The Social Democrat (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 89, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 17, 1913 Page: 2 of 4
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Editor......................................G. Streeter
Business Mniia^r........................*'• H. Armstrong
Phe Borrowers Protective Association is an orgauiza
tion for tin* benefit of all those who are in the dutches of
tin* money shark.
It has secured I letter conditions a> to loans, renewals
and foreclosures for its members.
One Year .......................................•*l> * eiits At the present time the money lender got.s » mortgage
on the land and stock by a small loan, and then adds Usury
u|miu usury at each renewal until the. borrower’s equity is
entirely swallowed Up.
If this practice is not stopped tin* kirrowers of this
j state will soon have nothing to borrow money on.
The laws of this state clearly define Usury and provide
In penalty of double the amount for its violation
The only reason why we submit to the open violation
I of the law is that the lenders are organized and we are not.
As one man cannot fight this fight alone it is necessary
Thi, to oww* by The Socle! I.............. [to organize and fight collectively for our rights.
1. ....... . 11 nil ill .it ll/. L' tL’f 11 I ) 1*1... ll . . e. > iff. • «• ' . . 1 till. tot .. li.htllil !• 1 » life,
< 1 RADE sIPajSSuT COUNCIL j»
PrUue.s Publishing ('«*
Majestic Bldg., Oklahoma City
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pontted under tho law* ot (falniionw, uapitul uto<k $2h,ik)g.
Kturn d its s. OWitiOfW City,
under the Aft of Muruh 3, 1K7^-
A cross here means your subscription expires next week.
r “.....
With this issue, We begin the publication of a paper
that will more adtHpiately represent the great Socialist
movement of tin* State of Oklahoma .
The pat>er that we have l>een compelled to issue has
been entirely unsatisfactory to us both in matter and ap
pearami*. We were so hampered by lack of funds that w«*
could do no I tetter.
Bid for the hard and personal sacrifice of ii few loyal
comrades we should have been compelled to suspend pnhli
cation.
That danger is now past.
Our now publishing Company is an assured success.
The members are rallying to our support.
Over $2,500 worth of stock has been sold in less than
a month. We Iio|h* to sell $10,000 worth before January 1.
We have also lieen able to secure the much needed help
in the Editorial department. Our now editor is Comrade 0.
C. Streeter, of New York City. Comrade Streeter has had
wide experience in the newspaper and magazine field.
His “Robbery of the Farmer,” his exposure of the
grain trust and his “Defense of Confistieation,' (pub-
lished in 1888), are widely known and familiar to many
of our readers.
Comrade Streeter was for many years president of
the Brooklyn Socialist Club and lias lieen active in the move
meat for twenty years. Vs a speaker, lecturer and writer,
he is well known all over the country. He has also been
very active in the movement for the abolition of child labor
and for the aliolition of the sweat shops. As secretary of
the first New York Tenement House Committee, he did
much to improve the living conditions of the poor.
As a worker for organized lalmr. Comrade Streeter
is liest. known by his connection with the great shirt waist
makers strike Comrade Streeter had charge of the finances
of that strike and was compelled to raise $12,<mhi per week
for nine weeks.
Comrade Streeter comes to this work absolutely un
biased or unpred.judieed.
His wide knowledge of economic conditions, his mastery
of the philosophy of Socialism coupled with his wide exper-
ience in business ami with newspapers will make the “Social
Democrat,” a ilower for Socialism not only in the State of
Oklahoma, hut in the entire southwest,
southwest.
C. H. ARMSTRONG.
The Borrowers of this state should rise up and demand
the return of every cent they have paid in usury m the
past five years.
Where Usury has been charged the proper course to
persue is to demand its return and upon refusal bring suit
for double the amount as provided by law.
For example if you have borrowed one hundred dollars
and made a note for one hundred and twenty, the legal
charge is ten dollars in this case. Make a demand for the
return of the ten dollars over-charge or Usury and if re-
fused bring suit for forty dollars.
As the money lender will Is* nhligttod to pay all costs
and attorney fees he will he glad to refund your money when
he finds that you mean business and cannot be bluffed.
Local B. P. A. No. 103, was organized December 5th,
and we commenced business the next d—,. We paid no at-
tention to threats of blacklist or retailiation and today we
are paying a legal rate of interest. The B. P. A. has been
n harbor of refuge for all those whom the bankers had
prepared to close out and not one has lieen closed out with
n usury tainted mortgage.
