The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 7, 1927, Page 6

Murder and Love—By Proxy Curtain up on the Great American Drama. A cross section of American life—as is. The walls are down and the wriggling mass of putrescence 1s exposed, Thugs—gunmen—newspapermen—politi- cians — prostitutes — workers — stenographers — Mutt and Jeff—columnists—tabloid editors—abor- tionists—A. F. of L. labor leaders—fixers—black- mailers—grafters—song and dance men—newsies—- movie magnates—yesmen—all, all are here! Remember, Mr. Director, our characters are 80 many automatons—good Americans all. You are handling mobs in this act.. They will say and do many things and it is well that you know why. At heart, really, they are human beings. They want to live. The men want to feel the ecstasy of danger; the women want to experience the delight- ful pain of childbirth, But they cannot. The men are dwarfed and stupified by labor. They would shrivel and dry up at the faintest hint of danger, The women are bent, twisted and plucked by cen- turies of “style”’—and insufficient food. A choco- late eclair and a vanilla soda—lunch 20 cents. They live in boxes—two and three rooms—the work is deadeningly mechanical—jigjog, jigjog, click, click, click—but life calls and even the Spring sun filters down into Nassau Street—down to the blast furnaces in Pittsburg—down to the gray steei mill streets in Passaic, The spring sap begins to flow in enslaved veins— latent, primordial desires come to life—to run—to strike—to love—a strong, sweaty love—to empty one’s lungs in a lusty, hoarse shout—(No talking— this means you! ! ! )—but, also remember, Mr. Direetor, that spring actually means nothing to our dumb characters—except boils and pimples. They are cramped, cooped up—spiritually and every other “ally.” But these primeval urges and instincts must be expressed somehow—let’s sublimate them. Here you bring on your newspapermen. Fine! “We'll give °em murder,” they say, “we'll give ’em love—we'll give ’em thrills—we’ll give the palest stenographer and filing clerk the romance of her life—by proxy.” All right, boys, let’s go! POOR GIRL JILTED BY WEALTHY CLUBMAN KILLS SELF. (Gee, the dirty dawg, they oughta string ’im up”) 4 SHIEK GUNMAN SHOOTS TWO, (Yuh gotta hana it to these guys—sure got their noive with ’em’’) PEACHES CHARGES NAMELESS SIN. (“Too much money—that’s what the matter with them guys—too much dough.” or “Oh—I do wonder what he did to her—I guess it’ll be in the paper tomorrow ~—they have the lovliest pictures”). CHAPMAN GRINS DEFI AT HANGMAN. (“Yeah, that’s the way to die—guts that’s what I calls it”) You see, Mr. Director, these characters of ours Amidst a hue and cry, Foreboding mantle. Lightning flashed; Were felled; And clashed. A comet. Locks were shaking. And gloomy night. Eastern shores, Poured. 1914-1917 —1914— The strife-torn sun sank in the west live by proxy. They thrill at another’s courage— feel shame for another’s sin—they play ball py proxy—tfight by proxy““yes (sotto voce)—they sin by proxy! Gunmen—prostitute—simpering gold- digger—hangman—prize fighter—they are all part ot big, subsidized spectacle. Have your mobs carrying pink tabloids under their arms—have groups reading them. High above the mobs have newspapermen—editors—poii- ticians—labor leaders and bankers cheerleading them—move them to and fro—keep ’em going. In this act when a communist comes on R. and utters the first word of his speech, “Workers—” be sure and have the pack go for him with fury— the politicians and newspapermen well to the ‘ore. At the end of the act when a reporter explains his prostitution by saying “economie determinism” —-be sure and see that he wears a sheepish grin. Remember, Mr. Director, this is the Great Amer- ican Drama, a PREVENT THIS HORROR! - Colonel D. P. Bloch, of the French army, paints a picture of the “next war’ calculated to give one the horrors. Yet he is writing in the coldest technical terms, and much of what he sees for future con- flicts would have been witnessed in the last one had it lasted a few months longer. The first thing to realize is that in the “next. war” there will be no “fronts.” Attacks will be delivered by airplane hundreds of miles behind the frontier. Next, there will be no non-combatants; every one will be swept into the war machine, and eyery one will be in danger. If the World War had lasted till the spring of 1919, the German trenches would have been drenched with “lewisite,” a deadlier gas than any yet used, and one defying all then known ferms of protection. This gas was the invention of an American college professor, and its manufacture would have been on a quantity basis of several thousand tons per week by March 1919. On the other hand, Ludendorff had all plans laid to destroy Paris and London by a rain of “electron bombs,” chemical fire makers which will start a blaze in anything burnable. Colonel Bloch sees the American and German in- ventions combined in the next war; fire bombs used to drive people into the streets. and gas bombs to overcome or kill them when in the open. It would be totally impossible to fit out a whole population with gas masks and train them in the