The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-07-02
AND THIS IS HOW
THE 48-ERS DO IT
Built a Political Organization
Without Newspapers and
in Spite of Them.

Some journalist, VINO can WELD a
facile pen, could write a story about
the Committee of 4S that would set
the political wiseacres thinking.
There is nothing like it in the an
nails of politics.
This organization has had in it's
making almost none of what is called
publicity. The newspapers have
carried but few stories about the
Committee of AZ. The rostrum has
also played a negligible part. No
paid organizers have solicited men,
bers. Yet it has attained mem
bership of great numbers and that
scarcely a community exists in AM
erica where there is not at least one
forty-eighter.
Back in January, 1919, when the
Committee was first proposed at a
dinner in New York City, the way
of the public critic and the reformer
was hard. A citizen who was brave
enough to venture even a mild criti-
cism of the conduct Of public affairs,
or even of the high cost of living,
was set down in the public print as
a bolshevist or some other kind of a
dangerous person. Public platforms
as a place for the discussion of
events had ceased to function. 1t
was period of terrorism. The free
America, of which we had once
boosted, had ceased to be.
The Committee of 48 when men,
ton was made of it at all, was char
acterized as a committee of forty
eight dangerous radicals. Most peo-
pie seemed to have forgotten, if they
ever knew, that there were forty
eight states in the union and we
were called on to explain constantly
the meaning of "forty- eight"
The first act of the Committee
was to issue a Call" to Americans.
This proclamation will live in his
tory along with similar documents
which have expressed the feeling and
thought of our people in times of
crises. The daily papers, almost
without exception, refused to pub
fish it.
Met with this solid wall of opposi-
ton on the part of the press, which
is supposed to serve the public with
out bias or prejudice, someone
! thought of the only great institu-
ton which the people own-the pos
tai system. We secured mailing lists
and began to send out circular let
tiers. We asked people to read our
Call, join the Committee and interest
their neighbors.
Responses came by return mail,
often accompanied by checks and
| lists of new names to be circulated.
This developed into a system. We
established almost an unchanging
percentage of returns. We found
that hundred circular letters
mailed would bring percentage
of answers. We ais ofound that
! for given number of new men,
bers certain percentage would
contribute. And then we knew
we had solved the problem OF
access to the people-that we could
build a political organization with
out newspapers and in spite of them.
All we had to do was to get the
directories and send out letters.
By the beginning of 1920 we were
doing business on scale equal to
that of a great mail order houses.
Four divisional headquarters, each
with a quota of busy typewriters,
were going full blast-and many
state headsuarters. The Committee
started with an income of less than
one thousand dollars per month and
most of it's workers volunteers.
There have been periods since when
cur postage bill for single day err
ceeded this sum. We have eXpend-
ed practically all of our income on
two items-postage stamps and
printing. Millions of pieces of liter
ature have been placed in circula-
ton with no special emphasis on To-
cality, but spread from Maine to Cal
ifornia. We have accomplished what
thousand paid organizers could
not have done at ten times the cost.
All the essential machinery of a
new political party has been created
by mail, and the character of our
membership is of the highest order.
We have the best and the bravest of
the colleges, the churches, the pro-
fessions, and of the farm and the
workshop. We have also the finest
type of the modern woman, who is
soon to become a power in the poll
teal world. We not only have mem
bers, but we have leadership in thou
sands of communities.
Our opponents will find that fol
lowing the convention its nominees
will be placed on the ballot in JIG
time, for we have made a careful
digest of the election laws and arr