The B. P. A. is well organized in Lincoln County and is
compelling the restitrtion of all usury; you can do the same'
in your community.
I*. II. BASS, State Organizer.
Write Box 150 Oklahoma City for full particulars.
Trainmen and Conductors, presented their joint demands to
the representatives of the railway company. The joint
demands were still refused, and the four brotherhoods, act-
ing as one Unly, declared a strike that tied up 2,400 miles
of track. For nearly four days' not a freight train moved
on this 2,400 miles of railroad and the haughty magnates
stepped down from their lofty pedestal and concluded that
there was some grievances that were worthy of their serious
consideration. The four brotherhoods, acting as one body,
and presenting their demands as one body, and striking as
one body, forced the Southern Pacific Railway Company to
recognize tin* fact that labor has some rights which must
respected, even by the giants of the transportation in-
dustry.
As separate bodies, presenting their demands separately,
the brotherhoods were ignored, but when they came together,
welded by their class interests and resolved to stand or fall
together, their solidified power was able to paralize 2,400
miles of a railroad track, and force economic masters to
recognize tin* justice of their demands.
Had the engineers, firemen, trainmen and conductors re
mained apart from each other and endeavored as separate
organizations to wrest concessions from the Southern Pacific,
they would have failed, hut through industrial solidarity,
they have won a liattle that should clear the reason of those
antiquated “labor leaders,” who still believe in the efficiency
of craft and trade autonomy.
The Referendum laws are to lie fixed again if the demo-
crats win next year, they have been amended so much now
that no one would recognize them as the originals and each
time they arc amended the people loose and the interests
win. It is proposed now that they he further restricted.
'Phe Socialists will carry this state some day, and then
we will put the Referendum law in the hands of the officers
of tin* state and have it carried out by them, all you will
have to do then will lie to sign a petition at the clerk’s
office, when you want a law and your petition will be handled
by the state.
Sir Rufus Isaacs' Failure a*
Broker Made Him Lawyer
\Ye often hear people say that Socialism is a foolish
dream becauce it excludes the great man.
If that were true, it would not Ik* so bad ns it seems,
because the GREAT METHOD is as much superior to tin
THE POLICEMAN’S CLUB A GREAT TREASURER
For Workers Who Use it Instead of Standing Underneath it.
By Chester M. Wright.
Never was there a more forcible example of effective-
ness of two-fisted fighting against capitalism than has ceme
to ns from Schenectady in tin* last ten days. Absolute and
unqualified victory in the Schenectady story.
Fifteen thousand workers in the General Electric Com i
pony’s Schenectady plant walked out. Here, in tabloid, is
the story of Socialist Mayor Limn did to help win that
strike
Scarcely had the wheels stopped running before lie issued
a statement saying that no striker should go hungry. “We 111
feed them,” he said.
Then he issued a statement saying that if picketing be-|
came necessary la* would see that every right was preserved
to the strikers.
Next he had trirty two STRIKERS sworn in as DE-
PUTIES, and next he placed Socialist Commissioners of
Public Safety John E. Cole in charge of the policing forces.
Then lie offered his services to aid in settling the strike
in any way that might best serve the workers.
By Saturday the Ixisses saw the hopelessness of their
position and gave in to the workers. It was a clean cut
victory for labor, and the battle was won by the JOINT
USE OF THE POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ARMS
GREAT MAN as the electric hoisting engine is to the OF THE WORKING CLASS. It was a IWO-hlSILD fight
STRONG MAN. * ;unl the victory was one of the easiest won in a great strike
For example, laying aside the question of merely LIFT Here is what probably would have happened had the
1NG WEIGHTS to entertain people, and taking up the proli 'strike not been called until Mayor Lunn left office. Indian
lem of CARRYING WEIGTIIS to SERVE people, we can apolis furnished the illustration:
be lKith entertained and amazed by the wonders of the On Monday the Indianapolis teamsters struck, tying up
parcels i*ist. the city’s hauling business. Mayor Shank had resigned un
THAT is not the creation of great men. It is simply
the COMBINED POWER of the jieople set into action by
small men, just as the three-year-old child, by throwing a
switch, can start th*> electric motor to work.
