POLITICAL PRISONERS CLING TO IDEALS
Anderson, Paul Y.
Political Prisoners Cling To Ideals Chaplin Tells Of Ecstasy He Experienced In Thinking He Was Right; Thompson Refuses Freedom At Price of Self Respect By PAUL Y. ANDERSON (In St Louis...
...Chaplin nursed them for a while, and doesn't believe they can live more than another year in confinement...
...If they ask me to agree that the President has any right to send me back here to finish this term at any time he thinks I have violated a law, or at any time he thinks I have failed in loyalty to my country* I won't agree to it...
...FORESTRY CLUBS, formed by boys and girls, are becoming popular* according to the United States Forest Service...
...He has also made a comprehensive survey of the entire I. W. W. program, and has evolved certain important modifications which he will propose...
...He was born in a sod house on a South Dakota prairie he says, at some remote date which he declines to name...
...He prevented the big business interests of Illinois from fixing blame for the riots upon organized labor...
...His blue shirt, open at the throat, disclosed a sunburned chest...
...It's a question between each man and his own conscience," said one of those who stayed...
...However, they still have $2,400,000 on deposit in EI Paso, Texas, banks, and if they can get back to...
...Anybody who knew our lives, or even who followed our cases, knew that the only thing we had done was to carry on the work of our organization, precisely in the way it had been carried on for 15 years before the war began...
...To me there was- something incredibly monstrous in the knowledge that anybody could believe me capable of betraying the United States for- any other country in the world...
...He has learned how to shield himself from suffering to a certain degree...
...Of course, it was their philosophy that enabled our fellows to hold up so well...
...I'm just a plain, hoosier American, born in Kansas of American parents, and possessed of all the national pride and prejudice and patriotism that such a man naturally has...
...A prison inspector accused of whitewashing conditions in another of the leased-convict camas was denounced publicly and will presumably be discharged...
...Then followed a resolution of the North Dakota legislature calling upon the state of Florida to make a full investigation...
...on the other, the vileness of the habitual criminal...
...The prison physician who was responsible for the care of prisoners in the .camp where Tabert died . was denounced before the entire State as "a disgrace to the profession...
...It only endears those who have kept the faith...
...good behavior will end his term about November...
...Michael Sapper is a pink-cheeked, tow-headed stripling from Kansas, who, if he had not left the farm, probably would never have been accosted by a policeman in his life...
...Like Chaplin, he received a 20-year, sentence, which, the others said, would have meant life in his case...
...In due time the Department of Justice will be officially informed of the facts, additions will be made to the records, and filed...
...True, there were reactionary interests who opposed what the great majority of Florida's citizens demanded, but they opposed it in vain, and those politicians who did oppose it have written, unless the memory of Florida's voters is very short, the death-warrant to all their hopes for future advancement...
...He is serving llA years...
...Canada to begin again where they left off ttey -"WiH •Be' satisfied...
...Charles Bennett is an elderly fat man, serious as death, and genuinely grieved and humiliated that anybody could ever have believed him guilty of plotting against the Government...
...With a broad smile and a wave of the hand he climbed into a truck bound for the prison garage, of which he is foreman...
...As for Thompson, he was pleasant...
...Anderson •won fame when he took the stand in the Congressional investigation of the East St...
...And then it's pretty hard to arouse any moral indignation in the breast of a man who works ten or twelve hours a day...
...Anderson is now about 30 years of age...
...On one side is the hard, stern discipline of the prison administration...
...But please don't forget the military prisoners...
...I've only got life in this place, and I can't afford to be fooling around with you all day...
...most, and outraged my feelings more flagrantly than any other thing, was the knowledge that a majority of my countrymen regarded me...
...These were accomplishments affecting particular individuals...
...I have read the proceedings of many of these cases, and the evidence on which some of these chaps were convicted and given savage sentences was every bit as slender as that on which we were convicted, and anybody who read the record in the Post-Dispatch knows what that means...
