TIMELY TOPICS
THOMAS, NORMAN
TIMELY TOPICS By Norman Thomas A TREATY FULL OF HOLES IT is difficult to get up any very great amount Christmas enthusiasm for the KellorcPact outlawing war. He will be a very...
...Some confidence has been gained by the success of Pan-American efforts to avert war between Bolivia and Paraguay...
...It is for the owners of industry...
...The argument for a big United States navy is not to protect our own shores but to protect our commerce against Great Britain...
...The prevention of war is a many sided task...
...The war to end war promises to end in war l>efore the next ten years...
...Farmers may/go to ruin, but Mr...
...But this does not mean that the Socialist who is also a member of a trade union should not...
...I refer, of course, to the announcement of Dr...
...Here is at least a basis for discussion...
...C. H. Bloom, Illinois...
...Socialist sentiment has been the soul of expanding unionism and without it spiritual and physical decline is inevitable...
...I don't know when my sub expires and I do not want to miss t single issue...
...Any future administration will be Impotent to take any Initiative for world peace for fear of the Senate...
...Will the politicians at Washington, who for eight years have been promising to relieve the farmer, please note that he has nothing left of which he can be relieved...
...Minnie Weiner...
...What this means is that concentration of capital and power in the hands of a few of the giants is proceeding apace...
...I Those who watch the market, prackt that even many novices win prefw mt_ boost for this offering rather than eav* tinue to speculate with GUTTER JOURNALISM COMMON...
...teati 15 to cover subscriptions to he teat to several clergymen in that city...
...Patiently I told him that at various times I had sought to enlist the support of the press...
...A research chemist announces a new gas so terrible that whole armies can be snuffed out like a candle...
...Not at all...
...diminishing expenditures, diminishing tax rates',^ and increasing profits...
...The Battle of the Monsters A \\ RITER in a recent issue of Sales Management & Advertisers' Weekly considers a phase of recent economic development that has been largely ignored...
...Woodrow WiKou always insisted that he knew nothing of the secret bargains of the Allies till he arrived in Paris but here is evidence that his Ambassador to England reported one of the bargains to his Secretary of State in 1915, the year in which the bargain was made...
...v Boianovich, Chicago, does that very thing...
...The recent announcement of a new poison gas more deadly than any known before emphasizes the fact that unless we can prevent war nothing else will matter very much...
...The miners engaged in their work with a religious fervor...
...Great Britain has usually acted as if that last word "seas" were spelled "seize...
...It is not the struggle against Communism which ought to stand out in forty years' history...
...Are we required to still believe that Wilson was ignorant of these secret treaties...
...Time after time we criticised that policy not only in editorials but in special articles...
...Atlas, Fa...
...Go thou and do likewise: Pennsylvania as far as prospects for our paper are concerned, ia no different than other states but with the work being done there by Comrade Murphy, the subs are going to roll in for a long time to come...
...Senate...
...The presentation and analysis of the data are too detailed for consideration here but what the writer shows may be surmised by his leading statement : "When a handful of corporations," he writes, "scarcely more than might find executive quarters in a single office building today, reach such proportions that more than a third of the net income of every corporation in the country pours into their coffers, it is time to take stock of industrial integration and consider what has happened since the Supreme Court loosed Big Business from the tether of mere size and conferred upon it the benefits of the rule of reason...
...Neither are mine," .raid I, as I left htfli at the door...
...reader ot THE NEW LEADER haw* just how high, or low, that lent a. Optimism, however, should be teanasfj with the recognition that we hart son weak spots...
...They were immensely helped and by the year 1912 the highest tide of Labor and Socialist idealism was reached In the trade unions...
...This important struggle reminds the writer of the "monsters of prehistoric times"' who "had a way of exterminating each other...
...GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER If Tammany can get away with the Rothstein murder and all the other scandals that center around Jimmy Walker's administration by Grover Whalen's grandstand plays, his...
...Did Wilson Lie...
...Coolidge jacks it up...
...The only hopes I see, even though they are dismal, is in the National Miners Union...
...Matthew Woll of the A. F. of L. seems to think that the way to meet the problem of unemployment, restore the shattered miners' union, remove the injunction menace, and organize the millions of the unorganized is to fight recognition of Russia...
