Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1906-03-05
HAS Been BLACKLISTED IN new
new ENGLAND town.
Opinion of New England Papers on
the Action of Derby, Connecticut.
New York Post Believes the peO-
pie Can be Trusted to Detect So
CialiSt FaIilCieS.

- tOWi vi OcIbN, SOhAcCtICu', mas
barred Jack London's books from the
public library, and requested its inhabt
ants to boycott all magazines containing
his stories. This is due to the fact that
Mr.. London in his recent lecture tour is
said to have made several anarchistic
remarks highly derogatory 10 the govern.
ment. This action on the art OF the
town OF De, by has provoked considerable
press comment. The Brooklyn Eagle
evidently gives small credence to ii q
supposed pernicious influence OF Lon
don's remarks, saying that the writer is
not an anarchist, but socialist, and
that he should be judged not by his per
sonality but by his work. The majority
OF press comment, however, is decidedly
against London, and the Rochester
Democrat and Chronicle makes a quota
tion from one of his recent lectures
which would seem to account for the
preponderance OF uniavorable press
opinion:
"'When | write TO Socialist, stalt
the letter with the phrase, "Dear Com
rade," and close the letter with the
phrase, "Yours tor the revolution"
That is the practice among 400, 900 So
cialsts in the United States. There are
throughout the civilized world 100000
socialists, organized in great interna-
tonal movement. Their purposes are
the destruction of bourgeois society, the
doing away with ownership Of capital
and with patriotism in brief, the over
throw of existing society. We will be
content with nothing less than all power,
with the possession OF the whole world.
We Socialists will wrest the power from
the present rulers. By war, if necessary
Stop US if you can. All capitalists are
bad and all workngmen are good"
When man raves like that there is no
danger OF his securing very influential
following; but recent developments and
events have shown that in nearly every
community, certainly in every city,
there are a few persons who can be won
over to any program, however vicious or
dangerous, that more brainy lunatics can
formulate. Probably there is no danger
of Jack London making an attempt to
shoot a president or blow up the capitol
at Washington with dynamite; but his
denunc,ation OF socdty, of the constitu
ton, and OF the state may stimulate
some fool, fanatic, or criminal to assas-
GlnatiOn or arson"
The comment OF the Manchester Union
follows the spirit OF the preceding, re.
marking that "the people have arrived
at point where they demand something
like decency in an indivi iual, regardless
of his mental attanments:"
"Jack London is comparatively young.
1t may be that his literary success has
turned his head. Be this as it may, a
man who publicly, and with apparent
pride, tells an intelligent audience that
he is an anarchist. and that he is in
favor of overthrowing the government,
deserves not merely to be rebuked, but
to be ignored. If man should come
into any law-abiding community and
SuSScSt tHe uuiuer vi SOllle person, he
would be given quietus forthwith.
Why, then, should the plaudits OF the
reading world be given to a man who is
confessedly believer in doctrine which
advocates lawlessness and wholesale
murder"
A protest is made by the New York
Evening Post against the imposition Of
arbitrary individual standards upon .he
readers OF Derby Neck
'The sure way to convert people to a
political heresy is to put ban on the
propaganda and make martyrs OF the
missionaries. Ii history has proved any.
thing, it has proved that. On the other
hand, the way to keep mems minds sane
and wholesome on these subjects is to
allow them to read and discuss to their
hearts content. The books by socialists
are, after all, the one irrefutable argu-
ment against socialism. If the people
cannot be trusted to puncture the falla.
Cies which abound in these entertaining
discourses, the case for constitutional
government is, by that very fact, hope.
lessly lost"