The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 10, 1927, Page 8

x Page Eight So heapree THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1927 THE D AILY lia “EVERYBODY WISHES AGRICULTURE TO PROSPER. —President Coolidge in his message to Congress. Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Cable Address: ne. “Daiwork” SUBSCRIPTION PBA By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year %& $2.50 three months. three months. ES Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. xX. -ROBERT MINOR es F. DUNNE at New 1879. the act of March 3, Fight Fascism and Its Financicrs! | : Phone, Orchard 1680 | .50 six months | The trial of Greco and Carrillo which started yesterday prom- | ises to be another Sacco-Vanzetti case. Back of the prosecution which is trying to send these two | workers to the electric chair is the might of Italian fascism and | its American connections, connections which The DAILY WORK- | ER has shown run straight to the off and Company—the financiers of fascism. One aspect of the case which is in favor of these persecuted | workers is that from the very first the International Labor De- | fense has been pointing out to thousands of their fellow workers | the class fhture of this case. Opposing the fascist frame-up at | every point the International Labor Defense and the organizations | which support it have made it impossible for the prosecution to | disguise the anti-working class forces which back the prosecution. | The Greco-Carrillo case is a labor case and the defense of the two workers whose lives are menaced by the vengeful fascist agents and their associates in the United States must and will be earried forward on this basis. Now is the time to raise the slogan of “Greco and Carrillo | shall be freed.” | We will not wait until the net of the American capitalists’ agents close tighter around thesé workers and guide the hand of Mussolini to their throats. Support the Greco-Carrillo defense. What Happened to Walker in Paris? Evidently Mayor James J. Walker of New York did not | | | miss anything in the way of gayety while in Paris, which was an| ‘ important stop on his recent roving tour of Europe. From the} day he landed in New York after his foreign tour there have| been csterwaulings from the Tammany camp to the effect that} the state department had its agents spying upon him, This story was repeated in Washington the other day by James A.| Gallivan, democratic congressman from Massachusetts. Con- | gressman Gallivan charged that the shadowing was ordered in| order “to try and get comething on this mayor who wes a member | of Tammany Hall, a political body not in sympathy with the party | in power in America.” | Prohably the state department did sct its eples upon Walker, | Such an act would certainly be no Innovation. Adent at spying, concocting forgeries and frame-uns of the moet nefarious calibre, it is not at all unlikely that it eples unon politleal supporters as | well as enemies. It is part of the capitalist pollt!eal same to “get something on” even its own supporters in order to hold them {in line eas well as to use Informatio to belabor its encm Walker's cxplo!ts may have become Imown to the republicans throuch thelr spy system or dentelly havo | ed. The important fact is that some- one has something on Walkerx publicans in the coming paign, when Al. Smith will probably nm on the democratic ticket and not only have to defend the rec- of Tammany, but face the charge of being dripping wet. A y story te,the effect that the Tammany mayor of New York was on a spree in\Paris ¥ yvinces. In 4§nticipation of such a campaign the democrats are already busy spreading the idea that the story is a frame-up. 2 expos Meanwhile, one guess is as good as another regarding pre- cisely what did happen to Walker in Paris. The Arrests For Distributing Anti-Injunction Leaflets The arrest of four members of the Workers (Communist) Party charged with “conspiracy to undermine respect for the courts,” as a result of their distribution of anti-injunction leaflets in Brooklyn shows that the struggle against the injunction men- ace is to be no mere matter of speeches delivered by labor of- ficials voicing formal defiance. The comrades arrested are held in $500 bail each and the isis which will follow, because of the important issue involved, will be of major importance to the labor movement. t e possible that these arrests are the start of a much more vicious drive on the part of the bosses for the maintenance of their injunction weapon than has been in evidence up to date. Officials of the American Federation of Labor and leaders of the Amalgar tion of Street and Electric Railway Employes have been hoiding meetings and urging vi on of the ) TR. T. injunction but none have been arrested. Four workers who distribute leaflets are jailed at once. The leaflet ¢ sion of the Workers (Communis puts the injunction i siento before the workers } Violation of rulings, organization of the 1 1 mobilization of all labor iorces for the fight against injunction The issue is thus brought out of the traction industry and made one for the whole working class. The reason is rades, the official these _ The arrests of these four workers—two carpenters, a clerk ‘and a machinist—is evidence of the efiectiveness of mass methods of struggle against the injunction menace and the fear with which the capitalists and their courts regard this way of fighting. _ The militant defense of these workers, that may be arrested on similar charges and the oxtension of mass ‘methods of