\ I I ^pa:b<^s^m ^Jk^\ Vi- .Mf^ '^i '^iif- i.'^t^. L** «i -t^. -r!.>^ •T* :^^ nr*. Ifi^A t '^ '^^d^ii ^!>^?^ r^^. ?^ . f •^: •'!*»*«' Ji. ' Ttm Information About the Llano del Rio Co-operative Colony Llano, California HIS is the greatest Community Enterprise There are several hundred hares in the rabbitry T ever launched in America. and the manager of the department says the ar- rivals are in startling numbers. The colony was founded by Job Harriman and is situated in the beautiful Antelope Valley, Los There are about 11,000 grape cuttings in the Angeles County, California, a few hours' ride ground and thousands of deciduous fruit and from Los Angeles. The community is solving the shade trees in the colony nursery.. This depart- problem of disemployment and business failure, ment is being steadily extended. and offers a way to provide for the future wel- fare of the workers and their families. The community owns several hundred colonies of bees which are producing honey. This depart- Here is an example of co-operation in action. ment will be increased to several thousands. Llano del Rio Colony is an enterprise unique in Several tons of honey are on hand. the history of community groups. Among other industries the colony owns a It was established in an attempt to solve the steam laundry, a planing mill, large modern saw- problem of unemployment by providing steady mill, a printing plant, a machine shop, a tannery, employment for the workers ; to assure safety and a rug and carpet weaving plant, and a number of comfort for the future and for old age ; to guar- other productive plants are contemplated, among antee education for the children in the best school them a cannery, an ice plant, a shoe factory, knit- under personal supervision, and to provide a so- ting and weaving plant, a motion picture com- cial life surroundings can be amid better than pany and factory. All of this machinery is not found in the competitive world. yet set up owing to the stress of handling the crops. There are about 700 persons living at the new tow!n of Llano. There are now more than 200 The colonists are farming on a large scale with pupils in the schools, and several hundred are the use of modern machinery, using scientific sys- expected to be enrolled before a year shall have tem and tried methods. passed. Plans are under way for a school build- ing, which will cost several thousand dollars. The About 120 acres of garden was planted last bonds have been voted and sold and there is year. The results have been most gratifying. nothing to delay the building. Social life in the colony is most delightful. Schools have opened with classes ranging from Entertainments and dances are regularly estab- the Jlontessori and kindergarten grades through lished functions. Baseball, basket-ball, tennis, the intermediate, which includes the first year in swimming, fishing, hunting and all other sportS' high school. This gives the pupils an opportu- and pastimes are popular with all ages. nity to take advanced subjects, including lan- Several hundred acres are now in alfalfa, which guages in the colony school. is expected to run six cuttings of heavy hay this The colony owns a fine herd of 105 head of season. There are two producing- orchards and Jersey and Holstein dairy cattle and is turning about one hundred acres of young pear trees. out a large amount of dairy products. There is Several hundred acres will be planted in pears steady demand for our output. and apples next year. There are over 200 hogs in the pens, and among Six hundred and forty acres have been set aside them a large number of good brood sows. This for a site for a city. The building department is department will be given special attention and making bricks for the construction of hundreds ranks high in importance. of homes. The city will be the only one of its kind in the world. It will be built witli the end of The colony has seventy-five work horses, two being beautiful and utilitarian. large tractors, three trucks and a number of au- tomobiles. The poultry department has 2000 egg- There are 1000 memberships in the colony and making birds, some of them blue ribbon prize most of them are subscribed for. It is believed winners. This department, as all others, is in the that the remainder will be taken within the next charge of an expert and it will expand rapidly. few months. CONTENTS r^>; -<^ Page Editorials ........ 5 By Frank E. Wolfe. Blessings of Ignorance ..... 