away, since he was not convinced that the Government's inquiry into the propaganda activities of the nower uombine was anywhere near completed...
...The crowds attracted by the Socialist speakers have in most cases exceeded the audiences addressed this year by the most prominent of the old party politicians in their respective states...
...Jesse Holmes, A. Philip Randolph and Dr...
...They have a power and profit Empires might envy...
...By the end of the campaign he will have covered forty of the forty-eight states in the Union...
...By eight o'clock every seat in the First Congregational Church was taken...
...The necessity of a speaker's getting the "feel" of the town.'sounding its prime interests and acquainting himself with the local cross-currents of political, social and economic life, had thus to be foregone...
...The jury and prosecuting attorney have joined in the request for pardon...
...The platform approves Hoover and Curtis and is of the stereotyped "regular" variety...
...For at least ten years no informed man has doubted their innocence of the bomb outrage on San Francisco's Preparedness Day...
...Every available copy of "The Intelligent Voter's Guide" was sold, as were thousands of buttons...
...21, in the person of Bernard F. Weadock, who promptly became engaged in conflict with Commissioner McCulloch, presiding, and was worsted in the encounter...
...c) A careful revision downward of tariff rates in the interest of domestic economy and international prosper- 1 ity...
...The press had not given a full account of the testimony because that was impossible...
...Comrade "Qua" Gerber's report breathed the spirit of enthusiasm and was filled with the sense of accomplishment that has characterized the national* campaign of the Bocalist Party...
...Judge McCulloch agreed that the power magnates and their friends should have a date set for beginning their own testimony...
...The 'Capital Tunes' te desirous o •btaihing the point of view of it waders on thcift questions and to the...
...Cooperation has been secured from the National Party, the South Dakota Non-Partisan League, the Polish Workers' Sick and Death Benefit Fund, the Polish Alliance and the Independent Negro Voters' League...
...Louis expects tbe Jim Maurer meeting to surpass the success of the Thomas demonstration...
...Smith Formulates A Plan to Aid the Public Utilities Combine And Calls It "Public Ownership"—A Socialist Criticism By NORMAN THOMAS Socialist Candidate For President rpHERE is no more important immediate question before *- us than our relation' to the growing electric power monopoly...
...He has seen too many disappointments...
...he New Leader is covering the Eastern part of the country, the "Labor World," of Oakland, Cal., under its new mansgiflg editor, John Kenneth Turner, is covering the West and the "Virginla Appeal," which has recently appeared under the editorship of David Lidman, is aiming to become the Socialist organ for the South...
...Paul Blanshard, Harry W. Laidler, Dr...
...What it represents today or where its strength is found I can't discover...
...Is now finishing one to the Pacific and is already dated up for his third tour along the Atlantic Coast...
...Darnall testified that he tried to unite all factions in the M'iscle Shoals region, where he lives, to defeat the Norria bill...
...And what shall we do in the stat Igbt...
...Again, good, so far as development is concerned...
...Hoehn was in fine form, as were Claessens and Thomas...
...has worked it out with Owen D. Young, head of the General Electric Company...
...You never guessed, did you, that progressives won when Calvin Coolidge was elected...
...The editoria of the "Times" reads: "In what way can the Progressiv cause be best served...
...In the Sacco and Vanzetti case there was at least a pretense of belief by the authorities that they had been fairly tried and were guilty...
...Elaborating his plan for developing power at the remaining water sites, he frankly declares: "This does not mean that the government, national or state, is required to engage in the business of distributing electrical energy.** The origin of Governor Smith's power proposal is no secret, either...
...Governor Smith does not even recommend preferential treatment in contraeto for municipal light corporations...
...Political bunk has worked to make large political audiences at least temporarily, a thing of the past...
...Hank says Smith promised ban help, hat actually Mocked him, la getting eat ef committee s bill to authorise a referendum on gradually transferring taxes from Improvements te rand values la New York City...
...Today it is a name without life or principles...
...in PocateUo, Idaho, a meeting in the reception'hall of tbe Mormon Church...
...his talk full of life...
...Healy retorted that it was more likely they would be set down as "having had something put over on them," since they did not know that the Alabama Power Co...
...Lincoln Steffens is working for bis pardon, which ought not to be delayed...
...He was full of it when we saw h<r" and had some hope because Gov...
...Wyoming a meeting in the Cathedral Hall owned by the Catholic church and rented for public affairs...
...This was the case in Salt Lake City...
Vol. 7 • September 1928 • No. 41
