The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 42, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 24, 1920 Page: 4 of 4
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editorial
page
The Oklahoma Leader
EDITORIAL
PAGE
No. 42—Vol. t5.
OKLAHOMA CITY. OKLAHOMA. APRIL 24, 1920.
Weekly.
THE OKLAHOMA LEADER
uccci«o to otic Valley Socialist. lloi 777, Oklahoma City, OklH.
OKI.AIIIIM t 1I API K COMI'AM.
Entered n< second rla mall matter Juno 1, 101 h. at tho I'oat Office ui
Oklahoma City. Oklnhonw, under- the Art of March .1. 187i .
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All monov for 8Ub rrlptloni« mIiouM l o nddrcnneil to
THE OKLAl. *1A LEADEN, llox 777. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
~SHALL THERE BE A CAPITAL LEVY?
The French chamber of deputies is debating 11 levy on
capital for the purpose of paying the nation's debts. The
same solution is being urged in England.
Little has been heard of such a project in this country.
There is, however, a demand for it—and it will probably be-
come a widespread demand. The Farmers' National council
urges it. The Seattle Union Kecord favors it. The National
Non-partisan league is for it. We have no doubt that the
entire union movement will get back of it.
Of course, the proposal will be met with a loud series of
yelps from the wolves who eat up the substance of the people.
Over twenty thousand new millionaires were made during
the war. They shouted patriotism with their lips, while they
had their hands busy raking in the unearned millions.
Why shouldn't these and other recipients of .unearned
income be required to disgorge enough of their ill-gotten gains
tc pay the national debt?
They will claim that it would be confiscation.
it would not. It would be put in the form of a tax. No
tax is confiscation.
They take a part of your property every year, in the form
of a tax. Is that confiscation?
If it is, then confiscation is constantly practiced, and no-
body can object to it on that ground.
If it is not, then it would not be confiscation to take part
of the monstrous fortunes of the wealthy.
These great fortunes have not been earned by those who
possess them. No one can really earn a fortune. He can by
his own labor only earn .1 comparatively small amount. He
can get rich in but one way—by getting for himself the earn-
ings of others.
Capitalism abounds with methods of turning this trick—
and the capitalists are adepts at it.
They are both adept and unscrupulous. While the coun-
try was at war, and the national debt was being incurred, they
took advantage of the situation to vastly increase their wealth.
Financially speaking, they are the beneficiaries of the war.
They should be made to pay for it. _
WHY DOESN'T TRADE BEGIN?
The capitalists of the United States are desirous of raking
in a goodly quantity of Russian cash by trading with the Soviet
government. They have to a considerable extent called off the
newspaper libeling of Russia—in order to prepare the way.
They would have preferred to crush the Soviet government,
but, finding that to be impossible, they are going to do the
next best thing—from their point of view—and make a few
millions out of Russian trade.
But why are they not about it? Why this delay?
Is it that they are having the same trouble with Brother
Woodrow that the allied statesmen had?
Mr. Kernes, in his valuable book 011 the economic conse-
quences of the peace, explains how, bit by bit, the wily pre-
miers of Britain, France and Italy secured Woodrow's adher-
ence to the hellish provisions of the treaty. In each instance
lie hypnotized himself into believing that the provision coin-
cided with his dearly beloved fourteen points.
At the close of the process, Lloyd George got scared and
wanted to tone down the provisions. But would the White
[louse sage consent to this? No siree! He had hypnotized
himself into believing that the provisions were just, and he
was not going to turn around and stultify himself by dehyp-
notizing himself and admitting that they were unjust. The
provisions must stand in all their naked harshness.
Woodrow was the original "acid test" man. It was in
January. 1918, when he said that the treatment of Russia
would be the acid test. By August of that year he had al-
lowed himself to be persuaded that it was desirable to make
war against Russia—and he joined with "our glorious asso-
ciates" in sending an expedition to wage undeclared warfare
against that stricken country.
Having done this, it is doubtless difficult for him to bring
himself to admit his tragic mistake by consenting to let Amer-
ica trade with Russia.
We are not familiar with what is going on behind the
scenes. All we know is that there must be something going
on—for there must be some reason for the delay. This is our
best guess as to what the reason is.