9 By Emanuel Julius. A ^Millionaire's Vision (Poem) . .11 By Wilby Heard. Jolting the Jingoes ..... .12 By Edmund R. Brumbaugh. The Man Without a Country 12 By A. F. Gannon. of Tomorrow 13 i:'j\ Through Eyes ..... By Ernest S. Wooster. Enthusiasm Rules Llano . .18 By R. K. Williams. r-r\. Hi ^f "^, Montessorians ....... 22 A. C. A. By t- 1 1^ il On Big Rock Creek ...... 23 . -24 Il Llano Musings . By John Dequer. Wedding Bells 25 By Clara R. Cushman. /•3 The Preparers (Poem) . ., . -26 ^^ By A. F. Gannon. m C tp^ ILLUSTRATIONS A> Peeping Into Paradise .... Frontispiece L^ncle Samuels .....••• ^ n • • ^ V Buying Labor . ^v Some Day ......•• 8 The New "Sick Man" 11 • • -16 Out of the Trenches . Peeping Into Paradise -Drawn tor the Western Comrade by M. A. Kempt The Western Comrade Devoted to the Cause of the Workers Political Action Co-operation Direct Action VOL. Ill LOS ANGELES, CAL., FEBRUARY. 1916 NUMBER 10 Big Rock Basin Looking South From the Dam Site E D I T O R I A RAISING the price of gasoline By Frank E. Wolfe of regulation it will first be neces- \ras the greatest blunder ever sary to prove gasoline is a public made by the oil trust. It ran squarely against the utility. That should be easy, but it isn't. If gaso- great middle class—that strong buhvark of capital- line is a public utility, so is lubricating oil; so is ism which has steadfastly withstood the arguments hard grease and spark plugs. Gasoline regulation is of the Socialists. a ghastly joke. In the East the price is much higher. In California action has been started that indi- \\"hile AVashington is paying twenty-three cents or cates that an arousement would be easy if a leader more a gallon, the United States has not paid more would but spring up in the midst of the outraged than eleven cents. At eleven cents there are sev- mass of automobile owners who have seen the price eral cents a gallon profit. of their motive fluid nearly doubled within a few In California there is greater production of crude weeks. oil than ever before in the history of the industry. First a little municipal board of public utilities By the new process, low gravity oil can be refined was appealed to. Then the mayor of Los Angeles. and gasoline produced at a lo^Ver rate than before. Then committees were appointed. An appeal was There has always been several hundred percent made to the State Eailwaj' Commission (state board profit in gasoline. The oil lands of California were of public utilities'). In order to carry out the farce almost all stolen from the people. The Standard : The Western Comrade Oil is brazenly drilling wells on lands that are in the state. The previous occasion was when a special litigation and again they are showing their contempt commissioner of the Governor discovered them dur- for the "sovereign people." ing the San Diego free-speech fight. That this is To the Socialist reader the solution is obvious. the chorus of the French National anthem has not But in hope that we catch the eye of the unawak- soaked through the brain of any policeman or spe- ened, we give the solution : RESTORATION TO THE cial investigator. This situation almost parallels PEOPLE OF THAT WHICH HAS BEEN CONFIS- the discovery made by the brightest cub re- CATED. THE COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP OF porter on a Sacramento newspaper who discovered THIS AND ALL OTHER SOURCES OF LIFE. a plot on the part of five desperate characters T T T who were about to march UXTRA! Uxtra! Hor- on Rock Island and seize rors of war and an the arsenal, if there be one invasion of a peaceful la- there ; thence march tri- boring republic ! The I. umphantly to the capture W. W. agitators are going of Chicago ; thence on to descend from the nail and on, all five of them, to keg and do something. the overthrow of the Gov- We have the assurance of ernment at Washington. the capitalist press that God bless the daily this is the case. press. Tis not only the The industrial workers palladium and bulwark of are to invade Lower Cali- our freedom, but it adds fornia, a land populated greatly to the gaiety of by fierce banditti, helo- nations in the dull-drab dermas and horned toads. depths of a dismal season. <• The plan was for the I. W. * <• W. to marshal a great HE Socialist Party as army of blanket stiffs and T organized in Califor- scizzorbills, armed with nia is a wonderful institu- the deadly bindlestick, tion. It has a state execu- marching with flat-wheel tive board, a state office, a goosestep, into a seething Uncle Samuels state secretary and a state maelstrom of de facto and mimeograph. Combined, The Passing Show, London other kinds of jefe po- — this is a mighty piece of liticos of Tijuana Baja.