The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1917-01-18
THE ARMY POST
BY J. S. Biscay.

I
,ose o. establishing a mobilization
camp on this coast carried to the
tune of about $4,000 to 400. This
is less than the registered voters of
Tacoma a.one, not to mention the
| total voting strength of the county.
incidentally, the patriotic grafters
| who took up much of the American
Lake camp site, make easy money.
We are not kicking at the bonds
or the usual grating. What hurts
a few of us vitality is the fact that
this chance of using an issue to
propagate Socialism, passed fruit
! lessly. There were a few of US who
! jumped into the harness of opposi-
ton, but what can bare few do?
There was no organized attempt to
launch socialistic opposition to this
first step toward militarism in the
West. OF course we got one chance
two days before election to show up
the leaders Of this move in a debate.
This was suppressed in the capital
istic press, hence no results, except
flattering ourselves on our ability to
show them up.
This army post is established, or
will soon be, as the first move of
aggression aimed at Chinese do
minion. Other mobilization camps
will be established, then comes en-
forced military training and con-
scription. When the master class is
ready for the fray, the younger ele-
ments of the working class will be
forced to shoulder gun in defense
of American interests in China. 1t
will be struggle between masters
of this nation against the masters
of Asia-Japan and Russia--for the
privilege Of exploiting the heather
Chinee.
In our blindness, discussing the
"nearness of the far-off" or the
"whichness of the what" we allowed
few political pikers to beat US by
the most blatant and outlandish man.
euvers since the days of the sup
posed flood. Some looked at the
added bonds, ETC., and forgot to look
under the surface.
In the Spanish-American war we
pointed out that it was a war for
the interest of the sugar and other
trusts. Later on we perceived that
Cuba was not the objective of our
patriots, they grabbed naval and
military base-the Philippines. Any
one with common sense should have
known that this was but the first
move toward Chinese exploitation.
While Europe is struggling to
weaken certain powers so that China
might be more readily divided,
Japan and Russia combining more
effectively in that direction right
now; the American capitalists got
busy, loaned money to China, began
railroad construction on a great scale
and great combinations have begun
OF. overrun the empire Does any
sensible person suppose that Japan
csc and Russian masters will allow
American dominance after the Euro
pean war is over? Hardly.
There will come clash of interests,
then war. There is little danger of
invasion here. Germans have been
unable to invade England, only 80 or
40 miles away. Yet our masters at
tempt to impress us with dangers of
invasions from a point half way
around the globe. Rather far fetched,
that idea. The English navy will
defend this country in order that
England might not lose its supremacy
on the seas.
The trouble with Socialists is: they
only talk against militarism; they
do not act. We chew the rag and
watch for an opportunity to drag
down each other instead of center
ing our fire on the enemy. The move
ment weakens itself by denouncing
other organizations which have moth
ing to do with our activity, and the
masters laugh in glee. Oh, but we
are easy; we wise, unsophisticated
champions of the oppressed class.
If we were so unprepared for a
local event in which the compaign
lasted nearly month, what will we
do when mobilization orders are sud-
denly given? Will we continue to
philosophize with bovine calmness :?
1t is high time we began to take