...Comrade Weinberg of The Jewish Daily Forward will cooperate in getting Socialists and other intelligent citizens to sign on the dotted line...
...Becausk^of the Socialist vote the New York World thinks the Socialist Party is done for...
...J fere's my renewal ' and a new one" E. II...
...Some 'of them wear b. V. D.'s all Winter to save the prices of heavies...
...At such times I was told, "This paper is not the least bit radical...
...Then came the Communists who organized and directed little cliques within the unions, doing the very thing our correspondent supports...
...e. G. Grahn o~ Indiana, writer "Certainly I want THIS NEW leader It will come out of the wildernesi attar awhile with all the wrinkles ironed o-t...
...I find it absolutely necessary to renew as I enjoy going behind the scenes w—h> THE NEW LEADER in Its fearless SSd characteristic style...
...The article throws further .light on Coolidge "prosperity...
...It was the duty of the Socialist Party to see that a candidate capable of holding office ran against John L. Lewis...
...Will some bright farmer and at least one clever wage worker please step forward and tell tis what (hey won on election day...
...a disheartening item in the general trade union stagnation of this period...
...Some progress is made by the Kellogg Pact...
...The Socialist Party cannot save any trade union and no trade union can save the Socialist Party...
...A negative struggle against Communism will avail the workers little or nothing...
...One of the most valuable documents is a cable to Secretary~~T$ryan of .May 8 from Ambassador Page in l-ondon...
...Wise investors will make no matofe...
...the more we are convinced that it was a crime against humanity...
...We think that the "hundred neediest cases" should be enlarged to include a few million people whose chief need is knowledge of how to vote for themselves...
...That period before the war was one of continued growth and expansion and of the most inspiring battles that have ever been waged in American labor struggles...
...7 E. 15th St., He* York City...
...The only reservation for which there seems to be any need or excuse is a declaration that the United States does not accept In advance any obligation to go to war with a nation which may be presumed to have broken the treaty...
...who reports confidential information he had received from the political editor of the London Times regarding the secret bargain made by England, France and Russia with Italy to bring the latter into the war...
...He Is unable to cite a single issue in justification of his mistaken impression.—Editor, The New Leader...
...The second invention, unless by chance it helps to scare us into peace is of no such admirable sort...
...Which is something...
...The consideration was Italian annexation of Austrian territory, including manv Serbs...
...And more along this line...
...Bankers and trust magnates are barrerl a,* they know the answer...
...Individual Socialists carried on splendid educational work on their own initiative and followed it up with devoted service to the organization in every cause in which it engaged...
...ye EDITOR GOES hunting James Oneal bags nine more, tout sf 'em renewals...
...Were we given to moralizing, we would say...
...Now no talk of parity wtll meet this case, yet it is idle to talk disarmament and ignore it...
...Christ K. Haugen of Indiana, ore among tkfU who take advantage of the prrmttm of "Boston:'' Ves, the habit of sending a ucv sub with a renewal is growing...
...OF COURSE NOT "After reading some numbers of THI NEW LEADER, a friend of mine could not resist subscribing...
...editors who stand for it also insist that it is alien to American policy...
...This has also happened in a number of other unions...
...Yet even these gentlemen show they desire no naval race with America...
...Sure...
...Many officials were members of the Socialist Party...
...H. K. BeaUy...
...PUBLICATION by the State Department of certain official correspondence in the year 191...
...A renewal and a sub treat E. H. Stewart, Wisconsin...
...e. G. Grahn of Indiana, writs: "Certainly I want THE NEW LEADER...
...This truly great novel will be read and discussed for years to cone...
...The New Leader...
...More remains to be done for the emancipation of the workers...
...Is it not regrettable that out of all this history of human striving, of hopes and fears, of victories and defeats, the New York papers dwelt on the fact that President Oreen of the A. F. of L. and Matthew Woll of the National Civic Federation congratulated the United Hebrew Trades on their war against Communism...
...There was a time when the United Mine Workers were thoroughly permeated with Socialist ideas and that was also the period of its geatest power...
...Duncan Gray of New York...
...It was the high tide of unionism in the industry...
...The danger to our commerce is not merely a direct war against England...
...He had just been told that workers produce over a hundred times as much as they did forty years ago...
