The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 8, 1927, Page 6

Page SIx ME DAILY WORKER saul ETERS $$$ es Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ml, Phone Monroe 4712 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (im Chicago only): | By mail (outside of Chloago): $8.00 per ar $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months 0 three months $2.00 three months —$—$ $$ $ Address all mafl and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd. Chleage, tl, J. LOUIS ENGDAHL LIAM F, DUNNE MILLER ... oon Editors Business Manager BE ce aS eee rey va Bntered as second-class mai] September 21, 1928, at the post-office at Chh cago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising rates on application, here Ave Labor’s Spokesmen in the Nicaraguan Situation? The struggle now going on in Washington between the democrat party spokesmen and the Coolidge administration over the invasion of Nicaragua and the arbitrary refusal of Secretary of State Kellogg to furnish information as to the activities of the state and war de- partments is to be welcomed ag evidence that American imperialism is assailed by inner contradictions, but it would be @ grave mistake for workers to conclude that the democrat party is anti-imperialist. The truth is that most of the interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua was authorized by Woodrow Wilson, the great apostle of democracy, and the Harding and Coolidge administration is simply carrying out a policy which is neither republican or democrat but bi-partisan in character—the policy of Wall Street. Woodrow Wilson in turn was continuing a policy which under Taft had already made Nicaragua a colony. Professors Herman C. James and Percy A. Martin of the Uni- versity of Texas and Stanford University, respectively, in their book, “The Republics of Latin America,” have this to say of Nicaragua: The principal source of income is the customs duties, which hawe been administered for the most part SINCE 1912 BY AGENTS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN BANKS which loaned money to the government, BOUGHT A CONTROLLING IN- TEREST IN THE STOCK OF THE NATIONAL RAILWAY and TOOK OVER THE MANAGEMENT OF THE NATIONAL BANK. (Hmphasis ours.) The greater portion of the customs duties is used to pay the principal and interest on the national debt. The American bank- ing interests simply collect the customs duties and pay themselves without the Nicaraguans having anything to say about it. In 1912 American marines were stationed in Managua, the capital, as a “permanent legation guard.” As the two authorities quoted say succinctly: scence revolutionary disturbances were quelled, but at the ewpense of depriving the people of Nicaragua of the right to manage, or mismanage, their own politioal affairs. The elec- tions held since that time HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED UN- DER THE CONTROL OF THE UNITED STATES ‘and ‘both President Emiliano Chamorro (1917-1920) and his nephew, Presi- dent Diego Chamorro (1920-1924) have had the deciding, sup- port of the United States, ALTHO THEIR PARTY AND THEIR POLICY ARE OPPOSED BY THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THE NICARAGUAN PEOPLE. (Emphasis mine.) It is undoubtedly fortunate for the Nicaraguans and the whole movement against American imperialism that the present crisis arises at a time when both capitalist parties are jockeying for posi- tion in the 1928 election race and the democrat opposition is in- dulging in unusually frank speaking. It was under the Wilson administration that the deal for a new canal route was made with the Nicaraguan president elected by United States marines. Quoting again: Under the treaty of 1916 with the United States, the lat- ter country was to pay Nicaragua the sum of $3,000,000 in return jor the grant of a right of way for an inter-oceanio canal AND A NAVAL BASE ON THE GULF OF FONSECA, the money to be used for the service of the national debt and other public purposes IN A MANNER TO BE DETERMINED BY THE TWO CONTRACTING PARTIES. This proceeding deserves the name of a “Yankee bargain” if anything ever did. Consider the situation. An American military force in the Nicaraguan capital, a Wall Street puppet in the presi- dential chair, American gunboats hovering off the coast, the customs duties in the hands of a Wall Street bank. One of “the two contracting parties” had been slugged, bound So the canal route with its inevitable naval base was The money remained in the coffers of the American and gagged. “purchased.” bankers. The righteous indignation of democrat senators and congress men is admirable and comes in very handy, but why was not some of it displayed in 1916, when they could have exercised far more influence upon a democrat president who was campaigning with the slogan of “he kept us out of war”? s These are questions which are