The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-01-17

Copyright. 1926 by Upton sinclair)
Ellis preaching had thus become
one of the major features of South.
ern California life. You literally
couldn't get away from him if you
tried. Dad had been told by his
doctor that he needed more exer-
else, and he had taken to walking
for half an hour before dinner; he
declared that he listened to Els
sermons on all these walks, and ne
yer missed a single word! Every
body's house was wide open in this
warm spring weather, and all you
had to do was to choose neigh
borhood where the moderately poor
lived-and ninety per cent of the
people were that. You would hear
the familiar believing voice, and be-
fore you got out of range of it you
would come in range of another
radio set, and so you would be re-
layed from street to street and from
district to district In these houses
sat old couples with family bibles
in their hands and tears Of rap
ture in their eyes; or perhaps q
mother washing her baby clothes
or making pudding for her hus-
bands supper-and all the time her
soul caught up to glory on the wings
of the mighty prophets eloquence!.
And Dad walking outside also exalt-
ed because, don't forget that he
was the man who had started this
Third Revelation-he had invented
all its patter, that day he had tried
to keep old Abel Watkins from beat.
ing his daughter Ruth!
vi.
Bunny received a letter from Dan
Irving telling about his new Job.
1t was simple matter to be a radi-
cal press correspondent in Wash
ington these days; the regular
newspaper fellows were loaded up
with material they were not allowed
to handle. All but few of the
hard guys" were boiling over with
Indignation at what they saw, and
when they met Dan they boiled
over on him. The only trouble was,
his labor press service had so lit
tie space, and only a score or two
Of radical papers would look at its
material
President Harding had brot with
him a swarm of camp followers, his
political bodyguard at home; the
newspaper men knew them as "the
Ohio gang" and they were footing
everything in sight. Barney Brock
way had given one of his henchmen
desk in the secret service depart
ment; this was the "fixer", and II
you wanted anything he would tell
you the price. The Wilson admin
istration had grown fat by exploit
ing the properties seized from enc
my aliens; and now the Harding
administration was growing fat out
Of turning them back. Five per cent
was the regular split; if you want
ed to recover a ten million dollar
property, you turned over half
million in liberty bonds to the
''fixer". Bookkeeping privileges were
sold for millions, and deals were
made right in the Hobbies of the cap
itol. Dan heard from insiders that
more than three hundred millions
had already been stolen from the
funds appropriated for relief of war
veterans-the head of that bureau
was another of the "Ohio gang
And the amazing fact was, no mat
ter how many of these scandals
you might unearth, you couldn't get
a single big newspaper or maya
zine in the country to touch them!
Bunny took that letter to his faith
er, and as usual it meant to the old
man exactly the opposite of what it
meant to Bunny. Yes, politics we're
rotten, and so you saw the folly
of trusting business matters to gov
eminent Take business away from
the politicians, and turn it over to
business men, who would run it
without graft. II those oil lands
had been given to Dad and Verne
In the beginning, there wouldn't
have been any bribing-wasn't that
clear? Dad and Verne were patriots,
putting an end to vicious public
policy.
Did Dad really believe that? It
was hard for Bunny to be sure. Dad
had lies that he told to the pub
lie; and perhaps he had others that
he told to his son, and yet others
that he told to himself. If you laid
hold of him and tore all those lies
away, he would not be able to stand
the sight of his nakedness.
His enemies, the "soreheads" In
congress, were busily engaged in
depriving him of these spiritual COW
erings. There was one old senator
in Washington by the name of La
Follette-his head had been sore