...We advertised "The Commonwealth Calendar" in The New Leader and have received orders from most every State'in the union, also a number from Canada...
...Yes, this little business man admitted that he thought the Socialist wanted to "divide up...
...Jt is a two-faced policy that runs through all our history...
...The I. W. W. began with outside assaults and its fate is known...
...Professer Howland of Yale has recently suggested that the United States might very well refrain from claiming a right to trade with a nation which has broken the spirit of the Kellogg Pact as well as of the League of Nations by going to war without submitting its dispute to some process of peaceful adjustment...
...So they may be glad to let the government develop the power if they can distribute It...
...State Secy...
...New York, get* to» sets ot the novel, "Boston" snd toe sabs...
...He will be a very stupid statesman, indeed, who cannot find some excuse under its various qualifications and Interpretations to justify almost any war...
...Its importance lies in the fact that already opinion in Europe in certain quarters has jumped to the conclusion that the, Kellogg Pact indirectly commits us to an obligation to enforce peace which we have not accepted directly...
...Liberal after death: "Just one more trial, please...
...The A. P. of L. was neutral ard the editorial stated that it was a good thing because they saw that both parties (major) never helped labor...
...to make peace real Since it is almost oertaln that the Kellogg Pact will be ratified sooner or later, our big job is not to work for the treaty or exhaust ourselves cheering when the treaty is ratified...
...No navy is big enough to prevent war or to Insure victory In war...
...But in spite of his caution the cat is out of the bag...
...Even such a reservation as this is not necessary on the face of the t. rsty and ought not to be pressed if it will cause trouble...
...New Leader, Beckons Investors BY OUR FINANCIAL EDfTOt rpHX readjustment that is takhn nh* A in THE NEW LEADER market *C result in a high record for the yaw _n> While prosperity will continue te ntt many or the traders in NEW LEtDaR stock, the go-by and will compel thai to restrict their expenditures far tabloids, solid expansion Is In sight, Thb will effect not only wage worker*, sat also the salaried employees who an at diets of The Saturday Evening Po* . The Literary Digest...
...We need a Messiah to reform hell...
...The first Investor in NEW LEADtF PREFERRED, is Central Branch of (be Bronx...
...A^tiOW IT CAN BE DONE THE NEW LEADER ia fa receipt «f a cheek for one hundred dollars for subscriptkm cards ordered by...
...The Ward Steamship Line with six ships in the Havana service is meeting competition with British lines, whereupon the Shipping Hoards transfers the President Roosevelt to the Ward Line...
...Discussing a device to drive away troublesome squirrels by giving them an electric shock, a writer says that "squirrels must straddle...
...Certainly the Labor government we all hope for in the near future will be easier to talk to than the Tory imperialists now in office in Britain...
...On the contrary, he should prove by his devotion to the union and his agitation for more progressive policies that the Socialist is a better union man than any other...
...H. L Jones that a new poison gas named cacdyl isocyanide already known to the chief governments of the world "Is a deadly poison which would destroy armies as a man might snuff out a candle...
...Much has been accomplished...
...He agreed that there are too many stores and that the great inventions are of little or any social benefit...
...Of course the bargain was unkown to Serbia...
...W. E. DAVIS, Room 82, Poll Bids, 23 Church St., New Haven, Conn...
...Send check or money order, (alibis and excuses not negotiable), to I THE NEW LEADER...
...Geneva Office 1929 Program , Washington — (FP) — Slavery, unemployment, hours of work of salaried employes, and certain- questions of maritime employment regulation will be considered at the Twelfth sessien of the...
...The other day in Philadelphia I discussed this navy bill with one of our militant Rear Admirals, retired but not tired —this time a very benevolent friendly gentleman who utterly refused to be specific about why we needed the new cruisers...
...This proposal would never have been possible in «v...
...There is really nothing unusual in this exhibit of paternal care for the propertied classes by the government...
...In most every case they mention seei—g the ad in The New Leader...
...Well, my new acquaintance was a young business man, so we took up the subject of the figures relative to labor—displacing machinery, the increase In the number of small storekeepers, the increased "earnings" of the mall order, department and chain stores...
...Five dollars for sub cards...
...Was this accomplished by the Socialist Party directing and ordering its members who were also members of the union...