struggle against the injunction will destroy this wea- pon of labor) ‘3 enemies, y acel-| - and that it is to bo used by the re-| ributed by these com- | es of J. Pierpont Morgan} 1 |Kabotski to Cabot. be welcome political ammunition in the pro- | | money i j adopt some other name. liges Billy Sunda: SEA REAM LO I EOE Pe RO UE Money Writes (Continued from Last Issue.) XXXII. A Visit to Boston ee or three years ago it happened that a Russian Jewish family, re- siding in Boston, sought to American- ize itself by changing its name from This occasioned distress to the family which for three centuries had been speaking only to the Lowells, and they sought by court |action to compel the interlopers to Their ef- forts failed; and some wag composed |a new version of the old jingle: Heré’s to the city of Boston, The land of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells speak only to Cabots, And the Cabots epeale Yiddish, by God. Now, having alighted from my transcontinental train, and spent two weeks in the venerable city, I submit secured through {ts spy system |# third version, as follows: Here’s to the city of Boston, The land of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells won’t let you buy “Qily* And you send te New York, by God. That is, quite literally, the situa- tion, The old-time, blue-blooded aris- tocracy of the city supports the “Watch and Ward Society”; several Lowells and Cabots contribute their y to keep my socialist novel from reaching the common people of their icity. And when I left Bosten and re- to the first sich I saw was a stack of my books, four feet high, in front of one of the news- stands in Grand Central station; I in- quired of the clerk, and learned that this st would last one day, and the cause vapid disappearance w people from Bosion who took a copy home with them. Besides the blue-bloods, who put up the money, there are two forces actively concerned, Cathous Medlaev- mond Pr buedament the Knights of Golaainas aehing arm arm with the Ku Klux Klan, and ¢ 1al O'Connell embracing And do not fool your- aK with idea that there is any- peculiar to Boston in this com- ion of bigotric The same for- ist everywhere in America, and he Boston crowd are hell-bent to ex- tend their methods to New York, so as to stop the flow of prohibited hooks. If they can have thei vay, it means the end of modern literature n Ame ; so it is worth while to understand "the Boston law and the nethods of enforcing it. urAEe v York, The secretary of the Watch and rd Society was the Reverend ‘rank Chase, and so long as he lived, uppression of bo was done 0, » would tell the cha: of the bookselle committes t books he objected to. and th sellers would quietly take these yooks from their shelves. The hate: of this committee, proprietor of he biggest book-store in Boston, ex- plained to me the Reverend Chase's moral standards. Said Chase: “It’s jected to such a test! Imagine what would happen, if such a censor were to stumble upon a copy of “Love's Pilgrimage”! Reverend Chase died, and the police and the booksellers, lacking his divine guidance, got into a dispute, and that is how the present situation arose, with so much free advertising for “An American Tragedy” and “Elmer Gantry” and “Oil!” But a truce has just been arranged, and the voice of God will again prevail in Boston’s book business. The Watch and Ward | Society has got a new secretary, the Reverend Charles Bodwell, and a re- porter asked this gentleman what he thought of Upton Sinclair’s idea that the Bible and Shakespeare are ob- scene under the Massachusetts law; he answered: “Certain paragraphs in both books should be cut out of edi- tions that are open to the general public.” This Massachusetts law is built like a bear-trap. It specifies any book “containing”; so they can pick out any passage they don’t like, without considering the whole book. The judge who issued the warrant in the case of “Oil!” admitted to me that he had read only the passages com- plained of by the police; and a lawyer who stocd nearby and heard the con- versation was very much excited, and offered to testify to this outrageous state of affairs. I replied by advising the lawyer to look up his Massachu- setts law. Under this law, the judge was under no obligation to read the book. The instructions given to a jury, and upheld by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts were: “You ere not trying any book: extept this, and only such parts of this as the government complains of.” And in order to make quite certain that there could be no fairness in the trial, the iearned judge went on: “It makes no difference what the object in writing this book was, or what its whole tone is.” Finally, the test of literature is its effect upon the young. “Manifest- ly tending to corrupt the morals of youth,” says the law. Modern writ- ers are confined to the juvenile de- partment; they are not permitted to discuss the problems of adult life from an adult point of view. Some vouth is easily corrupted—when it has heen brought up under Catholic or Fundamentalist auspices, and kept in tenorance of the elementary facts of life. The superintendent of police in Bos- ton is a large Catholic gentleman by the name of Mike Crowley. He was much excited about my book, and told my lawyers that it was “the worst of the lot.” and that if I sold a copy in Boston, he would personally ap- near to prosecute me, and ask the judge to give me a year on Deer Is- Bot to call on this off end sold him a copy of my: book in his headquarters, and incidentally we