Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1934-03-15
MUST SERVE AND
WORK TOGETHER
SO Said Frank CrOsswaith, COlOred
Labor Leader of New York City,
I'm AskOv Address.

A good sized crowd of about 200
people heard Frank Crosswaith, col
ored lecturer from the Rand School of
Social Science in New York City.
in the d. B. S. hall Friday evening.
The speaker who is able, clear and
possesses a splendid vocabulary, was
accorded close attention throughout
his address on economic questions.
Mr.. CrOSswaith was born on the Vir
gin Islands, but left there as young
ster. He has been largely instru-
mental in organizing unions of sleep
ing car pOrters. BARRIERS, laundry
workers and motion picture operators,
and edits a trade union publication
for Negro workers.
The speaker said that there has
been too much judging in America on
--hOw much stolen goods have been
acquired, ancestry, and in what bat
ties the individuals have fought, or
the battles of the ancestors.
The country is standing at an era
now with collapse of the economic
system, there is chaos in the eco
nomic and political fields. Action
grows out of thought, said the speak
er. There is confusion in thought
and action and inability to understand
even on the part of victims of the
system.
The Pumping Process.
Knowing that the local Socialist
club iS a new one, the speaker pro-
ceeded to tell the old story about the
wOrkmen who were thirsty and
pumped water to get a drink. After
pumping for some time they got only
a few drops of water but on investi-
CATION discovered that they had
pumped barrels of water into the tank
of the owner, the water being piped
from the pump into the owners tank
The story was told very slowly and
very much in detail, about Is minutes
being devoted to it.
Mr.. Crosswaith said that the mas
SEES have pumped too long and too well
there is plenty of wheat, cotton,
coal, gas, oil, etc. With the capitalist
system, the more you produce the
sooner you starve.
The owning class cannot consume
what is produced. Profit is the golden
god under the capitalist system. Peo-
pie are permitted to make bullets if
Observation-Disclosures bibles or other
articles that produce profit. The own
ing class is small minority and
there is poverty in the midst of plenty.
Insecurity should be but a memory
today.
From the time of early man through
barbarism, feudalism, slavery, and up
to the present, folks have moved to
be exposed to minimum of pain and
a maximum of pleasure. How futile
it is to argue that capitalism is here
to stay, it is futile to maintain a
system that is inadequate. People of
today know much more about the
world than early man, but are more
exposed to economic hardships than
their early ancestors.
Efforts are being made to pump life
into something from which life is
gradually ebbing. Fascism in Italy,
Germany, and Austria is to uphold the
owning class. Farmers and workers
must realize their common interests.
Says No Fundamental Change.
The speaker proceeded to discount
the work of the new federal admin
stratiOn by saying that Hoover was
discarded and Roosevelt elected on
the grounds that Roosevelt would be
different. But so far there has been
no fundamental difference. The
bonus marchers were met with poison
gas and bayonets when Hoover was
president but in the case of President
Roosevelt, the first lady called on the
former service men and the president
talked nice to them. In neither case
did they get the bonus.
The New Deal" Was supposed to
bring back prosperity to the working
man or the forgotten man. The Amer
lean workman never had prosperity.
The Recovery Act was to eliminate
unfair competition and suspend anti
trust laws, but the net result is an
effort to get the PROSTATE capitalistic
system on its feet. The farmer is
pauperized and the worker has got no
more.
Mr.. CrOsswaith said, however, that
he feels President Roosevelt is sin
cere and has good intentions, but that
the road to the hot place is paved
with good intentions.
The administration is using an the
letters of the alphabet, the last COM
binatiOn of which will be sos, and
that will not be signal of distress
but Sink or Socialism" Continuing
the speaker said there is as yet no
improvement in the social or eco
nomic system, still 100000 unem-
ployed i'm the United States. The
working man will not find a perma-
nent place in industry and the little
farmer will be gObbled up. The adj
ministration is salving the sore spots
but ignores the causes.
Twenty-Five per cent of American
life is organized on a Socialistic basis
including health, war, police, fire.
education. etc. Fire is a social dam
ger, therefore the element Of profit
has been taken out of it. If fire de-
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