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THE ORARCH
______________ MINE AND RAIL STRIKES There has been a wide-spread coal-mine strike in this country; another general strike is pending for the railroads. On the issue of these strikes, much nonsense has been said on both sides. And, on both sides, the assumption seems to be that an individual has no rights whatever in America. The coal-mine strike was called with the object in view of forcing a closed shop in that industry―with the deliberate object of starving those who will not pay tribute to King LLewellyn and his minions. There is no need, as a certain line of argument tends to do, of claiming that force should be used against all strikes in certain industries, nor of denying Americans the right to organise for purposes that interfere with nobody's fundamental rights and using methods that interfere with nobody's fundamental rights. But striking and organising are not fundamental and unalienable rights in themselves, and a single individual's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, must rate sufficiently to block anything that any organisation may claim the right to do. When those organisations claim the right to bar any person from the right to work according to his ability, they are depriving that person of the right to life, the most fundamental of all. And, when people organise to keep non-members from earning a living, they are, in effect, organising to commit mass murder. There would appear to be no reason why such actions should be tolerated in a country claiming to be based on principles of individuals' rights, and there is no reason why each and every person remaining in such an organisation should not be considered and treated as guilty of attempted murder. From the point of view of the Declaration of Independence, this should apply equally to everyone voluntarily in the "Congress of Industrial Organisations." The pending railroad strike is on a different basis--there is no such issue of principle involved. As slavery has presumably been abolished in this country, there is no reason why refusal to work is not a legitimate means of bargaining for amount of pay. It may merely be questioned whether the strikers, by forcing more railroad lines out of business, are not doing themselves out of jobs―"cutting off their nose to spite their face." The bad thing about the whole situation is that it is causing such a terrible revulsion of public opinion (Americans, as a whole, not liking the idea of any group seeking to bar others from earning a livelihood) that it is liable to create a new form of militaristic dictatorship, seeking to hold people at their work by force of arms. Compulsory labor is enslavement, regardless of other "conditions"; and the government, in adopting the draft, has already committed itself to that form of slavery. In the instance of the coal strike, the acceptance of arbitration has averted this form of enslavement―till next time; but Franco DeLlano has shown himself favorably inclined towards such ideas. Another strike threatening―on the same basis of the railroad strike that is now pending―is that of long-distance phone operators. One comment is, that they appear to have found too many wrong numbers on their paychecks. ______________ There are three sides to every question―the side of each party, and the truth. ______________ MORE AGGRESSION The United States has been expanding its conquests. The latest territorial acquisition is Surinam, now being occupied by an "agreement" with an alleged Dutch government that may have once meant something, but which is now definitely a British puppet. This brings American conquest onto the mainland of South America. In 1674 Britain gave Surinam to Holland in exchange for the Hudson valley. Now America has both. The interior of Surinam is inhabited by the Djukas, descendants of fugitive slaves who have maintained their independence since 1775. The United States will now be placed in the position of having to suppress an independence as old as that of this country. It may also interest Americans to know that the leader of the Djuka rebellion was named Boston. "Governments . . . derive their just power from the consent of the governed.―Declaration of Independence. ______________ Two Great Falls (Mont.) high school teachers gave their civics and U.S. history classes the test that aliens must pass for U.S. citizenship. Result: Only 13 of the 58 students passed it. ______________ END OF THE NEUTRALITY LAW The so-called neutrality act has finally been officially repealed, after being repeatedly flouted and ignored by the powers that be. A poll of the House of Representatives taken the night before the final vote, indicates that some twenty Congressmen changed their so-called minds within the last few hours. It is presumed that they, or at least the bulk of them, sold out in exchange for the Executive taking a firm stand against the coal strike. And the final vote in the House was close enough for a change of twenty votes to be decisive. ______________ PREFERENTIAL VOTING The city of Cambridge, Mass., has just tried a system of preferential voting miscalled "proportional representation." The rule seems to be, as someone put it, that you vote for "win," place," and "show."
The counting was so complicated that it took over two weeks to complete; and the
roster of candidates was so long that no one knew whom he was voting for. They
might as well have drawn lots.
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