Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-04-20
PROMINENT NEW YORK
NEGRO TALKS AT ASKOV

A fair sized crowd gathered at the
noon and listened to Frank Cross
waith, prominent negro Socialist party
orator deliver an address on "A Negro
Looks at Our Changing World"
Harald johnson, acting as chairman
of the meeting, introduced r. Dullea
of Minneapolis. who in turn intro
duced the speaker.
Mr.. Crosswaith, who commands the
English language fluently, was born
in the Danish Virgin Islands and at
tended the public schools there dur
ing the first years of his life. He
told of the instance when he received
prize from King Christian Of Den
mark, for his studies in the schools
there when IL years of age.
Launching into a scholarly discus
sion of the present day outlook of the
masses on the future he said that
the negro and the white workers are
at crossroads with many signs point
ing in different directions. The big
question is which one to take. The
three primary or fundamental things
to get in this world are food, cloth
ing and shelter. These, however, are
not the only considerations to think
about and to strive for but until we
are first satisfied as to these, moth
ing can efficiently occupy our minds.
There are four ways to go about get
ting these three things and these are,
to work, to own, to beg and to steal.
The speaker then told of food being
distributed in the wilderness from
the skies to the Israelites after Moses
had prayed long and earnestly to re-
lieve their depression. The masses
today do not need mamma" dropped
in this manner, but only an honest
opportunity to earn it, intimated the
! speaker.
The way the system works now is to
capitalize on the pain of suffering hu-
mainly; if the babies cry for more
milk then the price of milk is raised;
if the people get sick in too large
numbers then the price of doctoring
is raised and if they die in too large
numbers then the price of burial is
made higher. Therefore it is seen
that our world is unsympathetic.
Laws are made to prevent stealing
and begging, thus there are only two
ways-work and owning-left to pro-
vide food, clothing and shelter and
every one should be entitled to one
of these. Of these two the speaker
made it clear that there is nothing in
common between the employer and
the worker. The employer wants to
hire a man to work as much as he can
for as little money as he can and the
workman wants to work as short a
time as he can for as much as he can
get. The condition affects the whole
superstructure of liberalization, the
church, etc.
Spoke of Divine Right Of Kings.
The dominating class, or the cap
italists have laid the present arrange
ment of things to the will of God just
as the ancient kings laid their posi-
ton to the will of God. The kings
idea was that he was born to be king;
that his Maker had picked him for
that position and fitted him better
for the position. This situation has
been the refuge of the ruling class
and since this arrangement has been
in effect, each class has begun and
maintains a system to carry out its
own side of the line; the ruling class
for its benefit and the working class
for the benefit of the workers.
The speaker told of the first man
naked in mental attainments and in
body. 1t did not take this man long
to find that the sun burned his body if
he left it uncovered and since he
loved himself more than he hated the
sun, he found a covering for his body.
This system has carried US far from