...There are some things that a man's self-respect won't let him do—not even to get out of the penitentiary...
...Their sentences have several more years to run...
...It is tyranny for an executive to be able to put a man in the penitentiary by merely saying a word...
...It was a big, brave thing to do," said one who went, referring to the ^decision of some to remain'behind, "but I think it was a mistake to draw it that fine...
...The cl^bs are formed under the direction of local men and woman interested fa both forestry and agriculture in cooperation with the count/ agent and the Forest Service...
...With barely any schooling, he quotes easily from Tolstoy, Proudhon, Lester Ward and the lesser known papers of Hamilton and Madison...
...John I. Turner is a stocky lumberjack from the Northwest, with a grin that had not worn off even in prison...
...The county judge who sentenced him was discharged...
...one prohibiting the peonage system and the second abolishing the whipping post...
...Doran laughed and said: "Well, they couldn't make Christ recant by crucifying Him, and they can't make me recant for a few months of freedom...
...Ralph," he said earnestly, ."I'd like to take your advice, but I simply can't do it—it's too damn dangerous...
...Obviously the weakest of the eight in point of resolution...
...Must Be Freedom PRESSED to make this a little clearer, he said: "I never violated a law in my life...
...That the record will take formal cognizance of the fact that .the men who chose to stay in prison did so with'a full knowledge of what prison life meant, is not likely, because it has' no technical significance...
...He was such a totally unregenerate, thoroughgoing plain-spoken old scoundrel, and so delightfully free of any pretense...
...But I will not voluntarily agree to being punished tinder one law whenever the President thinks I have broken another law...
...f Crime Against Soldiers iiTy UT before I tell you anything about my-O self," he said, in reply to the opening inquiry, "let me tell you about the military prisoners we left in that place—the soldiers court-martialed and sentenced during the war...
...Perhaps this is-incredible, but I assure you that I have been able Jo work up a perfect ecstasy in my cell by merely dwelling on the fact that I was being punished for being right...
...He talked of many other things...
...Now then, abor...
...But courage, either physical or moral, is esteemed everywhere, and the conduct of men in great personal crises is a matter of interest to everybody...
...they have not abandoned any of the views that resulted in their conviction and imprisonment...
...Thompson Joins Group PRESENTLY a man came over the little elevated footbridge that leads from the front gates down to the roadway, and joined one Of the groups...
...Their faith in the creed of .industrial unionism, as expressed in the I. W. W. program, and their belief that nearly all great wars are crimes against those who work and fight, have not been shaken...
...The atmosphere is stifling...
...The greater accomplishments of the same sixty days, which will affect generations to~come, are: "The abolishing, by special act of the Legislature, the system of leasing misdemeanor convicts to private corporations...
...Out on the lawn a merciless Kansas sun was beating down, and scattered about the grass, in the shade of the elms, were groups of trusties enjoying their outside privileges...
...I only got 10 years for cracking that last safe, but you got 20 for being a working man...
...As soon as one learns to keep out the bitterness, it's amazing the comfort one gets from knowing that he is suffering because he is right...
...But these were boys who went out from the farms and factories to fight for their country...
...Not all the sentences are that long...
...Veteran Labor...
...I won't under any circumstances give my consent to an arrangement under which the President can send me back here at any time he feels like it, to serve out a sentence under a law jthat doesn't exist, and that I did not violate when it did exist...
...I have heard an old thief, an habitual criminal, say to one of them: 'You'll know how to play the game when you get out of here...
...He's too tired to think of anything much besides steep...
...The writer was curious to know in what way imprisonment had left its effect on Thompson, on his attitude toward life and mankind...
...He shook his head sadly...
...Maybe I have a little less confidence In human institutions," he said...
...He is recognized as one of the most brilliant young writers fn the newspaper field* today...
...For Monday afternoon is* likely to be remembered in Leavenworth penitentiary, where many things of much moment are soon forgotten...
