The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 37, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 20, 1920 Page: 4 of 4
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EDITORIAL
page
The Oklahoma Leader
editorial
page
No. 37—Vol. ti.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, MARCH 20, 1920.
Weekly."
THE OKLAHOMA LEADER
Burreuor to Otlor Vulloy UuoUllat. Ho* 7TT. Oklahoma City, Okla.
OKLAHOMA I 11 III.II (OMPANY.
linwr ,l " I", .mil "law mill! m ll r Jim. 1. J l , t the Po t OIBct n|,
nkluhoitm t'Uy, oklahoma, under the AM of March 3. 1871
gUBSCMUn ION JtATK 11.00 i t r year.
\V A TI II YOl'll ATE.
The date following your atldrniui In iha tlmt your mibacrlptlon «*plr«n
Th Oklahoma l<rutlrr
n*v*«L 1" ordrr that
) • *« two W«M ki uhe nl
.llmonllnii* nil MUbnri Iptlona promptly r««
on ml.i' no InMutm, renow your nubaorlptlon ut
of tmu .
All tnon*>y 1W uhi«rrtpiluna should ho adttrvnaetf to
TI 110 nKLAUuMA l.i. \J>lJIt, Mux 777, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
tlutocracy scores again
The idle rich won another victory over the common people
when the decision was handed down- get that "handed down"
—that stock dividends are not taxable iim income.
A corporation Increases its capital stock, and, instead of
selliiiK the new stock, it divides this new stock nnioiiK its stock-
holders, tfivinjr each stockholder the new shares up to u certain
percentage of the shares already held by him.
For example, it' ho already holds one hundred thousand
dollars' worth of stock, par value, and the stock dividend is
to lie twenty per cent, lie will receive twenty thousand dollars'
worth of new stock, par value—for nothing. Instead of giving
him twenty thousand dollars as a cash dividend, they give him
twenty thousand dollars in stock.
This is called a stock dividend.
The court holds that it is not income to the person who
receives it, since he did not receive it in cash. Therefore, it is
held that the government oaiuiot make him pay an income
tax on it.
The plutocrats are jubilant over this decision. They not
only save multiplied millions on their taxes up to the present,
but. as one congressman put it. "The effect is that any ttroup
of individuals may form artificial entities and screen them-
selves and avoid a large amount of their just and fair tax-
ation."
If this is true, the plutes will begin organizing artificial
entities right away. They are long on artificial entities.
Meanwhile, the common citizen does not escape his taxes,
lie pays in full.
In Wisconsin, the common citizen is taxed with special
heaviness, because the Republicans and Democrats defeated;
the Arnold income tax bill in the legislature. It would have
taken a large share of the taxes from the rich, and it would
have lowered the taxes of the common citizen.
This is one of the facts which the Big Business, anti-So-
cialist candidates in the Milwaukee municipal campaign will
have to face. They cannot face it successfully. They—as
Republicans or Democrats—for all of them are one or the
other—none of them are non-partisans except in name, to fool
the people—are guilty of imposing these high taxes on the
common people.
why this discrimination?
In 1914, John K. Jelke, oleomargarine manufacturer, was
convicted in the federal court 011 a charge connected with the
illegal coloring of oleomargarine. Without the exact facts at
hand, we infer that be was charged with complicity in making
oleomargarine look like butter so that it could be sold as such
and deprive the government of its ten cents a pound tax on
oleomargarine.
He was sentenced to serve two years in the federal peni-
tentiary. President \\ ilson commuted the sentence to two
months in the Bridewell at Chicago
so that he did not begin serving
Bridewell sentence to thirty day
a few days ago he gave Jelke a full pardon
We know nothing about Jelke and have no desire to see
him go behind the bars.
But we should like to inquire how it is that influential
men convicted of crimes of moral turpitude, of defraud-
ing the government, find favor at the White House—whereas
men and women convicted of crimes that are not crimes at all
are allowed to go to prison and stay there?
The men ami women who are in prison or on bail because
they exercised the rights of free speech and free press were
not convicted of crime. They were convicted of living up to
the constitution. Their conviction itself was in violation of
the constitution. Every hour they serve, or remain under
duress, is a continuous violation of the constitution. Their
accusers—not they—are guilty.
