The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-16
There Has Been No era
of Honesty" at Any Time
in All Americas History
By J. LOUIS ENoDAHL.

Il
w told, even by some who claim
to be their friends, that the prime
necessity in the parliamentary strug-
gle today is "a return to honesty"
Honestly" and "Justice!" are
words put upon the political winds
by the Victor Berger socialists in
Wisconsin in the hope that they will
return laden with votes on election
day. Then there is Farley Parker
Christensen, presidential candidate
of the Farmer-Labor Party in 1920.
Last week he returned to Chicago
to inaugurate his campaign for
United States senator on the pro-
gressive party ticket declaring "a
return to honesty" to be the major
plank Of his platform. Then there
are the hysterical appeals from the
whole human flood of candidates in
both the old parties, all of whom
proclaim Honesty and efficiency"
as their notices as IL they we're sent
down from on high, to succor a be-
nighted world.
All this insane alteration Of the
past takes it for granted that "hon-
esty" is like rare old wine long kept
in storage. ALI that is necessary is
to hunt it up in the cellar, sweep
aside the cobwebs, knock in the
bunghole and enjoy it.
Yet the truth is that there is no
honesty on top here in the United
States, or anywhere else that har-
bors the rule of oppressors over an
oppressed class. The depressing
class now as always uses deceit,
corruption, bribery, lies and all other
dishonest devices to maintain itself
in power. There has never yet been
a golden epoch of honesty in the
United States since there has al
ways been an arrogant, bandit ruling
class in the United States.
The LaFollette campaign in 1924
reverted to the slogan of Back to
1875" as If this period possessed
some attributes desirable at the
present time. To be sure It wit
messed a revolution that might we'll
be duplicated under the conditions
of the present period, with the
working class of today taking the
place of the rising industrial and
trading class of $50 years ago. But
the LaFollette followers want no
revolution today. They, like others,
only want "a return to honesty"
But this honesty" like the pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow is
only myth.
For instance, in gasping at the
revelations of the senate slush fund
committee, especially in Pennsylva-
mia and Illinois with their MELONS
and insults, one need only quote
from McMaster's book, with the
Fathers" meaning the revolutionary
fathers of 1915.
Turning to page II, in the chapter
on "The Political Depravity of the
Fathers" we find this 100 per cent
historian declaring:
"a very little study OF long for
gotten politics will suffice to show
that in filibustering and gerry
Wandering, in stealing governor
ships and legislatures, in using force
at the polls, in colonizing and dis
tributing patronage. in all the
frauds and tricks that go to make
up the worst form of politics, the
men who founded our state and ma.
tional governments were always our
equals, and often our masters.
Is this the Honesty" that the
liberals of today seek?
The Boston Gazette, for instance,
in those revolutionary days, came
out with a startling headline, "Brib-
cry and Corruptionl" that would
have made present-day Hearst sue
cumb to envy. The Gazette charged
that large sums Of money were
brought into Massachusetts, to buy
support for the constitution that the
youthful capitalist class Of that time
was trying to mould to its own pur-
poses.