THEY ARE BIDING THEIR TIME
The advocates of compulsory military training are mak-
ing a big howl because the senate—for purely political reasons
—adopted voluntary instead of compulsory training.
Voluntary training—say the advocates of conscription
would result in the best young men doing the training and the
lighting, while the others shirk.
They are mistaken. The best young men are always peace
loving. Compulsory training would be required in order to
get them to train.
The advocates of compulsion will bide their time They
will wait until after the November election.
If, when that election is over, it is found that the people
of the United States have elected a Republican or Democratic
administration and Congress, they will at once set about the
work of putting a compulsory training law on the statute
books.
If our country were invaded, there would not be room
rtnough to accommodate all of the men who would volunteer
to light in her defense. There is not the slightest need of com-
pulsion for such a purpose.
The advocates of compulsion do not have defensive wars
in mind.
They want a great army to back them up in any trouble
they may get into while prosecuting their plans for commer-
cial supremacy—for the domination of the world's markets
and the world's investments.
Why should not such war- be fought by those who believe
in them?
If you want freedom from militarism—if you want eon-
a tinuous peace — boost the Socialist press, join the Socialist
Bi I.urltr it lid Vnt.P t.hp. .Kn£12L
THE WEATHER VANE
'■ is-;
!
'M i
®§
ft -OB-*? ■
EVERYONE TOGETHER
THOUGHT WAVES
BY ANISE.
STAFF WRITER. THE FEDERATED PRESS
All the WORKERS
In the little Russian village
Turned out to CELEBRATE,
For the great bridge
Was FINISHED,
Done fn record time!
They expected the repairs
To take many weeks
But such was the ZEAL
Of the RED ARMY
Of LABOR,
And so HARMONIOUSLY
Did they work together
That the time was shortened
As if by MAGIC
To a few day.M
Everyone rejoiced
As if a VICTORY had come
In war!
Truly it WAS a victory
On the "bloodless front
In the great war of MAN
Against the vast disorder
Of WAVE and WEATHER
And WILDERNESS!
So the workers
Made festival together
For the JOY
Of work completed!—
And I thought, as I read of it,
Of the building of a bridge
In my own city,
And the CEREMONY
At its opening!
There were speakers
From City Hall
And the University.
And manv representatives
Of RFAL ESTATE men
Whose business was advantaged
By the biidgc.
But WHERE were the workers
Who built it?
They had done the job
With strikes and lockouts
And without JOY;
They worked for a BOSS
And not for themselves;
They came and went:
They were SCATTERED
In woods and camps
Over the earth
Hunting the NEXT job!
It never occurred to them
Or to anyone else
That THEY should be present
To celebrate,
That THEY should be honored
For the work of their hands!
We have forgotten the JOY
That our parents knew
In the old-time "husking bees"
And "quilting parties."
The joy that Communist Russia
May teach us again;
For the greatest fun on earth
Is doing a good job WELL
Everyone TOGETHER
As brothers and equals.
Everyone sharing the work
And rejoicing
Over the GAIN!
The French Socialist Party
1
The Socialist party of France has increased
its membership in the three years at a great
rale. From 30.000 dues-paying members it has
grown to 150 000. The new members are mostly
young and fiery enthusiasts The Federation of
^^Atine, Paris and vicinity, has about 19,000
BY C: A. MOSELEY.
"The life of the republic depends upon the
free dissemination of ideas and the guaranties
of freedom of speech, press and assembly, so
long held sacred in the minds of our people."
That sounds like Wendell Phillips, but in reality
emanates from that apostle of liberty, Mr. A.
Mitchell Palmer. It is like many things so
rhetorically uttered by Mr. Palmer's chief. Ac-
cent the last six words of the sentence.
* • •
The Democratic party, having handed the
people a big bunch of democracy, is fleeing from
the wrath to come. It reminds us of a story they
tell down in the Panhandle of Texas, of the
old days when land was worth about 25 cents
an acre. The stranger, coming into the coun-
try, met a cowboy riding hard in the opposite
direction, his horse in a lather of foam. Asked
as to his haste, the Texan said: "1 have just
sold a man a section of this land. I found he
couldn't read and I deeded him two sections.