answered when we consider the main line of American foreign policy since 1918 when, with the de- feat of Spain, the United States assumed control of, Latin America, a control not seriously challenged by any European power. Since the world war gave American imperialism a dominant world position, American aggression in Latin America has been more pronounced. Both the democrat and republican parties have carried out this policy—one at times more aggressively than the other, but the main line has been the same, 3 Roosevelt grabbed the Panama Canal zone, Taft sent marines into Nicaragua, Wilson invaded Mexico and conquered Haiti. It is in such situations as this that the lack of labor spokesmen in Washington is clearly apparent. No democrat or republican rep- resentatives will dare make a real exposure of American imperial- ism. They are part of its machinery. The trade union leadership is silent. i The organization pf a labor party based on the trade unions, sending its representatives to Washington with a definite mandate to speak for the American workers and farmers will mark the be ginning of a genuine instead of a sham struggle in Washington against American aggression against the Latin-American people. Aitorcke/ Coolidge and..the Cruisers LTHO Coolidge has capitulated to the “big navy men” by indicating his approval of the bill introduced by Representative Butler authorizing the building of ten additional light cruis- ers, he is opposed at this time to mak- Ing appropriations for their construc- tion. Apparently there is a sharp con- troversy brewing between the presi- dent and the “big navy” men, The background of the controversy fur- nishes food for interesting specula- tion. The Chicago Tribune is one of the papers which has assumed the lead- ership of the “big navy” faction against Coolldge. Its editorial page has adopted a new slogan which clear- ly indicates the character of the pa- per and of the forces behind the “big navy” group. “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.—Stephen De- catur.” The Tribune has vigorously upheld American armed intervention in Nicaragua. It has openly advocat- ed a similar attitude toward Mexico. It has been a frank and brutal op- ponent to Philippine independence. The Chicago Tribune is a representa- tive of that group of American capi- alists which is interested chiefly in ouilding up American industry and in the exploitation of the American co- onies and semi-colonies, the Philip- pines, Mexico, Nicaragua and the rest of Latf-America, This group con- fines its activity to what might be termed the American Empire—aggres- sively so. Oil, rubber, minerals and “NEW YORK EXCHANGE” Night clubs are the basis of many of this season’s new plays. “New York Exchange,” by Peter Glenny, playing at the Klaw Theater, is a worthy addition to the list, a fit companion of “Broadway,” the reign- ing sensation on the street it is named after. It is a story of “male prostitutes,” (to borrow a phrase from the play) and rich old society women, who with their money make dashing, young men carry out their sexual de- sires. How the ambition to be of importance, to wear good clothes. have money, his own car, etc., re- sults in Ernest, the central character of the play giving up his sweetheart to satisfy the sex lust of a Mrs. Ella May Morton. The cast consists of sixty people, all well fitted for their parts. Spe- cial mention must be made of Donn Cook as Ernest; Sydney Shields as Sally Parks, the girl he abandons, and Alison Skipworth as Mrs. Mortoa. One could go on almost endlessly making mention of those who gave superb performances. If you want to have a glimpse of contemporary New York life, seeing and hearing in @ realistic fashion things which are only hinted at in the metropolitan press, you will enjoy this play. No attempt is made for effect, sex degenerates and preverts, lounge lizards and the rest of the tribe of our civilization who are teh people who are part of the play. While some folks might call it vul- gar and “dirt,” yet it is a portrayal of a section of New York life which is not the figment of an imagination, but an episode of life which can be seen on Broadway seven times within a week.