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lajloadr 1st aneodote-ueeleis I thinks merely illustrates rather Gammon
ignoranee and aiseeneeption, notion.
2nd, 3rd and 4th musing but not lore. These lit 6 all are
illustrative of a' pretty low level of ignorenee and prejudioe
but that's all.
Paoifist Strikes Out this is amusing enough to be included
simpli as humor.
Page 6s These 3 are all fumy as gags but I don't think they're
appropriate for the lore book.
STATE
NAME OF' OF WORKER
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
Forms to be,Filled out for Each Interview
FORM A
Circumstances of intervisw
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1. Date and time of interview
2. Place of interview
3. Name and address of informant
7, /1'31
4r244,64-4.
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
e7,4.144
At /-A-PA-444-4-0/
4. Name and address of person, if any, wno put you in
toucn with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surrouldings, etc.
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sta
(Use as many additional sheets
bearing the proper heading and
as necessary, for any of the forms, each
the number to which the material refers.)
,r1 Informant anonymous. (Wayne Walden,51 bank St.Man. I
Subj9ct- Reminiscences or A ReberreatAte-tAl"'" 4gvenber -2,138.)
n-6\
My informant was a conscientious objector during the period of the War
and declined to give me his name. "It's hard enough to hunt a job,as it is",
he explained,"without making it still more difficult by naming myself as
opposed the war."
one who tut argactsat kkpaintlax "Nearly everyone now agrees with what we
C.O's said at the time;nearly every sane person now admits that the war
was everything we predicted it would be;nearly every body laments the loss
of life and ruination the war left in it's wake -they all now know that it
was one hell of a big blunder,but they all still denounce and ridicule us
for not going crazy too when they did.We still are an unhonored lot.
Unlike those who marched uncritically and abjectly into the)slaughter,our
stand,as C.C's,was such that we as yet cannot also strut,brag and swagger
as heroes.Of course,as things turned out,a long depression,with the "heroes"
favored on jobs and civil service,we may have been foolish not to have gone
crazy along with all the rest.But we,despite what they say,were certainly
not cowards.The joy -ride over to France,with the cheers of the business
elements and the flattering attention from the ladies,even though after a
training spell we were thrown into the trenches,was more alluring than the
abuse and miaunderstanding,the starvation and rotting away in solitary cells,
that many of us knew awaited us as objectors.Dont kid yourself,nor let any-
one else kid you,about the C.C's being afraid affighting;it took a damned
sight more guts -To resist the national hysteria than to fall in line with it.
"And at that,there were times when we had no more assurance of emerging
alive from the jails and penitentiaries thn were the more glorified and
guys in
subserviant gnpa/the trenches.After all our refusing to be fed as fodder to
the bloody wariwas a financial saving to Uncle bam.When,with his pants down,
and dizzy with the clamorous demands upon him in the heart of the depression,
we,at leastodidn't bother him for a bonus:"
The following reminiscences are of actual happenings and none of them have
heretofore been collected or published.If acceptable for inclusion in the
(Wayne Walden
page 2. Reminiscences of a rebel. Nov.2,1938.)
folk-lore,but necessary to have assurance of the truth of them,the teller
of these tales will furnish proof of their authenticity. ,440
"In Chicago,during the excitement attending the daily expectation of the
United States entering the war,I was arrested on suspicion of being in-
strumental in opposing the preparatiohs.The jailor,pausing before my cell,
rather politely asked 'What are you in for?' I answered that I really didn't
know,but that it was probably because they feared I would prevent the war.
'You mean to say that you're agin it?'he queried.'I'm not particularly han-
kering for it',I replied.'Why ih the hell aint you'he asked,don't you know
that that Kaiser,or Germany anyhow,has been tryin'to get a hold of this
country for over 400 years?''
if* -*********4-44.********#
Another time,two city and one government detectives raided my room.Having
made a thorough search of my belongings,and apparently ready to leave.,
satisfied that nothing then warranted my arrest,one of the bulls spied th e
title of the book I was reading. It was Dostoievs2 ky's"Crime and Punishment".