...They may do it by fraud or force, but they don't do it with my consent...
...OP the ten "political" prisoners who chose to remain in prison rather than go free at what they considered a sacrifice of principle, and equally of the 14 who accepted the conditions upon which liberty wag offered, one thing is quite certain...
...It was some time before the relatives of the martyred boy became aware of the circumstances...
...If they want me to admit, even by inference, that I am a criminal, or that my confinement has been an act of justice, I won't admit it...
...Beginning -with a forestry club, organized last year in Crestone, Colorado, the movement has spread to many other localities in that state...
...business will be dressed out at once...
...His volatile mind, his quick sympathies and "enthusiasms continually bore him off at wayward tangents...
...Anderson for his fearlessness and courage, declaring that his testimony given under almost daily threats of assassination at great personal risk, had been the most valuable presented before the committee...
...I know boys who are doing life in that place for nothing, absolutely nothing...
...I liked him," Chaplin confessed...
...But 1 felt sorry for Mm, and the day before he went out I said...
...Well, when I first went up I was worried by the fear that I might go to pieces...
...I can't think of anything more dangerous to the country than the crime that is being committed against these soldiers...
...A trusty's existence has compensations...
...but taciturn, j He had come there to wait for a call to Warden Biddle's office, where the terms of the commutation would be offered him...
...A distinguished figure...
...He spoke of Magon, the Mexican who died, and whose last request was that his cell be changed so that his cough would not keep other prisoners awake...
...Ten prisoners, for reasons of their own declined to accept the conditions...
...They looked like ordinary working men in their Sunday clothes...
...He was farmed out to work for a lumber company and died in a delirium, probably as a result of a severe thrashing...
...ANDERSON, a structural Steel worker, asked for a parole, and was reported to have alienated himself from the others to a certain degree...
...Tabert's martyrdom has served a purpose...
...There's plenty of justice in this country if you've got money to buy it...
...Ready To Do 20 Tears TWENTY-THREE other men Went into the Warden's office, singly, in the two hours that followed and came out singly...
...They're not even good sports...
...His function of trusty testified to the esteem in which the prison authorities held him, and the greetings of the other prisoners were notably friendly...
...Louis, Mo...
...The Post-Dispatch has done a tremendous thing in this amnesty campaign...
...It may be appropriate to take, a brief glance at each of these men, as they revealed themselves...
...There are juries to decide men's guilt or innocence in this country...
...But there may be guile beneath his innocent exterior...
...C. W. Davis, after Chaplin, was the most striking personality, and his career the most extraordinary...
...Hardly 15 minutes had passed when Thompson came back down the bridge...
...Louis race riots and by bis sweeping exposure of graft and corruption among officials actually responsible for the tragedy...
...If the conditions are what I'm afraid they will be, I can't accept them...
...This Florida has already done, and done whole-heartedly, with a white heat of righteous indignation at its own past failings...
...He began: "Just one thing makes it hard to bear*—-when his throat was convulsed and tear* started down his bronzed cheek...
...When a 'wobbly' like myself goes to jail nobody pays any particular, attention to whether he is guilty or innocent, and the •wobbly' expects that, and summons his faith to his side...
...In his overalls and wide-brimmed straw hat he would surely have been mistaken for a farmer, except for, the tell-tale numbers across the knees of his overalls...
...Or they might have been farmers starting out for .he county fair...
...And that's another thing—some of those boys will be getting out in a few years...
...for example of Quigley and Tabib, the tubercular sufferers who were refused freedom...
...One thing did happen later when a prisoner remonstrated with "Red" Doran for having rejected freedom...
...Louis Post Dispatch, of St...
...They were flung into the filth and misery and horror of war...
...Ten Refused Conditions THE Warden's subsequent announcement, correct in form no less than in lack of detail, was that "the following 14 prisoners have accepted the conditions upon which their sentences were commuted, and those with whom the Government has no further...
