Certain men who, a few years ago, were raw immigrants themselves make haste to use their recently acquired knowledge of American conditions to defraud their own countrymen. Here we have the spread of the graft disease by contagion. It presents itself as a full-fledged institution known as padronism in the East and as Oriental contract system in the West. It is a system of ruthless exploitation of the most helpless foreigners at the critical period of their life in America and not only robs its victims mercilessly, but carefully prevents their assimilation with the surrounding community.

The instances quoted above and many others, which could be added to that already too long list, to the point of monotony, if an exhaustive treatment of the subject were attempted, force upon us the conclusion that graft soon becomes a mental habit. The man who believes in the power of bribery to have his way is supremely indifferent to any kind of legislation., The feeble resistance which marks the numerous invasions of personal liberty by legislative enactment is not due to the inner feeling of guilt or shame of those who fail to protest, it is due to their secret hope that the law will not be enforced because they can buy off the officer who has to enforce it. Anti-vice legislation not only creates in the providers an expectation that they can overrule it by corrupting the police, it creates a hope as well that the right to violate the law, once it has been sold to the highest bidder, will be transformed into a semiofficial monopoly in their favor.

The denunciation of the grafter is never due to the offended moral feeling of the critic. In the last analysis, the latter is always the beneficiary of some material interest which is hurt by the particular graft which he denounces so indignantly. This is the reason why the industrial proletariat obstinately refuses to be stampeded into some reform movements of a temporary nature whose rallying cry is a fight against a certain particular grafter. All these bitter criticisms with their high sounding phrases and their appeals to high ideals, are only, in their ultimate meaning, internecine struggles between various capitalistic clans and their retainers, features of a competitive struggle, the burden of which is born by the producing class, whoever may be the personality who profits thereby.

Apologies for graft are not lacking. How often have we heard it repeated that corruption makes business good, that official protection to legally forbidden vice attracts labor power to a community, that corruption may be more than compensated by the high efficiency otherwise of those who indulge in it, that corruption is a protection against mob rule, that graft is part of an evolutionary process, the ends of which are supposed to be so benevolent as to more than atone for the existing evils attributable to it. All such statements bear the earmarks of being put forward by people who benefit by some form of graft themselves.

MAY, 1923

It remained for some American nativist to go unblushingly to the logical extreme of their premises and thus to erect graft into the motive power of social growth and progress. It happened this way: Some unassimilated foreigners maintained that graft was due to the individual reactions of the American individualist, while in Europe the same reactions operated socially and led to progress. To illustrate, if a European worker was victimized by a dishonest employment agent, he demanded a law suppressing the private offices; the American on the contrary figured on entering the employment business himself and on victimizing others in the same way as he had been plundered. Now the contention of the defenders of graft is that on account of the individual imitative reaction of the American the privilege of the few becomes diffused amongst the mass to such an extent that it becomes a common possession of every individual and hence a social prerogative.

Graft is socially harmful. It lowers the community morally and materially. But a remedy for graft must not be expected from any social system whose very existence is the corner-stone on which the edifice of graft has been reared.

The spasmodic outcries against graft which lead to the well known short-lived moral crusades are due to the more direct manner in which graft affects certain special interests in their competitive struggles with others. Also the amount at stake in a given form of graft may become so considerable as to excite the greed and cupidity of the man higher up, who tolerates and abets it, for his own selfish ends. Frequently he is thus driven to the conclusion that the indirect advantage which he derives from that particular species of graft is not at all commensurate with the amount involved and that he might just as well, without any injury to himself, cut out the graft in its present form, reduce the grafter to the status of a wageworker and pocket the profits himself.

We have an instance of such a procedure in the case of company doctors and employment agencies. Generally there was no service rendered to justify the money taken out of the pay envelope under the pretext of hospital fees or employment dues. The hospital accomodations provided were either ridiculously inadequate or entirely non-existent. In the case of the employment agent, there were plants where men applying for work at the gate and hired there had nevertheless to pay a fee to an agent residing sometimes as much as two hundred miles away. When such forms of graft begin to reach too large an amount, the employer transforms the contracting doctor into a company doctor paid by the year, while the hospital fund remains in the hands of the concern itself. In the case of the employment agent, his services are dispensed with and a company employment service is created. The fees do not change but they now go to the employer himself who uses part of them to pay the cheap clerk who

INDUSTRIAL PIONEER

has taken the place of the agent and interviews the applicants.

