The Butte daily bulletin., 1919-06-07

States for Europe mas feacned an
average of 1000 per day. And the
capjtalist press is manifesting un-
easiness. The following from an edl-
torial in the New York Evening sun
is only one of the many now being
published all over the United States:
THE throngs of aliens bound from
this port back to their home coun-
tries have for some months sur
passed any rate of outward move
ment of population that the recent
records can show. This departure
causes concern, partly because OF the
loss of workers it occasions us ana
partly because of the misgivings we
conceive from such an expression OIL
Willingness on these peoples part
TO stay here.
In. spite of the attempts of the
government agencies to soothe Amer
lean pride concerning the reasons
for the exodus, it is more than a CO.
incidence that this is taking place
Just when the government is press
ing its campaign to depoft all Iof-
eign-born workers who dare TO pc
active in labor organizations. rms
exhibition of Prussian laWlessness on
the part of the authorities is the
crowning act of the long and bloody
history of capitalist exploitation or
foreigners here.
One of the principles expressed in
the foundation of the American re-
nublic was that of providing an
asylum for the oppressed of the
earth" Like every other idealistic
phrase, this was used by capitalism
to cover a shameless policy of de-
tS a.
ouent wording, the poverty-stricken
hordes of Europe were induced 10
come to America, and take, the places
of Anglo-S Saxon workers in industry.
for wages upon which no man could
live decently. In Europe there was
a surplus population, and no work
In America there was work for all
brutal, degrading work, at pitlful
wages-but still work. And by liv-
ing like an animal, by scabbing, sub
mitting to nameless brutalities, the
foreign-born could hope to scrape
together enough, not to live in the
United States, but to return to his
home and live there. The fact that
he returned broken ilr spirit and
health did not matter
This then was the spirit in which
America welcomed 1.-The oppressed
of the earth" Lured not only by
gold, but by the talk of freedom, the
absence of compulsory military serv-
ice, and the picture of the Statue of
Liberty on the steamship companies
advertising matter, the aliens poured
into our ports at the rate of hun
dreds of thousands year. They
were bullied and cheated at the port
of entry, hurled into fetid slums,
drawn into the lowest strata of the
cruel machinery of industry sweat
ed, dubbed by the police, shot in
strikes, and at the end, worn-out be-
fore their time, their lungs rotted
with tuberculosis, were spewed out
into the jails, or back across the sea.
1t is a significant commentary on
American civilization that of the
most intelligent foreigners who came
here political socialists, a large part
returned to their own countries an
rcho-syndicalists, advocates of sa-
botage and direct action.
The war revealed the American in
dustrial system in all it's brutality
Foreigners in large number who had
taken out their first papers were
drafted, and many who had never
taken out any papers at all We're
forced into the army, and if they re,
fused to fight, We're thrown into
guard-houses and military prisons
and tortured Those working in in
dustry were subjected to the strict
est espionage, and thrown into pris
on for advocating labor organization
or participating in strikes. A system
of terrorism was employed to force
them to buy Liberty bonds and wa
service stamps, and to contribute t,
the Red Cross; if they refused, the,
lost their jobs. Their churches wer
invaded by mobs who compelled tn
clergymen to preache patriotism il
English. Their papers printed il
their own language were censore,
by bureaucrats, and often stoppe
for reprinting dispatches, article
and editorials from the Englis
press. One foreign newspaper wa
stopped by the United States Aost OF
flee for reprinting my nae, for eH
ample. Meetings of foreigners wer
invaded by the police and privat
patriots" who arbitrarily create
laws concerning what should c
should not be said, and beat up an
arrested speakers who refused t
conform. And the lives of foreig
workers We're tyrannized over by pr
vate organizations such as "minut,
men" and American protectiy
leagues composed of bankers, ell
ployers and, the most reactiona1
hirelings Of the industrial autocrat
The barabarous espionage act,
its revolving character as weapo
of capitalist class domination. WI
especially invoked against foreign
ers active in working-class organ
cations. In Bayonne, N. j., tw
young Russians, Frederick FeodotC
and Anton Taichin, were arrested
meeting called to organize scho
for Russians. Under the New Je
sey sedition act they were sentence
to 10 years in the penitentiary. Nc
lie Steiner, II years old, Jact
Abrams, Samuel Lippman, Hyma
Lachowsky and Jacob Schwart
Russians, were arrested for distri
uting circulars protesting again
American intervention in Russi
and horribly beaten by the police
New York. Schwartz died from h
injuries: MOllie Steiner was giye