...Why is it," he was asked, "that farmers burn food for fuel because they have no money for coal...
...Sarah IJmhach of Pennsylvania...
...The after-war period is also the period of the rise of conservatism in the councils of the union, decline in membership, weakness, and humiliating concessions to the operators...
...The unions were not injured...
...J. M. Cnm¦ming...
...Our job Is to try to make the treaty mean something...
...However, when the battle of the monsters is over it will be easier to persuade the masses of the reasonableness of another change, that of transfer of power and property from a handful of men to the nation as a whole...
...It is also likely to do more to spare our forests and help the process of reforestratlon catchup with destruction than all the efforts of those who have warned us against the dangers of the ruthless destruction of forests...
...Stuart, Wisconsin...
...It miserably failed and brought with it hates that continued for many years...
...The Machinists and a number of other organizations were also powerful and growing and for the same reasons...
...be active in his union, helping to save it from disintegration and helping it to choose devoted officials...
...In the event of any large scale war, of course the governments will use this gas, in spite of paper agreements to the contrary...
...A hot cinder for you till you wake up...
...ers...
...It is a war of industrial dynasties with the weaker principalities certain to be absorbed by the powerful overlords...
...When we puncture the myth of "individualism" we will use government agencies for human welfare and not for the enrichment of those already enriched by the fostering care of government power...
...Al eSiu&r simply must not be deserted...
...If the working people of this country were able to cash into dollars every promise made by capitalist politicians in the past twenty-five years we would all be millionaires...
...Why doesn't someone do something about it...
...Another reader who sent in a new aS with her renewal, is Mrs...
...Liberal in 1928: "Just one more trial, please...
...Decidedly the outlook for an upward curve in NEW LEADER stock is cantor, as we say in the jargon of the market than for some time past...
...Well, in 1840 the opponents of slavery extension polled only a little over 7,000 votes but twenty years later Lincoln was elected President...
...he asked...
...It is paternalism which land speculators, slave traders and commercial men enjoyed in the early days of the Republic...
...In the case of "private wars" of her own in contradistinction to "public wars" approved by the League of Nations against an aggressor nation...
...And she usually could...
...Coolidge, Sanla Claus Y^IIILE celebrating tlir Uiristmas season President Coolidge played Santa Clans to the shipping interests by placing a large plum on their Christmas tree...
...Orders for Sinclair's "Boston" continue to roll in...
...Perhaps the weightiest argument for the ratification of the treaty is that the failure of our Senate to approve it will vastly increase European suspicion and distrust of America...
...inventions promise AND menace While politicians talk, tnvcntkm goes i m changing the face of human affairs, ihr first of two rcceu...
...Cox favors the League of Nations...
...The above letter offers a good opportunity to again state the position of the Socialist Party on the trade unions...
...Others are caught in a retragnfa movement, taken off the mailing nt, I thus losing contact with the vortt * action and ideas...
...The New Leader in its editorial section some time before the elecUon was satisfled with the position the A. F. of L. took in the election...
...What a nice Christmas present for the Coolidge Administration to make to private enterprise...
...Then it was the turn of factory owners and manufactur...
...The only thing surprising about it is that the politicians and...
...Judgment: "No more trials...
...He gave us the usual mechanics of parity which gets us nowhere...
...Editor, New Leader: "Sure, progress is a wonderful thing...
...He'll keep us out of war...
...More stimulating than ever.'- Is the view of Abe Kaufman of Circle 1 of UM Bronx Yipsels...
...Our correspondent proposes to link up with a group that is largely influenced by Communists and thus will repeat an old tragedy...
...Many newspaper readers still think that, he was informed...
...Contrast this with the S. L. P. which started more than thirty years ago to order and direct its members in the unions and then went on to organize opposiUon unions...
...Here, take the finest one the government has...
...One charge which the Socialist movement has never had to answer is that Socialism would create millionaires and mendicants...
...The first Instalment on that job is not to make fools of ourselves by accompanying the ratification of a treaty to outlaw war with a big navy bill which will be an Invitation to a new naval race...
...Thousands of miners and their families may freeze, hut they do not come within the Coolidge •charmed circle...
...I hope that you may answer this letter in the columns of the New Leader...
...A TESTIMONIAL Advertising in The New Leader brings results...
