The Washington herald., 1918-10-21

which have contributed TO the up
building Of the /. w. W.. the Nom
partisan League and other organi-
zations in this country which were
found to be more than a milestone
about the neck of the nation once
1t entered the war.
4 But just as the magazine found
people ready to take 1t at face
value and make IL the guide Of
their lives in the past, It is rea-
sonable to suppose that in the
future, when peace comes. it will
pursue its radical tactics and con-
tinue to lead men to believe that
all government we have is wrong
and apt TO crush them If they do
not crush IL first.
Listen to this plant which Is
aired in the last issue and which
doubtless will be followed by others
as time goes on:
| Frederic C. Howe's book why
War; an honest and Intelligent
attempt to show the dangers of
economic Imperialism. has been
banned Just at e time when the
problems 1t discusses need to be
considered and understood by the
American people, and most of all
by the Intelligent young men OF
our armies who are to bear such
large share of the responsibility
of government In the years ahead.
| None of these censorships are in
themselves serious encroachments.
But the assumption from which
they spring is a serious matter.
il 1t threatens to become generally
accepted as the habitual assump-
ton of those in authority.
| Our melting pot presented prob
lens to the government at the begin
hing Of the war that were peculiar to
America and that justified some
measure of doubt as to what large
sections of the people would do. Those
| doubts have been resolved. and :he
| government should in turn abandon
its doubts and fears and distrusts.
After all, our American tradition is
young. and we must guard against its
\ pollution through ungroundad fears
of the melting pot by those in al
thortty, Such fear might too easily
become a habit. A New YGlk Jury
sitting in the Federal court. has given
the government a lead in this matter
1t voted eight to four for the acluit.al
of Max Eastman, Art Young, John
Reed and other editors OF the Masse5.
on trial for the second time for oypos-
ing the war early in the cumme- of
| 1917. The trial ended, as did the first
one, in a disagreement, and the papers
report that the case will never be
tired again.
1T is hardly likely that the gov
ar ant In =
/ following the conclusion OF peace,
Will give to our irreconcilables among
| the radicals the announcement and
strengthening that would accrue to
them II the many scores OF radicals
now in Jail should be forced to serve
! out their terms. These dissenters
have gone to prison not because the
American democracy willed 1t, but
because 1t has been too fully occu-
! pied with the task of defeating Ger
many to have any time or thought
| or sympathy left for a minority with
whose attitude IL could not agree,
OF whom it could not be patient. They
| insisted that we should stay home
from fighting a fatal cholera in or
der to be treated for indigestion, and
they exaggerated that indigestion un-
til II seemed to them as dangerous
! as the cholera itself.
| so long as the cholera menace
lasts, we shall have scant sympathy
with them. Yet the day will come
when we shall be grateful to them
for urging us to patch UP our in
ternal economy. What they most
feared was that in fighting cholera
we should get II ourselves. and that
meantime our indigestion would be-
come worse and worse. Most Of
them have changed their minds.
They see now that we really are
destroying the cholera germs, and
that meanwhile the strenuous exer-
else involved in the job is tremen-
dously Improving our digestions in
one unexpected way after another.
But we shall still require a powerful
lot OF doctortng. And there are men
now in Jail who can help"
The public complains because men
of unrestralned speech are looked
upon with suspicion and that their
h'erties arc taken away from them.
| 1t may be that the government is
treading upon dangerous ground here,
| but we believe not many mistakes
have been made in this respect The
| public, however, has only itself to
blame for some of these indiscretions,
for it was this magazine which helped
foster the spirit that lead these men
into Jail.
There is a dead line which men of
judgment never pass in public life.
Some men pass it and sail on, merely
to help themselves, while taking other
men less discreet and less respectful
OF law along with them. The men who
lead may counsel restraint. but they
are dealing with personalities thaJ
will not tolerate restraint The lead
ers have set their minds on fire and
it takes more than words of caution
from them to bring them to their
senses. And sometimes they are not
! brought to their senses even when
they have been brought up to the
doors of the Jail
No real patriots in this country want
to see a downtrodden class, nor 90
they want to see the classes of prfvi-
lege making life miserable for other
| classes. But 1t is a dangerous thing
to breed a series of ulcers on the body
of our government so that all who
| see 1t become suspicious both of the
body of government and the vital or
gans underneath.
Pacifism and radicalism are COM
rades of wickedness, and both are en-
couraged to growth by just such prin-
ciples as the public lays down. Con-
servatism is not an enemy of popular
government 1t is its best friend
Russia Is an example of unbridled
radicalisn, and Is just such a country
as ours would be II the public were
to realize every dream 1t has had,
every suggestion It has made.
The battle will come in the future