use of such devices. Even if defense is found against one gas, another may be invented, and a week or day of its free use before the defense against it is found, may be sufficient to wipe out all resistance to it and win the war—THE TAILOR. : The sky was streaked with fore-telling scarlet, As thru the trees the wind did sigh. —1915— Darkness, darkness, wrapped the ‘earth as if in A storm raged, the thunder pealed, the Rain came down in torrents; some stately trees In troth the fiends of hell itself had met : —1916— No moon, no stars, no faint ray of hope, : When thru the heavy laden clouds came breaking Yes, and dressed in a scarlet cloak; And in her mad rush toward the earth her fiery —1917—March— Tt struck, and its red embers filled the dark But as all nights give way when they are spent, : ‘ch The gray, astonished dawn came o’er and sighed When such a fury, such confusi —1917—Nov “airs But lo, before the scarlet-tinted morning star Had kissed away the dew A new, a brighter, reddish sun arose from it beheld. And there set like a ruby jewel within the blue It smiled, it laughed, the earth did ‘ As from the heavenly heights the golden sunshine om 2 am Chao-Ting Chi Asks “Hands Off” Policy for China AX appeal for the support and friendship of or- ganized labor of this country in the movement started ih China by the organized labor forces of that country for liberation and the right of self- government ‘without outside interference, was made before the meeting of the Chicago Federation of Labor Sunday, April 17th, by Chao-Ting Chi, a representative of the Chinese Nationalist Party. He asked that labor in this country protest against the sending of American warships to China to as- sist Great Britain in her imperialistic program, Mr. Chi was sent to the meeting by the Chicago office of the Kuo Min Tang (Chinese Nationalist Party) at 259. West 22nd Street. : Desired Liberation. r his speech, which met with the evident approval of the delegates, Mr. Chi said that the position of the Chinese Nationalist Party was that it de- sired the liberation of the Chinese from the outside domination. “The Chinese liberal movement has been mis- represented,” said the speaker. “It is nothing more than the Chinese movement for independence against the oppression of imperialism, and native militarism against the Chinese people. The move- ment is supplied with funds by the Chinese labor movement, and because of the Chinese trade unions, it has been able to carry on so far, Forced Unequal Treaties, “por the past eighty years the powers have forced on China all kinds of unequal treaties. What are they? I will make a few simple explana- tions of a few of them. It would take me hours to explain all of them. I. will illustrate by sug- gesting that foreign warships be sent up the Mis- sissippi river to St. Louis to threaten to bombard the city, or into Chesapeake Bay to threaten your national capital at Washington. “If that thing came to America just what would you feel about it? They send warships into the interior provinces of China whenever they feel like it. They say that they do it to protect their citi- ’ zens. Well and good. Their citizens deserve pro- tection. But I will explain how the Blue Express, a train that runs from Peking to Hankow, was captured by a group of Chinese bandits. Quite a number of foreigners were captured and kidnaped, They were taken into the mouptains and held for ransom. This made the foreign countries from which they came angry, and they forced the Chinese government besides apologizing, to pay each one of the persons kidnaped and held prisoner $250 for every day of confinement on the hill’ The Chinese government had to accede to the demands and had to pay that sum to each of the prisoners for each day of confinement. Chinese Life Valued At $25. “ A few days later on the streets of Shanghai a foreign automobile killed a Chinese. I believe the victim was a woman. The case was brought to the mixed court in Shanghai and the driver of the automobile was judged by his own people in Shang- hai. He had to pay $25 for the life of that Chinese. If the life of a Chinese is worth only $25 and the liberty of foreigners is worth $250 a day, that’s the kind of situation the unequal treaties have forced on China. . “They claim that they send warships to protect their citizens but they use this as a shield to de- mand special privileges. The Chinese labor unions are against all kinds of oppression. We don’t want your money, but we do want your help, In a few years the trade union movement has grown from nothing to a membership of one and one-half niil- lion, Members of Labor Movement Guide. oe China they lack military maps, and guides are used in their place. The members of the labor movement act as guides for the soldiers of the liberalist movement. No Chinese people will serve as guides to the northern militarists, but serve as guides for the revolutionary army. That is the reason that they are able to gain through surprise attacks. If anybody in China seeks to destroy the “The movement is not Bolshevik in its nature. It not against the interests of the workers in-the -f i : = z & : : Es te ee ee lid ai gs