The relation of the immigrant to graft is of particular interest at this juncture of our inquiry. It is an altogether unfortunate but true condition that the education of the immigrant in Americanism proceeds generally faster along the line of graft than along the line of political or social legislation. If anybody were disposed to doubt the truth of this statement, I would recommend a comparison of the rapidly acquired knowledge of credit-trimming by the Syrians and Armenians and their knowledge of the main principles of the American Constitution. The prospective immigrant hears about graft even before he reaches the U. S. A. His friends and relatives, over here, instruct him from their own stock of experience concerning the huge part it plays in all dealings with government offices and the first application recommended to him is generally the giving of a tip to an immigration or custom house officer at some critical moment in the course of the landing formalities. His first job is generally bought from some unscrupulous foreman who thinks he is entitled to such an extra-compensation for "his trouble in breaking in the greenhorn." All subordinate foremen and superintendents who are looking for side-money, prefer to deal with a recent immigrant because the fear of detection is not so great in their case as in that of the more Americanized older hands who occasionally are liable to show their disapproval of the practice by exposing it.

One interesting characteristic of graft is the lack of proportion between the money value of the favor allowed and the amount of the bribe. A soldier before a court-martial complained once that a few cigars donated to a non-commissioned officer could upset the whole elaborate structure of military discipline. There are cases on record where the amount of the bribe was less than one per cent of the profits derived from the tolerated violation of the law. The cause of such a state of affairs results largely from the fact that the bribe-giver generally knows of the illegal nature of the deal and finds himself in a position identical to that of a receiver of stolen goods. The corruptionist who thinks he has been cheated in the execution of the agreement and complains, thereby exposing the whole fraudulent deal, sins against one of the tenets of the poker morality and generally finds himself ostracized by public opinion to a larger extent than the bribetaker who has thus been exposed.

There is no cure for graft within the present economic system. Repeated exhortations by professional moralists telling people to be good, under the economic conditions of the present, are themselves a form of social parasitism followed for a living by people whose study of the question they discuss must have convinced them of its dependence upon the foundations of the economic system.

The line of demarcation between tips and com

mercial bribery is not very distinct. The practice has grown to such an extent that it threatens American business life with a kind of moral dry-rot. But the Federal Trade Commission cannot act to stop commercial bribery, as an unfair method of competition, because a decision of a U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared that bribery must be prosecuted as a crime and not as a method of competition. Federal Trade Commission therefore cannot stop commercial bribery. In the letter in which the Federal Trade Commissior. reported the facts to Congress, it reminded the latter body of a report made nearly two years before and urging the same kind of legislation.

The

There is only one cure for graft and it consists in a thorough overhauling of the social system. The study of graft, as a reflex by imitation of present day conditions, teaches the possibility of such a course. Invention, in the sociology of imitation, is a counter-imitation brought about by the collision of two contradictory forms of imitation. When two imitations run counter to each other, they produce an invention which supplants them both by producing a more progressive and efficient form. Several forms of graft running at cross-purposes will ultimately cause the imitators to discontinue their fruitless undertakings in favor of a more rational and legitimate method. Thus we are justified in the hope that social progress can and will be ultimately brought about by the contradictory manifestations of graft running into excess. Such programs will most probably be in the form of a very radical overturn of existing conditions but it will justify the application to the body social of that possibility of ridding the physical body of any and every form of parasitic disease, which the great Pasteur promised to the world as the synthesis of his scientific labors.

The prevalence of graft in the U. S., as a logical result of present economic conditions, has contributed one more factor to the body of national traits commonly referred to as Americanisms. The American reformer lacks courage, he likes to do things by indirection, using pseudo-legal considerations a posteriori, as a kind of patent political salve to assuage the national conscience smarting under the pangs of latent reaction.

Instances of this tendency are the promulgation of war prohibition after the Armistice, the suppression of the right to strike by the use of special war legislation in time of peace and the use of the socalled Espionage Act not to apprehend enemy spies but to silence the expression of all forms of radical opinion.

An inefficient and incapable police, utterly unable to repress or to prevent crime, seems exceedingly proficient in arresting violators of sumptuary laws after being instrumental in the commission and the preparations of the violations themselves.

Some day the American people will awake to the danger of such a procedure. In a country where

so many moral inhibitions are on the statute books, it is bound to become obvious to the dullest minds that it is better that violators of the law should go unpunished, especially when such laws have no bearing upon the social weal, than to allow the police to appear as prosecuting witnesses in cases where the police itself, in order to obtain a conviction, has

MAY, 1923

been compelled to take such an active part in the lawbreaking at bar, that without such an initiative no guilty act would have been committed. The most elementary notion of the security of the citizen will, in a not very distant future, necessitate the introduction of such a principle into the jurisprudence of the country.

THE

HE only way in which the workers can hope to fight the capitalists successfully on the industrial field is by organization. The capitalists are able to control the destinies of the nation owing to their superior form of organization and their efficiency in co-ordinating industrial processes. Efficiency is the keynote of their present success.

