Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC Industry must be managed in the pub- lic interest. When the struggle be- tween capital and labor hampers the progress of two public utilities essen- tial as coal and transportation the pub- lic is gouged to pay the cost. In the case of coal and transportation, strikes are formidable physical forces approxi- mating civil war. As a matter of fact, the strike is a blockade, and the block- ade is recognized as one of the most effective instruments of war. The sys- tem of making war with the public to settle controversies with the railroads and coal operators is politically, social- ly, and economically unsound. To tol- erate private control of a commodity as essential as coal is like permitting individuals to regulate the city water supply. How much longer shall such industrial autocrats be given power over a vital public utility. The strike is war — war of the most atrocious kind — and war must cease. It is not creditable to our govern- ment if a condition so fraught with possibilities of industrial disturbance and political revolution is permitted to survive. The 110,000,000 people in this country are as a matter of right en- titled to efficient and fair-priced rail- road transportation, and as a matter of self-preservation they must have it. When the governors of five different states have urged the President to take over coal carriers and if necessary the coal mines, it is evidence both of the serious effects of the coal and railway strikes and of the steady trend of pub- lic opinion toward what a little while ago was regarded as unthinkable rad- icalism. Behind this movement lies not socialistic theorizing but the pres- sure of facts. The advent of govern- ment regulation of the coal mines and railroads is rapidly approaching. The American citizen must be protected by government action from that deadly weapon of labor called the strike. The stage of American industry is a devastated battle field. On th e one side Capital, in its selfish strife for profits, directs its fire on the other side at labor, with its waring demands for wages and conditions. Between the two firing lines stand the American people. It is to the government that the American people turn for deliver- ance . The conventional government ownership and operation will never suf- fice. The kind of national ownership which is hopeful is one in which the government will own the roads and mines; put its credit behind the hir- ing of capital; and turn them over to a democratic administration by repre- sentatives of experts, the workers and the consuming public. Such a program and only such a program affords the hope of substituting for the present strife of owners for profits, of consum- ers for low price and service, and work- ers for high wages; a constructive and creative control of essential industry for which all parties interested have a definite responsibility. Congress has time and again asserted its power over interstate commerce to protect the public against imposition on the part of railway managements, and the supreme court has upheld such legislation. By this same token, Con- gress may intervene with statuary en- actments requiring railroad employees to refrain from interruption of inter- state commerce and destruction of the property and lives of the people. La- bor must understand that no organiza- tion to which he may belong would be permitted to aspire to wage civil war on society and enthrone anarchy in our republic. The transference of the control of coal and transportation will not come as a sudden realization of a dream. American affairs are not conducted as in Russia, where the present order may be overthrown and new institutions created by a single revolution. Ameri- ca is a land of gradual changes and slow evolution but never of revolution. We are living today in the dawn of the age of the government regulation of essential industries — America Is In Transition. All this, of course, is a dream of the future but it is just such dreams that have made our railroads, developed our coal fields, given us the automobile and the radio, and created all that we are pleased to call modern civilization. “I wish I had a baby brother to wheel in my go-cart, mamma,” said small Elsie. “My dolls are always getting broken when it tips over.” — Boston Transcript. “Here’s a man who found nine pearls in an oyster stew. Wonderful, hey?” “Oh, fairly startling. I thought you were going to try to lead me to believe he found nine oysters.” 7

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC 3)n ©ranstium” Herman JL Ricketts, ,3jtrsi Jfottor The prospect of a cold and fuelless winter of factories silent because of no coal, of a general lack of all the ne- cessities of life, was impressed upon j the American people by the continua- j tion of the coal strike and the railroad strike of last summer. Then people real- ized for the first time how utterly de- I pendent modern society has become ! upon the primary resources of power. Modern civilization, with its social life, industries, transportation and commerce, depends for its continuance and expansion mainly upon coal. Until recently not much thought had been given to the railroads as more than an important industry. All of a sudden the great war — that rude awak- ener of sleeping forces — jarred into consciousness the snug indifference of I the masses. The American people have j learned the lesson of the indispensabil- i ity of the railroads of national pros- j perity. They arc now giving heed to j the fact that transportation is the one J industry of all industries which cuts its figure in the daily life, the comfort, the wealth, and the well being of every individual in America. Now, as never before, the railroads, the arteries through which that life- blood of American industry — coal — must pass, have been brought to the attention of the people. Realization of the seriousness of the situation has caused a radical change in the attitude of the public since the car shortage last year alone caused American farmers to suffer a loss of $400,000,000. The lack of transportation in any country would act as a perpetual han- dicap to its development and expan- sion, for unless