International Socialist Review (1900) Vol 17

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INTERNATIONAL
SOCIALIST REVIEW
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JULY, 1916 No. 1
DOINGS OF THE MONTH
By Jack Phillips
Chicago folks
Auditorium last
who packed the
winter to hear
Irvin S. Cobb lecture on war, will
never forget his terrific indictment
of war and the promoters of war. He
talked straight from the heart and the
head and without resorting to any of
the cheap oratorical tricks of our famous
silver tongues. He walked straight into
the hearts of the big audiences that
greeted him. All the glamour, glory and
cheap tinsel with which the campaign
orator will enshrine the average soldier
was shown up as counterfeit when Cobb
described the men who are doing the
fighting in the trenches of Europe today,
as looking like a bunch of sewer diggers
after
water.
a hard day's work in mud and
His lectures were the biggest thoughtbombs
of the season, and so a multitude
of people were waiting to read what he
had to say about the big political conventions
of the year. They felt and
knew they would hear the truth. We
were, therefore, not surprised to find him
writing the following in the Chicago
American of June 13:
"The most foolish, most time-wasting,
most money-squandering institution known
to these United States at the present time
is the National convention. All of us
were converted to this regard by what
we saw at Chicago last week. Our opinions
are being strengthened by what we
are seeing in St. Louis this week.
"There may have been logical excuse
for the Progressive convention. Its dele-
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