|
Continuity News W. J. Sidis Mimeographed newsletter, 3 pages, found in Helena Sidis's files in 1977. |
No. 1. May, 1938
Issued by the Successors of
Shays
(Boston Branch)
__________________________________
THE PAST IS THE KEY TO THE PRESENT
______________
______________
Temporary mailing address, c/o Parker Greene,
905 Central Sq. Bldg., Cambridge, Mass.
Subscriptions, $1 per year, 50¢ for 6 months. Issued monthly. For discussion
groups, each subscription after the first is 25¢ a year in addition.
_______________
We attempt to explain rather than to advocate.
______________
News contributions and constructive criticism welcomed.
______________
[Pages 1 and 3 are illegible. Page 4, if there was one, is missing.]
[FIRST WASHINGTON, D.C. VOTE]
The poll was conducted by a
private association, though the fact that schoolhouses were used for polling
places indicates some degree of official cooperation. Placards in store windows
announced "Vote April 30" in red letters, but the association
refrained from telling citizens how to vote. (It is said that one man wrote the
President, asking him if everyone was expected to vote yeah.) Newspapers carried
details about polling places, procedure, and even complete directions how to
mark a ballot, as D.C. residents were not expected to understand that without
directions.
The vote was so heavy that by 11 A.M.
a rush order had to be sent in to the printer for 50,000 more ballots, and the
total vote amounted to about 100,000, the District's population being about
600,000. Residents of Washington appeared unspeakably thrilled by the
experiences of voting, and possibly many voted for the novelty of the
experience.
The District of Columbia does not
appear in the scheme of things under the First Republic, but the Cincinnati
conspiracy that overthrew the First Republic planned a gradual lead-up to a
dictatorship, part of which consisted in the complete abolition of the
franchise in a region 10 miles square to form the seat of government. This was
made up of parts taken from Virginia and Maryland in 1790, ceded for the special
purpose of a capital city. It was governed by the laws of the States, as
modified by later Federal legislation. It has been considered as not part of any
State, so that it is doubtful if D.C. is technically part of the United States;
the Supreme Court has never decided on this point, and federal laws now
frequently speak of "the United States and the District of Columbia."
The Virginia portion was returned to Virginia in 1846, and it now forms
Arlington County and Alexandria. The present extent of D.C.
(there is no legal city of Washington; that name
is the name of a railroad station and a post-office) is labeled on the original
plan “Part of Maryland within the Territory of Columbia,” and might possibly be
considered as part of Maryland under Federal occupation. Maybe the solution, for
national representation, would be either to give D.C. back to Maryland with some
arrangement of diplomatic privilege for federal officers, or else for Maryland
to undertake to consider D.C. as part of Maryland for purposes of national
elections and thus let D.C. residents vote for Maryland representatives and
Senators, as well as for Maryland presidential electors.
The sentiment for a voice in government was certainly overwhelming, but there was enough dissent to indicate that there were individual opinions on the subject. The District of Columbia has not felt its continuity since the days when there was no objection about its being part of the United States.
____________________
DID YOU KNOW THAT—
The first bit of territory in the possessions of Czechoslovakia was around Vladivostok, Siberia, in the summer of 1918, and that then the capital of Czechoslovakia was Chicago, Illinois?
____________________
THE FREE SPEECH FRONT
Jersey City, N.J. (Special to “C.N.”) – The Hague terror is still going on as strong as ever. It is not merely stump speaking that is barred, but private expressions of opinion in conversion. It is hardly safe to discuss current events in Jersey City, or even at home with your door open.
Since the Supreme Court decision regarding distribution of literature, there have been attempts to contest this situation by stump speakers making test cases by orating in Journal Square. This does not hit the root of the trouble here, and it has caused riots, as plenty of people were ready to fight on both sides. On [Sat.] April 30, Norman Thomas was forcibly abducted; on [Sat.] May 7, some Congressmen were to attempt it, but they gave up, leaving arrangements to ILD and CIO representatives, who considered the dictatorship in the light of a personal
[- - - - -] between Mayor Hague and their respective organisations; so that the resulting attack on them was merely a bit of useless martyrdom[ ?].These organisations, while pretending to fight Hague, are certainly not interested in the principle of civil liberties for opponents, and the continuities of the American people are not such that there would be any interest in whether Hague opposes his opponents or whether [- - - - -] also does the same. (Last summer a stump speaker in Janesville, Wis., was robbed and run out of town by a mob for criticising the CIO, and Gov. LaFollette whitewashed the mob, while his brother in Washington decided it was not within the range of the Senate’s Civil Liberties Committee to look into it.) From a purely organization point of view, we have: CIO boosts Roosevelt to the skies, but fights his aide Frank Hague who acts under Roosevelt’s orders, while the LaFollettes, organizing a new political party to fight Roosevelt, whitewash the CIO in regard to charges of violating civil liberties—surely an unaccountable mixup unless a purely personal view of things. And only general principles, not personalities, will appeal to the American’s traditions. The group has not appeared yet that can tackle this question of principle.