Parcels jiost lifts a weight of eleven pounds, carries it
three thousand miles, rings your door hell and bands the
package to your wife, a big SER\ TOE for a von* small
price.
der Big Business pressure, and Comptroller Wallace became j
mayor. Big Business said it wanted a mayor that sympa-
thized with Big Business, and their O. K. is on Wallace.
When the teamsters walked out they faced a police
force recruited to special strength, and ordered to “shoot J
to kill” the moment “property” was molested. Tn every |
struck place of business guns and bullets were stored.:
READY FOR USE. And the mayor was in hearty sym
l» I <*» I ’ l i ' V *....... * • I
Now it is announced that parcels jiost, after January l.ipathy with the losses and ready to crush labor h\ BRUTE]
will carry TWENTY pounds instead of eleven, for what is FORCE for the sake of profits.
called the first zone, and the second, will carry twentv-five. | That is proliably what would have happened in Scle n
__' ' eetady if the strike had come AFTER Lunn left office. It
No great men are necessary to do this—just a great is what happens in every city where capital controls the
method. j political power. J
The “great” men—vour Goulds, Vanderbilts, Tlarri- In these two cases lal»or has a concrete must ration oi
mans. Morgans, Hills. Rockefellers, eUv-have been “great”, IlOW POLITICAL POWER WORKS OUT IN PRACTICE;
not because they nave you much service for a little money, how it works out not only toward the final overthrow of the
hut because they got much of your money for a little service. |capitalist system, hut how it works ont to help labor NOW
The COMBINED SOCIAL POWER evidenced in tin* in its fight for a little more at the factory gates.
parcels post shows von what CAN be done. Parcels post is -
a GREAT METHOD. THE POWER OF INDUSTRIAL SOLIDARITY.
WHY, now, honestly, WHY do vou oppose extending j , . ... ., 0 . n
that GREAT METHOD'into other fields? A few weeks ago there w„ a^nkconthe Sunset Ceu
If carrying a imekago can best be done SOCIALLY. Aral lines of the Southern Pacific Railaax Company,
not thi* MAKING eff goods, the BUILDING of rail ) For many months the Brotherhood of Engineers, Fin
roads the DIGGING of mines, the PLOWING of great nien. Trainmen and Conductors had made efforts to haw;
, . , ‘ their grievances adjusted, but had failed to command an}
There is no use in saving it CAN’T lie done until yon favorable consideration from the Southern Pacific. The
' ’ four different brotherhoods, through four different commit
rK Wh m trv? ties, had presented their grievances as separate orsraniza j
wtiy nor iry. _______________ !t;ons separate oreaniaztions. their demands were,
Staniev J Clark and J. D Chastain have opened a law absolutely ignored. , ,. .
off,^ in the Ziegler building. Address Box 150 Oklahoma The Brotherhoods realizing that they could MeomgMh
Thcv making a special fight on Usury in this nothing as separate organizations concluded to pool their
issue and aa an amalgamated hodv of Engineers. Firemen.!
MANY CAVE PEARLS FOUND
Unusual Discovery In Old English
Mine Workings While Look-
ing for Spring.
London.—Beautiful cave pearls have
been found and a lost hot spring dis-
covered in the course of dangerous
explorations of mine workings at Mat-
lock, which were In some cases dug
by pick before the discovery of gun-
powder
The cave pearls, which are like true
pearls in composition, are formed in
limestone caves by the agency of
water The explorers, D. Palmer
Pearson, J. W. Puttrell and a Mr. Per-
cival, came upon these gems in the
course of their search for the lost hot
spring found later. The spring, which
had been lost over a century. Is ex-
pected to have Important results for
the town.
Mr. Palmer Pearson, a local resi-
dent, recently came across an ancient
record by Dr. Short which stated that
he visited a lead mine known as the
Cobler and there discovered a hot
spring. The Cobler has now been re-
located.
In an Interview Mr. Pearson said It
had taken months to find the Cobler.
Its situation was among a number of
disused lead mine shafts on Ball Eye.
The shaft goes down 120 yards verti-
cally and there Is no record of Its hav-
ing been worked for at least a cen-
tury No one remembered even the
name of the mine; all that remains is
the building used by the mlnere for
shelter, now used as a cattle shed
The shaft has subsided and filled in,
and this will make explorations to
the course very dangerous and cistly.
