The Commonwealth. [volume], September 04, 1913, Image 1

About The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
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Tip Socialist Movement —The organisation
.i- of the working class, politically and Industrial- *L
T ly. for the purpose Of capturing the power* of
1 government and Instituting the working class <£
I as the ruling class. |
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be per copy. $1.00 per rear.
WAR ON SOCIALIST TEACHERS
SINCLAIR WINS FIRST ROUND-MASTERS WOULD CONTROL I
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
That every obstruction possible would be put in the path of
every Socialist teacher in this state this year was to be expected
But that the intention is to weed out our comrades from the ranks
of the bread winners of the schoolroom is now certain. The enemy
is now centering all its forces upon the annihilation of Comrade J. E.
Sinclair of the Socialist Educational Bureau. He has been threatened
with mob violence. Ho has been the subject of tho most malicious
attacks in the columns of almost every capitalist newspaper, and he
lias aroused the animosity of every section of the plunderbund be
cause of his work in the bureau.
Early in August the interests sent a lawyer and his stenographer
into every community where Sinclair had taught in this state. Hunt
ing up the most bitter anti-Socialists everywhere this lawyer collected
twenty-five affidavits against him. Tho manifest perjury that ap
pears on the face of the few affidavits so far published is doubtless
an index of the utter worthlcssncss of the remainder.
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The charges that they have based upon these affidavits are such
that if sustained will jeopardize the certificate of every teaching com
rade in the state. All the comrade has to do is to sympathize with
strikers, to say that John Hancock was a smuggler, to teach the well
known economic reasons for the making of the constitution, or to
criticise any law proposed for passage in the legislature or any public
official.
For three weeks these affidavits against Sinclair lay quietly in
the office of the county superintendent of schools in Snohomish
county. Then just one day before the opening of the school term
Sinclair was ordered not to attempt to teach. He had no hearing
nor was a date for his hearing set. He simply was informed that
charges were filed against him and that the county superintendent
was taking the matter up with the state superintendent. That is the
way they are going to do it. Just get any old sorehead to file a
complaint with the county superintendent and your certificate is sus
pended pending the hearing which may not be set for months. Then
if you win other charges can be produced for another suspension.
In this way the comrades of the school teaching business will be
driven out.
Comrade Sinclair received his notice August 29. On August 30
he appeared in the office of the county superintendent and demanded
copies of the charges and the complaint said ,to be filed against him.
He was: refused the ; privilege of seeing these. public documents and
li"c-ws.^r3fuso(l'Copics of same. More thai! thai In icluseJ
the right to copy them. He was after a struggle shown a copy of
a letter written by the county superintendent to the state superin
tendent but was not allowed to copy the same nor allowed a copy of
the same.
Knowing these facts the Arlington school board has ordered
Sinclair to proceed to teach school and to disregard the order of the
county superintendent. They have also given the city superintendent,
George Lancaster, fifteen days in which to disconnect himself from
the schools. This man Lancaster, pretending to be a Socialist, won
the confidence of Sinclair while deliberately plotting with the enemy
for his ruin. He wrote the original charges against Sinclair or dic
tated them. He planned and plotted daily, with his foes and at the
same time kept up a friendly and advisor*, correspondence with him.
The letters are on file and all the acti a admitted. Making use of
the fifteen-day clause in the Arlington teachers' contracts on which
Lancaster and his gang demanded a discharge of Comrade Sinclair,
the two Socialists directors voted to fire him.
. The battle against the Socialist teachers is merely beginning.
Arlington is only one small corner of the battlefield. Neither the
teachers nor the boards are to be given any rights in the matter.
The democracy of the old school district is to be killed and an edu
eational autocracy backed by the interests is to rule— if we let it
happen that way.
The Spirit That Builds —Seattle Finnish Local
Renders Substantial Aid To Commonwealth
Socialists who have been long in the movement, or who have
had opportunity to travel extensively, have become so accustomed
to seeing the Finnish comrades doing big things that it will cause
them no surprise to learn that Finnish Local No. 2 of Seattle lias
sent the Commonwealth a check for $19.25, collected by popular
subscription, to help this paper out of its financial difficulties.
As an evidence of our high appreciation of this splendid revo
lutionary act in the paper's behalf, we are sending Local No 2 four
shares of stock in the Commonwealth, so as to increase the number
of shares already owned by this live Finnish organization, thus aug
menting their votes on affairs of importance to the papers' owners
An Inspiring Example.
