BLACKWELL FAMILY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL SUBJECT FILE Spanish-American Poems: Printed MatterTacoma Labor Advocate, June 9, 1922 On The Long Trail with K.C. “WHERE THERE IS NO VISION THE PEOPLE PERISH!” Among the many shameful and ineradicable blots on the scutcheon of the United States there is none blacker and more disgraceful than that which marks her treatment of those who are broadly termed “ political!” Prisoners, in whose ranks our beloved Gene Debs was numbered until last Christmas. Among the hundred-odd other less famous, but none the less noblesouled and resolute victims is Ricardo Flores Magon, born in Mexico nearly 50 years ago, now imprisoned in the U.S. penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kans. At 17 years of age Comrade Magon started opposition to the Diaz government in newspaper articles. He was many times imprisoned for his work for freedom and sometimes a fugitive with a price on his head, but never willing to compromise nor to be satisfied with bourgeois-capitalist concessions. In 1912 in Los Angeles—-with his brother and other devoted lovers of freedom, including W. C. Owen—he edited La Regeneracion (Spanish-English propaganda journal)for education of his Mexican brethren. Both Mexican and U.S. governments being faithful lackeys of international capitalism, Ricardo (with others) was arrested by the U.S. government on complaint of the Mexican government and sent to McNeil Island for three years. In 1917 he was arrested on same charges as against Debs—- obstructing the draft; sentenced to 25 years imprisonment; later transferred from McNeil to Leavenworth. His sight is now failing and he is a victim of tuberculosis, but his spirit is unquenchable. He could procure a pardon at any time if he would emulate Peter, deny his Lord, his ideal of justice for the people, and promise to “be good”—the capitalist brand of “good,” of course. But Ricardo Flores Magon is cast in the heroic mold as Gene Debs. To him the only possible course is to be true to his highest and noblest vision, bearing witness to his belief in human rights as above property rights. In an old, old Book there is a saying which reads: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wake the but in vain. That is simply a figurative way of saying that unless the foundations of any institution are laid upon the eternal rock of justice to all, it cannot endure. Proud and impregnable though it may seem to be, it carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction. This has been proven true by the fate of the Macedonian, the Roman, the French, the German, and the Russian Empires. The same changeless kosmic law applies equally to all other governments, including the British Empire and the American Republic. Insofar as they are not founded on justice they shall not, they cannot endure. Read this letter recently written by Ricardo Flores Magon and ponder the fitness to survive of a people the vast majority of whom, not only without revolution, but with blasé and cynical acquiescence spend their time in money-grubbing, jazz dancing, Wild West movies and radio concerts and radio concerts while prophets and poets like Gene Debs, Ricardo Magon, Ralph Chaplin, and others as staunch and true, although inarticulate, Roy behind prison bars. The words of the prophet stand eternally true: Where there is no Vision the people perish! “U.S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kans., May 11th, 1922. “Gus Telach and Tom Brothers, Lakebay, Wash. “My Dear Comrades: “I received your dear letters of 12th and 13th of last April. With yours. My good Gus, $2 came to me. Thanks for your mindfulness. I know what $2 means to the worker, and this knowledge makes me duly appreciate your generosity. “The weather is getting warmer, and I have great hopes of having some relief during the next few months, when it is warmer still. Cold weather kills me. I am from Southern Mexico where winter is unknown in the valleys and lowlands. “The day is so beautiful that I cannot help regretting my chains—they do not let me go into the light and glory. “Life throbs outside my cell. The sparrows, drunk with light as though with a generous wine, come tumultuously and noisily to the bars of my window to tell me of the revel which is going on outside. And I believe those drunken creatures. I believe those boisterous messengers of the mighty feast, for the day is no longer a winter day when life slumbers, and even the sun reluctantly sends (and this only occasionally) some slanting tepid rays to these drowsy, northerly regions. A great feast is going on outside. I can feel it even in my old arteries through which my thin blood joyously races. And I sigh, for I wish to bathe myself in the glory of this day, all gold and blue, and to fly to that particular nook on earth wherein innocent tender hearts sigh for me. “The rumbling of a speedily moving train comes from the distance. Whither does it go? Westward perhaps!