sion, completely revealing of view, sis a dis Catholic poi it all, bee: scene in hi: he demanded to had suddenly taken 4 gs in'o books. “It’ the last few years you've bee: ey 163" “Surely Mr. Crowley,” T sala “you can’t be very familiar with standard literature. Shakespeare, for example all right for the novelist to say that |—.” John went to bed with Mary, and Mary had a baby. But the moment he shows John making any gesture of all other workers | towards Mary, tending to rouse her ‘oelings, then the book ts ove. and I ban it.” Imagine, if you can, what would become of the courtship econos of the world’s literature, og “You don’t find any of these bed- room scenes in Shakespeare.” “Have you ever happened to read ‘Cymbeline,’ Mr. Crowley?” “Oh now, of course, you can put it over me in an argument about books. But there’s terrible things in that book of yours, Mr. Sinclair.” | “What, for example?” “Ain’t that the book in which the girl says that she can have a lover, because her mother has one, and she knows it?” “Yes, that’s in there.” “Well now, is that the kind of thing to be putting into a book?” “It happens to be a real case, Mr. Crowley. I knew the people.” “Well, there might be such people, I don’t deny; but that’s no reason for spreading the story. Such things de- stroy the reverence that young girls ought to feel for their mothers, and such things owght to be = ed up, end not put into books for girls to read.” And there, of course, we had ‘o part company, because I am in the business of putting the facts about America into books. The crucial fact about this censor- ship is that they enforce their juven- ile standards against modern writers, and not against the classics. The po- lice of Boston have become very “cagy”; you cannot sell them “The Scarlet Letter,” nor any other old book they have been warned about. Seeking to bring out this point, I invited them to a public meeting, and read them Act II, Scene II of Ham- let, with its indubitably obscene lan- guage, and invited them to buy the book; but they sat motionless. I read them Genesis XIX, 30-38, the quite horrible story of Lot and his daugh- ters. Imagine, if you can, a modern novel telling how two women get their father drunk and then cohabit with him and bear him children! I offered this obscene book to the Boston police, nut again they would not enforce th ‘aw. I sold it to a Boston rationalist, who later applied for a warrant for my arrest—and did not get it! Then I held up a copy of “Oil!” before the police. At least, it appear- od to be “Oil!” and they bought it prgmptly. After they had notified me to appear in court next morning, and had gone out, I called the attention f the audience to the fact that hadn’t told the police what the book was, and that what they had bought was a copy of the Bible bound in the covers of “Oil!” It seemed to me that he way to meet this censorship was with laughter and the audience agreed with me—I have never heard more hearty laughter from a crowd. But las, the story had to reach the pub- ‘te through the “Brass Check” press. The three reporters who handled the ‘ssienment were named Quinn, Shay and Murphy; and they held a confer- nee—so I was told by one of the} ewspaner photographers who attend- d. Were they going to let any smart- aleck socialist make a monkey out of Mike Crowley? They were not! And they did rot! —By FRED ELLIS. By Upton Sinclair Next day I sold a real copy of “Oil!” to Mr. Crowley, and again I was under temporary arrest. But when I appearea in court, I learned that the judge wouldn’t kave me. “We think, Mr. Sinclair, you’ve had your share ef book-advertising.” He was not on the bench when he said this, so 1 could hit back. “Look here, Judge Creed, who started this advertising? You have advertised my book as ob- scene, and certainly I’m going to ad- vertise it as not cbscene!” But again I confronted the problem of the “Brass Check” press. When I delayed to get arrested, they called me a coward; and when I couldn’t get arrested, they said I had been foiled in my effort to be a martyr! For sale in this pious city of Bos- ton I prepared some special copies of “Oil!” known as the “fig leaf edition.” The police object to pages 193-4-5-6, 203-4, 206, 328-9—a total of nine pages out of 527. I had these pages blotted out with a large black fig leaf, and I made sandwich signs in the shape of a white fig leaf, labeled “Oil! Fig Leaf Edition. Warranted 100% Pure under Boston Law.” I put on these signs, and sold the book all day on the streets of Boston; if there was going to be any more arresting. | wanted to be the prisoner. But there was no arresting, and the “fig leaf edition”. is now being sold all over the country—since the book stores re- gard it as a “collector’s item”! The trial of the bookseller’s clerk comes off in the fall, and I expect to be there to defend him. Whether I will be heard is uncertain, owing to the amiable provision of the law, that “intent” does not matter. You may write a novel about a sin, and por- tray your hero as spending the rest of his life atoning for the sin, but that does not help you; they pick out the sin, and condemn you on that, and under the law neither judge nor jury knows about the atonement. Theodore Dreiser’s hero atones in the electric chair, but even so, they have convicted a book-clerk of the crime of selling “An American Tragedy.” And that is the law they want to impose upon the rest of America! I am finishing these proofs in Sep- tember, and next month there is to be a jury trial of the book-clerk who sold “Oil!” I shall be there, to