Why is it that these men and women receive no considera-
tion at the hands of the man in the White House?
Is it because they are members of the working class? Is
it because they believe in democracy? Is it because they stand
for social justice?
same old bunk
I
*IS6ii6SS*5
ea;> tot
b <■ ■ "w. ft TW .Snr
litvinoff on the | ! resp^ojsibility !
How completely such a group of executive func-
tionaries as Mr. Lansing and his colleagues have
been differs from a ministry or cabinct in the Eu-
ropean sense must be apparent at a glance. Neither
individually nor collectively is the cabinet a re-
sponsible body. Vi'hile its members, at least when
appointed, are naturally persons who are politically
in agreement with the president, they are not as a
group the constitutional advisers of the president.
The constitution expressly provides that the pres-
ident "may require the opinion, in writing, of tha
depart-
li i v i/Ti/rr un inc.
! _ revolution
The national office of the Socialist party has se-
cured the American rights of a brilliant book by
j one of the most important men in the Russian rev-
olution. which will soon make its first American ap-
! pearance. Maxim Litvinoff, the author, is the head
j of the co-operative movement in Russia, recently
soviet plenepotentiary at Copenhagen, to meet
with Mr. James O'Grady for the British govern-
ment, and he is an old Russian Socialist, who lived
in London for over 25 years, affiliating himself
with the Bolshevik fa^,lon- ! principal officer in each of the executive
On the occasion of the soviet revolution, For-/ f n)
meats upon any subject relating to the duties ot
their respective offices"; but the president is undei
j labor and internationalism _____
let us have peace
Many moons ago this paper urged the senate to declare
peace—and throw the treaty of Paris into the waste basket.
We now repeat that recommendation.
Wood row's recent outburst indicates that the treaty could! R Kery "d ad
not by any possibility be ratified. If the senate should vote i th'"gs appears Neither in thiH
to ratify it with reservations, he would no doubt pocket it and l-''resI Britain do the leaders of the old established for living \-.i
refuse to give it his sanction. And then- is no possibility oflP r,le* TFear to realize that labor, whether organ- working cord
the senate ratifying it without reservations. " -ed or not. has controlling motives and aspira-
Furthcrroore, the European countries are getting sick ofj'.'on5 *hlch cannot b\ any po<s..- lity be made :>>
the treaty already, and there is a prospect that it may be re-|til existing par?! schemes In both count:la-
vised in" which case it would be out of order for our countrv •,°r- *s * political factor, is too often looked upon
to be even considering its ratification. ' as something alien to the regular party svstem
So, why should the senate bother with it? Why fuss over d Political movement which obstinately refuses to
it and waste good time that might be spent in actually bringing j '*^e J'j0Pe^r'*ce
peace''
It is curious to see the w ay in which the lead-j would perceive that armaments and military train-
ers of old-line political parties still treat labor and; ing are a blessing as well as a necessity. NX*hen it
the labor vote. There are compliments enough denounces the war with Russia and caUs for peace
, „ _ ,. . . , and the opening of trade, it is charged outright
and to spare, of course. Politicians are never tire. wjt(, sympathy for Bolshevism and with a desire to
of telling labor how important it is, how edifying restore German influence in the world. Stand by
the spectacle of millions of men and women work- the government, compromise your disputes re-
ing with their hands, how civilization would perish spect the established order, plav the game -sucn
were it net for the fruits of human toil. All the are the admonitions for observance of which labor
, . . , . ... . , ,, is to be rewarded with an increase of *.*ages, a
stock phrases about the dignity of labor, the mora! min#r p05t in c>binet cr ministrv and represents-
virtues of industry and the vice of idleness, the tjon on commissions and boards which discuss and
necessity of a living wage, the incomparable su- resolve.
