The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 56, Ed. 1 Saturday, August 7, 1920 Page: 4 of 4
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EDITORIAL
PAGE
The Oklahoma Leader
. . ,
EDITORIAL
PAGE
No. 56—Vol. 6.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, AUGUST 7. 1920.
Weekly.
THE OKLAHOMA LEADER
.o r*«r ValKv Socl.1,,, '<•« °"r' OM*"
OKLIUOM \ 1.KAIH II (OM'-ANY. ,
Filtered mail ni.U"
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, under the Act or Marcn a. • year
HATE.
WATCH YOUH 1 ATK.
Tlii' date loUowinR your address ts «h time *nr^pRy°unf*«-* re-
«1 ' Ml lahoma u- :l*r will «tl-ronUnu> ll your .obo. rlptlon al
naw.l In or.*r that you "il« no PM" riM10" '
ka«t two mk> «h«iil of llni. ,„
"r!'
"THEY AIN'T MAD AT NOBODY '
Althonah the dispatches assert that the iuffrage amend-
ment is certain to be ratified by the Tennessee legislature, we
suppose that Miss Alice Paul and her associates can find
Home-thing else to get mn<l about"—says one of the capitalist
oheets. . , .
Incidentally—ami to keep history straiai.t—it should i«'
recorded that the suffragettes did not get mad. I hey were
quite calm, thank you.
But the picketed gentlemen anil the capitalist press—did
thej get mad ? , ,
We'll sav they did. In fact—to be strictly up to date
we'll tell the world they did. They raved and fumed anil
sputtered and almost died of apoplexy.
But—though they did not gel mad—we hope and believe
that the suffragettes—when the suffrage shall have been
achieved—will find another great and noble obi act to work
for. .
And we have a sneaking notion that we know what that
object will be. What could it be but Socialism? After gaining
political emancipation, the next and natural thing will be to
txain economic emancipation. That's Socialism. And the tap
italist press and politicians will throw another series oi vio-
lent and uncontrollable fits of wrath.
Some of the saffragists may not yet know that there is
something beyond suffrage to be worked for. We do not say-
that every last one of them will come into the Socialist move-
ment right away. ... .
But we do say that there is no other place for them to
land when they get the suffrage, rest a bit to get their breath,
and then begin to look for new worlds to conquer.
The suffrage is a weapon—not a goal. It is a weapon tu
be used to reach the goal.
So long as the suffrage was unattained, naturally the
energies of a great many of the women were devoted solely^
its attainment. , . .
But vou can be sure that when they have workid them-
selves out of that job, they are not going to lie down and
cease all activity. They will find out what is the matter with
this world and they will turn in to set it right—which means
that the will work for Socialism. ,
And thfcv will go about that task with ths sarno calm
determination with which they went after the sultrage.
Harriet Stanton Blatch has already joined the Socialist
party. Many other suffrage workers have been in the Social-
. wt party for years. _
DEBS AND PRINCIPLES
"In voting for Debs one at least votes for a good and
tT.-cat mar., ut. on the other hand, to do it, one must vote for
Socialism as well." We quote from I he Freeman.
Yes, it is one of the excellent features of voting tor the
Socialist candidate that, in doing so, one votes for prim ip es.
not merely for the man.
This thing of voting for men. merely because they art
good men. is played out. A so-called good man—a man who
is clean morally, and who does not have the habit of stealing
everything that is not nailed down—may stand for the rotten-
est principles—or he may stand for no principle at all. In
voting for him, one votes for his undesirable principles, or for
his lack of principles.
It is necessary that the people should reach the point
where tfcey are prepared to vote for pood principles and to
put principles above men always.
The Freeman is correct in characterizing Debs as a good
and great man. He is one of the really big men of the twen-
tieth century. _ .
i But no one knows any better than Debs that it is princi-
ples--not men—that count. No one has expressed this truth
any more clearly and sententiously than he.
He emphatically disclaims being a Moses to lead the
people out of the wilderness. He says that if he could lead
t.hem out of the wilderness, somebody else could lead them
back in again. . . . . ,, ,
In other words, he urges them to think for themselves
SO that they will not have to depend upon a leader at all.