An attempt has been made to get Into
the Cobler from other levels, but all
efforts have failed.
Mr. Pearson, who Is a native of Mat-
lock, said that In his own family tra-
dition had always stated that the
water was above 80 degrees Fahren-
heit
As to his fellow explorers, Mr Pear-
son added that he warned them that
there would be considerable risk of
life and limb in the search, as explor-
ing the ancient workings was an ex-
tremely dangerous task Speaking of
their experiences. Mr. Pearson said
the burrowing underground work has
been very risky. As an Instance he
quoted the visit paid by Messrs. Put-
trell and Perclval to the Calver
Sough, which runs below the Cobler.
This was constructed to draw off the
water from the mines above and the
explorers entered a hole not much
larger than their own bodies, which
bad been worked by pick long before
gunpowder was invented. It Is beau-
tifully picked out with a height of
three feet six Inches and a width of
22 Inches.
The Sough ran 400 yards and the
explorers crawled In water all the
way there and back It took two
whole nights to explore and the ex
plorers were In great peril of being
burled by sliding debris at points
where the loadstone rock had de-
cayed
baliy was born. Left an orphan a few
years later, the little boy was taken In
by a family named Elmer. The El-
mers moved west, bringing Johann
with them, to a ranch in Custer coun-
ty, Montana, where Johann now works
for a neighboring rancher, Matt Pick-
ens.
As old age came on the German
grandfather grew more and more de-
sirous of seeing bis daughter before
left a baby son. Through the aid of
the German consuls in locating Ler.
The fact of her death in Minneapolis
was ascertained; the only crumb of
comfort was the Information that she
left a baby son. Through the aid of
M. L. Rickman, secretary of the Mon-
tana bureau of child and animal pro-
tection, Johann was located on the
Pickens ranch, near Ekalaka.
In answer to the secretary's letter
the boy has Just written:
"Have received your letter about go-
ing back to Germany. Do not want to
go. Have been making my home since
leaving Mr. Elmer with Mr. Pickens
and am content to stay here. I will
be seventeen on next February 25.
Have not had much schooling, but ex-
pect to go this winter. The work 1 do
Is helping about the ranch.'*
Consul W. von Loehnesysen at Se-
attle will be notified of the boy's de-
cision.
HUNTER PEPPERS HIS PASTOR
Pennsylvania Hunter’s Shot Scatter*
as He Hastily Fires at a Ris-
ing Pheasant.
PottavUle, Pa. —Rev. R. J. Freeman,
pastor of the First Reformed church
of PottavUle, was accidentally shot In
a hunting accident and narrowly es-
caped serious injury. John Doward,
Dr. Freeman's companion, shot at a
l pheasant; but some of the shot went j
j wide of the mark and struck the cler- j
gvman In the bead. While painful, j
his wounds are not serious, although |
he had a narrow escape for his eye-
sight.
Spectacular Career of Man Who t*
Now Lord Chief Justice of Eng- j
land—Able Advocate but Not
Much on Debate.
Londou—Sir ltufus Isaacs, the as*
lord chief Justice, is a surprising man,
says a London writer. To start ones
career by making a sad hash of things
on the stock exchange and to finish,
as lord chief Justice of England—
every generation a few people achieve
careers as remarkable and there Is
uothing out of the way in a man's be-
coming a lord chief Justice if his in
clinations are of that kind But of
those who rise to eminence few have
pursued so incalculable a path. Less
than a year ago there was a quite con-
siderable demand for his expulsion
from public life; today he sits su-
preme over Britain judges.
Sir Rufus' early experiences on the
stock exchange before he embraced
the more lucrative profession of poli-
tics and the bar, were entirely to his
credit as a man. If unflattering t* his
abilities as a stock broker. He might
have taken that first essay as proof
that he was never meant for success
as a financier and so avoided his re-
cent misfortunes. His original inclina-
tion was to become a sailor, and once,
I believe, he was on the point of run-
ning away to sea in quite the grand
manner of romance. But wiser coun-
sels prevailed and he went by way of
the stock exchange to the bar. I wel.
remember him as a practicing barris-
ter. There was something birdlike
about his aspect in wig and g»wn,
an agile alertness, a swift, clean keen-
ness that made him stand out from
the row of barristers in court like a
bold pen drawing against, a background
of gray wash. Commerce was his spe-
cialty. Vanity Fair once cartooned
him tn the typical attitude of a
draper's assistant, with a pile of black
bundles on the counter in fro»t of
him.
