Norwich bulletin., 1919-04-16
FACTS AND COMMENT

the president really abandon the con- i ference, leave the rival statesmen to 1 settle their difficulties unassisted and, 1; returning to America, arrange a sap l arate peace with Germany, or was the approach of the George Washington
 merely a bluff? Whenever way the truth may lie, the fact remains that deliberation suddenly gave place to ac- tien. Had the old idea that mighS
 makes right prevailed ar tnIs peace conference, the terms of the treaty might have been pronounced as unhes- l itatingly as were those of Bismark in I 1871 and with as little compunction. Marshal F'oeh has the. power to enter Germany and seize or exploit all her | wealth and her resources, nor is it to be wondered at that France is de- | manding all and more than all that her cruel enemy can be made to pay. | But true to Ameria's demand for a | just peace, President Wilson would sanction no seizure of property except after calculation of daslage done and
 reparation due. Seizure of territory | too is barred, lest there be left an I other crime similar to that of Aisace- Lorraine as a germ of future wars. l Thus as was hoped, America by req | son of her very remoteness from the l turmoil of Europe is speaking the de- ciding word in the settlement of many | of Europe's own problems.
 | One need only recall the storm of protest and abuse that greeted Wood row Wilson on his arrival in America
 with the draft of the constitution for the league of nations, in order to ap- preciate the apparent stubbornness Of the other three members of the 'bis four" in pressing the claims of their respective countries. The political life of all three is depencent on their parliamentary majorities at home Those of the English people who have their hearts set on receiving full reparation will have to be appeased by Lloyd George, and it will take all his
 great powers to make it clear to them
 that Belgium and France have prior claim on Germany's resources. The
 enthusiasm that swept Italy into the
 war for the sake of Italia irredenta
 may well turn to indignation and
 sweep Orlando out of office, if he re-
 turns without all her demands allow
 ed. France with mines and factories
 unproductive for years to come is be- Il hind Clemenceau in his demand for
 full and immediate reparation. The
 three statesmen are too great to be suspected of self seeking Each of them knows that his work must be
 passed upon by an elected body at home and there must be no. room for
 suspicion that any effort to press the , national claims was left unused.
 None the less in spite of all difficult 7 ties, an immediate decision is impera = tive if any order is to be left in Gen. tral Europe. The threat to turn to
 Bolsheyism may not be made in earn i, | est everywhere, but unemployment hunger and unrest have already brought the curse into steady going SaXony and conservative Bavaria, and 3 it may yet spread to the Rhine. Many r of the German papers state openly s that bolshevism will be the inevitable D result of attempting to force the de- feated country to pay a substantial in
 demnity. The logic in the threat is ? in the fact that an in.emn:iy coafi ] hardly be collected from state where ) the large fortunes were all gone -anG private business enterprise non-exist-
 en.t. The Germans argue that the only
 way to collect an indemnity from sucl
 a government would be for the allie:
 to seize the entire country and run j n their own way. lnasmueh as the dem 3 ocratic gove&ments of France. Eng |, land and America would be unwilling a l to enter on a career us pro.onged oc ' 1 cupation, the Germans believe that lit y tie indemnity would ever be actual! n paid and the whole matter would dis 2 appear ttill1d IudIItlS dlilOliSs tiltt OC f cupying governments. BolsheVisn f could then be quietly laid aside a = having served the purpose for whicl D it was assumed. Without considering Il the difficulty Of ridding house of al = unwelcome guest, it may be accepte' e as true that little in the way of al e indemnity could be collected from Ger Q many should she fall into Russia
 present condition. Haste is therefor
 1 ho nf l,o Do ri
 conference if Germany is to be set a e work before the disintegration pro n ceeds much farther.
 Millions of lives and billions i
 treasure have been spent to make tn IS world safe for democracy. Now th l. problem confronts civilization to mak If democracy safe for the world. Ther '. are after all but two forms of gov III ernment, government by aT the peopl Ls and government by part of them. Tn l. former is democracy, while the latte o includes autocracy. aristocracy an o bolshevism. Whether the governin e powers are hereditary in singl It family or in a small group of famile L. or are vested in one class of the DOT Il ulation, the rest of the people ar :, not self governing. Now autocrac y and aristocracy have Deen brett thoroughly discredited as government 'o al systems not alone by the who l. course of history, but especially by tt y great war. There remain therefor l. only democracy and bolshevism, B,
 bolshevism differs from aristocrac ,d only in that it places all authority i ts ill the hands of the poor and ignorar .s instead of leaving it m ,ne hands Ut the rich and educated. Thus boIshe Is vism defeats itself. The ignorant ( os not know nor can they Know the vel D. difficult and complex art of governin n- and even if they govern in name, u G real power must needs be wielded l ,d those who are willing to appeal h '' to the reason. for the ignorant are n
 prone to reason. but to the animal pa
 sions that lie in all men, So arise u
 Lenines and Trotzkys who. once sea st ed, remain in power. Bolahevis
 ~ passes away in theory and in fact, al al tyranny takes it's place. The prese
 Russian regime is not bolshevik sar It ing only that it is the logical end It the bolshevik theory. Trotzky
 quite as much of an autocrat as VI he the kaiser in his palmiest days.
 an Not only does boIshevtsm defeat ot self in practice, but the theory ,, which it rests is wrong rom u .ie start The choice of the poor and i re- norant as the governing class is n fly made the assumption tna, they c;
 govern better than the rick and ed he cated but merely from motives of r he venge. Because the classes heret to fore privileged have at times abus
 their privileges and exploited tho -. less fortunate, bolshevism holds that IT. is now the turn of the latter to 2 ITS even. Thus injustice lies at the ve est base of the whole scheme. If it is tr
 that the only just, and therefore t n- only permanent, government deriy ir it's powers from the consent of t governed, bolshevism is no more del n0 ocratic nor can it be more permane
 than the systems that II IS trying 1,ol I .yi icr,1o