Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1924-01-04
: Comment and Criticism


Observation-Disclosures
Well, it has come to this: the Old
Year dies.
It's a simple fact. not new to any
one. We knew a year ago that II
would happen. Years are about the
only things whose span Of life Is fixed
al birth. Calendars proclaim II with
nice precision.
To be suIe 1t was not always so.
And in the past there mas been con-
- sess:sz - .s..s..s ~
as to what should be the lite OF a
Year. The Russians used 10 Kill their
old Years of quite a way from jan
uary first. Ana there have been other
ideas than theirs in the past as to
heen Years should die. Even on our
own continent the history OF the past
discloses a different date of demise,
before the advent OF white men.
But We have all pretty well got
around 10 the idea OF d worldwide
interment and worldwide, universal
birthday for Years. January INST
seems to have been picked on as the
birthday of Years. So, the natural
flight of time has brought US TO an
other Years end and by the same
token to another Years birth.
Farewell, and greetings!
The Old Year has been a hummer
and don't let anyone fool you about
that.
Right off the bat the wage cutters
and the "open shoppers" had to be
attended to. They were crazy men
with crazy idea. Wage cutting
meant mild form of throat cutting.
open shop" meant assault and bat
Il terry on the unions.
/ As Cicero might have said, "Awav
with that stuff" And it has pretty
much been put away.
The fools have not all quit business
at the old stand yet, to be sure, but
the old stand is indeed wobbly as the
Old Year dies.
Truth survives the cycles of time
and forever works for human Drog-
ress and freedom.
Blazing like a golden star in the
heavens, the American Federation Of
Labor convention stands out among
the Years events.
1t was wonderful gathering, de-
voted to high purposes.
Human kind will long remember
the declaration there adopted, pro-
claiming Labor's purpose to strive for
industrial democracv---its faith in the
will of the people, in industry as in
politics.
If only the political congress pos
sessed the wisdom, the courage, and
the vision Of that Labor congress!
/ . .
There was the Kansas Court, boom
ing along with gusto when the Year
came among us. Now look at it. The
only place where it can find fitting
surroundings now is in the musty
pages of old Joe Miller's joke book
There may it repose to amuse fu-
ture generations. The Supreme Court
knocked it for row of oriental hen
coops, and Gov. Allen went into
mourning and retirement. For the
rest of US, we step on the gas and
say, impolitely-and perhaps even inn
pishly-"we told him So"
The day of compulsion and coercion
has went"
American movies have been lam
basted by Mr.. Ramsay Macdonald,
the "intellectuaP who was elected as
leader of the British Labor party in
parliament.
At dinner held to promote British
made films, Macdonald expressed
himself as "sick and tired" of seeing
nothing but pictures of American
places, people, manners, customs and
| romance.
| arin s,ali,a1 A..
be sufficiently critical of American
films; but if Ramsay Macdonald finds
them sickening it may possibly be
that our home made pictures are bet
ter than we had believed them to be.
-
While the communist press, which
| If it were American would be called
by our radicals the kept press" is
bowling its head Off about how nice
everything is in Russia, a word gets
out now and then to put crack in
the Lutte.
Workers in the tixtile factories of
the kaluzhsky district adopted a reso-
luton, printed in the London Times
of Nov. 81, protesting against pay
ment of per cent assessment to
help the communists in Germany.
These workers say they are too poor
to pay to help the revolution in Ger
many.
AT the present moment" says
their resolution, Eve have reached
such state of restitution, and have
os many unemployed, that we are un-
able to send any pecuniary assistance
to the German proletariat without
esriou sdetriment to ourselves and to
our own starving unemployed"
So we are again to have the '1ittle
congress" an organization composed
IT the secretaries of congressman.
The secretaries meet regularly and
perform what is supposed to be some
thing of an imitation of their EN-
ployers.
The little congress" is getting to
be one of the worst nuisances of a
nuisance ridden capital.
Ii the secretaries stuck to their
legitimate business there could be no
criticism. But they go outside of
their field and reach decisions on ma
tional and international affairs. These
decisions are heralded abroad as inn
portant.
The secretaries were not elected to
legislate; they were employed to help
shose who do legislate. 1t is legiti-
mate to criticise and condemn con-
gress. But no outfit of secretaries
ought to be permitted to stand forth
as superior to CONGRESS-, reaching de-
cisions which are heralded at times as
of more significance than the decis-
ions of the congressman,