I'm getting away before he finds it out."
• e *
Bill Lloyd says; "The foreman in rtry shop
told me the other day that I was a first class
workman, but he wished 1 wasn't so darned radi-
cal. 1 says to him: "You can go over in the
office building and hire all the conservatism you
want at $80 a month—if you can get any effi-
ciency out of it; but I can't give you any prom-
ise that the stuff above my eyebrows that makes
me a good mechanic is a-going to quit work
when the whistle blows.'"
e e e
Some of the papers say that Socialism has
no place in this country where conditions are so
unlike those of Europe, since here all men have
the ballot. To prove it, they expel five men
from the New York assembly.
• • •
The Democrats who are still keeping up the
huge expenses at Washington are like those
who are still voting for Buchanan—they don't
know that the war is over. By the way, it is now
some weeks since Mr. Wilson has offered any
suggestion as to whether it is or is not over. Pos-
sibly. from the looks of the treaty, he has de-
cided that it will never cease.
• * e
Speaking of the trouble in the Ruhr district,
a dispatch says: "Between the interests of
France and those of Germany, no incompatibil-
ity existed." How lovely it is to see the erst-
while patriotic French capitalist and the sword-
clanking German capitalist sitting on the perch
like twin turtle-doves—when the workers in the
Ruhr basin talk of taking over industry. It is
quite remarkable, how the horrors of war yield
to the better nature of a safe-deposit box!
* • «
Why should we lament that the five ? -ialists
are expelled at Albany? Have we not New-
berry staunchly defending our liberties at Wash-
ington?
• * •
Definitions.
Unity—Splitting the vote of the workers and
farmers between the old parties.
Presidential possibility—Any man with a
catch phrase and access to a barrel.
Democratic part\ Something tint began
gloriously with Jefferson, degenerated to Bu-
chanan. and saw its finish with Wilson.
Law—The last guess of the supreme court.
General—One who sticks pins in maps.
United States Chamber of Commerce—The
chaperone of the senate.
Member of congress—A lawyer who looks
good to business and to whom $7,500 a year
\ SATURDAY IN G' IN RUSSIA]
It seems that early this year (1919) the cen-
tral committee of the Communist party (the
Bolsheviki) put out a circular letter, calling
upon the Communists "to work revolutionally,
to emulate in the rear the heroism of their
brothers at the front, pointing out that nothing
but the most determined efforts and an increase
in the productivity of labor could enable Rus-
sia to win through her difficulties of transport,
etc. Kolchak, to quote from English newspa-
pers, was "sweeping on to Moscow," and the sit-
uation was pretty threatening. As a direct re-
sult of this letter, on May 7, a meeting of Com-
munists in the sub-district of the Moscow-Kazan
railway passed a resolution that, in view of the
imminent danger to the republic, Communists
and their sympathizers should give up an hour a
day of their leisure, and lumping these hours
together do every Saturday six hours of manual
labor; and, further, that these "Communist Sat-
urdayings" should be continued "until complete
victory over Kolchak should be assured." That
decision of a local committee was the actual be-
ginning of a movement which has since spread
all over Russia, and since the complete victory
over Kolchak has been assured is likely to con-
tinue as an institution so long as soviet Russia is
threatened by anyone else.
* * *
The decision was put into effect on May 10,
when the first "Communist Saturdaying" in Rus-
sia took place on the Moscow-Kazan railway.
The commissar of the railway, Communist clerks
from the offices, and everyone else who wished
to help marched to work, 182 in all, and put in
1,012 hours of manual labor, in which they fin-
ished the repairs of four locomotives and 16
wagons, and loaded and unloaded 9,300 poods of
engine and wagon parts and material. It was
found that the productivity of labor in loading
and unloading shown on this occasion was about
270 per cent of the normal, and a similar superi-
ority of effort was shown in the other kinds of
work. This example was immediately copied on
other railways. The Alexandrovsk railway had
its first "Saturdaying" on May 17. Ninetyeight
persons worked for five hours, and here also did
two or three times as much as the usual amount
of work done in the same number of working
hours under ordinary circumstances. One of
the workmen in giving an account of the per-
formance wrote: "The comrades explain this
by saying that in ordinary times the work was
dull and they were sick of it, whereas on this
occasion they were working willingly and with
excitement. But now it will be shameful in or-
dinary hours to do less than in the Communist
Saturdaying."