Unmoved patience, astonishing grasp
of detail and great ingenuity in cross-
examination were his assets at the
bar. His formidable rival, Sir Ed-
ward Carson, succeeds by crushing
the opposition witnesses and by the
vigor of the speeches to the jury. The
method of Sir Rufus was more suave.
His appeal was always to the intelli-
gence of the jury rather than to its
emotions. He accumulated a great
number of very small points and com-
bined them In a telling total.
His parliamentary record is known.
He got in for Reading in 1904. achieved
In rapid succession the positions of ^
solicitor general and attorney general,
and In 1912 was promoted to the cab-
inet—an honor very rarely bestowed
on an attorney general It may seem
paradoxical to call a man with such a
tally of political successes a parlia- M
mentary failure, yet that Is what Slrm^
Rufus most distinctly is—or was
Everybody Is weary of the affair
Marconi, but it is impossible, in a re-
view of the life of the man who ts
now lord chief justice, to ignore It
altogether Sir Rufus Isaac's speech
a year ago. when he denied the storie*
URGES ARMY MEDICAL HOME
Surgeon General Ask* War Depart- j
ment for $350,000 for a New
School Building.
Washington—An estimate of $350, !
000 to build new quarters for the Army
Medical school was submitted to the
wax department by Surgeon General
Torney. The school now occupies !
rented quarters. General Torney said
that if the government will provide a
permanent building, the Institution
can be operated more economically. J
An estimate of $25,000 for a central j
infirmary at Washington barracks also
was submitted
It is proposed to build the school ad-
jacent to the Walter Reed hospital, i
This would enable students to avail :
themselves of clinical advantages &f- ;
forded by the hospital, which would
also benefit by use of the school's lab
oratory equipment.
PREFERS HOME JOB TC RICHES A gallant Kansas City Judge has
ruled that writing love letters at the
age of seventy-seven to no sign of
mental Incapacity. This wise official
has no idea of Osierlxing Cupid
Chore Boy In Montana Turns Down
Offer of Fortune If He Goee
to Germany.
Butte, Mont.—Life as a chore boy on
a Montana ranch has more attraction
for Johann Karl Christian Schulta, sev
enteen year* old born In Minneapolis
than a comfortable home, good educe
tion and a fortune offered him In Gar
many by hto grandfather.
The boy’s mother ran away from ;
her home near Hamburg, in Germany. :
and eventually reached Minneapolis, >
Where, *fee married and where her
Scientists have discovered a new
state between life and death—a etate
of 'latent Ufa.’* In popular language
the “latent lifer*" are "dead one*."
An immigrant, upon landing In New
York, was found to have $14,000 in hto
possession But that was before he
leaded In New Tort.
Sir Rufus Isaacs.
of his dealings in the shares of tha
company that was contracting with
the government, undoubtedly made a
very deep Impression on tbe house.
Of course, he did not say that.
Looking the speech up In Hansard,
after the rest of the story came euL
it was possible to see with what care-
ful lawyer-like precision he had aot
said It. But the unfortunate fact was
that while saying nothing that was
not entirely true, he had left hto hear-
ers with the erroneous Impression
that he had bought no Marconi shares.
It blew over. He and hto colleague,
the chancellor, had acted carelessly,
heedlessly, mistakenly." as Mr. Lloyd
George put It. but not criminally, and
by passing no vote of censure the
house accepted their explanation.
Though unlmposlng in style, Sir
Rufus is distinguished In appearance.
His fine, ascetic face has an almost
classical beauty. Photographs de him
no Jostle* It is the face of a fighter,
a man not to be daunted, a man who
would extract some sporting zest from
the fight against even the bitterest ad-
versary. He does not waste this ad*^
vantage of appearance. He is well set
up a good athlete, who knows hew to
carry himself, and he was always one
of the neatest dressed men in the
house. Hi* bodily constitution to as
strong as his head. He knows how to"**
keep himself in good hard condition
Golf, tennis, cycling, riding and row-
ing are recreation*.
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Streeter, G. C. The Social Democrat (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 89, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 17, 1913, newspaper, December 17, 1913; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc941542/m1/2/: accessed April 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.