—and this supposition sets my heart a-flutter, for it is where the sun sets that my beloved ones dwell. If I could only board that train! If I only could! But these bars, cruel and cold, grimly stand between me and free physical life. “To my mind comes the Sesame’ which may throw them open, and I shudder as though on the brink of a precipice, as though on the brow of an abyss yawning at my feet—the ‘Sesame’ is moral degradation. But I dream of a future when a man may be free to voice his mind. Is not mind man’s most precious treasure? Why, then, should there exist any restriction to the exercise of its expression! In the twilight of my brain, aggravated even more by the darkness of my sorrow, I grope for an answer, and I fail to find it. “ As a wave of life smilingly drifting toward the very shores of Hades, a flock of sparrows clamorously reaches the bars of my window, sending to my heart freshness and comfort, but the wave recedes, recedes, recedes, and I find myself alone again in the shadow of my cell engulfed by my sorrow, sighing for a day when humanity, fairer and wiser, shall bid rather than forbid free thought. “Rising from all corners of my mind, like dust ruffled by a gust of wind, a host of deeds and men sweeps across my field of consciousness. I see the writhing of those who drank the hemlock. I hear the panting of those breathing their last nailed to the cross. I see the agony of those burning at the stake. I hear the clamor of the soul all through the night of history for the right of free speech. I behold how, in the midst of the dark long night, this formidable clamor becomes so overwhelming that suddenly thrones totter, crowns and scepters tumble in the dust, Earth is ablaze with the fire of a new faith, and the Rights of Man are proclaimed the cornerstone of a new system of social intercourse and political relations. My heart exults—Freedom has been born! “ ...Keys jingle. Iron doors clang! In a cell someone curses. Decaying lungs cough, cough, cough. I feel upon my old shoulders the cold, leaden hands of reality, and find myself again in the shadow of my cell, and like others, coughing, coughing, coughing. “But the life still smiles outside. A strong desire to see the world for the last time, while I can still discern the shape of a flower, while I can still distinguish a smile in every ripple and detect the quivering of the leaves as the breezes playfully pass by, creeps into my being, and hurls my blood through my arteries until my heart thumps and my temples beat. But soon my enthusiasm is chilled as the required ‘Sesame’ flashes with a sulphurous glow through my mind—it is a word which my lips cannot utter! And I yearn for a future when thought shall be welcome, when opinion shall be challenged only by opinion, when mind unfettered shall have redeemed the race. “Hoping to hear from you again, and that you will remember me to all our friends and comrades, I close this letter with best wishes and a strong embrace. “RICARDO FLORES MAGON.”TACOMA LABOR ADVOCATE, JUNE 9, 1922 LABOR COUNCIL HAS MEETING Union Ball Players Said to Be Playing With Scab Mine Teams in Pierce County Camps Where Operators Establish Sports to Seek to Retain Reluctant Scabs. A. F. of L. Executive in General Circular Forbids Councils to Tolerate Affiliation of Any Other Organization Not Affiliated With A. F. of L.; Delegates Hint at Local Origin. Labor conditions in Tacoma, the apathy of delegates in attending the council meetings, the failure of local unions asking support of the council in labor troubles concerning their organizations to co-operate with the strike committee, and the necessity for the labor unions realizing that effort, and much of it, is essential to successful accomplishment, were all subjects which came up for discussion at the Central Labor Council meeting on Wednesday night. Secretary Morris subjected conditions in the country to a general survey and local affairs were given the once-over in the strike committee's report as well. A circular letter from Gompers to central labor councils and state federations of labor forbidding the affiliation with them of any organization not affiliated with the A. F. of L. was frankly considered to be directed at the Shipyard Laborers and such organizations which through jurisdictional squabbles lost affiliation with its international. Incidentally, the Shipyard Laborers are no longer affiliated, and Secretary Harrison of that organization, who happened to be present, referred