"Thus, instance after instance might be mentioned of transactions of the utmost importance, in which the American people have had neither part nor knowledge. At this moment policies are being shaped which may call our young men to kill and be killed in Mexico, in Europe, Asia and Africa.

"Everywhere the stage is being set for the next war. Shall that next war be allowed to break? The time to stop it is now, by throwing the light of pitiless publicity upon the machinations of secret diplomacy.

"IMPERIALISM AND MILITARISM MUST BE CRUSHED "Imperialism is not dead, even though the kaiser and other emperors have gone. Any people which rules other people without their consent, whether directly (as in India) or indirectly (through protectorates,'' spheres of influence and the like, as in Persia), is imperialistic.

The

"Imperialism has been sharpened by the war. British Empire has been increased a million square miles; France gets Syria; Japan practically gets Shantung; Italy is prepared to fight Jugo-Slavia over Adriatic territory, and Greece over Smyrna, in Asia Minor.

"In our own country, American imperialists want us to keep the Philippines and continue the policies which have extended American dominion over Porto Rico, Panama, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Nicaragua and Honduras. The annexation of Mexico and Costa Rica may be next. A clash may come with Japan or some other former ally over financial interests in China.

"Shall the liberal and radical forces of the world bestir themselves only when the next war has burst? They must come together and get ready now before the passions of war again sweep them aside.

"MILITARISM IS RAMPANT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD "The war which was to have ended all war leaves the nations more militaristic than ever.

"In our own country Secretary Daniels complains to Congress that its appropriation of $15,000,000 for navy aviation is too small in view of Great Britain's appropriation of ten times that amount for the same purpose. Con

gress is practically committed to a large army and the principle of conscription, the only question now being whether the standing army is to consist of 570,000 men or only 300,000.

"In Europe the same fever is raging. Though Germany has been beaten to the dust, France and Great Britain are less inclined than ever to reduce their armaments. In Japan the politicians are pointing to the military preparations of the Western Powers as a reason for speeding up the martial activities of their own empire.

"OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES MUST BE REDEEMED AND THE VICTIMS OF COERCION FReed

"Democracy without the unrestricted right to discuss public policies is the shabbiest of pretenses. Painful and abundant illustrations exist of the dangers to real democracy at the present hour.

Legal meetings have been forbidden or broken up; newspapers suppressed and spokesmen for uncongenial opinions deported or imprisoned. For voicing in words a protest against the war, Eugene V. Debs received a jail sentence three times as heavy as that inflicted by an Austrian court upon the men whose protest took the form of assassinating an Austrian premier.

"Even after the signing of the armistice, men have been sent to jail for violating the Espionage Act, a law ostensibly framed to prevent the giving of aid to Germany, but in practice used to jail radical protestants against social injustice. There is no disposition evident to repeal this measure. On the contrary, the Attorney-General of the United States, Congress and the various State legislatures are preparing even more drastic laws to choke off the radical tendencies which they fear to allow men and women to discuss openly and democratically.

"Meantime, reactionary forces further the candidacies of incompetent politicians, on the sole strength of their war records. They silence constructive criticism and defeat needed changes in our social structure by dishonestly identifying the plea for those changes with the agitation' of 'foreigners.'"

"THE PEOPLE'S FREEDOM UNION

"WHAT THE PEOPLE'S FREEDOM UNION IS

"The People's Freedom Union, then, is a federation to which several New York groups have committed themselves to the end of a more effective handling than any could attain in its separate strength of the above program. It is the One Big Union idea applied to the peace-and-freedom

movement.

"How IT WILL WORK

"The Peoples' Freedom Union will proceed on the principle of specialization on concrete tasks not already covered by their organizations, each task to be assigned to a committee or group especially qualified to direct the campaign for its accomplishment. It hopes gradually to absorb other groups, and to give them the added strength that comes from union and from the generous infusion of new blood. It will strive constantly to reach out to those millions of fellow citizens who, profiting by the lessons of the Great War, are ready now to join in the effort to build a new and better world. It stands ready, as specific issues necessitate the formation of special and temporary groups, to welcome these as a part of the federation and to extend to them facilities for economizing on clerical help and other overhead expenses.

"How It Is ADMINISTERED

"The affairs of the Peoples' Freedom Union are administered by an executive committee, by the officers and departmental directors, and by special committees in charge of specific phases of the work. In its headquarters at 138 West 13th street are located the following administrative departments: Organizations, publicity, publications, speakers and finances.

"The department of organization aims to stimulate in other centers the co-ordination of existing forces now being accomplished in New York as well as to promote committees to specialize on activities not already provided for.

"The publicity department transmits all official pronouncements of the union to the press, plans systematic campaigns for popularizing the principles of the union through the daily and weekly press, and keeps the daily,

weekly, and monthly publications of this and other countries informed of the activities of the union.

"The department of publications, under the imprint of the People's Print,' issues weekly leaflets on some important current topic for free distribution in large quantities. It publishes from time to time pamphlets on vital questions of the day; it issues the special publications authorized by the various sub-committees. At an early date this department will establish a monthly journal which will chronicle the work of the Peoples' Freedom Union and of similar groups, which will comment fearlessly upon existing international injustices, and which will serve as an exponent of the American movement for peace and freedom to similar movements in other countries.

"The speakers' bureau arranges tours for men and women of national and international note who have a message bearing upon the objects for which the union stands. For terms, available speakers and their topics, application should be made to the executive secretary.

"The Financial department, under a financial secretary, is in charge of the raising and collection of the funds necessary for carrying on the work of the union. Contributions may be made either for the general purposes of the union or for some specific object."

The curious combination of so-called liberals, educators, writers, anarchists and revolutionary socialists which bend their energies toward controlling public opinion through the medium of this association, is revealed by the following list of officers of the union and the members of the committee, which is known as the Free Political Prisoners Committee:

John Lovejoy Elliott, chairman; Arthur S. Leeds, treasurer; Frances M. Witherspoon, executive secretary.

Committee members: Tracy D. Mygatt, secretary; Pauline Cahn, Evans Clark, Joe Coffin, Stella Daljord, Lottie Fishbein, Anne Peck Fite, M. E. Fitzgerald, Elizabeth G. Flynn, Paul Furnas, Lewis Gannett, Gratia Goller, Ruth Gordon, Alfred Hayes, Helen Holman, Wilfred Humphries, Virginia Hyde, Harry W. Laidler, Gertrude U. Light, Winthrop D. Lane, Florence Lattimore, Alice E. Mauran, Therese Mayer, Donald McGraw, Leland Olds, Ida Rauh, Florence Rauh, Merrill Rogers, Jessica Smith,

Evan Thomas, Norman Thomas, Pauline H. Turkel, Albert Rhys Williams, Jacob Wortsman, Jules Wortsman.

It will be recalled that it was this organization that sponsored a rather melodramatic demonstration on Christmas Day, parading on Fifth avenue, in New York city, in single file, with touching banners, for the purpose of arousing sympathy for so-called political prisoners. A number of similar examples might be given, but the Committee feels that anyone who has read this section will realize why so many of the papers and periodicals which believe themselves to represent the so-called liberal point of view have been led astray with respect to the great forces at play on the public opinion of the American people. The persons who have participated in this movement, not necessarily thoroughly familiar with the objects and the purposes which actuate it, are sowing the seeds of disorder and doing their part to imperil the structure of American institutions.