The workers will not be able to build up their economic power until they go at it in a systematic manner. The backbone of the Industrial Workers of the World is the delegate system. The better informed, and more active, and more efficient delegates that we have, the stronger will be the organization as a whole.

The Work People's College of Duluth, Minn., is preparing a correspondence course for the instruction of delegates, branch secretaries, General Organization Committee members and the active membership in general. This course will fill a long-felt want. The first few lessons are now off the press and are ready to be sent out in the field to all those who feel that it will help them with their workand their number should be a legion.

The course sets forth, first of all, a few practical principles with which every delegate ought to be acquainted; this is followed by detailed instructions

to delegates and other officials in the I. W. W., covering every phase of their work. The last few lessons will be devoted to briefly outlining the principles of double-entry bookkeeping, with which all fellow workers ought to be acquainted when assuming the duties of either branch or industrial union secretaries.

The lessons are printed in large type on a good quality of book paper, and are of a size which makes it handy to be carried around by the fellow workers no matter where they might be. The reverse side of every page has been left blank and can be used in making notes and suggestions.

After each lesson is appended a number of questions. All those who take the course are urged to answer these questions in writing and to send in the answers to the address given.

The course will consist of about one dozen lessons altogether; one lesson will be issued each week. Owing to an unfortunate combination of circumstances it was not possible to send out in the field the first lesson as early as had been intended.

The cost of the entire course is only $5.00. Send all money orders and communications to Educational Bureau, Department B, 1001 W. Madison Street, Chicago, Ill.

T

HE class conscious worker holds as one of the main tenets of his faith the belief that the root of all evil is the exploitation of man by man; he believes that there is only one remedy for the manifold ills from which we suffer, namely—the abolition of wage slavery and the establishment of industrial democracy.

Humanity today is sick with a dread sickness, and it is weary unto death. Apothecary's pills and patent medicines will not suffice to put the bloom of health back into the pallid cheeks of man. More potent and drastic measures will have to be employed.

Therefore, we do not believe in reform; we hold no faith in patching up an outward and a crumbling frame; we toss aside with scornful mien, the nice little pellets and condiments with which many wellmeaning people want to heal the soul-sick and painracked hulk of suffering humanity. Nothing short of an operation for the complete removal of the putrescent tumor of wage slavery will save the day.

The workers, as a class, are not interested in the various new methods that are promulgated for the upbuilding of health. Of course, it is the personal duty of all of us to ourselves and to our nearest of kin to do whatever lies in our power to conserve and improve our health, but that alone will not solve the social problem. Another great war, caused by international capitalism, might come along to snuff out the lives of millions of workers-alike the diseased and the healthy, the old and the young-and to leave in its path a trail of misery, sickness and pestilence that would kill countless millions more in years to come.

The reason why we are interested in the discovery of the Electronic Reactions of Abrams is not merely because a new method of healing the sick seems to have been found, but because of its epoch-making character and far-reaching implications.

Landmarks of Progress

I have made a careful investigation of the new discovery. I have seen reputable physicians diagnose disease by testing blood according to the Abrams method. So far I have not read or heard anything which in my opinion invalidates the claims of Dr. Abrams, notwithstan ling the volume of abuse and misrepresentation printed by those inimical to all new ideas, or those actuated by material interests.

There can be no doubt that in the future the discovery of Dr. Abrams, after it is definitely substantiated in the years to come, will be looked upon as the greatest single achievement in medicine since Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. But not only this: It will unquestionably be admitted

to be one of the few real landmarks of progress in the march of humanity from antiquity down to the present tme. When we consider human history in its entirety we will have to admit that there have been a few great discoveries in the fields of science and invention which have had the effect of causing far-reaching changes in the whole subsequent course of human events. Such, for instance, have been the discoveries of the use of fire, steam and electricity, and the invention of the alphabet, gunpowder and the printing press. To these must be added Newton's law of gravitation and Lester's discovery of antisepsis. When the full importance of the Abrams discoveries in medicine will have dawned upon future generations he will no doubt be classified with the great benefactors of the human race.

What Is the Era?

The Electronic Reactions of Abrams could be defined, in short, as offering a positive cure for all diseases, no matter how malignant and incurable they might have been up to the present time. At one sweep of the hand, so to speak, it seems to have solved the problem with which the human race has occupied itself ever since the dawn of history. It is self-evident that the far-reaching consequences of such a discovery cannot be over-estimated.

It will be impossible to describe the ERA— abbreviation of the Electronic Reactions of Abrams —without a brief explanation of the theory back of it, even though this makes it necessary for us to be somewhat technical.

The ERA is a result of the application of the latest researches in physics to the science of medicine. It took Dr. Abrams twenty-five years of investigation and experimentation to finally evolve this method of curing the sick.

