The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-24
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK
A Defense of Gorky.

To the Editor of The Journal
It was to be expected that In this
Gland of the free and the home of the
brave' the recently arrived great Rus
sian and his woman companion, called
on arrival "Mme. Gorky,' coming on
the mission they did, should be re-
eeived with open arms by lovers of
be Ts o efBP e sra[1 gX5 nga tenn
dered the utmost hospitality. And SO
it happened. But all at once a change.
Altho in Russia Gorky had not been
ostracised because of his domestic rela-
tions, the emissaries Of the Russian gov
eminent told his hosts here that the
brilliant and charming woman with
him was not his wife. And behold, for.
a time, because Of the cowardice and
hypocrisy Of some and of the
''there is money in it, of others, and
because Gorky did not desire to en-
barrass others who rendered them hos
roof to shelter them. But horror
Of horrors! Worse was to come. From
st. Petersburg it was telegraphed to
the country Of Sam Adams, Patrick.
Henry and George Washington that
! Gorky and Nine. Andrieva were not
| reformers but revolutionists. Then
comes the suggestion that they are
proper subjects for deportation.
1t would seem that the American
people are having one Of those indis-
eliminating lspasms of morality to:
Byron, says the English people are sub
ject at seven-yearly intervals; and
then we, like them, will go to sleep
for another seven years. But while the
fever is on the appeal Of these Rus
sian patriots for outraged Russian
womanhood is to go unheeded.
! T h g urn a in recent editorial
! treaten the matter in a semi-serious,
semi ocular way. And it is a proper
serious.
celebration of the career of an Amer
lean revolutionist, the permanent sepul-
ture Of whose alleged remains, which
we had brought from France in one of
our warships, will be one Of the most
| elaborate, magnificent and impressive
funerals ever given to any person who
ever lived, and considering that John
Paul Jones is almost as noted for his
gauantries as for his naval victories,
unmarried woman he chose, but yet re-
manned unmarried, it would seem espe-
cially fitting that at%>this time we
should send from our shores because
they are unmarried revolutionists, a
man and woman devoted to another
as man and woman can be and inspired
by their great cause, whom Russian
law, which does not permit divorce,
will not let marry.
Then. too, the propriety of our diff
ferent attitude toward Jones and to-
ward Gorky will be manifest by the
fact that the government Of the Amer
lean colonies under George III was the
best government on earth in that day
while the present government OF Rus
STA is the worst on earth in this day
A country where "the young girl whis.
roof, her pity for brother knouted
and dragged half dead into exile for his
opinions. The next week she is stripped
naked and logged to death in the public
1 square. No inquiry, no explanation, nc
trial, no protest, one dead, uniform
silence. the law of the tyrant.'
In these United States one would
suppose that a man and woman, what
ever their domestic relations, who have
lives in peril that the best maidens
and mothers of Russia may no longer
as now, be put to death, and worse, by
the thousands annually for wishing Rus
STA free, would be given every assist
!, ance in their great work, even socia
! recognition.
If Gorky be deported, I would sug
gest that the moment be chosen when
8 President Roosevelt, in his speech in
0 the John Paul Jones ceremonies is
a comparing, as he probably will com
2 pare, Jones with Admiral Nelson, the
lover of Lady Hamilton. By a little
Q care, in these days of wireless teleg
8 raphy, it may be managed that the
0 ship bearing Gorky from our shores
may be passing thru the Narrows whe1
the acclamations Of the assembled thou
sands go to heaven at the coupling Of
a the names Of Jones and Nelson, whose
/ illicit relations with women, especially
+ Jones', the American revolutionist
. were notorious and fragrant.
Thus can we show our appreciation
e of the present relative Importance O
e things, our regard for realities rathe
e than for conventions, our sympathy TO
{. those who wish to make Russia gov
,. eminent, not Of men, but OF law. And
too, we can emphasize our consisten
y insistence on none but the convention
Il ally chaste being used by us in elevat
ing mankind or being honoTed by II
for their efforts in that hehaIf snc