The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-18
AS WE SEE IT
By T. J. o'FLAHERTY.

We are informed that several hun
i bred of foreign born residents of Chi
cago took out their final papers last
week. The exercises were in charge
of the American Legion. A person
by the name of Shick made speech
after which a Mr.. Mccarthy prayed.
The reporter who covered the meet
ing testified that Mccarthy prayed
like the devil" Whether he read the
gospel according to Billy Sunday ,or
some of the more ancient reformed
sinners is not what we are concerned
with but why the services usually as
ISOLATED with introducing the foreign
born into the mysteries Of Ameri-
canism should be delegated to the
American Legion.
States Attorney Grove has rather
peculiar conception of how to econ
omize in public office. He generous
ly offered to loD off $4,000 of his
annual appropriation for Office ex-
penses other than salaries, but re-
quested a special appropriation Of
STE, 900 for a graft investigation. We
suggest that another $4,000 be rails
ed to investigate the first $4,000.
The politicians in the city Of Chicago
like their brothers in Washington
fight like Kilkenny cats over the di-
vision of the spoils and if they can
not agree they squeal on each other
, and the result is what always hap
pens when thieves quarrel. We have
Teapot Dome in Washington and
real estate graft probes, school graft
probes and state treasury probes in
Chicago and vicinity. The trouble
does not lie in the individuals. It Is
in the system that breeds graft and
corruption-the capitalist system.
Before public life can be cleansed Of
grafters the robber system Of CAPT
talism must be abolished. A lily
cannot flourish in a sewer, neither
can honesty flourish under a state
of society where the incentive to &C
ton is personal gain and not the COM
munal good.
The weekly edition Of the MORT
bund New York Call and its short
lived successor, the New York
Leader, is running true to form.
Commenting on the miners conven-
ton, an editorial attacks Alexander
Howat viciously and charges him
with associating with radicals, in
stead of relying on the fairness Of
John L. Lewis and the union con-
stitution for a redress of his griev-
ances. The editorial denounced the
communists for endeavoring to give
the policies Of the miners union a
jolt forward and break the power
of the bosses friends who now con-
troll it. The paper in which the edi-
torial appears is a socialist weekly
organ of the Socialist Party-or
what is left of it-of New York.
It is edited by James Oneal.
The executive board Of the Illinois
Federation of Labor endorsed Gov
ernor SmalPs record after examin-
ing it we are told. We are willing
to bet a German mark that it did
not take the labor takers very long
to peruse Mr.. Smalps record. Be-
sides endorsing the governor, who
is a friend of labor" in the Com
pers sense, the meeting also en-
dorsed Newton jenkins, endorsed by
the Conference for Progressive
Political Action. The endorsement
of these labor skates are fast los
ing their value. The rank and file
of the organized labor movement are
losing faith in them. Men like John
L. Walker, who change their politi-
cal clothing so suddenly are justly
suspected of Interior motives. The
! suspicion is more than well founded.
y
William Gibbs McAdoo will have a
tough job trying to shake off the
empty oil can that makes an irritat-
ing noise every time he moves his
feet in the direction of the demo-
cratic nomination for the. presidency.
One of the refnements Of cruelty
practiced on criminals in the middle
ages was to have them immersed in
cauldrons of boiling oil. If they
emerged unscathed from the ordeal
their innocence was affirmed. II
not? With tears in his eyes
"Mac" calls on his progressive
friends" among them the Ku Klux
Khan, we believe, to decide in the
interests of the nation whether he
shall come forth untarnished from
the seething oil tank. Vox Populi.
Vox Del.
fhourand nav r,an,haro u,antaX