New Britain herald., 1918-12-23
MENACE OF ROLSHENISNI.

Professional theorists who are fond of considering BolsheVism only in the abstract and who hide their heads in the sand ostrich-liIic Whenever the possibility of BolsheVism in America is discussed could obtain valuable en- lightenment from the daily press, which they profess to scorn. Six weeks ago BolaheVism was d state of affairs which was popularly sup posed to be peculiar to Russia. To- day it has overrun the larger part of Europe and only desperate measures are preventing it from gaining ground in other countries. Nearly every neWspapcr-and a newspaper is the mirror of the world-carries dis patches telling Us of the gain of BOl- shevism abroad, and when we accept the situation and prepare to counter act it's influence on this side of the Atlantic just so soon will we begin to arm ourselves against an evil that is certain to cast it's shadow on our shores
 Published in the New York Times are two dispatches from different points on the subject of BolsheVism which reveal more clearly than ever before the true situation in Europe.
 Harold Williams. Times correspond ent in Geneva. Switzerland writes:
 Europe is strewn with guns,
 machine guns, bombs and ammu-
 hilton, all the leavings of a great
 war, and everyone and no one is
 master Of these instruments of
 destruction
 Frontiers and lines Of denmark
 ation are swaying. Agreements
 are made today and broken to-
 morrow, and save for a few cases
 there IS not a government from
 the Rhine eastward that is not
 desperately beating the air and is
 liable to be swept away ton1or-
 row.
 What we. in the smugness of our homes. like to consider the social or der. a place for everything and every thing in it's place, has ceased ,C eX- ist for millions in Europe. Turbulen- cy carries everything before it. Mine teenth century civilization has brok- en down., Williams says after declar ing that "the spectacle of European ruin is simply appalling.
 From Paris Gertrude Atherton cables to the Times that the dread of approaching Bolshevism overshadows 1f y-io4 that "AIf the French people whom l have met (and they tell me they are by no means solitary thinkers) are almost as uneasy when the sound of eaflnon roared through the streets of Paris and the red flashes could be seen on the horizon. Germany is done for but the Bolshevlst storm is laundering in the east and they know the European world is still rocking The writer claims to have learned from Lord Nothcliffe that a million Bolsheviki are marching west from Russia.
 That is the situation In Europe. How about America? Will we have Bolshevism? We are told that the numerous middle class is a barrier against that Every American hopes so but in his heart every American is not so confident or brave as his words would suggest, Already murmurs of discontent have been heard in large communities and whispers can be heard on every street ever in smaller cities.
 There is no effect without cause. There is a reason for everything be- ing or not being. The cause of the unrest in this country is the high price of necessities of life with a cor responding decrease in g. mans earn ing power
 It will work no benefit to shut our eyes to the situation. Bolshevism has not secured a grip in America yet be- cause we are a nation well poised men tally. But unless methods are adopted to fight off the nightmare the balance may be destroyed.
 Those who prefer to smile at the situation are referred to a statement made yesterday by Major Lucian F. Burpce of the State Guard that there are approximately eighty thousand I. W. w. and Bolsheviki in Connecti- cut who will bear watching. Major Burpee made this assertion in connec- ton with an argument explaining why the State Guard should be cou- tinued in existence.