New-York tribune., 1919-05-06

tory of the Socialist and democratic opposi-
ton to Boshevism might possibly be at
tributed to chance, though he would be
bold man who would so contend. But your
olstortlon OF particular episodes cannot
even by the widest stretch of charity. be
so explained. You treated, with character
lstlc oenunclatlon, as lie out of the whole
cloth, the press story Of an intended massa-
ere on November IL. Yet it was not that
kind Of an untruth; 1t was a report that
had plausible basis. Even "The Liberia
tor" which usually shows an entire absence
Of fairness, forgot itself for the moment
and explained, in its January issue, the
origin Of the story. The threat of a general
massacre, admits "The Lberator," was
actually made, ain heated speech" by
Zlnovieff, then president of the Petrograd
Soviet. 1t is unlikely that you are ignorant
of what appears in "The Liberator." Weeks
have since passed. but you have made no
mention of Zinovieff
Fomenting Revolution
On December ID you INDUCED in some
rather elephantine humor over the charge
that Bolshevik funds were being used to
foment revolution in Germany. On Janu-
ary 1S you granted yourself another in
dulgence in the same pleasantly. Yet moth
ing is more certain than that these funds
were used. The fact has been admitted
by the Bolshevists Jotfe and Radek and by
certain of the Independent Socialists, par
ticularly Cohn and Haase. Jofe says that
up to December 23 altogether 24,O0O0OO
the German revolutionaries. The matter
has been widely discussed in the German
press and has been further debated in the
National Assembly at Weimar. That some
part of the funds may have been intended
for the relief of Russian prisoners may
may not be true; but no reasonable person
now denies the essential truth Of the orig
inal story. Nevertheless, though weeks have
since passed, you have made no admission
of the unfair treatment you gave to this
episode.
There are many other similar instances
which I could mention but for the present
these will do. You suppress one kind Of testi-
mony, and you disseminate the opposite kind.
But your distortion and suppression are not
limited to the mere matter of the juggling
of testimony. In your editorial comment
you carry the work further. You constantly
assume as facts what the most reputable
witnesses assert to be untrue. You constant
ly declare or imply that all the opponents
of the Bolshevki are reactionaries, in spite
Of the fact that most of the noblest and the
best of the Russian progressive elements have
opposed these usurpers. You repeatedly pay
out praise to yourself for your alleged prac-
tice of truth telling, although other jour
nal so uniformly distorts the truth; and you
repeatedly harp upon the alleged lying" of
other journals, although these journals have
printed the most dependable testimony that
has come out of Russia And you never fail
to pour out upon those persons, no matter
how upright, who oppose your position
stream of objurgatory epthets.
Laura yean Rhetoric
OF course, this editorial manner Is tradi-
tonal one in your office, and perhaps there
is no escape from it. 1t comes down from
the days of Z. L. Godkin. There is, however,
a difference Godkin scattered the largess
OF his odium in cynical dsdain you people
do the thing in riotous frenzy. Your journal
has long been the particular organ of the
college, professors ana deIached 1HIeIiectualS,
and this manner is after their hearts desire.
These cloistered savants are, in the main,
tmd folk who do not ordinarily venture
far from their sheltered retreats. But what
they lack in contact with actual life they
make up in imaginative adventure. just
as shopgirls and serving maids find escape
from the trammels of everyday life in the
glowing pages of Bertha Clay and Laura Jean
Libbey, identifying themselves with the hero
ines of these romances and listening to the
ardent wooing of princeings, lordlings and
rich manufacturers sons, these faineant
intelectuals ride to glorious adventure on
the wings of your denunciatory rhetoric
Your battles become their battles; and they
see themselves the doughty victors on thou
sand fields.