with some acerbity to the move of Gompers at this time. Harrison pointed out that the organization to which he belongs has all bills paid, subscription paid up to the Labor Advocate, rent paid in advance, dues of only 25c a month, bank account steadily increasing and with some of the unions that kicked about their affiliation owing them large sums still. They could do their bit for the coal miners, help out every effort for the benefit of labor and had as loyal a membership as any organization in the district. The labor movement owed them thousands of dollars and they were one of the largest subscribers to the Pierce County Labor Temple Association. Morris said surely no one could complain of the Shipyard Laborers. They had always done their bit for the workers, and when he saw that the executive council had been eight or nine days in session, and with the labor movement being swatted right, left and center, retreating all along the line, and Gompers and the council could see no more important work than sending out such a circular, which he was convinced that leadership was at a very low ebb. He contrasted the attitude of the Shipyard Laborers with those organizations which, under the American Federation of Labor, should be affiliated with the council by the very constitutional law that is quoted against other organizations, but which did not affiliate, and said that the former were all to the good as unionists and co-workers in the labor movement. Play Ball With Scabs A delegate of the Stereotypers brought up a matter which had been called to his attention by some of the miners. This was that the coal companies had been losing so many men that they had been doing everything to retain their scabs. So they had organized a baseball team and bands, built ball grounds and that Tacoma teams were going to play with them. Moreover, it was alleged that on some of these Tacoma teams that were playing ball with scabs were some members of labor unions. The matter was referred to the strike committee. The matter of the Standard laundry employing a scab engineer was up again when it was asked why the council did not put the laundry on the unfair list. It was explained that as union laundry workers and union teamsters were working there, under the A. F. of L., they couldn't be declared unfair. This gave rise to rapid fire comment upon behalf of closer amalgamation, when such things would no longer be possible. of Johnstone of the Machinists, DeHunt of the Railway Clerks, Cashen of the Swithchmen, Healy of the Firemen and Oilers and other labor leaders in the movement. They will fight for the resolution on the floor of the A. F. of L. convention. For the first time since he started the initiative campaign, President Short of the State Federation of Labor thought fit to send the Tacoma Central Labor Council, affiliated with the federation, copies of the petitions, two accompanying a circular letter issued to affiliated bodies. The State Federation of Labor will be asked to give publicity to the fact that the Puyallup fair is on the council's "We Don't Patronize" list. REMOVES KANE Dr. Kane, famed vaccination-orderist in the city, was reduced from his high estate and retired to private practice from the position of Health Officer by Mayor Fawcett. Kane will now have more time to study up vaccination statistics. Dr. Engles was appointed in his stead. Mrs. Blanche Funk Miller was also eliminated from the position of city clerk and the position awarded by unanimous choice on the second ballot to Miss Genevieve Martin, who has been Mrs. Miller's assistant and a very capable official. Other heads were lopped off when Dr. Kane and Mrs. Miller were removed. Jesse W. Silver was chosen vice president of the council and ex-officio acting mayor in the absence of Mayor Fawcett. Commissioner Murray will replace Paul Newman as commissioner of public safety and no changes will be made in the present commissionerships. Commissioner Murray intimated that Chief Dyment would continue and that he contemplated no changes in the department. The induction of Mayor Fawcett on Monday last took place without ceremony, Mayor Riddell surrendering his office with expressions of satisfaction. Although the daily papers, in referring editorially to Mayor Riddell's retirement, would give the idea that he had been subjected to criticism unjustly, etc., no city officer received less criticism and certainly less severe criticism than fell to the lot of Riddell. RETURNS FROM PORTLAND Vincent Chiapetti, a well known member of Machinists Lodge No. 297, returned Wednesday from a trip to Portland where he was looking over the industrial field. He did not find things to his liking and Tacoma on his return looks good