periority of living conditions in one country as Vl'hst these leaders of parties apparently fail
compared with another, the perils of cheap labor, to see. or, if they see. persistently refuse to admit,
and the right of labor to organize and agitate pro- is that labor everywhere today has passed the point
vided it docs not do anvthing really serious, do where it can be humored or coerced in such
dut) today in political discussion as they have done fashion. It :s. frankly, no longer interested in ap-
duty for more than a generation. If humoring peals of this kind And it is not interested because,
and cajolerv. patting on the back, and unctiousi broadly speaking, labor has ceased to be national
How of tine words and well-phrased promises could and has become international. The great frater-
make labor contented with its lot, then sureh ■■it) of those who work now belts the globe The
ought the wage-earners of the world to have be- differences which separate American labor, for ex-
come long since the happiest and most contented [ample, from British or French or German or South
of people t African labor are indeed numerous and varied, but
Once one looks below the surface of all this I they are nevertheless in the main, differences
however, a verv different state ncident and detail rather than of fundamental
Neither in this countrv nor in, characteristics or principle The same demands
reasonable hours, and humane
which are heard in one coun
themselves also in all the others. The
es also
sire for education and enjovment. for public health
and civic beauty, for freedom of speech and organ-
ization. for the peaceful pursuit of chosen occupa
tions, and for a share in the control of govern-
ment as well as of industry knows todav no na-
| . I In Great Britain. Mr. Lloyd tional bourds nor vet the time-honored limits of
j George has a habit of acting as though labor ought language race, or creed. The interests of libor
If the treatv were a worthy one—one to which our countrv 1 r" ly ,0 surr°rt the L*er*1 ^.Unionist policies; a-eore. and the province of labor is the world.
might be proud to become a part)—the case would b. dit'-i"s ,n*menie h«vin* F°',<les of ' own •"?: , Hen;t' '','V ? ii J '",8 , lntern?,'on:
w 1 """ developing a party to carry those policies into ef- a! mission fee s less and less interest in politicall
p", a trvntv of revenue of land grabhinv feet, is a mistake if not a perversity In the United issues and devices which, whether they affect one!
. > *. • . r hv treatv wh> -h , u ,nfi t i States. Democratic and Republican politicians com- countrv or manv are m fart on!\ the manifesta-
persahsm— vv holly unworthy matj whtch it would be dis-i,y Ubor f, „ „ wjn wppor. tions cf 3 -lrrow and nationalism. The pro-l
gracetul lor us to ltuursi. t ^ . ,he Democratic or Republican parties; to talk of gram for which labor stands represents on the
. forming a labor partv and supporting labor can- whole social advances and benefits which the old
didates is at the least foolish and in practice m s-.nationalist order has failed to secure. Labor has
chievous And when, in either country, labor re- r.o interest in armaments ana compt -orv mili-
Froru every point of view, therefore, it is desirable that
our country should simply declare peace with the central
powers.
Vhis would bring the technical state of war to an end.. , d what is expected of it. there is a st-ong tarv t-41-ng because it stands for peace, and mil-
tve the country ot the incubus war laws, and put
ion ou a peace "footing with its late enemies. Why no
nothing doing
but of
elf-*
;ss always teems with domestic scandal
em to be more abundant than usual.
he tivuble with them—from the point of view of the
MWJL.
eign Minister Trotzky designated Litvinoff as
plenepotentiary to the British people. Litvinoff
was widely known in London as a Socialist agitator
a "soapboxer"—as a profound student, and as
an idealist. His duties brought him much into the
public eye, and for a while he was something of a
"character ' in London.
About two years ago he returned to Russia,
leaving a mass of notes, which his wife, Ivy Lit-
vinoff. made into a book entitled, The Bolshevik
Revolution, with additional chapters written by
herself, bringing the narrative down to a few
months ago.
The book is a fascinating account of the Rus-
sian revolutionary movement, beginning in 1905,
and carrying the reader through the March (1917)
revolution. From that point. Litvinoff. the Bolshe-
! vik, becomes a special pleader; he traces every
step taken by the Bolsheviki under Lenine's leader-
ship, and gives the justification for it.
It is a fine piece of special pleading, absolutely
authoritative, coming, as it does, from the pen of
one of the principal actors in the drama.
The book is well printed, attractively bound,
and it will attract the widest attention. It will sell
for 25 cents, with reductions for quantity lots. Or-
ders and inquiries should be transmitted imme-
diately to the Socialist party, 220 South Ashland
Blvd., Chicago.—National Office Bulletin.
j worthless men
BY ANISE.
