Introduction
The following is an excerpt from a biographical sketch of Laurance A. Labadie by Mildred J. Loomis and Mark A. Sullivan:
Like (Liberty’s) editor (Tucker), Labadie developed a style of critical commentary which is revealed in both his private correspondence and in his public correspondence of the late ’30s: Discussion – A Journal for Free Spirits, which he published and circulated among friends and other interested persons. Therein, he engaged his readers in active dialogue and debate in which, as Tucker had often said, the victor was the one who gained the most light.
Discussion was a modest mimeographed-production, yet it included letters and articles by some of Tucker’s original associates such as Stephen T. Byington, Henry Cohen, James Mill, and Hugo Bilgram, the monetary theorist most highly regarded by Labadie. And it was the economic theories of Bilgram, Tucker, and the other “Mutualists” that occupied many a discussion in Discussion. One of Labadie’s most frequently reprinted essays, “The Money Problem in the Light of Liberty,” first appeared in Discussion.
The subtitle “A Journal for Free Spirits” reflects the subtitle found in the final issues of The Eagle and The Serpent (1898): “A Journal for Free Spirits and for Spirits Struggling to be Free.” Editor Mark A. Sullivan would befriend Labadie later in life, and applied the subtitle to his own journal The Storm (1976).
The journal was conceived and executed just before Labadie turned 40, so it was not the work of a young man. He would later move out of his family home and onto one of the properties of Ralph Borsodi’s School of living, eventually saving every nickel and dime he could to buy Borsodi’s “Dogwood’s Homestead”. A cantankerous misanthrope, he regularly intellectually butted heads with Mildred Loomis and Borsodi and apparently had files of “unsent letters to Mildred Loomis” in addition to ones he actually sent.
Prospectus
(to be added)
Index of Issues
Discussion. | Vol. 1 No. 1| May 1937
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8.5 x 11 | Pages: 16
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
Printed on 3 hole punch paper, stapled in the upper left-hand corner. Printed by the method of hektograph. Pages are not paginated. Note on publication by Laurance Labadie on page 10. The editor states that only 20 copies of the first issue were made.
Contents:
| What ‘tis (Laurance A. Labadie) | 1 |
| Note on contents (Laurance A. Labadie) | 2 |
| Anarchy—Today by Laurance A. Labadie | 3 |
| Note on printing and publication | 10 |
| Capitalist Expectations (trans. from Boletein de Informacion) | 11 |
| Review of “The Truth About Spain” by Rudolph Rocker | 15 |
| Comments about contributing to journal (Laurance A Labadie) | 15 |
| Discussion and question for future issue (Laurance A. Labadie) | 16 |
Discussion. | Vol. 1 No. 2| June 1937
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8.5 x 11 | Pages: 12
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
Printed on loose-leaf paper, bound by 3 staples on the left side. Printed by the method of hektograph.
Contents:
| Introduction to the 2nd Issue | 1 |
| Applause—Plus Skepticism A.G. Wagner | 2 |
| Note regarding the end of socialism in Russia Max Eastman | 2 |
| Economic Adolescence Laurance A. Labadie | 3 |
| Note on printing and publication Laurance A. Labadie | 7 |
| A Letter WKK | 8 |
| Response to WKK Laurance A. Labadie | 8 |
| Further Commentary on WKK Laurance A. Labadie | 9 |
| From a Veteran Reformer WE Brokaw | 10 |
| Note on WE Brokaw (Laurance A. Labadie) | 10 |
| Introduction to article (Laurance A. Labadie) | 11 |
| Henry Ford Outlines His Labor Attitude AM Smith | 11 |
| Comment (Laurance A. Labadie) | 11 |
| Advertisement | 12 |
| Quotation from Stephen Pearl Andrews | 13 |
Discussion | Vol. 1 No. 3 | (July 1937)
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8.5 x 11 | Pages: 10
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
Printed on loose-leaf paper, bound by 3 staples on the left side. First issue to have a typeset header on the front page, as opposed to hand-written.
Contents:
| Editorial (Laurance A. Labadie) | 1 |
| Hooray For Freedom!! (Laurance A. Labadie) | 3 |
| Economics of Liberty (Laurance A. Labadie) | 5 |
| If you want it, you’ll have to take it Laurance A. Labadie | 5 |
| Some replies and comment (Laurance A. Labadie) | 9 |
| Letter from John G. Scott | 9 |
| Letter from Ewing Baskette | 9 |
| Letter from Theodore Schroeder | 10 |
| Letter from AG Wagner | 10 |
| Letter from WK Kelsey | 10 |
Discussion. | Vol. 1 No. 4 | August 1937
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8 x 11.75 | Pages: 10
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
Printed on loose-leaf paper, bound by 2 staples on the top.
The examined copy has many pages repeated, including duplication of half the issue, and many pages in reverse order (pages backward). Because of this, we have not listed page numbers for the latter part of the issue until additional copies are examined.