This inspiring example of class solidarity on the part of our
Finnish comrades Is certainly worthy of emulation on the part of
other locals in this state. The purchase of Commonwealth stock,, at
$5.00 a share, by a number of locals would not only put this necessary
weapon of the working class on a solid financial footing, but would
convert it, virtually, into a state paper, under management and con
trol of the various locals, through their votes as stockholders.
Such substantial support given to the Commonwealth at a time
when ii is most needed, cannot but result in much good to the cause,
directly and indirectly, and we hope to be able to turn out a paper
each week that shall be worthy of such'generous loyalty on the part
of our Finnish comrades
WHO WILL BE NEXT?
FREEDOM
No matter whose lips speak, they must be free and unpaged.
Let us believe that the whole truth can never do harm to the whole
of virtue and remember thai in order to got the whole truth you
must allow every man, right or wrong, freely to utter his conscience,
and to protect him in so doing. I tire, unshuekled freedom for
every man's life, DO matter what his doctrine—the safety of free
discussion, no mailer how wide the range. The community that does
not protect its humblest and most hated member in the utterance
of his opinions, no matter how false or hateful, is only a gang of
slaves.— Wendell l'hillips.
WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS. YOU HAVE A WORLD TO WIN.
• " Ff|sTp9Eiff^Hi^9[ afl -
QJfyt Commmttoealtf)
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Echoes of The Class Struggle
" ; .... i ........... v i
THE STRIKE IN MICHIGAN.
(By Laura Gregg Cannon.)
When nil the facts concerning the
■trtka of tho copper miners In Michi
gan becomo known, the country will
bo as greatly shocked m It was at
the revelations from Waal Virginia.
Wherever capitalism has Its grip on
the homo life, owning tho houses, the
water supply, tinl lighting system, etc.,
thero you will find Industrial slavery,
but little short of peonage.
In tin- copper district of Michigan
the trammers have been doing the
work done by mulct- In the West, while
one man has been compelled to oper
at« a machine which is run by two In
other copper mines. The trammers
and miners have averaged but little
more than two dollars per day, while
those that worked on contract had no
fixed wages, sometimes even running
behind. I saw the voucher of one man
who had worked nineteen days, and
the amount due according to the com
pany's statements was $1.61. From
this was deducted $1.50, leaving the
man eleven cents for nineteen days'
work.
Against these conditions the strik
ers rebelled, and on the day the strike
was called the mines were shut down
from one end of the district to the
other. Immediately the mining com
panies imported gunmen from New
York who began their lawless work
as soon as they arrived. This gave a
pretext for the calling of the militia,
and we now have 2,500 sons of Michi
gan, who enlisted to serv.e their coun
try, degraded into strike-breakers.
How quickly they have succumbed to
the degredation is apparent. When
they first arrived they seemed to be
lieve they were there to preserve the
peace. But with their encampment on
company property, their ; wining and
dining as guests of i the companies
they--"»ith - •.:.■,■ >'!,"■...■ have become
■ the most frequent disturbers of the
peace, and this lawlessness Is increas
ing. j
They charge their horses against
the pickets, riding upon sidewalks;
they beat them with their guns and
. sabers, and insult the women. Instead
of preserving order, they with the gun
men are trying to incite the strikers
in order that their presence may be
; justified.
Yet in spite of all this, the strikers
, are standing firm, backed by their
women folks, who take their babies
1 and march in the parades, and face
the guns and bayonets of the soldiers
on the picket line.
Organized labor may well concern
itself about the copper country. If it
permits the state militia of Michigan
to break the strike of these miners
then we may expect the militia to be
called out to break strikes in every
other state, and strike-breaking will
become their principal service. Let
organized labor back up these miners
with their moral and financial support
until they win, and other governors
j will hesitate before they call their
' militia to such disreputable service.
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GIRL SHOT BY GUARD.
Labor Leaders Declare Attack Is
Murder.
CALUMET, Mich.—Margaret Faze
kas, 15 years old, was shot in a battle
■ between copper mine strikers! and dap
! uties at the North Kearsarge mine on
"Labor Day," and is not expected to
live. None of the eighteen deputies
who participated in the trouble have
! been arrested. The shooting was de
nounced as murder at a Labor Day
mass meeting.
f The Approaching Trade Union Con
gress in Mexico.