WRITTEN FOR THE FEDERATED PRE^S
Down on the benches
Of City Hall Park
They were LOUNGING
In the fog
Of earlv March,
WAITING
For the coming of spring
With Its promise of WORK
In woods
Or on farm
And a sleek, spruce man
Who passed them, said:
Some of them perhaps
Are decent workers,
But most of them
Are WORTHLESS MEN I
And I thought; "What
Does that mean—worthless1
And how is worth measured?
Surelv each one of them once
Was WORTH
To some MOTHER
The risking of LIFE!
Each of them was valued
Bv a vast measure
Of AGONY
And of JOY!
Each of them has cost
Many, many years of patience
If worth is measured
By COST ?
And if there were war now
They would be worth MUCH
As food for cannon.
Many thousands of dollars
Would be spent on them
To get them ready for slaughter.
If thev are worth so much
DYING.
Why are they worth nothing
LIVING?
Where does'the fault lie?
For surely <0 man
Chooses of himself
To be worthless?
So I followed
The sleek, smooth man,
And he went uptown
Into a church
Where the preacher was talking
About the INFINITE worth
Of every HUMAN SOUL,
Measureless
Above ill else in the world.
Wealth was worthless
Compared to them.
Power was worthless
Compared to them—
To MEN
For whom God give His son.
MEN—each a spark
Of DIVINE FIRE.
Each one bea-ing within him
The final standard of worth
Bv which systems
And civilizations
Are finally JUDGED'
I watched the sleek smooth maa
To see how he reconciled
THESE WORDS
With what I heard him say
Of "worthless men."
But he sat there comp scent.
Without any expression
On his face-
Letting it all go in one ear
And OUT the other'
no obligation to consult such officers upon any
other matter or as a body; nor is it, apparently
expected that they shall offer their advice unless
it is called for. Nor is the cabinet responsible te
congress. It does not necessarily represent the
party which for the time being has a majority in
either the house or the senate, nor is its tenure of
office affected by any change in the political com-
plexion of congress. It cannot urge any action
upon congress, because it has no policy; it cannot
be criticized because, so far as the constitution or
the laws are concerned, it has no existence.
It is a fair question whether a system which
so directly encourages all the evils of persona
government and executive autocracy ought not, ir,
the interest of a healthy political life, to be ended
None of the various changes in the system which
have been proposed from time to time go below
the surface. Seats in either house of congress,
for example, with the privilege of participation in
debate, would not alter the constitutional status
of the cabinet in the least; nor would the cabinet
become a ministry if its members were elected by
congress or even by popular vote. The essence
of cabinet government, in every country in which
the system exists—and it exists in most self-gov-
erning countries except the United States and in
South America—is the responsibility of the execu-
tive to the legislature; and so long as the heads
of departments, sharing with the president the im-
mense power which the constitution gives to the
executive, are in no way politically responsible to
congress for their acts save through the process of
impeachment, we cannot have true cabinet or min-
isterial government in the United States.
It is time for the American people to think seri-
ously about their constitution. Whatever the vir-
tues of the constitution in other respects, the sys-
tem of government which it provides is the most
rigid now existing. Both the president and the con-
gress are elected for fixed terms. No matter what
changes public opinion may undergo, the political
complexion of the house of representatives cannot
be changed in less than two years nor that of the
senate in less than four. Between congress rfir.
the president there is no necessary political har-
monv: at the present time there is no actual har-
monv whatever, and public business is well-nigh
at a standstill; yet the public, which suffers from
the antagonism, cannot hope for even a partial
remedv until after March 4, 1921. As for the pres-
ident, his powers, largely uncontrolled and un-
controllable. are today greater than those of any
sovereign or prime minister in the world.^ These
things ought not so to be. If the social evils from
which the country has long suffered are to be re-
moved, if the ominous unrest which grows daily in
volume and intensitv is to be allayed, it can only
be through the establishment of responsible gov
' ernment in place of the present outworn system
j —The Nation.
thtmaj[ of ~mfl j
The New York World announces that it wil
support Mr. Hoover for president on any ticket
1 That is interesting. If we believed that the chief
| business of the next president was to be the di
tiibution of alms to American people, we would
also piedge ourselves to support Air. Hoover or
1 any ticket. When Europe was a great poor house
Mr. Hoover displaced marked ability in getting
supplies to the famishing.
But. somehow, we take it that the chief busi-
ness of the next president is not going to be to
distribute alms. As we see it. there are some
pressing questions awaiting settlement and some
principles to be applied in the work of reconstruc-
tion.
