The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-12-13

| frage. and there Is no need OF imme-
dlatc demands: tee is only ono dc
mand. and that IS the unconditional
! surrender OF the capitalist class. To
satisfy eyerybody's demand for imme-
| date demands, the Socialist party
sent out at one time document some
TWO feet long and five inches wide OF
| two columns OF immediate demands
| demanding everything from free baths
! TO cheap gas-to be voted on by all
! the party locals. Some ono called II
tho blanket injunction" or the So
| cialist party. and il certainly held its
own for opporunism. TIC state or
J canizatlons are allowed tho Ereatcst
| latitude by The national, even allow
| ing state autonomy. as instanccd by
| Wisconsin.
Socialist Press.
II has press called the :. r. press.
| II would he impossible 10 enumeratc
| all the papers called socialist, but
/ here arc q few: The Appeal 20 Rca-
! son, The Chicago Daily Socialist, the
| International Review OF Chicago. The
| Call of New York. a daily; The Social
| Democratic Herald and Wilshire's.
| These papers arc owned and con
trolled by few people. They arc
owned by some Socialist party Nom
hers who arc stockholders, and edited
| generally by some one who has an
| economic interest In them. Some OF
| the party members fondly believe that
| the Appeal 10 Reason Is owned by the
| party. but the answer OF n Socialist
! who knew. when asked If it were not
owned by the party. covered the
ground: Yes. 1t Is owned by a party
named Wayland' Such a press can
not be Official. for there is no direct
means OF communication between the
locals and organizations; no one has
anything TO say about the policy of
! the papers; no one has a right TO
criticise. The editor is the chief. and
! Ii you don't like It, you know what
YOU can do. To keep the papers alive
all kinds OF advertisements are al
| lowed. and at one time the Appeal had
an advertisement OF cooperative
concern in Chicago urging so
cialists 10 buy stock and get their
goods at cost the Appeal went
so far as to uphold the concern
in its columns. The concern failed:
the people lost out, and In tho face
J OF this known fact the Socialist par
| t. members BOOM the Appeal which
has never led, IL always follows. 1t
feels its way. This is sample of
all of them Another danger from
such a press is that AT a critical
moment the editor may sell out or
become convinced that some other
| policy was better and tsrow the pa
| per TO another cause That it can be
! done and has been done. / Will recall
an instance that happened in Utah.
| AT one time there was a paper start
ed called the Crisis Some of You
may remember that 1t was owned by
| few stockholders aud kept alive by
| ads and subscriptions, and many of
| us worked like beavers to keep it go
| ing. At one election, whereby the
way-the party. ignoring the consti
tuition, had men on the ticket who
were not members of the party. the
editor became convinced that the Am
erican party, which had just been
born, meant more for the good of Utah
than did the Socialist party. so he
turned the paper over 10 the support
that ticket with large letters around
the margin Support the American
Party and the Socialist party was
helpless, they had not been consult
ed: their protests were thrown in the
waSte.paper basket Is there any trust
TO be put in such a press? A party
must have an organ that keeps each
section In close touch with each other
section. and it must be controlled by
the whole party and each member
must be on the alert for any false
motion or treachery Otherwise at Il
critical moment everything VIII be
lost.
The party, as We have seen. gives
its allegiance TO international social
ism which claimeS that there should
be no law against immigration. At
the last congress- a S p delegate In
troduced a resolution against what he
was pleased 10 call the backward
races. and at the S p. convention
last year an anti.immigration plank
was inserted in their platform and
carried by a large majority because
immigration was detrimental To the
American workers, Neutral on the un-
ion question: and yet It's members are
members of the A. f. of L. All their
papers and publications have the un-
ion label Delegates go TO every A
F. of l.. convention and introduce an
nuallv a socialist resolution which Is
annually voted down; this has been
done for nine years. II is the -bor-
ig from within" process. Members
say they believe in economic solidar-
ity but It isn't time yet-when the
time is more than ripe for il and it
is the mission Of all socialists To
preach it from the h1usctops and in
the highways and byways of the
world The S. p. says, Vote
the ticket: let us have votes. HOW
do they expect TO bring in the social
list republic with votes and no solid
economic backing2 The government
owns everything, all the forces. and
can count ont votes as easily as wind
carries off the chaff The example set
by Colorado gives the lie 10 the ef-
fcacy of the vote alone You will
recall that I'm Colorado al one time an
amendment 10 the constitution was
put before the state u DC voted on.
The amendment was whether eight
hours should constitute q legal days
work in the mines II carried In fav-
or by a large majority. II came be-
fore the legislature and was ratified
by both houses and signed by the gov
ernor: i'm ninety DAYS it became a
law. and the miners demanded the
elcht-hom day. The mine operators
~efused TO comply; the mIners struck
and the case was carried to the SUI
preme court of Colora 10. b. whom
It was declared unconstitutional. II
that can be done in A state. II can
be done by a nation The capitalists
hold every power OF the govern went.
even 10 the industries THEY are
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