Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1922-12-29
THE CHURCH AND
THE RADICAL



More than ninety per cent Of our
laws are for the protection Of prop.
erty and less than 10 per cent are
for the protection Of human life. The
proportion IS wrong and the empha-
sis Is vicious" said the bishops of
the Methodist Episcopal church in
their quadrenniai address.
That fact is the explanation Of the
radical about whom miles Of editO-
rails have been written and about
whom balloonfuls of gaseous oratory
has been released. Since long before
the present generation the radical
has been the man who has fought for
human rights as over against property
rights. Who does not recall the fer
vor with which time and patron serv-
ing editors Of only a few years ago
denounced the radicals" who were
agitating for the eight-hour day?
Would that not mean industry's ruin?
Today We editor. for the most part,
says the eight-hOur day Is here to stay,
but beware Of the f'radicals" who are
demanding forty-four hour week.
They are bolshevixi trying to turn our
good old U. s. A into another Russia!
Or, consider most any attempt to
enforce the use of safety devices.
Were the leaders OF such campaigns
not labeled as radicals" "agitators"
or generally undesirable citizens?
Were we not told. for example, that
laws compelling railroads to do away
with finger, arm and body smashing
coupling devices or wreck incinderat-
ing heating stoves would ruin the rail-
roads financially? Were not facts
blinked while costs were magnified,
and, what is more to the point, was not
every possible means used to arouse
hatred against those who fought for
the interests of men instead of imme-
date individuals?
Labeled Radicals.
The names of labor leaders, social
reformers, politicians or preachers of
the gospel who have really fought for
human rights without being labeled
radical can be catalogued in a very
small volume. The hilarious joke of
the whole business is that our reac-
tionary editors and self-decorated 100
percenters have so overworked the
label that politicians are finding it
vote getter Witness the case of Gov
ernor-elect William e. Sweet of Colo
RADIO. Even his own party press adj
vised citizens to vote for the RepublI-
can candidate as means of cleaning
bolshevism out of the Democratic
party. What a radical is Sweet. The
outstanding Christian layman of all
the Rocky mountain section; president
of the great Y. NJ. C. A. conference
held in Detroit last year. but running
on a platform calling for the recogni-
tion of the rights of exploited men,
state warehouses to protect the far
mer against spectators in foodstuffs,
non-profit cooperative organization by
which the poor might raise their stand.
ards of living, the abolition of the state
constabulary by means of which min
ing interests have ridden ruthlessly
over human rights as well as human
bodies, the condemnation of the act
illegally driving William 2. Foster out
of Colorado. "Socialistic!" My guess
is that Mr.. Sweet has read few II any
treatises on Socialism, but do know
that he has studied his New Tesla
ment. the Social Greed of the Church
es and the American bill of rights
which some loud patriots religiously
overlook, and, from a limited acquain-
lance with the man, l feel certain that
he is not of the type of provincial
business man who will censure a
preacher of the gospel whom he has
never heard. But. whatever epithet
ones informed or ignorant fancy may
choose to apply, the significant thing
about the present situation is that the
newspapers and safety first business
men can no longer fool all the people
by lodging facts while raising the
boogy Of "radicalism." II there is any
doubt in the readers mind with regard
to this let him call part of the roll of
successful candidates in the last cleo
tion who we're selected In spite Of
and because of the label 'sradical-
LaFollette, Brookheart, Frazier, Ship
stead, Sweet, and possibly a man by
the name Of Dill.
Red Menace.
In all Of this we have used the term
radical" in quotations because it has
been generously applied to many men
who have nothing other than the es-
Enlistment Of a Christian order in
mind, whereas popular thinking has
been led to identify the term with the
idea of violence. Certainly 1t is not
necessary to say that the church
stands against such dishonesty and