It is typically American to pick out a man who
has done one big job well and say that, therefore,
he should make an admirable president. What
Hoover believes about any domestic question ni
one knows, vet The World would put him in the
white house
The World, however, has not a perfect rccort
for politicsl clear-sightedness. In 1916, it inti
mated that the heavens might fall unless a Demo
I cratic congress were elected, and a few month!
a'-e' the aforesaid Democratic congress had takq|
office. The World announced that it was one of the
most incompetent congresses that ever sat undet
the great dome. And it was. Reconstruction.
picture of the christ
-1
disposition «o go at once to extremes, and to ac-Utary and naval establishments tend to disturb! *o « n-u. n. Dr. Sfto, teld SOCretaqr uf th> Fed-
.use labor of svmpathiz.ng st heart with the dis-; peace It has no interest in alliances and foreign THESE ORDS erated Churches of Christ in America, tells
organizing and revolutionary elements in the com- policies which, under the guise of self-protection ^,th *j>a; • J? m incident. H. was in Brussels^and visited the Peo
Tiunitv. and of a willingness to run smock acrossS or benevolent control, in fact perpetuate imperial- Of worthless men. p!e s palace which is the headquarters of the Inte
the onlv forces that can be counted upon to keep ism. the fe-tile source of wars and of political op- ^ 1 v ^rt^Ton national Socialist organization. After going over
the countrv safe pression. It is not concerned to maintain trade i Without any express.on this immense building, which is owned bv the Sa-
lt is astounding with what bland assurance, discriminations between states or to impose m- On his face. cialtsts. he was finally ied to a large room which
camouflaged as an appeal to patriotism. Ubor has possole burdens upon a vanquished enemy, partly jtTnfr 11 s C0?11i e, , iWelf. This room
been cal'ei upon to play the game of the old-time because al such forms of oppression are contrary And Ot the otfce. rathir dark and had no furniture in it. At one end
protectors of the heme-—is that none of the leaders It *as asked to support the war to the to international comity and partly because they 1 ~ """ the room *a? a curtain which was drawn aside
participant* in these tragedies are Socialists. bitter end because governments in wh.ch it had hinder the the free ie\elopment of commerce and hopes may express unive-sal need? searching for and the lights were thrown on. Hie re was then
So long as they are confined to movie actresses, captains j no considerable voice had decided that the war. industry ucon which the happiness of labor de- the best way of recognizing intellectual workers disclosed a life-size picture 0 the Lnrist w ith up-
in the army, and other believers in things as they are. the self- must no on. It was asked to support a treaty of rends Least of all is it disposed to bolster up and striving to tom its powerfu' fighting machine raised rhe beautiful countenance and tr
appointed protectors are unable to throw up their hands in peace in the making of which it had small share governments which have demonstrated their in- .nto an instrument 0? recon«fnjctron The pel;- majestic pose of the Christ struck into his soul:
holy horror. It is asked now to endure patiently an appall n? capacity as veil as their autocracy, or to perpetu- ticians cf the old school cr' 1 go on blind wrh an- that *a.s fhe fee ig which even one had wh.
PK. Even an aviator with three wires leaves them cold. They increase in the cost of living, while governments ?te political institutions which obstruct the expres- their futfle tasks and their followers applaud but came into that august Presence There uas notn-
a Socialist. temporize with the profiteers When it protests sion of the people's will Labor -n short, is tired -t is to the solida-itv of labor rathe' than to any *ng but the figure 0 Christ rhe Socialist, the mem-
It is onlv when a Socialist happens to be the victim of an against keeping up the burden of armaments and cf betn$ wheedled and weary of being led It 1$ formal union of government* that we must look of the proletariat. This shows the reverence
(lappy alliance that the familv altar:- n <1 ire peril of being rlanninj for universal mill tarv service, it is told <eek;ng political power the hope of governing today for liberty international understanding and wlrch the Socia 'ists ha\ for the name and the
ed with rude hands and chopped into little tiny bits. 'that if it only were wiser aod more farscetng it1 efficiently. It is working out a program which peace —The Nation. person of Christ.—The Socialists.
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The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 37, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 20, 1920, newspaper, March 20, 1920; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc149030/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.