'Uh huh! Crime and punishment,huh? Makin' a real study ci it,huh?Readin'up
all about it,huh? Come o01 was turned loose the following day.Poasibly
someone more learned informed them that the book was not a treatise on how
to commit crime and escape punishment.
A friend of mine, a Scotchman by the name of Mackay,was standing before a
store windorying to decide what shirt to buy.A buxom woman approached him
and said:'_Young man,you look physically fit.Why aren't you in the trenches?'
'Madame;he returned;did you ever see me walk?"No; somewhat pityingly,thinic-
ing perhaps he was already a cripple, 'No I haven't seen you walk.' 'Then
just watch me madame',said Mactes he walked swiftly away from her,
Some of the fellows,on visiting us in the can,tried to bring us in some lit-
erature.Some of it was Wobbly paperu:and similar matter,but most was as in-
nocent at subversive ideas as the LiTerary Digest.The jailor,however,confis-
cated the entire bundle.Looking it over,and seeing Emma GoldmaAs "Mother
Eae saidj"Here,you can take in this farm book".
--"'/}cteit NO 4 TO re l• kie
Reminiscences of a Rebel.
A Pacifist% strikes out.
PM -03- (Wayne Walden
Nov.5,1938.)
Mac,too,was a conscientious pbjector and a pacifist.And somehow or other he
managed to have kept out of jail.I guess his arguments(like when he walked
away from the irate woman)took the form of"direct action"more than they did
of gentle suasion. Anyhow,not knowing what else to do with ourselves,Mao and
I went into a show.This was out in Seattle where,like every where else,patti-
otism,or some cheap exhibition of it,would pull applause for a ham actor
when clothing else would.Then,of course,when a guy fluttered the flag, or the
orchestra came to his aid with the national anthem,you had to stand up like
everyone did.Sometimes there was so much standing up and sttting down,stand-
ing up and sitting downothat a fellow felt like greasing his joints with an
for refusing to jump up,
oil can.Both of us had been tossed out of another place/and lucky to have
gotten out whole.It was a dangerous stunt not to imitate the rest,and many
a poor rebel got beat all to hell by a mob for tot conforming.
Well,sure enough,the damned thing happened.The first thing we knew everybody
was standing up while we were still sitting down.A scissorbill right in back
of us started to raise a rumpus.He started in to prod us and bellow for us
in jolt
to stand up.Mac did stand uppbutlarising he shot a swift/into the chin of
the bloke trying to excite trouble.The clout knocked the guy off his pins,s0
that he tumbled back in his seat.'What's tha matter,what's the matterla lady
wanted to know. 'Why',said MactIthat guy wouldn't stand up!' So the bourgeois
lady also swipes the yap over the conk with her umbrella;and a couple of
ushers trounces the dizzy scissorbill out of the place before a patriotic mob
could have at
The soapboxer ended his talk with: "The workers produce it all,why shouldnt
they demand even tome of the luxuries?" "And that's right",shouted a wobblie,
"Come on,Fellow-workers,let's take a walk on Fifth Avenue.Nothin's too good
for the working class."
(Wayne Walden
Reminiscences of a rebel. page 4. Nov.5,1938)
A scowl for smiling naturlj
This hasn't anything to do with my self.I recall it as a story,supposed to
be true,told by,or of,Tlizabeth Gurley Flynn.In the old days,when she was an
organizer for the wobblies and speaking for them around the country, she max
encountered one fellow-worker,a Swede,who for seriousness was hard to beat.
The Swedish fellow -worker occupied a seat with Gurley on the train.For hours
they had sat together,neither of them saying a word,she reading a book,and
Having put
.he,in lugubrious contemplation of a wage slave's existance.MMAINSW
down the
book and for a time -imondesig been gazing out upon the pasaiwg scenfy,as the
train sped through a particularly beautiful section of Oregon,Gurley at last
Said she: /WV
turned to her companion.'"It's certainly a pretty country aroundsn't it?"
"Aw",said the Swede,"who the hell can enjoy anything under this rotten cap-
italist system."
Somewhere I heard this: "Are we men, or are we mice",asked the orator
on the soapbox.And from his gathering a mighty answer arose."We are",they
thundered..
*Mit** *#414**-14-#-*******