to him. Principal among the things that presented themselves in the way of drawbacks was the fact that prices were higher and wages lower on the whole than in Tacoma, and while in some crafts they were higher, taken on an average by and large, they lacked the purchasing power of the same pay in Tacoma. Tacoma rents are high enough, and are still to all intents and purposes the same as in the wartime, in Portland, however, they exceed the speed limit and are much above those of Tacoma. Chiapetti looked around with observing eyes and finds that Tacoma is still one of the best organized cities on the coast. He intends to stay here. FIGHT FOR 5-CENT FARES Mayor Fawcett had no sooner safely seated himself in the mayor's chair than it became apparent that he was devoting much attention to lower street car fares, and an article in evening papers Wednesday confirmed this by intimating that "negotiations" were pending with the street car company, several incorrect statements about these "negotiations" being published in the papers. Mayor Fawcett made no secret of his determination to bring about a lower street car fare and as a quid quo pro presumably alternative concessions are asked by the street car company. The whole thing is yet in the embryo, so to say, but it is attracting much attention. FIFTH VICE PRESIDENT Wm. F. Dau, secretary of the Teamsters and Chauffeurs Local No. 313, was chosen as fifth vice president, or more correctly vice president from the fifth district of theHONORING A POETESS Women have never figured prominently in South American politics. But recognition of the new era is dawning there. Juana de Ibarbourou, poetess, of Uruguay, will be appointed to the new National Assembly to be created by President Terra, the dictator of the nation. Already officially named "America's Juana" by act of Parliament, the Uruguayan poetess is well known throughout South America. She will be better known when she becomes the first woman legislator to take a seat in a South American Parliament. That should be distinction enough to make it worth while to let us have some translations of her poems.ASOCIACION DE ESRITORES Y ARTISTAS AMERICANOS EL DIA DE LA CULTURA AMERICANA COMPARIA TIPOFRAFICA, B. A. AGUIAR 96.-HABANAWomen in Venezuelan Literature (It is to be regretted that for lack of space it has not been possible to include in this article some examples of the poetical work of the representative Venezuelan women writers mentioned in this brief sketch, which is based on data very graciously supplied by Senor Don Jose Nuceti-Sardi and Senora Lucila L. de Perez Diaz. It is hoped, however, that it will be possible to include them in a forthcoming edition. - Editor's Note.) During the last 10 years Venezuelan women, who have always taken an active part in the cultural development of their country, have intensified their intellectual contribution. In the epic days of the glorious struggle for national independence, Venezuelan women as a whole distinguished themselves with a heroism and self-sacrifice worthy of the immortals. in the early days of the Republic, after the heat and hatred of civil strife had died away, the women of Venezuela continued to be the inspiration and the educators of the men who were to shape the destinies of the new nation. Later, their activities were considerably extended and women for the first time began to enter the fields of literature and science. Already in Venezuelan literature are found the names of women who have been awarded the laurel wreath in both national and local literary competitions, and an outstanding group of gifted and talented women is now doing most admirable work. At an advanced age, Antonia Esteller Camacho Clemente y Bolívar, one of the greatest of Venezuelan women, the possessor of an illustrious name and a brilliant intellect, is still doing work whose pedagogical and literary value is far-reaching and fruitful. Teresa de la Parra has triumphed in both America and Europe, while writers and poets like Lucila L. de Perez Diaz, Clara Vivas Briceno, Luisa Martinez, Maria Edilia Valero, Ada Perez Guevara, Narcisa Bruzual, Clotilde C. de Arvelo, Nina Crespo Baez, Concepción de Faylhardat, Mary de Perez Matos, and Luisa del Valle Silva are the leading representatives of their sex in the Venezuelan literary circles of to-day. Narcisa Bruzual The majority of Venezuelan women writers have cultivated both prose and verse, but Narcisa Bruzual is one of the few women who write for the theater, a feat both difficult and unusual under the actual somewhat restricted conditions. From the beginning she has cultivated poetry, and her lyrics have placed her in the front ranks of Venezuelan poets. Her prose is romantic, with certain clearly