—Sylvan A. Pollack, Final Weeks of the Grand Opera Season The rapidly waning grand opera season in Chicago is rising to a glo- rious climax as it enters its final weeks. The tenth week of civic opera at the Chicago Auditorium will bring repetitions of the favorite operas from the earlier weeks of the season, with several notable substitutions in casts to lend added charm and afford opera lovers the advantage of variety of personnel in the same roles. The week will also bring the first of three Wednesday matinees at popular prices, ranging from $1 to $4, estab- lished responsive to popular request, affording further hearings of three favorite operas, which would be im- possible in the crowded schedule ex- cept thru adding these matinee per- formances. Subscription seats may be bought for all three Wednesday matinees, entitling the holders to the same locations for each. An interesting repertoire also char- acterizes the last few days of the ninth week, Saturday matinee (Jan. 8) “Sam- son and Delilah” will be repeated, Saturday evening “L’Elisir d’'Amore” (The Elixir of Love) will be repeated at popular prices, Sunday afternoon (Jan, 9) at 2 o'clock “La Boheme” will constitute the suburban special matinee, Monday evening (Jan, 10) “The Jewels of the Madonna” will be re- peated with the same popular cast, Tuesday evening will bring the sei son’s last performance of Wagner's romantic “Tristan and Isolde.” Wednesday at 2, the first of the three mid-week matinees, will be sung at popular prices. The season's last performance of “La Traviata” will be given. Wednesday evening “Carmen” will be repeated, Thursday evening “Don Gtovanni,” which scored such a tremendous suc- cess at the gala New Year's Eve per- formance, will be repeated, WRITE) AS YOU FIGHT: oF b acamiaets other raw mat are its chief ob- jects, The New Yi Herald Tribune, the New York American, the Troy Record, the Minneapolis Journal, Manchester Union, and the Kansas City Star are among the adherents of the “big navy” policy, There is good reason to believe that the immediate cause of the “big navy” movement Is the fear of the growing discontent against American imperialism in the Latin-American countries and in the Philippines, which discontent is a threat against American control of these sources of raw material. Says the Tribune ironically: “We can con- Unue to pay British taxes by buying British rubber forfour tires, And eventually British gasoline.” There you have it. é Coolidge on the other hand has been able to place himself in a posi- tion enviable as the noble idealist and the advocate of “benevolence, kind- ness, charitableness, and good will.” His recent speech at Trenton is re- plete with that sickening hypocrisy and cant which is so characteristic of the language of American diplom- acy. In reply, however, the Chicago Tribune hurries to remind us that “There was much in Mr. Coolidge’s speech to remind the readers of it of President Wilson in 1914 and until No- vember, 1916, and of Mr. Bryan before the shadow of war hurried him out of the department of state. There was a great deal to recall utterances which were abruptly stopped by the roll of drums.” And for once the Tribune speaks truly. Coolidge’s~ peace _proclivities | CURRENT EVENTS By T. J. O'Flaherty. . (Continued from page 1) proven many times that the orders to murder opponents of the fascist re- gime issued to subordinates have come from Mussolini’s office. That the blackshirt regime-is living precarious- ly is proven by the. necessity on the part of Mussolini to adopt more and more drastic means.to crush the op- position, . i looks like a bad new year for baseball. It is along cry until next summer and in all probability the worst of the sting of the recent base- ball scandal exposures will have by that time ceased to irritate baseball fans. But time t entirely erase the impression of crookedness in Amer- ica’s most popular sport created by the confessions of ‘prominent players, Commercialized baseball like commer- cialized prize-fightifig may be as pure as it ever was. But that is not saying much for {t. a 4 * . NE ‘of the best jokes of the year is William Randolph Hearst’s ef- fort to put himself fn line for the next Nobel Peace prize. . Nothing less than seeking a combination between ‘the two great English-speaking peoples” to preserve peace js William’s aim. Of course no serious, person will take Hearst's peace aims seriously but he may get a few more nuts to subscribe to his papers and the “peace” pub- licity secured will enable him to carry on his jingo propaganda for more war planes and more battleships in the in- terests of world peace, do not have to go far fora test. Arm- ed intervention in Nicaragua, Ameri- can gunboats in China, provocative notes to Mexico, and the outrageous treaty which Panagaa was forced to sign, our whole attitude toward the Latin-American countries gives the He complete to these pacific protest- ations. “He kept us out of war” they ‘sald of Wilson in 1916, and In 1917 our boys were sent to the trench- es. “We want peace” says Coolidge in 1926. And the war clouds gather in 1927. Coolidge’s sanctimonious twaddle about peace is of course considered by his political advisers, as good bait, for the unwary voter. It is calculat- ed to enhance Coolidge’s chances for the republican presidential nomina- tion, Again the Tribune is delight- fully frank. “An American president on some public occasions is expected to explain the idealistic purposes of America. The American people like to believe that these purposes exist.” The same sinister motives are be- hind the platitudes