...Indeed, who cannot use the treaty as psychologically a great point of vantage in fighting war...
...Now it is the super-power class and the ship[>er.s, and the pig iron masters, the steel magnates and a variety of special projjerty interests...
...Hence the ratification of the treatv is desirwithout encumbering it with further reservations obviously designed to stifle it...
...A well Informed Inquirer tells me that the Edison Company of Southern California, one of the implacable foes of government ownership Is moderating its objection to government development of power because the government doesn't have to pay the high interest rates forced on private corporations...
...I just cannot resist voting for Roosevelt...
...The Socialist Party has not placed an opponent against him...
...The paper is constantly improving," he adds...
...LEO SITKO...
...Do the shipping interests want a ship...
...Then for a banking class ere the guns of the Civil War were silenced...
...The terms of the contract include a wage reduction of from 15 to 25 per cent of the Jacksonville scale and practically signs away the right to strike by making the decisions of arbitrators final...
...Liberal in 1920: "Just one more trial, please...
...The right to hire and tire is also conceded as an exclusive function of the operators which makes it possible for the employers to weed out the best nghters for the union, leaving the submissive type alone to carry on the work of inioni/ation...
...On the other hand he will be a very stupid advocate of peace...
...just what the doctor ordcx0 Dr...
...He reflected for a time and then remarked, "By golly, the press is rotten, isn't it...
...From the NEW LEADER MAILBAG JOHN U LEWIS Editor, the New Leader: , John L. Lewis, present president of the U. M a. will be in office for the next two years because he bad no opposition...
...Some of them are poor managers," he replied...
...Many a/ torn have reached a record level and tea...
...Just as thirty years ago trust organizations were gathering in the "independents" so today there is a battle between the powerful giants and the lesser monarchs for mastery...
...Our hope lies In building peace, in killing the tiger of war, not in trying to file down his tepth.-the boulder dam compromise It is characteristic of our times that no one doubts the ability of our engineers to accomplish the magnificent feat of damming the Colorado so as to provide flood control, water for irrigation and electric power...
...What we still doubt if the capacity of our politicians and people to see that this power is used to the maximum social advantage...
...Inter"national Labor Conference, which will meet at Geneva May 30 next, according to an announcement made by Leifur Magnuzson, chlrf of the Washington branch of the International Labor Office...
...Great Britain in turn might wen renounce the right to interfere with commerce, save by a legitimate blockade...
...inventions to conic to public notice is wholly good...
...Now we know how to classify the professional politicians...
...Then I learned that the paper was mortgaged to the local bank, the latter was mortgaged to Wall Street and of course even if I bad remained a dumb Republican, I would not have believed that the "Street" is radical...
...A Wisconsin comrade sends in fit for a sob and four renewals...
...What is the result...
...It will come out of the wilderness after a while with all the wrinkles boned out...
...Yet, if the A. P. of L. saw evil in both old parties why did it not come out openly for the Socialist Party, for the party that had for vice-president James H. Maurer, a man who for more than sixteen years was a member of tlx...
...It deserves to giw« bigger and bigger and I long for <¦* day when the power of the labor prea will be felt throughout the land," **° W. Thomas, Indianapolis...
...Our correspondent is mistaken when he declares that The New Leader before the election approved the A. P. of L. nonpartisan political policy...
...Not only that, but he was president of the A. F. of L. in Pennsylvania...
...This time with tee sebs...
...wholesale roundups of alleged criminals, his exhortations to a free use of the nightstick and the rest of it, then once more Tammany will have proved that most of the people like to be fooled most of the time...
...Wish that atrocity on Socialism if you can...
...No, we will not moralize, but THE NEW LEADER expects many others to follow his example...
...Just to keep the record straight we wish to remind you that the large cities reporting graft and official relations with criminals are not controlled by Socialists...
...Corporations in the third class must eventually go the wall...
...But Coolidge might have vetoed a better bill, and there is still a good chance that pressure of facts and aroused public opinion will compel Hoover to hang on to this great power resource...
...The newspapers might help...
...They accept it,, as applied to Big Business alid reject it as applied to workers : bless it in one instance and curse it in the other...
...Coolidge tells them not to look to the government as a Santa Clans...
...That's the first wise remark I've heard you make today," said I. "By the bye, let me take your subscription to a paper that isn't rotten...