defined traces of classical influence in its well-elaborated structure.The Pan American Union Her dramatic works have received favorable comment from both the critics of Venezuela and of Spain. Notable among them is the 3-act drama in prose Los Naufragos (The Shipwrecked), which marks her as an adept in this genre. La Causa del Mal (The Cause of the Evil), a comedy, also in prose, dedicated to the great actress, Catalina Barcenas, is distinguished by unusual psychological subtlety. El Veneno del Pecado (The Poison of Sin) and Amor y .... Dolor (Love and ... Pain), the last a 30act drama adapted from Alexander Dumas' "The War of Women," is a triumph both in its mastery of technique and in the ease with which the action is developed. Her latest work, Horas Sentimentales, a collection of prose poems, is now being published in Spain. It may be added in conclusion that Narcisa Bruzual is the official representative in Venezuela of the Ibero American Publications Co., of Madrid. Lucila Luciani de Perez Diaz At the head of her profession stands that distinguished lady, Lucila Luciani de Perez Diaz, eminent publicist and poet, editor in chief of that justly popular literary periodical Iris, and Venezuela's representative in the Inter American Commission of Women created in 1928 by virtue of a resolution adopted in the Sixth International Conference of American States. Married at an early age to one of Caracas's most distinguished physicians, the mother of a numerous family of children, in her are combined the charm and the high qualities of character and breeding which marked the aristocrat of an earlier generation, together with the exalted enthusiasm and energy of the most modern of women. Senora de Perez Diaz, who recently paid an official visit to Washington (together with her young sister Diana), is really almost as much at home in these United States as in her native Venezuela, and in the English language as in her mother tongue, an enviable condition largely due to the cosmopolitan character of her education and her active collaboration not only with the daily and periodic press of Venezuela, but of many other countries... The Bulletin of the Pan American Union is only one of many international organs which are indebted to her graceful and facile pen. Clotilde C. de Arvelo Clotilde C. de Arvelo was born in Los Teques, a city about 16 miles from Caracas and now capital of the State of Miranda. Her marked taste for literature was coincident with the awakening of her love for nature, which arouses her deepest and noblest emotions. As a consequence her style is eminently descriptive; her pages are filled with an endless procession of cities, rural landscapes, and far horizons. While still very young she was married to Senor Enrique Arvelo, an eminent Venezuelan merchant. In 1908 her first verses found their way into print, while her first book - Impressiones de Viaje por los Estados Unidos (Impressions of a Journey in the United States) was not published until 1919. It was followed in 1921, however, by Flores de Invernadcro (Hothouse Flowers), and in 1923 by Por Opuestos Senderos (By Opposite Paths). Her reactions to the great cordillera and the lofty paramos of her native continent are crystallised in A traves de los Andes (Across the Andes), while the delightful pages of her last book, published in 1926, record her 470 The Pan American Union Visiones de Europa (Glimpses of Europe). NINA CRESPO BAEZ It is unnecessary to tell her age. Her face, her enthusiasm, her utter lack of preoccupation with the serious things of life clearly reveal that she is a newly sprung flower in the field of art. She is the granddaughter of General Joaquin Creeps, twice President of Venezuela. "It is not known how and when her passion of art awoke," says an intelligent compatriot [2] who knows her well. And she adds: "Painting and reading, these are her two great vices. When she leaves the palette to seek repose from an intoxication of color, it is to quaff a deep draft from the printed word. Like the Knight of the Rueful Countenance, she passes the hours from dark to dawn in reading, and the days from dawn to dark in painting." This is Nina Crespo Baez; a young woman of great talent and promise, of refined spirituality, with a "wicked" pencil always in hand. With one clean-cut stroke she fixes a personality - but such a stroke! It is instinct with character, with intelligence and, above all, with an infinite art. CONCEPCIÓN DE FAYLHARDAT This eminent educator and publicist was born in Upata, one of the most beautiful and cultured cities in the State of WOMEN IN VENEZUELAN LITERATURE 471 Bolivar, removing after her marriage to Bolivar City, the state capital, where for 14 years she was