We thoroughly ajrreo with him in this. We want all vot-
ers to vote the Socialist ticket because the Socialist party is
pledged to the principles that make for social solvation. We
want them to vote for those principles understandingly.
Nevertheless, it is gratifying to know that the candidate
of the Socialist party towers head an/1 shoulders above the
candidates of any of the other parties in all good qualities.
The microscopic littleness of Wilson. Harding and ( ox is
well illustrated by their indifference toward the imprison-
ment of Debs.
TO THE RESCUE, HENRY
A chill meanders up and down the spinal columns of "our
"t the very thought of the industries being vn-
lofled by the men who do the work.
w If it seems natural t you that the men and women who
Wo the necessary and useful manual and mental work of the
w rid should control the industries, your capitalistic educa-
tion has been neglected. You need to devote more attention
to the kept press. .
If vou have been looking kindly upon thai Scriptural
tetiet copied by the wicked Russians—He who will not work
shflll not eat—your mind is not sufficiently fed up with Amer-
;„„n Constitutional league tommyrot. Dig a few bushels (if
fft pamphlets out of the garbage can, right away, and learn
fo hsve the proper respect for your betters who are smart
afioutrh to live without working.
You must do this quick, for the idea is spreading that
i)ociied persons should earn their living, instead of steal-
ing it from others by means of profits, dividends, interest,
!«nt or what not. That pernicious notion must be headed off.
hui-ted down, and swatted as ruthlessly as if it were a mos-
^U' "otherwise "our best people," who live in those lovely man-
«i..is on the beautiful avenues and boulevards in the northeast
Tinrt of the citv and suburbs, might have to go to work and
a thejv own living. The very idea makes them shudder and
groan You must come to their lescue—you always-have
done in the past.
LET'S THINK OF SCHOOL DAYS
BY mVICi
t.Clur" >(ew*na|ier 8
(Scco/ess, vn\*T a CanOV cut <
VWftT A BCWTtfOV-
r . ~ r,r
t,.o ~r«e SRWDMome*
Lav# of Cotf?wSKtio\f
I
\DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN
In his "Econonyt Consequences of Ihe
Peace," Maynard Keynes showed that the war
was the inevitable result of capitalist imperial-
ism. that the peace based on annexations, in-
demnities, and the denial of the rights of peo-
ples to choose their own destinies was inev it-
able under the capitalist imperialsi system, and
he presented vivid proof of the inability of this
system to\ reconstruct the shattered world or
even to function sufficiently to keep the mass
of the European population from a condition
bordering on starvation. His conclusion, the
conclusion of a liberal and a gentleman, was
a plea to all good people to get together and
preserve the system from the perils of Bol-
shevism, Socialism or any change whatever
This sort of logic is typical of much of the
advice the peoples are gettini' from their high-
brow mentors these days. It illustrates the in-
corrigibly romantic nature of the liberal mind.
...
A current dispatch from London, in The
World, setting forth the gloomy outlook in Brit-
ain, is of this kind. The writer shows that Lloyd
George and his peace conference dictators, with
their impossible exactions and their callous
denial of democracy, have reduced whole peo-
ples in Europe and in outlying exploited coun-
tries to ruin, starvation and despair. Citing
the situation in England itself he gives a pic-
ture of utter incompetence and extravagance:
"Crushing taxation, combined with the spec-
acle of uncurbed ministerial extravagance and
corruption. * * * Money (exacted in taxes)
* * • not being used for the repayment of
the war debt, but is being squandered on vast
hordes of officials whose departments plunge
from one blunder or scandal to another. * * *
Unearthed enough administrative incompetence
and corruption in the past two years to furnish
material for many inquiries, but these have
been buried by spellbinding speeches. * * *
The war profiteers * * * are the only pros-
perous section of the community."
The correspondent sets forth these condi-
tions. and then he complains bitterly because
the majority of British labor seems to be seek
ing "th: industrial revolution."