A conference has taken place in
Veracruz, for the purpose of calling
together a committee for a Mexican
trade union congress. The projected
congress ■.ill, above all, deal with the
question of organizing the Mexican j
proletariat and agrarianlsm which has !
played such an important role In the
civil wars of the last few years. Hav
ing regard to the crippling effect that
these wars have on all department*
of public activity, the efforts of the
Mexican workers are all the more
praiseworthy and gratifying.
The young man of the working
class who votrs a capitalist class
ticket Is welding upon his own limbs
the chains of slavery which will grow
more galling as the years go by.
FOR SOCIALIST NEWS AN!) PROPAGANDA
EVERETT, \\ VSIUNI TON, THURSDAY, SKI'TKMHER I. 1913
PERSECUTION OF ANNA A.
MALEY IN WEST VIRGINIA.
(By Edward 11. Kintzer, State Secy.)
(Editor's Note: Tiio details of Com
rede Malay's arrest it Monongah, W.
Va., August IS, ere given leu < week.
Later facts regarding her ease are
given below, from Hi pi n of Comrado
Kin tier.)
The hearing was held In the mayor's
court in Monongah "Tuesday, August
19. Comrade Attorney Leeds of Pair
month and Mr. Dottle of Clarksburg
represented comrade City At
torney Haggerty of Fairmont appeared
for the town of Monongah—or more
properly speaking, for the Consolida
tion Coal company.
Warrant was swan out on affidavit
of Chief of Police William Flnloy. It
charged an attempt to hold a political
meeting without a permit from the
mayor, and second, ; resisting arrest.
Comrade Leeds argUfid with cogency
and fine effect, the uUconstltutlonallty
of any ordinance prohibiting free
assembly and moved for a dismissal
of the case. ;iv
Haggerty eloquently insisted upon
the superiority of t'-e Monongah or
dinances to the United States consti
tution. He was sustained by Mayor
Price and the case went to trial.
No services had been made upon
the defendant, and no witness for the
city could tell what Comrade Maley
had said, whether her remarks up to
the time of her arrest had been upon
politics or about the weather. As a
matter of fact, the weather had been
her subject up to the time of interrup
tion as it was r?.iaing when she
mounted the box. Ckief Finley when
questioned upon the nature of the
speaker's talk, mumbled in his stupid
and bludering way, "She said right
smart, but I couldn't tell what it was."
* > The charges weH ot proved. . Our
comrade cgi;\: „..' . b*i --assured
a dismissal upon these , technicalities,
but it was deemed wise, after con
sultation, to admit the charge of try
ing to hold a political meeting and
let the case rest. The defense called
no witnesses. The court assessed a
fine of twenty dollars and costs. An
appeal was noticed and Comrade
Joseph H. Snider gave bond in the
amount of fifty dollars.
The case, therefore, goes to the cir
cuit court of Marion county.
The hearing at Monongah was had
next door to the jail where Comrade
Maley spent two hours on Monday
night. Attorney Duthie requested
that the jail door be opened and many
comrades and others entered and saw
the iron cage into which Finley had
thrust his prisoner, placing her In
pitchy darkness behind double locks.
Water had leaked through the outside
door into the main corridor and in the
darkness cockroaches scampered hel
ter skelter. In the cage were iron
cots, one chair and an uncovered toilet
jar. An uncased pillow and a blanket
which had been stuffed through a hole
for Comrade Maley's bed still lay un
disturbed on the iron cot. The visit
ors issued from the jail holding their
noses. The odor of the place can best
be compared to a badly kept outdoor
privy.
From this will be made a test which
will determine whether or not West
Virginia is a part of the United States!
and subject to its constitutional law,
and will once and for all settle here
the right of free speech and free as
semblage.
The following telegram has been re
ceived by Comrade Maley from Ex
ecutive Secretary Lanferslek:
"Wiring facts Covernor Hatfield.
Demanding action. Will back you up."
Thus again the Socialist party takes
a hand to compel recognition of a
citizen's constitutional rights.
AS THE MASTERS SEE IT.
Anarchistic Teacher Is Still Teaching.