director of one of the leading schools. In 1886 she established the literary periodical Brisas del Orinoco, which flourished for a number of years. Her first volume of poems, entitled Flores del Alma, was also published here. She later established the well-known periodical La Lira -- largely devoted to literature--which has recently celebrated its twenty-eighth birthday. In 1890 she was called to Caracas, the national capital, where for several years she served with marked success as inspector of schools in the Federal District. In 1925 her second volume of poems, entitled Arpegios, appeared. In 1916 this energetic and unusually gifted woman was appointed assistant director of the "School of Arts and Trades for Women"--an institute which represents one of the most laudable initiatives of the government--a position she still occupies. LUISA MARTINEZ Born in France of Venezuelan parents, Luisa Martinez passed all her childhood in Europe and North America. She began to study law at the Central University of Venezuela but decided that "the law, as it is written, is injustice." Such are her own words, such is the distinctive trait of her character: Inconformity with existing conditions and a great yearning to mend, to humanize everything. The loftiest principles of combative feminism find congenial soil in the spirit of Luisa Martinez. She is a militant; her field of action, the newspaper. The Caracas press has published many of her writings. But in the magazine Nos-Otras she has found an environment better suited to her ideas, and from her columns in that review she works "for South American union and the forging of bonds of solidarity between the great and the humble." Piedras Preciosas (Precious Stones) is the title of her first book of stories. ADA PEREZ GUEVARA This promising young writer was born November 3, 1908 in the town of Cantaura, State of Anzoategui, her education being received472 The Pan American Union mainly in El Internado de San Jose de Tarbes, one of the best known private institutions in that section of the country. She now resides in Caracas, where her first work, entitled En Ausencia Tuya (In Thine Absence), was published in 1926. Her second venture into print is awaited with keen interest. Mary de Perez Matos Mary de Perez Matos, the daughter of General M. A. Matos and Dona Maria Ibarra de Matos, was born in Caracas, where she still resides. Her childhood years were equally divided between France and Venezuela. She was educated partly in the Convent of the Assumption in Paris and later by private tutors and instructors. In 1911, while still very young, she married her cousin Senor Enrique Perez Matos, and is now the mother of five children who are separately and collectively the pride and joy of her life. In spite of her preoccupation with family affairs, Mary de Perez Matos (under the pen name of "Miss Terry") has been a constant and indefatigable contributor to the principal literary periodicals and reviews of Caracas. Just at present she is in charge of an important section in Nos-Otras, the leading feminist periodical of Venezuela, one editor of which - herself a distinguished writer of excellent prose and verse - has the honor of representing WOMEN IN VENEZUELAN LITERATURE 473 Venezuela on the Inter American Commission of Women. Maria Edilia Valero One of the most youthful members of the younger group of Venezuelan women writers. Her literary work is limited to the output of the last three years, a considerable part of which was spent in travel in Europe and the United States, some of her impressions in verse - very promising work - appearing in the New York press. Luisa Del Valle Silva This young writer, perhaps the most gifted of her sex in the younger school, was born in Carupano, a city which, like Marathon, "looks on the sea" - in this case a dazzling stretch of the Caribbean. This perhaps explains why the sea and everything connected with it have played such a large part in Luisa del Valle's work to date. At a very early age she entered the educational field, first as a teacher in her own town and recently in Caracas. Too youthful, as yet, to have experienced the more serious vicissitudes of life, she "lives much more than she writes and dreams much more than she lives." Clara Vivas Briceno From her earliest years this poet, who was born in the beautiful mountain city of Merida on April 23, 1896, manifestedENRIQUE GONZALEZ MARTINEZ. ALGUNOS ASPECTOS DE LA LIRICA MEXICANA Discurso pronunciado por su autor la noche del 20 de enero de 1932, en el Acto de su recepción como Individuo de Número de la Academia Mexicana, Correspondiente de la Española. Contestación del Director de la Academia Don Federico Gamboa. EDITORIAL "CVLTVRA" MEXICO, 1932