...Of the eight, only he displayed signs of bitterness...
...and the abolishing, by another statute, the practice of whipping prisoners...
...Individuals Don't Count A ND then, suddenly, and without the slight-est warning, a strange and shocking thing happened to Thompson...
...15, 1921, arrested as a vagrant and sentenced to pay a fine of $25 or become a convict for ninety days...
...Picture to yourself the bitterness 'n the heart of a young fellow who went out to die for his country and was rewarded with a 25-year prison sentence...
...Every conceivable element conspires to break a man down...
...The 5,000 families bought vast tracts of Mexican •land, generally paying one-third in cash...
...A number of years ago, Mr...
...He is an unmistakable figure, with his fine, thick shoulders, his deep-set, dreamy eyes, his leonine head with its mop of iron-gray hair...
...I was afraid the proletarian esthete would make a spectacle of himself and disgrace all the 'wobblies.' But I learned that if a man has the right philosophy he can stand up against anything...
...Ill be with you a while longer, boys," he called back...
...Tf he wants to free me, he can do it...
...At this moment the expected summons to the Warden's office arrived, and Thompson departed...
...The people outside don't give a damn for you, and if you're wise you, won't give a damn for them...
...On the contrary, confinement undoubtedly has served to deepen and strengthen those opinions...
...After all, we want to accomplish the same things, and we can't accomplish them inside those 'walls...
...In the May issue of LA FOLLETTE'S MAGAZINE, the story of Martin Tabert is told...
...Doran's sentence was five years, and deductions for...
...Artistic nerves, temperament and all that sort of thing...
...special investigating committee of the House, of which Representative Henry Allen Cooper of Wisconsin was chairman, in its report highly commended Mr...
...Charles M. Foss is nearer the popular conception of an I. W. W. than any of the others in that he is rough and direct in speech, and there is a sort of catlike readiness about him...
...Life in Prison •THE I. W. W., which is a labor union that * organizes workers by industries rather than by crafts, is not popular in this country, generally speaking, and those who belong to it are not generally regarded as very good citizens...
...One is surrounded by foul thoughts, foul words and worse...
...As a matter of fact he was "Big Jim" Thompson, one of the most influential and respected of all the "wobblies," as the L W. W. are called, and as, they frequently call themselves...
...I can't...
...Chaplin Distinguished Figure OUTWARDLY, there was nothing about seven of these men to excite attention...
...He was a.big man of middle1 age, with a sandy mustache, huge bronzed arms and thick body...
...As an eyewitness of most of the killings, Mr...
...Peonage is Blotted Out 1 In Florida THE death of Martin Tabert, a twenty-one year old boy from North Dakota, aroused such sympathy and indignation throughout the nation and so stirred the Florida legislature that two laws have been enacted...
...You've been trying to beat, this game for SO years, and as a result the best part oi your Ufa has been spent behind prison walls...
...It was difficult to confine Chaplin to his personal experience...
...I know I have less respect for the capitalist class, if that is possible...
...The great work finally accomplished by the legislature is summed up thus by Samuel D. McCoy, staff correspondent of the New York World: "The sheriff who caused Tabert's arrest was discharged...
...I'm afraid I'm not going out today," he said after some deliberation...
...The exception to this was the eighth man, Ralph Chaplin, poet, painter and student of Japanese art and old Gascon legends...
...During his term in prison he has taken a correspondence course in engineering from the University of Wisconsin, and intends going there to complete it and get his degree...
...Some of them lost -their heads, some "ost their nerve, and some lost their tempers, and I can't see anything strange about that, can you...
...Then he told a story about an old yeggman who was completing his fifth "hitch" at Leavenworth...
...He stood out there, just as he would stand out in any group of men...
...Some Prominent figures CW...
...Then what...
...He was hungry for ice cream...
...THE MENN'ONITE farmers who migrated from the Canadian provinces to Mexico now want to return to Canada...