of Coolidge. Coo- lidge represents those forces in American capitalism, which are not primarily interested in the extension of the American empire and the, in- tensification of the exploitation of its colonies, but which are interested rather in utilizing our financial dom- ination over Europe for their own pro- fit. He represents the international bankers, who have stepped far be- yond the boundaries of the American flag and American nationalism. These gentlemen are seeking to secure a stranglehold on the economic life of . By Bert Miller Burope, by virtue of their control over its finances,..They seek to insure the safety of the billions of American dollars investedin the industries of Europe. For this reason they are in- terested in the reduction of foreign armaments, altho Coolidge assures us that he is for an “adequate army and navy”. Huge foreign armaments play havoc with national budgets. The in- stability of the budget in turn shakes up thé “stability of the national cur- rency and the general stability of the nation’s. edonomic life. Huge foreign armaments also carry with them the danger of war. The eafety of the American dollar demands the “peace- ful” submission of the nations of Hu- rope and the enslavement of the Bu- ropean proletariat to the dominance of American capital. That is why Coolidge is. forgisarmament—for the other fellow. The opportunism, which is so char- acteristic of capitalist politicians, is clearly shown in the acrobatic per- formances of Coolidge. Coolidge de- clares against large naval construc- tion on one day and the next he in- dorses a bill providing for the con- struction of ten cruisers and on the following day he again opposes any appropriation for the cruisers. On one day he calls for “support of the president” and the state department in its marauding expedition in Nica- ragua, and the next day he calls up- on the nations to “trust each other.” This is capitalist statesmanship at its crassest, hypocrisy and lack of any interest in the masses in its most open form. The “Academic Freedom” and Darwin HE American Association of Uni- versity Professors has expressed alarm over the spread of anti-evolu- tion legislation in the United States. At the recent convention of the as- sociation the professors passed a res- olution to start a cainpaign to curb this menace to what the university pedagogs call “academic freedom.” Prof. Woodbridge Riley of Vassar is the authority for the statement that anti-evolution bills would be presented in seventeen states his year, adding to the already large number of “bibli- cal” states. Thus babbitry of Day- ton, Tennessee, is beginning to en- shroud the rest of the enlightened republic, The resolution passed by the asso- ciation declares “that this association take the initiative in bringing about a more effective co-operation between all groups or organizations interested in opposing legislative restriction on freedom of teaching in state-supported schools and in defending the prin- ciple of the Separation of the church and state in educational matters,” Raising the slogan of “freedom of teaching,” the professors are now girding their intellectual armor to de- stroy the fanatical enemies of Dar- win who have dared to command the American university professors whar they should teach and what they should not teach. “Academic free- dom,” a phrase that the professors utter with much pride; is being at- tacked openly and “boldly, and the pro- fessors have set out to annihilate the attackers, The question arises, just how much “academic freedom” is there in the American universities and what kind of “freedom” is it? Certainly only a college professor could be 80 de- luded ag to think that there is any academic freedom in the American college system. It does not take a long and deep study of American col- leges to reveal how great an illusion is the idea that freedom of thought and teaching prevails, Any semi-intelligent sophomore at college can see the effect of the muz- zling attempts of the William Jen- nings Bryan ‘tribe of Dayton, Tennes- seeans, is insignificant when com- pared to the control exerted by the big muzzlers of the universities—the corporations, the bankers, the rail- roads, ete. . The difference between the two is, perhaps, that. the capital- ists don’t make, as much noise about their muzzling as the. anti-evolution- ists do. Their work is done behind the closed doors of college’ presidents’ offices and boards of trustee meetings. The same professors who are so enraged Over “the antics of the Ten- nesseé christiins are apparently ignor- ant of thé greater muzzling. ISHPEMING,: Mich.—(FP) — Dona- tions toward “the survivors of the: re- cent Michigan mine “disasters have come from-19 cooperative societies in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, 6 in New York; 2 in Iittnois; and 1 each in Ohio and Georgia. HERMAN, Mith—(FP)—The coop- erative store at Herman is the only store of any kind in this Michigan farming ‘community. ‘Morris, the Union Auctioneer, Peddles Bargains @ on, buy, union books, » tay yohenpy Atty conte. 