Vi'hat. pray, would he expect? He has shown
that the old order is thoroughly bankrupt, that
it no longer serves anyone save a handful of
profiteers and a horde of corrupt and incompe-
tent placeholders, and yet he whines because
the mass of the people who have to pay for this
farcical system out of their toil and sweat and
blood and misery arc now awakening to the real
cause of their blighted lives and are demanding
a new birth of freedom in which the privileged
groups will no longer he permitted to carry on
their gruesome gamble with the lives and hap-
piness of the masses.
e • «
As soot, as the workers of England have
reorganized her industries for the service of the
people on a collectivism basis, instead of on the
present basis of j;'eed and robbery for the ben-
efit of the few, the "dark horizon" which the
corespondent complains about will give place
to clear sunlight. The old order.'palsied and rot-
ten with years, is passing in Britain. It is curi-
ous that none of the liberal observers seeim
to be able to see that a new order is necessary
and inevitable. Apparently they will never
learn that the road to Paradis.- must lie ahead
It is strange that, dismayed at the darkness
about them, they refuse tu turn toward the
dawn.—New York Call.
DINNER PAIL EPIC
BY BILL LLOYD.
WRITTEN rOK THE KEHKKATED PRK-iS
Today I think I shall discuss some folks who
raise an awful fuss because some workers and
their ilk are wearing shirts made out of silk
a subject that leads to the point of why some
things are out of joint. There is a lesson this
should teach and herein thusly 1 shall preach.
Eirst, 1 will challenge any guy to please ex-
plain the reason why we men with hair upon
our chest are not supposed to wear the best.
If silk ain't tor the guy that works, why
drape it on the one that shirks? If we can t
use the things we make, why are they made, for
goodness sake? Of course, it raises some com-
motion when lots of workers get the notion that
they'll consent to work all day only if good
things come as pay. And common sense is
surely lacked without the biologic (get that
word?) fact that men snould use their brain and
muscle to get good living from the tussle.
Invention is no good a-tall, unless the bene-
fits shall fall in proper share just to the folk
who carry the producers' yoke; and one thing
only this ian mean, that we must master the
machine. And so the social question skirts
about the wearing of silk shirts. Who
shall the silken garment flout, and who com-
pelled to go without? The weaver, handling
loom and thread, or some soft-headed cuss in-
stead ?
Now let your mind on this thought dangle,
while I tack off another angle. Now stripes arc
generally a part of the foulard-shirt wearing
art; but there are stripes of other kind, some of
which 1 have in mind. Injunction judges deal
in these, and thev Dag on some workers' knees,
the knees of those who can't give bail and so
don stripes and go to jail.
The real millennium will hulk with right gay
stripes upon our hulk, for then, unless all real
signs fail, we'll all tuck in a silken tail. Who
knows? Perhaps we'll even dare to dress up in
silk underwear! It would take some folks down
a peg to view such luxury on our leg.
I
ITALIAN SOCIALISTS j
WOMEN OF AMERICA, DO
YOU KNOW WHAT
1 SOCIALISM MEANS
TO YOU?
BY ANITA C. BLOCK.
Women of America, during the past year or
so you have heard more than you ever did be-
fore about Socialism and the Socialist party.
You have read about the Socialist;, in the news-
papers and seen their pictures in the movies.
You know that, they tiust be a strong, active
political party, ar.d that what they stand for
and want to get for the people of America must
be important, or else you would not hear so
much about them.
But do you really know what it is the So-
cialist party wants and stands for? Could you
explain what Socialism is to your neighbor?
« * •
You cannot afford to be ignorant about the
Socialist party, which right here in America has
elected mayors and congressmen and assembly-
men and aldermen, and many others, to various
political offices.
• • •
For you are VOTERS now, women of Amer-
ica! At last you. too, have the right to vote,
and therefore the power to make this country
the kind of a country you want it to b<f a real
land of the free,-where every man and woman
who works, and'all the children, too. will have
plenty to eat and wear, a pleasant home to live
in, and enough left over for all the fun and
pleasures of life. _ M
Every woman in America will say "Amen '
to that; for who would not want to live in a
country where ALL are comfortably off, where
there are no profiteers in food or clothing, or
rent, or in anything else, because no man or
groups of men would be allowed to own
PRIVATELY or sell for PROFIT those neces-
sary things of life that ALL people must have
in order to live.