When Mrs. Lizzie Jones, county su
perintendent of schools, last week sus
pended the teacher's certificate of J
|E. Sinclair, the notorious adherent of
ithe teachings of Socialism in the pub
! lie schools, who has been so much la
the limelight lately, the school board
at Arlington immediately reinstated
him and he is now teaching at that
place. The people of Arlington are
indignant and It is stated that a re
call movement directed against the
two Socialist members of the school
board will be started and that per
haps a restraining order to prevent
Sinclair from teaching will also be
asked.—Everett Morning Tribune.
BRUCE ROGERS IS HOLDING
STIRRING MEETINGS EN
ROUTE TO WASHINGTON.
1 i
That the workers of the United
States are thoroughly aroused over
the lawlessness and violence of the
"law and order" patriots wherever
working-class interests are Involved,
and that the Seattle Potlatch riots
have not been forgotten, is attested
by the enthusiastic receptions tend
ered Comrade Bruce Rogers on his
mission to Washington.
Last. Tuesday a great mass meeting
was held in Butte, Mont., where Com
rade Rogers spoke before an enthu
siastic gathering of workers, all earn
est in their determination to resent to
the full extent of their power all en
croachments on the legal rights of
revolutionists everywhere. '
Big meetings have been arranged
for by State Secretary Bostrom in
North Dakota, Montana and other
states along the route to Washington,
D. C. So far, not one offer of a meet
ing has been turned down. So that,
apart from the publicity gained in the
attempt of Rogers to present person
ally his story of the Potlatch riots to
the president and congress, his ad
dresses along the route, going and re
turning, will bo cf lasting benefit to
the cause, fully compensating in edu
cational and propaganda work all ma
terial losses sustained by the Seattle
comrades.
I. W. W. BUSY AT NORTH
YAKIMA. , ,
The Entire Police Force Is Called
Out.
When a trainload of hop-pickers ar
rived at North, Yakima last Monday,
carrying ,; workers from Puget Sound
and 'Spokane it was met by 250 I. W.
W,. who axleliipiKir 1 W llebi? CiiemViUliV
going to work Id the hop yards. The
entire police force was called out to
control the crowd of 500 or more that
gathered on Front street, and the fire
department was ordered to be in readi
ness in case of trouble.
Mayor A. J. Splawn, acting chief of
police, left his dinner hurriedly to take
command of the situation. After he
harangued the crowd it slowly dis
persed, and the hop growers' associa
tion took charge of the pickers and
found them places for the night.
Where the I. W. W.s came from is
not known, as last Monday's manifes
tation was the first sign of their pres
ence. Threats of carrying the trouble
into the hop yards were made in the
crowd.
SIMPLICITY FOR
JEFFERSONIAN
While that eminent exponent of Jef
fersonian simplicity, the Honorable
William Jenngins Bryan, is loquacious
ly rushing from one speaker's stand
to another, trying to supplement his
meagre earnings of $1,000 a month as
secretary of state, all over the coun
try we hear of strikes and struggles ,
among the useful workers for even
much less than this a year. No doubt
.Mr. Bryan considers that eight or nine
hundred dollars a year is "very fair
wagesi" for a working-class father.
Such workers should pay no attention
to these malcontents who are always
trying to stir up trouble between em
ployer and employee.
Meanwhile Mr. "Cross of Gold" is
out trying to get more of the gold,
while giving the double cross to the
middle-class capitalist who hired him.
We should worry.
REEL OPERATORS STRIKE.
Fights Occur When Attemps Are Made
to Bar Patron*.
Indianapolis.—Moving picture opera- j
tors in eight down-town theatres
struck last Monday after they had
been refused an increase of $7 a week,
from $18 to $25. An attempt was;
made by the strikers and sympathiz
ers to keep people out of the theatres
affected when performances were re-,
sumed, and several fights occurred.
More trouble is expected. The opera
tors pretested a request for the in
crease for pay Monday, it was Bald,
and struck when they received an un
favorable answer.
Question: If Mr. Bryan cannot live
on a thousand dollar* a month, how
can the moving picture operators live
on one-tenth of that even If they
As The Editor Sees It I
LABOR DAY THOUGHTS.
The people of the United States are at this moment in the midst
oJ a far-reaching industrial depression, a "silent panic," as it lias
been aptly called. And beneath the "silent panic" seeths a deeper
more far-reaching, though hardly less recognizable "panic"—the half
conscious, and reluctantly acknowledged panic of the bourgeois poli
ticians and statesmen of the world. Deny it as they may, the in
dustrial and political masters of the world are fully alive to the fact
that trading-class society is facing the most portentious revolution
that the human race has ever known.