transportation is avail- able, no country can hope to success- fully market the fruits of its skilled labor and inventions. Indifference has been replaced by fear for the future prosperity of American industry. Out of our fear for the destiny of civilization in the face of an exhaus- tion of the coal supply comes the au- thentic statement from the U. S. Geo- logical survey that properly utilized there is enough coal in American fields to supply present demands for the next 1 57.000 years. And the railroads that are today so inadequate were for over ; half a century in advance of the de- mand placed upon them. What, then, is that formidable drag- on that defies government and the gen- eral public alike, and with its hand at the throat of American industry uses the power of threat for its own ends. As we think of the transportation sit- uation, we also think of the shopman’s strike ; a thought of the coal shortage brings to mind the strike of the an- thracite operators of last summer; and then conies the answer to our question, the strike menace. President Harding made this statement in his message to Congress on August 18, “That the simple but significant truth is revealed that the country is at the mercy of the United Miue Workers of America.” He might well have made a similar state- ment in regard to the railroad shop- men. It is not the place here to enter into any discussion of the right of labor to organize and to strike for its demands. The biggest problems in the world to- day is not how to crush and destroy organized labor, but how to avert and restrain its excesses. I cherish no hos- tility for capital, no enmity to labor. The railroad is an engine of civiliza- tion, and coal is a national asset, and not a private property. The simple truth is that the deep irritation of la- bor is a social fact to be dealt with. 6

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC mg (Sin ' ' Jfraittcs JH. be Oirucljg, eccmb Mmunr Adjusting a set of earphones, the radio fan seats himself in his favorite armchair, turns a little black knob on a neat looking cabinet filled with tubes and coils and listens in. Tuning in is little less complicated than running an automobile and not much more so than lifting a telephone receiver off the hook. At various central points in the coun- try there are broadcasting stations which send out programs of news, mu- sic, entertainment, and instruction, either daily or two or three times a week. The Eastern territory has more stations than the rest of the country, but there is probably no home in the United States so remote, that with a really good receiving set it cannot hear one or more broadcasting stations. Such a home gains a liberal education, a higher appreciation of good music, a cultivation of the dramatic senses, and a clearer knowledge of the current events. Even the traveller, who has hitherto been obliged to admit that the world was getting along without him, at least between stations, listens in and re- ceives entertainment and up-to-the- minute news, as well as reading maga- zines and looking at the rapidly pass- ing landscape. He it is who will profit by the freak radios in the forms of finger-ring phones, radio-equipped um- brellas, and sets confined within the dimensions of an ordinary safety- match box. But the whole duty of the radio is not to give pleasure. Besides bringing happiness to the farmer, it is also of great practical value in giving him weather reports and talks by agricul- tural experts. The business man re- ceives market quotations daily, as mer- chants have found it possible to broad- cast them at no increased cost. Bul- letin reports are also received from the leading newspaper establishments which hope to excite interest, thereby increasing their circulation. The speeches of candidates for political of- fices are heard by a vast unseen au- dience as it tunes in from all sections of the land. Churches and colleges are using radio as a means or broadcasting messages to a larger audience than could ever gather under one roof. Ra- dio also serves to help preserve lives and protect property. Bands of wave lengths have been re- served by the Government for receiv- ing messages from ships at sea, and for police purposes. A criminal will have little chance to escape when a com- plete description can be carried in- stantly by the human voice into every police station in the country. Fire boats in Boston Harbor will be able, with the aid of radio sets soon to be installed, to fight fires along the water front more efficiently, since messages may be transmitted to and from land with such great rapidity. Picture a large Government hospital in which are hundreds of tubercular, gassed, and wounded veterans of the World War. In one large, sunny room lies an emaciated young man with deep set blue eyes and hollow cheeks. Fitted over his black hair is a set of ear- phones, while on the table beside the bed stands a receiving set. Gradually a smile creeps over the boy’s face as he recognizes the voice of a popular comedian giving one of his vaudeville sketches. Then follow baseball scores, police news, and the latest popular mu- sic. Think what radio does for that boy to make his last days brighter! Doctors state that it is invaluable in distracting the minds of the patients from themselves, and in hastening re- covery. Since no effort is required on the part of the patient to enjoy the program, the radiophone greatly re- lieves the monotony of hospital rou- tine, bringing joy in place of loneli- ness, and peace instead of pain. That radio is here to stay is best proved by the letters that come pour- into the broadcasting stations from lonely men and women in remote cor- ners of the land. Radio clearly illus- trates the folly of ever saying, in this world of infinite ingenuity and brains, “It can’t be done.” Every step in its progress has been delayed by the wise old prophets of gloom who stood on the sidelines and shook their heads. Yet the steps have been taken, and men who are in a position to look farthest ahead know that only a beginning has been made. Who can tell what addi- tional pleasures and benefits the fu- ture holds in store? The facts of to- day were but the fantasies of yester- day. 8