New-York tribune., 1918-09-12
/. r. Denour1ces
"Bolshevists" i'm
Nations Politics
Especial Dispatch to The Tribune)


KANSAS CITY, Sept lin an edi-
torial in "The Kansas City STAR en-
titled Good Luck to the Anti-Bolshe-
visits of Kansas" Theodore Roosevelt
writes:
"The absolute prerequisite for sue
cessful self-government in any people
is the power of self estraint which
refuses TO follow either the wild-eyed
extremists or radicalists, or the dull
eyed extremists OF reaction. Either
set of extremists viii wreck the nation
just as certainly as the other. The
nation capable of self-government must
show the Abraham Lincoln quality of
refusing to go with either. The dread
tul fate which has befallen Russia is
due to the TACT that when the people
cast off the tyranny of the autocracy they
old not have sufficient seif-contro and
common sense to avoid rushing to the
other extreme and plunging heaeNong
INTO the gulf of Bolshevist anarchy.
. n this country there are plenty Of
hlghbrow Bolshevlsts who like to think
OF themselves as ntellectuals and who,
IN. parlors and at pink teas, preach
Bolshcvism as a fad They are fatu-
ously ignorant that it may be a dam
gerous fad. Some of them are mere
make believe, sissy Bolshevists, almost
or quite harmless. Others are sincere
and foolish fanatics who mean well and
who do not realize that their doctrines
tend toward moral dsintegration
Danger in Non-Partisan League
But there are practical Bolshevists
in this country who are in no sense
highbrows. The l. W. W. and the Nom
Partisan League, just as long and so
far as their members submit to the do
minion of leaders like Mr.. Townley,
represent the forces that under Lenine
and Trotky have brought ruin in Rus
zsla. III these organizations obtained
power here they would cast this coun-
try into the same abyss with Russia.
The American people when fully
awake and aroused will tolerate neither
treason nor anarchy. No Americans
are more patriotic than the honest
American labor men, and these, above
all, bad cause to rejoice in the verdict.
Undoubtedly there are plenty of poor,
ignorant men who join the l. w. w
because they feel they do not receive
justice. We should, all of us, actively
unite in the effort to right any wrongs
from which these men suffer But we
should set our faces like flint against
such criminal leadership as that of
the I. W. w.
Hopes for Radical Action for Farmers
"The Non-Partisan League endeav-
ored to ally itself with the |. W. w.
after we entered the war. When the
league was started | felt much sym
pathy with its avowed purposes. l
hope for, and shall welcome, wisely
radical action on behalf of the farmer
But only destruction to all of us can
come from the VenomOuS class hatred
preached by the present leadership of
the league. Some of its leaders have
been convicted and imprisoned for
reasonable activities. Some of the
leagues representatives have been ac-
lively pro- German. Some are Social
lists or Socialist anarchists.
"Mr Townley's leadership in its
moral purpose and national effect en-
titles him to rank with Messrs Lenine
and Trotzky, and the utterances of the
leagues official organ, especially in its
appeals to class hatred, put the official
representative of the league squarely
IN the clan with the Bolshevists who
have done such evil in Russia.
81 have no doubt that the rank
and file Of the members Of the league
are good honest people who have been
misled. | am certain that there has
been much neglect of the rights of
farmers and that it is high duty for
this country to begin constructive,
practical agricultural policy. But no
good American can support the league
while it is dominated by its present
leadership. The Kansas citizens who
have Joined to fight the league because
it represents Bolshevism are render
ing patriotic service to America"
Copyright 1918 by the Kansas City Star