...Liberal in 1916: "Just one more trial, please, I just cannot resist voting for Wilson...
...Federal administration and much of state administration have always been paternalistic to the upper range of property owners and the toilers of the nation have been without that paternal consideration...
...Another proof that distribution is going to be the crux of the power situation and that no plan of developing power by government agencies at a few points will do much to bring the monopoly to heel...
...lets a lew secrets out of the bag...
...There Is no enstion but that a large potential cleans exists for an unmuzzled press...
...At least the Boulder Dam bill gives a chance to cities and corporations to bid for go"»rnment produced power...
...With the union membership reduced from 55,000 during the war period to less than one-fourth of that number it is evident that the proposal is an unwilling admission of the weakness that has come to a once powerful organization...
...The logical thing to do is to work out some agreement on freedom of the seas...
...This could be averted if a candidate was put into the field...
...Judgment Liberal in 1912: "Just one more trial, please...
...There are too many not investors who dabble in single subs sat cautious renewals instead of boldly planing...
...remarked an acquaintance st lunch, the other day...
...But there Is an immense deal yet to be done and It will take Socialism, applied not only nationally but internationally to do it...
...THE UNITED HEBREW TRADES Forty years of history for the United Hebrew Trades, the completion of which was just celebrated, have been rich in human heroism and human achievement...
...Government aid is not for the toilers of the nation...
...Where there is a will to peace there Is a way...
...The greatest labor organisation in the United States at one time, now at a critical period in its history, faces ruin...
...Place year order today...
...The Miners' Humiliation r£HE contract offered by the Central Pennsylvania miners to the operators is...
...Do the pig iron magnates of Pittsburgh want a higher tariff rate...
...New Hampshire...
...Well, you see,—well, you sec my folks are not Socialists...
...The author bases his article on a study of the income tax returns since 1918, dividing the corporations into three classes, class A, class B, and class C. Those in class A are the greater corporations, the B class is of next importance and the C class ranks last...
...A writer in the New York Times wants to know if we can spare one warship for the fight ; :-.inst cancer...
...Perhaps it has tried but failed...
...writes Baas Burkhard of Pennsylvania...
...Some hope there is in American public opinion which has already drastically reduced the original preposterous 71 ship bill of the Navy Department...
...The Senate went backward in passing a Boulder Dam bill which did not even give preference to public ownership and operation of hydroelectric power...
...We do not weep for the lesser" corporations or rejoice with the big ones...
...clays when ihr miners were inspired hy Socialist sentiment...
...They will buy heavily in NEW Ls_TJ_ SUBSCRIPTION CARDS PREFr_8_D...
...Myron Raphael of Brooklyn, reverb again...
...Well, war itself is a cancer of civilization...
...These cards will be used by Organiser Tim Murphy who is starting work in the Pittsburgh district...
...To struggle against Communism in the form it has been presented to American labor has unfortunately been a necessary task for our unions...
...A. P. of L...
...1 he more we learn of the inner history of the ' war for democracy...
...England has heretofore never permitted another nation with which she is at war to trade with a neutral if she could help it...
...There a a growing recognition that it work* tm good or ill in all that affects the weHa* of the masses...
...Those in B class are better able to fight, but in the long run the great monsters will swallow most of them, leaving a few stragglers to survive as fossils of a previous age...
...John L. Lewis was never stronger intrenched in his organization...
...The Ward Line must appreciate the- Coolidge sentiment of that "charmed circle of...
...We have been killed* too often to believe that the day of our funeral has arrived...
...Wagess are being made that the $100 worth of sob cards will be disposed of quicker than the <25 worth that Tim ordered a couple of weeks ago...
...JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ordered Dr...
...We need a rebirth of the splendid spirit which inspired the early days of our American unions in a struggle to deal positively with the immense problems of unemployment, company unions and imperialism...
...Each must save itself through intelligent action and education by its own members...
...The successful printing of an entire newspaper on paper made from pulp of corn stalks is likely to do more for the farmers of the corn belt than Hoover and Smith and all their promises put together...
...The Socialist Party did not nominate a candidate against Lewis and it did not try to...
...A comrade of Anderson, Ind...
Vol. 7 • December 1928 • No. 54