Forty million class-conscious, militant Socialist workers confront
the capitalist class of the world demanding an account of their stew
ardship.
The whole capitalist regime, with its sordid motives, brutal meth- '
ods of exploitation, and hypocritical pretence of common decency is
on trial before a jury composed of millions of the more intelligent and
virile of the world's wealth-producers.
No longer servile or cringing; conscious now of their inherent
dignity and potential power, a rapidly increasing number of workers
recognize in themselves the rightful inheritors of a vast globe teem
ing with all the useful and beautiful things that minister to the phy
sical needs and esthetic delights of man. They realize fully that the
productive forces of civilized nations are fully adequate to supply
every convenience and luxury conducive to the comfort and uplift of
the working class. Looking about them, the workers behold the great
mass of their brethren reduced to poverty in the midst of plenty;
robbed of the fruits of their arduous and dangerous toil, in order
that a few favored families, a small group of reactionary and para
sitical hangers-on, shall riot in idleness and luxury, complacently
appropriating to themselves the best of the products of labor's toil
and skill, while rendering nothing to society in return for their pur
pled ease. Happily, this anomalous situation is but a transient phase
of the evolution of capitalism: Labor is awakening on every hand!
Not all of the workers, as yet, are aroused to full consciousness of
their power and opportunities, but enough of them have responded
to the call of freedom to become a serious menace to trading-class
rule.
+ - 1 Ion", held in subjection by ignorance and hopelessness- hypno
tized by the blare of trumpets and the pageantry of wealth and insolent
pride; divided by stupid race antagonisms and spurious patriotism •
tooled by fraudulent issues in the political arena, and forced by the
master-class to struggle desperately with one another upon the in
dustrial battlefield for jobs and bread, the workers of the world
have long been blind and impotent, misled and oppressed, betrayed
and subjugated, their egotism so perverted that they often willingly
crush and kill one another even now, at the instigation or bidding of •
their natural enemies,, the capitalist class. v •.. v\;
But the old order chaugeth. Today, millions of determined men *.
*»*«»*»-»!|aw 1^',vcu ;! „: i imi.,.i<iii, jtaiid t!reCi bsffrre
the arrogant capitalists;and puppet ; rulers of the world,"challenging
their administration of industry, -their power to rule and ruin the "
world of labor, their right to appropriate for their own selfish use
the results of centuries of social toil and dearly bought advancement.
. This awakening of the working-class to a new sense of power and
dignity means the inevitable doom of vcapitalist system; the final
and complete overthrow of our tawdry and savage bourgeois civiliza
tion, with all its ugliness and degradation; and the inauguration in
its place of a new society, a society of free men and women, with
loftier ideals and nobler standards of life and living than are even
dreamed of by the mad profit-mongers of trading-class Christendom.
Yes, the wealth-producers of the world are about to erect on the mel
ancholy ruins of capitalism a real commonwealth, a real democracy,
based upon a genuine community of interests, upon brotherhood,
as the sane and safe way to individual liberty, and to the realization
of the highest and fullest personal development, physical, mental and
moral.
NORTH DAKOTA'S FREE-SPEECH FIGHT.
■ By Our Special Correspondent.)
Minn), \. D.—News of interest i lefl from Minot. Capitalism's
lu'll-liounds were determined to deprive the I. W. W. boyi of the use
of ! In- streets, hut reckoned beyond their hosts. The Socialists gQt
into the game and the city authorities were breed to surrender. \\e
have instituted recall proceeding* against two city commissioners and
'the police magistrate and hope I" oust them in a month or so Senti
ment is overwhelmingly in our favor ami our local is growing as never
before. Had we paid the capitalists of North Dakota $10,000 to boo«l
our movement they could not have done more for us than they have
dune. We paw feel absolutely certain of capturing the Third eongres
Monal district next year and electing appros imately twenty members
to tlie state Legialaiare.
It ii impossible to give the soldier a g I education without mak
ing him a deserter. Bu natural i'oc i^ the governmeni that, drills
him. Thoiv;iu.
11l my Shori experience of human life, tlie outward obstacles,
if tin-re were any such, have not been living men. hut the Lnstituti
of the dead. Thoreau.
Can the Democratic Party
Do Anything for the
Working Class?
d w nil a
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