• * •
The idea of the "Saturdayings" spread quick-
ly from railways to factories, and by the middle
of the summer reports of similar efforts were
coming from all over Russia. Then Lenine be-
came interested, seeing in these "Saturdayings"
not only a special effort in the face of common
danger, but an actual beginning of communism
and a sign that Socialism could bring about a
greater productivity of labor than could be ob-
tained under capitalism. He wrote: "This is a
work of great difficulty and requiring much
time, but it has begun, and that is the main
thing. If in hungry Moscow in the summer ot
1919 hungry workmen, who have lived through
the difficult four years of the imperialistic war
and then the year and a half of still more diffi-
cult civil war, have been able to begin this great
work, what will not be its further development
when we conquer in the civil war and win
peace?" He sees in it a promise of work being
done not for the sake of individual gain, but be-
cause of a recognition that such work is neces-
sary for the general good, and in all he wrote
and spoke about it he emphasized the fact that
people worked better and harder when work-
ing thus than under any of the conditions (imi-
tated from capitalist countries) imposed by t'ie
revolution in its desperate attempts to raise the
productivity of labor. For this reason alone,
he wrote, the first "Saturdaying" on the Mos-
cow-Kazan railway was an event of historical
significance, and not for Russia alone.
* • •
Whether Lenine is right or wrong in so
thinking, "Saturdaying" have now become a
regular institution, like Dorcas meetings in
Victorian England, like the thousands of collec-
tive working parties instituted in England dur-
ing the war with Germany. It remains to be
seen how long they will continue, and if they
will survive peace when that comes. At present
the most interesting point about them is the
large proportion of non-Communists who take
an enthusiastic part in them. In many cases
not more than 10 per cent of Communists ars
concerned, though they take the initiative in
organizing the parties and in finding the work
to be done. The movement has spread like Fire
in dry grass. * * * and efforts are being made
to control it, so that the fullest use may be
made of it.
In Moscow it has been found worth while
to set up a special bureau for "Saturdayings."
Hospitals, railways, factories, or any other con-
cerns working for the public good notify thii
bureau that they need the sort of work a "Satur-
daying" provides. The bureau informs the local
Communists where their services are required,
and thus there is a minimum of wasted energy.
The local Communists arrange the "Saturday-
ing." and anyone else joins in who wants. These
"Saturdavings" are a hardship to none, because
they are entirelv voluntary, except for members
of the Communist party. \ ho are considered to
have broken the party discipline if they refrain.
But they can avoid the "Saturdayings" if they
wish to by leaving the party. Indeed, Lenine
points out that the "Saturdayings' are likely
to assist in clearing out of the party those cle
ments which join it with the hepe of personal
gain. He points out that the privileges of a
Communist now consist in doing more work
than other people in the rear, and on the front
in having the certainty of being killed when
other folk are merely taken prisoners. * • •—
I INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION J
BY SCOTT NEARING.
Senate committees and Lusk investigator!
have developed a terror of the word "revolu-
tion" which has proved quite infectious through-
out the United States. Even school children
seem to have forgotten 1776. Even historians
overlook the part played by revolution in the
immediate past of western civilization.
The industrial revolution of the eighteenth
century has a permanent place which every stu-
dent of history must recognize. That revolu-
tion transformed European feudalism. Its ulti-
mate results have not yet been felt, but those
who have sought to fathom the relation that ex-
ists between social institutions and economic
origins are convinced that the life of Europe
during the past 150 years has been built upon
the changes which the industrial revolution in-
augurated.
If it is true that economic changes presage
social transformations, how profound must be
the alterations that are in store for the insti-
tutions handed down by the fathers of the
United States to the present generation
of American citizens! The constitution of
the United States was written in 1787. The
public school system had its origin in the early
years of the nineteenth century. Present day
forms of property were transferred from Eng-
land as a part of the heritage which the daugh-
ter country secured from the motherland. All
of these institutions reach back for hundreds
of years. With the exception of the school sys-
tem they root in an economic era that accepted
the sailing vessel with the Indian trail, the home
workshop with the wind and water wheel, as
the ultimate forms of economic life.