testify if IT am allowed to; and incidentally T expect to gather material for a new novel, to be entitled “Boston,” and to deal with the Sacco-Vanzetti case. I suppose it is not against the law to gather material about Boston in Bos- ton. We shall see! (To Be Continued.) * The name of Sinclair’s book, “Oil,” which was published serially in The DAILY WORKER. THE PRICE OF ROSES —. You ask the price of roses—and I turn And see a hundred miners’ faces yearn Outside the window, hungrily and bleak. And then I hear the florist lightly speak: “Five dollars for the bunch.” And then I see The faces with their burning eyes on me Who'd wear you pretty roses at the price Of so much bread—yet roses are so nice! HENRY ey JR. | services. Red Rays P= difficulty of inducing honest men to enter the public service has long been a problem in this country, indeed it has always been a prob- lem. If George Washington did not have a lot of good old Bourbon around the house it is possible that his selfishness would outweigh the slave-master’s sense of civic duty and the “father of his ecountry”—or at least a goodly portion of it—might have devoted his life to the task of whipping more work out of his slaves instead of whipping the British armies. * * * E THAT as it is, honest citizens have learned from experience that sacrificing themselves for the public welfare is seldom appreciated, the exceptions being cases where the + martyrs charge a stiff price for their The citizen who works gratis for the community until he has not. enough clothes to cover his shirt-tail is looked on with scorn and treated like a bum. And in some in- stances a man whose heart is burst- ing with a desire to render service to his fellow-men, for a reasonable con- sideration is lashed with the scorpion whip of scandal until he is compelled to flee from civilization. “Scarface Al” Capone of Chicago, booze and vice king, is in the latter category. * * * 'APONE was boss of the little town of Cicero where the cops are so hard-hearted that they beat up even the poor little Duncan Sisters and then accused the two comediennes of being with liquor. He delivered the vote to the political organization that could give him the most protecticn, fle served the thirsty and the hungry and citizens tired of life, could be reasonabiy assured of a suauen and comparatively painless aeam™., by ap- pearing on the streets of his balli- wick, disguised as prohibition agents, instead of having to go to the trouble of messing around with gas and deli- catessen sandwiches. Yet, he was not appreciated. * 4 DID: the best I could for the peo- pie” he told a reporter, as he tossed his two guns on the hotel desk before which he was sitting, to show that he was unarmed,” but evidently they don’t appreciate a fellow who’se on the square. They never got me for killing anybody and a man is sup- posed to be innocent until he’s found guilty. Everytime a flea is found dead in this city I am pinched and charged with homicide. I gave the peopie good booze, but they prefer uquid T, N. T. I might have put up with the indifference of the citizens, but when I received a letter from an asnglishwoman offering me a miilion doiars for killing her husband I de- cided to quit. “Al” Capone never wanted pay for his fun. and killing Englishmen in Chicago is no more of a sport than shooting chickens in a coop. So I leave for Florida to live the rest of my life in the bosom of my family.” “Au revoir, “Al.” Those of us who have left Chicago will not miss you. * * * * * WEN who don’t hand over their pay 414 envelopes to their wives, should aarken to the story of how Frank Washkowsky of Brooklyn lost $350. fhe matriarchial system did not pre- yail in the Washkowsky home and Frank was boss. So instead of keep- ang a nickel for chewing gum and de- .ivering the remainder of his wages to Josephine, his wife, the lord of che home surrepitiously put away a certain amount of his weekly stipend, for the rainy day. This Josephine snew and being a wise woman did not complain. But alas the thrifty have cheir troubles even as the spend- thrifty. * OSEPHINE WASHKOWSKY walked into the parlor of a cob- oler nanfed Finkelstein with a pair of hoes whose heels indicated that they sad collided with many bricks. Finkelstein, without any unusual show of excitement, wiped his nose in his ‘pron and gave Mr. Washkowsky a heck for her shoes. When the male nember of the Washkowsky firm got home that evening he looked where! ais old shoes used to be and fou: chem missing. His wife proudly /in- ene him that she took the he cobbler and expected an appr/ecia- tive kiss for her display of hrift. Instead her spouse thréw a -ively fit. * * [YO palpitating hearts beat ‘in the breasts of the Washkowsky’ family is they wended their way to Finkel- stein’s cobblery, to find the ‘crafts- nan busy at work on the Washkowsky shoes. No, he did not see any money n the shoes. Washkowsky’s roll was vrapped up in one of his wife’s gar? (The money would have been in her socl.) A detective found inkelstein and even if turn out to be the mate ot the We hkowsky garter he will set into trouble anyhow. The moral of the tale is that no husband is fit to be his own banker, and the proper environment for a garter is a leg. Pine acta o i K medieval days every solvent baron iad his jester who made him laugh at times and at whose head he could throw his boots with impunity, wl angry. So it is entirely fitting Will Rogers should pi 9 “Baron” Dwight W. Morrow, our am-" - bassador to Mexico on his tour of in- 0 jn the southern republic, * ” \ | —