The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-11-20
CoMRADE JENSEN REVEALS
TRUE NATURE OF BULL
MOOSE PATRIOTISM.
CONTINUED from Page ~

most important reason why he should
teach
| had talked the matter over with
Ford before Lancaster came in.
asked him to consider the stress under
which Sinclair's remarks were made
| told him how the flag had been put
on lumber piles down in Hoquiam and
Aberdeen to protect thugs and toughs
who were armed to shoot and club
strikers. | told how these thugs de-
ported men and beat them up and
threatened to kill them If they re-
turned. That not being enough they
had the fire hose brought out and
played on the mems wives and babies
actually washing some into the gutter
I asked Mr.. Ford if the flag stood for
that. He said, mo, for that was an
individual act"
| told Ford that it was not strictly
an individual act and that such acts
were of quite common occurrence. |
asked If he had demonstrated against
such acts and he said that he had not,
told him that the Socialists had pro-
tested.
What Stars and Stripes Did for Miners.
| further drew his attention to the
government of West Virginia violat-
ing the constitution of that state and
&c Tho TrnftoJ Ctotac nv eating n cid a
civil law and establishing martial law.
mentioned the armored car with its
machine guns firing into the tents of
the miners and killing a man while
holding a child on his lap. l asked
Ford if he had protested against that
and he said that he had not.
During this trouble in West Virginia
the Socialists all over America had
sent hundreds of protests to congress
men calling attention to the high
handed acts of treason against the
highest law in the land. These re-
monstances on the part of Socialists
finally led to the senate of the United
States investigating conditions there;
and the investigation showed that the
Socialists were the real patriots and
the only ones to bring the terrible af
fairs of West Virginia to public notice.
Ford through his paper was silent
about the atrocities in West Virginia.
The loyalty that he talks about could
not reach as far as West Virginia.
Not until the investigation was being
made did he or any of his fellow Bull
Moosers raise a voice in defense of
the workers there whose rights under
the flag were being violated for many
months before.
When Sinclair wrote his flag article
he had all these terrible things in
mind and hundreds of other similar
things.
Refused to Teach Jingoism.
At the high school meeting Sinclair
promised to follow the course of study
and to obey the rules made by the
state board. He agreed to the teach
ing of patriotism but not jingoism. He
believes in the kind of patriotism that
protects working men and women in
their homes and everywhere. Lam
caster and Ford have posed as very
loyal to their countrymen. Ford did
not protect the American citizens who
were suffering outrages in West Vir-
ginia. Did Lancaster come out and
do anything for them? They were
native born Americans there too.
should think that a man who cannot
defend his countrymen when in such
distress could very well be accused of
the worst kind of disloyalty and l
question his ability to teach patriotism.
The flag is supposed to stand for all
alike. Why did not Lancaster and
Ford help us use it to protect the
women and children of West Virginia
against the army of mercernaries that
the coal barons used to murder them?
This is a fair question, Mr.. Lancaster.
If you are loyal, what are you loyal
to? Must loyalty to the flag be made
to mean disloyalty to the women and
children under it?
according to Lancaster's announce
ment | have committed some damn
ing offense. Yes, the first offense
that ever committed was in per nit
ting myself to be foreign born, but l
promise my lofty intellectual judge
that it will not occur again if | have
another chance.
If There Really Was Democracy.
This last while and for some time
back | have been thinking, actually
thinking what a grand thing it would
be if all under the flag could be pro-
tected alike. Then there would be
no such things done as were done in
Hoquiam and Aberdeen by the hired
brutes Of the mill owners. There
would be no Bull Moose armored
trains shooting into sleeping tents in
the night. There would then be moth
ing to inspire hastily worded articles
such as Sinclair wrote. The flag would
once more float in dignity over a free
,,o,,l. put 7 never was to college.