Meanwhile the world has developed two eco-
nomic forms that are destined to revamp civili-
zation. The first is the use of power in indus-
try. The second is the use of the machine. Both
rest back on some natural resource.
Power in the United States has, until recent-
ly, depended upon coal. During the past few
years petroleum and water power have come tc
play a part. In 1821 the coal production of
the United States was 1,322 net tons; by 1825 it
was 117,988 net tons; in successive decades it
rose to 320.072 net tons in 1830 ; 2,070,000 net
tons in 1840; 7,018,000 net tons in 1850; 33,-
036.000 net tons in 1870; 157,771.000 net tons
in 1890; 501.596,000 net tons in 1910. Ninety
years have seen the development of coal as an
industrial resource. Prior to the war of 1812
it was unused and practically unknown. After
the panic of 1837 it became a factor of larjc
economic importance.
The development of petroleum as a source
of power has been even more rapid than the
development of coal. Expressed in millions of
gallons, the following quantities of petroleum
have been produced in the United States: 1860,
21,000,000; 1870, 220,000,000; 1890, 1,925.000,-
000; 1900, 8.801,000,000; 1917, 14.083,000.000.
Here, not a century, but 50 years has witnessed
the rise of an industry that is destined to play
one of the central roles in the economic history
of the immediate future.
Power drives industry. Industry is built up
of units of machinery. Machinery is made of
steel.
Until the civil war little steel was produced
in the United States. The record for 1867 shows
19,643 tons. Prior to that considerable pig iron
had been made. For 1820 the pig iron pro-
duced amounted to 20,000 tons; for 1830, 165,-
000 tons; for 1850, 563,000 tons; and for I860,
821,000 tons. In 1870 1.500,000 tons of pig iron
and 68.750 tons of steel were made. The figures
for 1890 were 9,203,000 tons of pig iron
and 4,277,000 tons of steel. In 1910 the
production was 27,304,000 tons of pig iron
and 26,095,000 tons of steel. For 1917 the pro-
duction of pig iron was nearly 40,000,000 tons
and of steel 45,000.000 tons. The last half cen-
tury has witnessed the development of the Unit-
ed States as a steel producing country. Up to
that time it was compelled to depend for this es-
sential industrial product on foreign producers.
Since the civil war there has been a tremen-
dous alteration in the economic mechanism of
the United States. There have been revolutions
in the forms of power used and in the capacity
of the country to maintain its own industries
upon its own steel production. There are many
other revolutionary changes that might be cited.
These two, however, both of them fundamental
in character, have made alterations so revolu-
tionary that no thoughtful student of history
can expect anything less than an equally revo-,
lutionary change in the social and poliftcal
forms which rest back upon these economic
foundations.
N
LABOR PROFITEERS
Labor is profiteering as unscrupulously as
capital. That is the burden of many an editor's
song. Would you call $9.79 a week profiteer-
ing? That is the average sum earned in 1919
by 1,587 women workers in the confectionery *
industry of New York state—as reward for an
average working week of 43.6 hours. Or per-
haps $10.58 a week is profiteering? That is
what 3,313 women in the cigarmaking industry
earned, as compensation for a week of 46.8
hours. These figures, and others as shameful,
are based on a survey made by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics and are now published by :l%
Consumers' league in a pamphlet called
Women's Wages Today.
In all, the wages and hours of 13.322 women
workers in New York state arc covcrcd bv the
bureau's survey. What do the figures show, in
general? Fortyseven per cent of these workers,
in 19 different industries, earned less than 30
cents an hour during the period covered. This
means,' says the Consumers league, "that even
if the women worked the full 54 hours allowed
by the lav. almost half of them were earn'ng
less than $16.20. As a matter of fact, the num-
ber earning bdow a living wage is greater than
47 per cent." Many of the women worked less
than the legally permissible 54 hours.—The New
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The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 42, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 24, 1920, newspaper, April 24, 1920; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc149059/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.