Surely there is no woman in America—unless
she is herself the wife or daughter of a profit-
maker and cares for nothing in the world but
her own comfort or that of her own little fam-
ily who does not believe that the time has
come when a few rich men must stop owning
privately all the things the people need in order
to live, and that the people themselves, the mil-
lions of men and women whose labor produces
everything, from bread to railroads, must at
last THEMSELVES own, all together, col-
lectively, everything they are creating by their
labor, in mill, and mine, and office, and factory,
every day, every hour.
• « •
You. the women of America, who are doing
useful work, whether in your homes, as wives
and mothers, or outside the home in places of
employment, you and your mothers and sisters,
and your fathers and husbands and brothers, all
or you who form the great body of WORKERS
of this country, must also at last become the
OWNERS of this country.
Stop to think only a moment and you will
see that without you, without the workers, with-
out labor, the business of the country could not
last a day. Without the workers making food
and clothing, mining coal, building and running
trains ar.d ships, the country would plunge into
death and destruction. The few private own-
ers, the capitalists, could not save it. The capi-
talists, the owners, as a class, do not create any-
thing in the world; they do not produce any-
thing' they onlv OWN AND TAKE IN THE
PROFITS MADE FOR THEM BY LABOR OF
THE WORKERS. It is the workers of hand
arid brain who alone create and produce every-
thing. Without labor there could be no coun-
try. no world, because people would not have
the necessary things of life they must have to
be able to live tit all.
Therefore, women of America, do you not
believe that the workers of this country, the
PEOPLE of this country, should own and con-
trol all together, collectively, or socially, as the
Socialists say, EVERYTHING that the people
need to live?
COLV4JM Of
QLVUMJ* I
The Italian Socialists, who for a time were
prone to pin their faith on mass action, are get-
ting back to parliamentarianism, which the
masses of workers, rather than the leaders, seem
to favor, judging from the immense gains that
were made in the recent elections. The 165 So-
ialists in parliament are reported to have agreed
to work together for the fulfillment of the fol-
lowing program; "In what concerns the for-
eign policy, the>cstab!ishment of a political and
economicc accord with the Russian soviet re-
public; a financial policy striking at the big
fortunes in order to cover all the debts of the
war and maintain a general stable financial sit-
uation; the realization of social reforms giving
to the workers not only the ownership of the
land and of the factories but the direction of
the industries, with a iust appreciation at all
times of the value of personal technique; finally,
and as corollary to what precedes a working
class policy, which will cause all traces of capi-
talism to disappear.' Cleveland Citizen.
The people must own and control all the
industries, which means all the ran materials
and factories and machinery, as well as the
railroads and steamships of the country.
For only then, when you. women of America,
together with the men of America, become the
true OWNERS of this country, can you begin
to use your labor for YOURSELVES, to apply
your labor to what you yourselves own. Now
all you who work must sell your labor to the [
capitalists who privately own YOUR country
and who. therefore, do not give you the full
return to which your labor entitles you, but j
have the power to give you only so much in |
wa;;cs as will not interfere with their profits.
Women of America, do you not think it is
time that this ownership and control of your
country by the capitalists should stop and that
the people the workers, should at last own and
control iheir own country and all the great
wealth that their labor creates? Do you not
think it is time that you and your families
should begin to enjoy the comforts and pleas-
uccs of life?
« ♦ •
If you believe this, then you believe in So-
cialism, and if you want this great good for
the people to be brought about, then you under-
stand what the Socialists want and what they
are trying to bring about.
Do not let yourselves be fooled, women of
America. Socialism is not against religion, or
against marriage, or against the family. Those
who want to go on being rich and powerful at
the expense of the workers, who want to go on
doing the OWNING, while the people go on
doing the WORKING, those it is who have
steadily lied about Socialism and who still try
to make the people believe Socialism is all sorts
of things which it is not
In the Socialist party there are Catholic
j
Help Wanted.
Don't hide bur light under a liu«hrl
Every !lm< H gl<'4n humorjusly end the
rcRult to tjie Colyum of Colyuma Editor,
b2S (liMtnut St. Al! this means that w
want contribution*.
