The Little River news., 1918-08-03
uY W e f 1gnt
f-1
 No .
Because Cermany Meaaces the Frsedom of ehA World ed Russia
 Caa no Loafer Resist
By CLARENCE [. SPEED

1 By CLARENCE [. SPEED
 Secretary of the War Committee ot ttse Union League Club of ChicaEO. l We arc in this war with Germany
 because it is war for freedom more
 truly than ever before was war
 fought for the liberty of man. In times past, it is true, men have fought for
 freedom from cppressors. Sometimes
 they have won and sometimes they 1, have lost. But always there has been
 place in this big world where those
 who had lost in the struggle at home
 might go and find country where
 they might enjoy the liberty they
 loved.
 Now all is different. If the forces which are fighting for freedom in tiais
 war are defeated, there will be no
 place in the whole world to which they
 may go to find . refuge from Prus- sian domination. Every land under | the sun will be directly or indirectly
 under control of the victor; and if the victor is autocracy. freedom per lshes.
 The land where freedom Is most im-
 minently menaced by the legions of Prussian autocracy, at this moment, is the land where unwOnted freedom temporarily has run riot and has lost the power to fight for itself-Russia. We are fighting for the freedom of Russia, and must continue to fight for it until Russia learns what freedom means, and is again able to fight. If we do not, freedom will die in Russia
 Prussian autocracy will rule and ex-
 ploit the country for it's own benefit; and the very forces which overthrow the czar will be turned against the freedom not only of themselves, but O. other lands.
 In years gone by. when the forces of revolution were showing themselves here and there in Russia, they had the
 sympathy of America in spite of the methods of terrorism of which we lid not approve. When the czar and the kaiser, leaders of autocracy, were locked in a death grapple, Russia still had our sympathy, because she was fighting on the side of those who were seeking to safeguard the world from Prussian militarism.
 When the czar was deposed over night American feelings were mixed.
 There was joy at the downfall of an
 old, and sometimes cruel autocracy,
 but there was fear that Russia would
 become too disorganiZed to fight fur
 ther, coupled with the thought that per
 haps the revolution had come too soon
 to be effective.
 Then followed the brief regime of
 Kerensky, when it began to look as
 though freedom in Russia might be an organized freedom, prepared to fight for its rights, and all America hailed the Russian revolution as blessing.
 It had become absolutely correct to
 say that the war was war of demOc-
 racy against autocracy. No pro-Ger-
 man could longer point to the czar,
 whenever an argument arose.
 Finally came the bolsheviki revolu-
 ton, in which Kerensky was over
 thrown. Russian industry and Rus
 sian society were disorganized, and
 Russian armies ceased to fight. The kaiser's armies pressed on unopposed.
 took what they desired in spite of signed peace. and Russia appeared to be about to pass completely under con trol of Germany. America stood aghast at the prank freedom had
 played, and American opinion turned
 largely against Russia, but thinking
 men refused to give up hope. Rus
 sia was and still is incapable of offer
 ing resistance, but Russia is not re-
 signed to autocracy. It devolves upon
 others to fight for the freedom Rus
 sia must have.
 The experience of other nations has
 been that men who loved freedom
 were willing to fight for 1t, and to die
 for 1t if necessary. The Russian -at-
 titude of nonresistance was something
 new in the world, and Is hard to un- derstand. The bolsheviki represent
 ed the extreme idea of liberty. To them freedom meant not the right of the majority to choose their form of government, but the right of the indi- vidual to be free from all forms of governmental restraint. They would tear down the old order completely, at one stroke, and set up the mill ienium. They would divide the land, the factories and the tools among the
 workers, and have no masters hence forth
 Even in Russia, however, there were dissenters. Some took up arms; and the bolsheviki, who fought the Ger
 mans not at all. fought their brothers most ferociously. The result was an-
 archy, lawlessness, massacre. the dis organization of the railways and the
 failure of the food supply. The mil. lenium refused to come at the mere deo-ee of the bolsheviki. It was shown that there must be organization and government of some sort.
 Russia will not longer fight side by