Contents:
| Fragments From Correspondence | 1 |
| Letter from Mamie Schellenberg | 1 |
| Letter from Lowell H. Coats(?) | 1 |
| Response to Schellenberg Laurance A. Labadie | 2 |
| Letter from E.V. Johnson | 2 |
| Letter from H.J. Stewart | 2 |
| What is a Human Service? Laurance A. Labadie | 3 |
| Is Equitism the Answer? (Laurance A. Labadie) | 3 |
| Letter from WE Brokaw | 5 |
| Response to Brokaw Laurance A. Labadie | 8 |
| Note on exchange with Brokaw Laurance A. Labadie | 8 |
| The Money Problem in the Light of Liberty Laurance A. Labadie | ? |
| Economics of Liberty Laurance A. Labadie | ? |
| Father Caughlin (Laurance A. Labadie) | ? |
Discussion. | Vol. 1 No. 5 | (? 1937)
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8.5 x 11 | Pages: 10
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
Printed single-sided. Page numbers in contents refer to the verso page count and do not include recto.
Contents:
| Attention! Money Reformers (Laurance A. Labadie) | 1 |
| Petition for a Mutual Banking Law (Laurance A. Labadie) | 2 |
| Editor’s Note (Laurance A. Labadie) | 3 |
| Exchange (Laurance A. Labadie) | 3 |
| Some Correspondence | 4 |
| Letter from Harry Kelly | 4 |
| Letter from | 5 |
| Letter from Ed. B. Hill | 6 |
| Letter from Henry Cohen | 7 |
| Letter from John G. Scott | 8 |
| Letter from Henry Cohen | 8 |
| Letter from Margaret Crowder | 9 |
| Letter from Ewing C. Baskette | 9 |
| Editorial Note (Laurance A. Labadie) | 9 |
| Advertisement | 10 |
Discussion. | Vol. 1 No. 6 | September 1937
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8.5 x 11 | Pages: XX
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
Contents:
| Is Credulity Sweeping the World (Laurance A. Labadie) | 1 |
| Letter from PA Spain M.D. | 3 |
| Reply to PA Spain Laurance A. Labadie | 3 |
| Letter from ES Woodward | 4 |
| Response to Woodward Laurance A. Labadie | 4 |
| Letter from ES Woodward | 7 |
| Editor’s reply to Woodward Laurance A. Labadie | 8 |
| Note to readers (Laurance A. Labadie) | 10 |
| Letter from ES Woodward | 11 |
| Editor’s reply to Woodward Laurance A. Labadie | 14 |
| Editorial Note (Laurance A. Labadie) | 18 |
| Death Notice of Miss Margaret Crowder | 18 |
| Items received | 18 |
| Advertisements and misc. notes | 18 |
Discussion. | Vol. 1 No. 7 | November 1937
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8.5 x 11 | Pages: 20
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
Contents:
| My Friends (Laurance A. Labadie) | 1 |
| Letter from PA Spain M.D. | 2 |
| Reply to PA Spain Laurance A. Labadie | 2 |
| Letter from Wm. F. Fowler | 3 |
| Reply to Fowler Laurance A. Labadie | 4 |
| Excerpt from 2nd Fowler letter | 5 |
| Reply to Fowler Laurance A. Labadie | 5 |
| Excerpt from 2nd Fowler letter | 5 |
| Reply to Fowler Laurance A. Labadie | 5 |
| Letter from Wm. F. Fowler | 6 |
| Commentary on discussion with Fowler Laurance A. Labadie | 8 |
| The Money Problem in the Light of Liberty Laurance A. Labadie | 11 |
| Quote from William B. Green | 14 |
| Quote from Stephen Pearl Andrews | 14 |
| Letter from James Mill | 15 |
| Letter from WE Brokaw | 15 |
| Reply to Brokaw Letter (Laurance A. Labadie) | 16 |
| Letter from Lillian Buck | 17 |
| Unattributed letter | 18 |
| Reply to unattributed letter Laurance A. Labadie | 18 |
| Demurrage Money (Laurance A. Labadie) | 19 |
| Advertisement | 20 |
Discussion. | Vol. 1 No. 8 | November 1938
Subtitle: A Journal for Free Spirits
Edited by: Laurance A. Labadie
Published/publisher: Laurance A. Labadie, 2306 Buchanan St., Detroit Michigan
Size: 8.5 x 11 | Pages: 24
Notes about the issue in general and the examined item in particular:
The issue covered in a dark blue wrap, with no printing on the outside. Of note is the front-page item, excerpted from the booklet/essay “Prelude To DeCasseres’ Magazine” by Benjamin DeCasseres. It was originally published in 1932, six years earlier.
Contents:
| Excerpt from “Prelude To DeCasseres’ Magazine” by Benjamin DeCasseres | 1 |
| Note on DeCasseres Laurance A. Labadie | 1 |
| Letter from Benjamin DeCasseres | 2 |
| Reply to DeCasseres | 2 |
| Quote from Mark Twain | 2 |
| Fame and Fortune Awaits (Laurance A. Labadie) | 2 |
| Mr. Woodward Replies Laurance A. Labadie | 3 |
| Letter from ES Woodward | 3 |
| Commentary on Woodward’s Letter Laurance A. Labadie | 12 |
| True Civilization (excerpts) Josiah Warren | 13 |
| Comment on True Civilization Laurance A. Labadie | 18 |
| Letter from Stephen Byington | 19 |
| Commentary on Byington Laurance A. Labadie | 20 |
| Letter from HJ Schirmer | 20 |
| Commentary on Schirmer (Laurance A. Labadie) | 23 |
| Note on “American Fascism” (Laurance A. Labadie) | 24 |
| Advertisement | 24 |