...It was a perfectly frightful business...
...Was Not a Traitor t(\\T ELL, to be absolutely candid," he » » finally said, "the thing that hurt me...
...In one region where they purchased 60,000 acres, only an inch and a half of rain has fallen since March, 1922...
...me," he said...
...Every day that I serve here is served under protest...
...Aid FORREST EDWARDS, known to all "wobblies" as "Pop" Edwards, is a veteran labor organizer...
...I think it is a crime to live off other men's labor, to condemn little children to ignorance and sickness, to stir up wars for trade, and let other men fight them...
...For one who has seen and talked with them no other conclusion is possible...
...They can't buy me with a few miserable years...
...Naturally, Chaplin's' view of his prison experience, and his conclusions from it, were considerably broader and more searching than those »f some of the others...
...If some of them honestly feel that they can do it/ I'm mighty glad for their sakes that they can...
...Discipline of Prison (({*% ^R fellows," Chaplin went on, "did all %J they could to counteract such influences as that, but you can see how hard it was...
...Aside from .that was his quick smile, his careful cultured-accent, his scrupulous courtesy...
...Anderson completely exonerated labor from any part in the riots...
...Promise me that you'll cut it out this time and go to work...
...Ancient, cadaverous, pulling eternally at a pipe as battered and old as himself, he stammered bashfully and made helpless gestures when asked about himself, hat recovered his equilibrium instantly when h* began talking about the organization...
...Don't waste my time...
...Of the 14 who accepted, the Government had further business with six, so that there were eight in the group that eventually came Over the little bridge, most of them free men for-the first time in six years...
...The accompanying article, written on the ground at Leavenworth penitentiary after the recent release of 14 ef the political prisoners, reveals him at his best, accurate, complete, impartial, interesting, in a word—as a truly great reporter.—Editorial Note...
...For these reasons, then, if "for nd others, scenes that were enacted at this hothouse of drama, deserve as close recital as may be given...
...It can do just as great a thing for the soldiers...
...Exactly what scenes transpired there, only they and the Warden knew...
...Yet, mark you, for trivial escapades of the sort that might cost a civilian a night in the holdover or a $10 fine, these boys were jerked before general court-martial, tried by young officers drunk with authority, and given such u'.terly insane sentences as 35 years and life imprisonment...
...He was taken off a train in Leon County, Florida, on Dec...
...But it is a circumstance worth noting by those whose interest is informal and unofficial...
...If you come up again you'll probably die here...
...I suppose you'd call it a sort of religious j^g...
...I came here as a protest against those crimes, and as a protest against the crime of suppressing free speech, I think it was worth the six years of freedom I've given for it, and if I serve out my term (10 years) I think it will be worth that, too...
...Thompson Refuses Freedom At Price of Self Respect By PAUL Y. ANDERSON (In St Louis Post-Dispatch) P-.ul Y. Anderson is a reporter and editorial writer for the St...
...While he thus waited, the writer induced him to talk, which was not easy...
...It's too big a chance for an old man to take...
...T3I1L I want you to promise me something...
...My family has lived in this country for more generations than I can recall, and none of them ever broke a law...
...If I break a law I can be punished under the law that I break...
...besides, men will jest even in the shadow of prison walls, so it was quite in order for one, failing to receive promptly the cigarette he had requested, to exclaim: "Hurry up...
...Others may only guess how James Rowan made his decision to "do" his 20 years rather than accept the President's conditions, or how Coumos, the mathematician and philosopher, chose his 10-year term, or Burt Lorton, the Englishman, his...
...In attempting to drill a well the workers got down 212 feet through solid rock and had not struck water...
...I have been a little bit disappointed by the apathy of the working class, but never mind that...
...as a traitor...
...Make it the easy way, son, and when you've got a pile of it put away, nobody can put you in jail...
Vol. 15 • July 1923 • No. 7
