Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1932-12-01
Part One
The Gospel of Help Yourself

The Gospel of Help Yourself
Charles E. Taylor is rolu vi quot
ing the S%criptural saying that pro
phet is not without honor a in hi
own country. This means that Taylo
sees himself as a prophet, but feel
that he is not appreciated at home
To. me the word prophet" sug
gests something a little more ven
cradle and dignified than a pseudo
communist ~spellbinder. | should pre-
fer to call Taylor and his associate.
by some other name , probah,
proprietor" 1t is caressing to one:
sense of fitness to stop and consider
the possibilities of such a title
the aptness of the things it sug
gestsi
A profit is always a radical, and
these men are not radicals at all
but Fundametalist preachers with a
screw loose, Holy Roller revivalists
tured seamy side out. Their methods
are precisely the methods of the
more than slightly insane Shaker re-
vivaI; their attitude of mind CORE
spends with their methods; they
shout the same roaring rabble, roa-
sing, illiterate sermons; they are
just as dogmatn, just as fanatical,
just as impervious to common sense
and common logic; they differ only
in the special terms which they EN-
ploy. They have substituted .revol-
ution" for salvation" dictatorship
Of the proletariat" for "blood Of the
Lamb" "Vote Communist" for Re
pent and Believed That is all. They
still promise their followers entire
blessedness, and are just as emphat-
ic in asserting that there is no other
way of attaining this state of bliss.
They are just as suspicious and in
tolerant of other creeds, and just as
ready to prescribe fire and brim-
stone for heretics. And they r Just
as reliable.
1t is a convenient thing, this
strange new Gospel Of Help Yourself
and it is most attractive to those
who value convenience mor than
they value decency and s~elf-respect.
please remember that / am not
speaking of Communism or Social
is in their broad sense, for they con-
sist of a set of principles which our
Sheridan county pseudo-commmnists
either fail to understand or deliber-
ately i~gnore.l We can best recog-
nize its nature by taking note OF the
antics Of its proponent,-f they are
sincere and their practice is in har-
mony with their preaching.
Their favorite word is demand"
When there is something they need
or want, they do no go out and
work for it as you and / must do;
no, they simply demand it, and the
rest of us can either come running
with it or jolly well take the conse-
quences. This is not Communism, it
is merely robbery of the common
people who are merely m
Let US take a specific example.
This autumn there has been a great
TODD about coal. Demands have been
made uppn the county commissioners
letters have been written, delega-
tions appointed, threats made, the
Producers News has yelled Justify.
/ quote:
1Some people just sit and fd-
die along, as long as they have
plenty to eat and burn them
selves, they can not and will
not understand that there are
Others with next to nothing
to eat and burn . right here
in our land of plenty
Precisely! Right here in our land
of plenty.!" That is just the point.
lent Ignite coal, free to any able
county is full Of an excel
bodied person who wants it badly
enough to dig for it. Cripples, ell
derby ladies', and men as fat as Char
lie Taylor are Of course excused. /
dig my own coal, and SO do most of
my neighbors, and though it is hard
work it is fairly honorable. / ge1
mine out of a fo~.rteen-inch vein
and after have broken my back do
it, ] heave a sigh of relief and
prepare 10 stretch out by the fire,
,nlv to be harshly informed that now
| must go out and break my back
all over again, 30 pay for the coal
hat my pseudo-communist friends
we're too lazy to dig.
One may excuse this propensity
br demanding, when they demand
hings which they cannot obtain in
my other way. But there is no ex-
use for demanding coal in D country
which is paved with coal.
Communism means first of all a
liam OF social organization under
which the means Of production will
10 owned by all the people equally,
md the end and aim Of it is a society
n which cooperation supplants COM
and the products of indust~
y are equitably distributed. In such
society there would be equality Of
opportunity, and a great tightening
4 human labor. so that each indi-
idual. being spared long hours Of
rudgery would have the time and
chance to educate and develop
imsef to the limit of his abilities,
nd to engage in any line of indie
endeavor which should be
{ especial interest to him. The nlti-