6 RM =o (Copyright, 1926, by Upton Sinclair.) A telegram came from Verne; the _ leases had been signed. Bunny ar- ranged to get a week off from his studies—such favors could be had by. a grave old senior, especially when there was hope that his father might endow a chair of research in petroleum chemistry, They took a long drive to Sunnyside, a remote part of the state, grazing country, 7 with’ very few settlers, and ‘poor roads. ‘They stayed in a crude ‘coun 4 try hotel, and inspected the Hew / “y field, riding horseback part of the time, * Dad’s geologists were thére, and’ the engincers and surveyors; they decided upon the drilling sites; and the roads, and the pipe-linés, and the tahk farm—yes, even @ town, ard how the streets were to run, aid where the moving picture theaters and the general store were to be! The necessary wires: had been pulled, and the county was to start: work on a paved road next week, It was all hunkydory! Bunny ought to have been inter- ested in all this; he ought to have been proud of the “killing,” like any loyal son, Instead of that, here he was, as usual, “smelling round the out-house,” to use the ex-mule driver’s crude phrase. The tates which willed that Bunny should be always on the wrong side of his father’s work followed him here to this country hotel, and brought him into contact with an old ranchman, a feeble-faced, pathetic old fellow with skin turned to leather by sixty years of baking heat and winds. Anxious watery blue eyes he had, and a big case of papers under his arm, which he wouldn’t leave in his room for fear they would be stolén. He wanted Dad to consider a lease, and of course Dad had no time te» fool with little leases, and told him so, and that settled it. But the old man found out somehow that Bunny Jacked the customary hard-shell of the big oil-crabs, and succeeded in luring the young man to his room | and showing his documents. It wag i a certified file from the department | of thé interior, all fixed up with im- pressive red seals and blue ribbons —but all the same it wasn’t com- plete, the old man declared; some- body had stolen the essential docu- ments from the government files, — which showed how “Mid-Central — j sa, Pete” had done him out of his home- stead... “It’s a feller named Vernon Roscoe, one of the big crooks in this game.” : The old man, Carberry, had set out to homestead a claim to some land nearby; and oil had been dis- covered, and Mid-Continent Pete had just come in and shoved him ' out, paying him not a cent for his | ie twenty-two hundred dollars of im- | | provements. They could do this— the old man had a copy of the law to show how it read, excluding “min- eral lands” from homestead rights; there were thousands in this’ part of the state who had been caught in the'trap. But Carberry had actually got a patent on his land, and so had a valid claim; but somebody had managed to doctor the government records, and now for several years he had been struggling for redrega. With pathetic trustfulness he had written to his congressman, to get a lawyer in Washington to repre sent him, and the congressman had recommended a lawyer, and Car- berry had sent him money several times with no result—and then, go- ing to Washington, had discovered that the alleged lawyer was simply @ clerk in the congressman’s office, plundering land claimants and pre- sumably dividing the graft with his employer! & A pitiful, pitiful story—and the worst part of it was you could dee it wasn’t a single case, but a bys tem, One more way by which t rich and powerful were plundering the poor and weak! Carberry had with him a government document he had managed to get in Washing- ton, the report of a congresstotial investigation of California lend cases, Bunny spent an evening glancing through it—a thousand ing in olose print! For example, the seizure of of] rights by the ratl- roads! The government land grants had turned over to the railroads every other section of land their right of way, but had specifi- cally exempted all “miner lands.” Wherever minerals might be dis- covered, the roads were bo . to surrender these sections and t other sections, Under the law, word “minerals” included petro- leum; but were the railroads paying any attention to that law? Southern Pacific alone had Cali- fornia ofl lands to a value of more than @ billion dollars; but every effort to recover these for the state had been blocked by cunning lawyers and purchased pol- | | iticlans and judges, As they / home, Bunny tried to tell his rr about this; but what could Dad do? \ What | he do about old Car. berry, who had been robbed of his home by “Mid-Central Pete?” yY, eee ? i Ey could ‘be sure that Dad wasn't ."amolling round Vern