Barnyard Stuff.
r*ox-a-doorlle-tloo!
Wilson's In a stew .
They trimmed his little son in Jaw
Billy-Mc-a-doo! W. I- A.
The New York Qlobr
Strike Breakers.
And to think ol* top-that this is tea tlm«
at the Astoria.—Good Morning.
Prepared.
I met a KnnsaR suffe las' week
Ills brow was free from rancor.
An umbrella, coat, and fan
He carried, and an anchor.
Summer Session Kansan.
You're Welcome To It, Ring.
There's many a sliplon between the cup
and the lipton. 1 don't know if that «xaR s
been used before, but It's my own idea.
King l.ardner.
Revised Version.
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
If the landlords don't tret you
The undertakers nmst.
The Chicago l ail> News.
Maybe So.
Why are the Sinn Feiners always raid-
ing the Dublin postoffire? Is ihat where the
Irish equivalent of Mr. Burleson stays?
The Kansas' City Star.
Give Me This.
Give me companionship with those
Who dare to thVnk beyond
The confines of orthodox thinRs:
Let me associate with rebels,
With those who creata no gods
To act as scare crows to keep them
Out of the fields of Reason;
Who build no hells in which to ^
Torture their enemies.
13 K RTI OCIO 1 >A NT I NO.
Next! Next!
"In no industi\." s:iys Mr Karl Pal"'
nngar magnate, "i." the margin of profit so 1
low as in the sugar refining industry."
Whereat Mr. .!. Ogden Armour, M-
Ivouis Swift -the print paper famine forbids
our adding to the list—began paging their
publicity men.
Many Have Forgotten.
Of course it is some trouble to clean a
spark plug, but do you remember what a
task it was to go over an entire horse with a
brush and curry comb?- The Dallas News.
Had Possibilities.
Guide—This is the Parthenon.
Tourist—Gee! What a porch!—The New
York Sun. y
So I)o We.
PAI.MKK ABUSED TRUST- Headline.
What trust? The Salina Journal wants to
know.
wo,men and Protestant women and Jewish wo-
men. But they never let their religious differ-
ences interfere with their all working and vot-
ing together for Socialism, for the freedom and
happiness of humanity. In the Socialist party,
it has been said, there are more happy husbands
and wives than anywhere else, because they are
both working and voting together for a great
cause, for the freeing of the common people
from poverty and injustice. As for the famity,
say the Socialists, why it is just tne family that
doesn't get a chance under capitalism. Only
then, when parents are able to provide comfort-
ably for both themselves and their children, can
there be any kind of a fine or happy family life.
• ♦ ♦
If women only understood how Socialism is
going to free them from all that makes life so
hard today, they would do everything in Jh?*-
power to help give this country a Socialise
eminent as soon as possible. A Socialiel-^;-*
eminent would, in the first place, never let any
mother suffer want, or permit her to leave her
little ones while she went out to earn a living
for them. A Socialist government would sup-
port every mother and her children if they
needed it, for the Socialists believe that hear-
ing and bringing up children is the hardest and
most important kind of work in the world A
Socialist government would see that EVERY
child gets a free education from babyhood to
young manhood and womanhood, and no woman
would know the heartache of seeing her beloved
little ones begin to work when they are scarcely
more than children. A Socialist government
would develop co-operative homes and big, mod-
ern, shining co-operative kitchens so that
men will at last be rid of that killing burden,
housework, and get the freedom to enjoy life
and to educate themselves.
. . .
Of course, it is impossible, women of Amer-
ice, to tell you all thai Socialism means and all
it will do for you and tor the people of this land.
I But the more you read about Socialism and the
I more Socialist party meetings and lectures you
attend, the more you will believe in and wan:
I Socialism. Till soon you, too, will join the So-
1 cialist rarty and vote to elect a Socialist gov-
I ernmcnt in America and to bring peace and
! comfort and freedom to its millions of hard-
working people.
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The Oklahoma Leader (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 56, Ed. 1 Saturday, August 7, 1920, newspaper, August 7, 1920; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc149144/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed April 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.