The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-20

/ NEW 1UEk lily aus
are in New York and feel an II
resistible impulse to tell the Worid
, your beliefs and opinions, Simply
mount soap box and so TO IL No
one will stop you. Some Will even
pause and listen to you-wlth curt
osity if not with interest Nownere
is it easier to attract a crowd tnan
in New York. Be your remarks ever
so futile and your style or deIiV-
, cry ever so anaemic, you VIII new
crtheless be sure of an audience
end a much larger one than II you
had hired a hall.
This summer soap box oratory is
something of a novelty after long
period of absence. During the war
the gentle art was monopoliZed en-
tirely by war charities of one kind
and another which used the street
as a stage for their various drives
With their BRASS bands and pretty
girls and uniforms the lone. I'M
adorned orator could not compete
Besides it was not always safe to
attempt it. Unofficial eioquence
however innocent, was regarded
| with deep suspicion by the authori-
| distribution Of that eloquent docu-
ment-the Declaration of fndepend,
/ cnce.
Then, too, there was a distin Ct
| lack of this type of orators. Most
of them were very much preoccu-
| pied, in the army or in Fort Leav-
enworth or in holding down jobs
paying fat wages. 1t is doubtful
| If the causes they championed suf-
Tered very greatly by their absence.
| Socialism, indeed, seemed to bene-
! fit by it, acquiring a new dignity
far above the level of the soap box
| as its opponents became able to af-
ford hair cuts and clean collars.
| Some said that soap box socialism
| had disappeared forever.
| They were wrong, however It is
tack again this year, as vehement
and as picturesque as before-the
! long hair and the soiied collar in
/ of improvement. Sometimes in
place of a soap box a sturdy table
CT even pushcart is used. Along
the streets of New York our Amer
lean democracy is coming in for
all the old pre-war criticism in ad-
dition to a brand new supply Great
ed as a resSlt of the war. 1t is
more entertaining than it used to
be. Poor Mr.. Woodrow Wilson, for
instance, seems to have contribut-
ed a great deal to the soap box
socialistic cause. He has become
the great arch villain of their faith,
giving it the same kind of stimulus
that the Devil gave to Christianity
for so long a period.
etimes. however, former
President Wilson escapes and the
blame for everything is suddenly
thrust upon the proletariat, as was
the case the other night when one
histrionic soap-boxer in the Bronx
waved his arms excitedly in the air,
and Numbered, "Ah, when it comes
10 placing the blame for the pres
ent intolerable conditions-unem-
ployment, slashed wages, slow
starvation-I want you, gentlemen,
to think"
He paused. The crowd looked
alarmed. 1t was a hot night, and
they had not gathered there 70
think But the soap-boxer immedi-
ately came to their rescue.
1T is we-the working people
who are to blame" he announced
bitterly. I'VE have the numbers,
we have the strength to smash this
rotten system and get a fair deal,
1t brushes us because We let it.
Yet, mark me, the time will come
when we will rise up as one man
''Oh, it's too hot" said a weary
voice in the crowd.
Then an old negro standing near
the reporter spoke.
Dis sho' am de oratinist sum-
mer I ever seem" he declared.
Don have t'Ngo t. church"
Soap Box Users.
The socialists by no means hold
the lead in the long string of soap
box platforms which stretches all
the way from F'ifty-ninth street on
the West Side up through Harlem
and the BrCax. The anti-socialists
are Just as numerous, while anti