Here is the theory in a nutshell: All matter is made up of molecules. Molecules are an aggregation of atoms, and atoms consist of electrons. By way of an illustration, a molecule contains two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. The molecules of the more organic substances, such as living tissue, have a highly complex structure consisting of many atoms of many different elements. Every atom is a solar system in itself, containing many thousands of electrons, which are minute particles of negative and positive electricity.

The smallest speck of dust, barely visible to the human eye, is made up of many millions of atoms, and each atom in its turn contains within itself many tens of thousands of electrons. This will give us an idea of the inconceivably complicated structure of matter in general.

The electrons are in perpetual motion. The speed at which they move determines the nature of the various elements and substances, and is known as the "vibratory rate” of that substance. For instance, the electrons of gold move at one rate and those of lead move at another rate. It is this rate of speed which determines what the substance is. Should it either decrease or become accelerated, then the substance itself will lose its identity and become something else.

Now, what Dr. Abrams did was to apply this theory to medicine. He found that every disease has its specific vibratory rate. It, therefore, became obvious that after this vibratory rate had been determined, if it could be slowed down or speeded up, that would result in the destruction of that particular disease. Under "disease" is understood, of course, the diseased tissue, the baccili, as well as the physical condition of the blood,-all of which go to make up the diseased condition of the body.

After many years of experimenting, Dr. Abrams eventually evolved a method of measuring the vibratory rate of practically every known disease. This he does by the use of a rheostat. For instance, tuberculosis has a vibratory rate of forty-two; cancer of fifty, and so on down the line. A practically infallible method of correctly diagnosing disease was thus found.

The next step was to find out how to cure the disease after its vibratory rate had been determined. After countless experiments, he struck upon the idea of sending to the affected parts of the body electrical currents of the same electronic vibratory rate as is possessed by the disease itself. In doing this he acted on the theory, long current in medicine, that like destroys like-similia similibus curantur. The results were highly gratifying.

The diagnosis itself is very simple. All that is needed are a few drops of blood and a piece of white blotting paper. This is then connected up, by a series of electrical instruments, with the body of a "subject," in such a way that the electronic reactions of the various diseases can be easily measured. The whole diagnosis does not, as a rule, take more than fifteen minutes.

The Curing of Disease

One of the things which has puzzled medicine, and science in general, for thousands of years, has been the question of the origin of disease. In the entire animal kingdom human beings are the only animals who get sick. Sickness is unknown among any animals which have not become domesticated. Of course, the wolf, lion, rabbit, fox, and other animals, can languish to death owing to accident or lack of food, but they do not become afflicted with any of the countless diseases and pestilences which torture human beings. Only those animals which have become domesticated are liable to contract disease; this made it logical to suppose that it

MAY, 1923

has been transmitted to them from the human family. The indications are that this puzzle has at last been satisfactorily solved by Dr. Abrams. He seems to have conclusively demonstrated that there is one disease which is at the root of practically every other disease. In the great majority of cases it is transmitted from parents to their children, and forms the soil upon which all other diseases grow. Its name is hereditary syphilis.

The particular importance of this discovery is this: Kill the disease mentioned above, and you have killed every other disease. Tuberculosis, cancer, nervous debility, chronic disorders of the digestive system, dementia, anemia, and practically every other disease that we can name, are rooted in hereditary syphilis, and cannot exist without it.

The Ravages of Disease

During the years 1918 and 1919 Spanish influenza killed about twenty-five millions of people all over the world. The toll exacted by this one pestilence was much greater than the total number of men killed on the field of battle during the World War. Tuberculosis kills millions upon millions of workers every year. Up to now there has been no satisfactory cure found for either of these two diseases. We can, therefore, appreciate the tremendous importance of the Abrams discovery when we realize that a means for the defeat of these dreadful scourges of the human race has been found.

The Medical Profession

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Now we come to the wider significance of the Abrams discovery. When it was announced to the world about two years ago, practically the whole medical profession combined in ridiculing and in belittling it. It would seem to an outsider that the medical doctors should have been glad that finally a satisfactory means had been found for curing disease, but such was not the case. In the course of time, however, so much evidence was adduced for the effectiveness of the new discovery that now many of the orthodox medical practitioners are bound to admit that they cannot contradict the claims of Dr. Abrams and his thousands of followers. In the opposition of the medical profession we can see in operation the theory of economic determinism. The great bulk of the doctors who rely upon drugs and surgery realize that if a definite method for actually curing people has been found, many of them will eventually find themselves out of jobs. Hence the bitter opposition.

It would be folly to think that this new discovery will have any immediate or far-reaching effect on the health of the worker. Just as long as the present system of exploitation of one class by another remains in force, just so long will the workers, as a class, be deprived of the benefits of new inventions. It is to the interest of the capitalist class to suppress the truth, no matter where it might be found,