The sun., 1919-10-25
PARADOX RULES
LIBERTY FARLEY
Anarchists Wish to Know How
They Can Call on Police
for Protection.
BRITISH DELEGATES HERE
Assert Laws Abroad Are Hard.
er on Radicals, but Amer
leans Deny 1t.

A two day conference on THE Anglo
American Tradition OF Liberty opened
yesterday at the Hotel McAlpin with
the announced purpose OF the formula
ton OF closer relationships between
Great Britain and America. Prominent
radicals from the mother country were
there in force and had perfectly lovely
time wing with their brethren in the
States as to which ia the more auto
cratic and utterly abandoned. King
Georges Government or Woodrow Will
sons. Each in turn capped the other
with some instance of oppression. No
sooner did j. A. Hobson or Holford
Knight with their charming cultivated
English accents tell OF some crime
against civil or political liberty in the
tight little island across the water than
up bobbed Leon r Whipple or Albert De
Silver of New York with passionate de-
tails of the Rose Pastor Stokes verdict
under the espionage act or the way the
Post ONCE Department suppressed The
Mosscs.
Al the close of the days sessions hon
ors were about even. though Mr..
Whipple-who explained with an air OF
proud melancholy that he had been dis.
the University OF Virginia. The institu
tion founded by Thomas Jefferson" be-
cause he differed with some other per
sons about the war-well, MIR. Whipp!,
said that az a connoiseeur OF mobs he
knew that America had more mobs AMI
more vicious nobs.
British Fail TO Deny Boast.
I'VE are q bit closer to the biological
beast than England is." he explained
and the English delegates did not at
tempt to deny 1t.
The conference was held amid the
subdued, well bred and harmonious
fittings of the Colonial Room. and one
glace at the conferees gave the COM
forting assurance that no one need fear
that divine dissatisfaction with the
Government they live under is going TO
make those leading radicals neglect
themselves either physically or sar-
torially. II was as nice looking and full
fed and we'll dressed an audience as one
could find--a wild head of hair here and
there, perhaps, but on the whole quite in
harmony with the prosperous back
ground of the hotel in which IL as
sembled.
Anna Strunsky waliing (Mrs. Will
lam English Wallina) was there In a
wonderful. wildly tinted gown. plead
ing eloquently for the right of those
who would destroy the Government to
invoke its protection. Mrs. j. Sergeant
Cram strolled in attired In a fashionable
and becoming fall costume. Dudley
Field Malone was among those present.
but for some unknown reason he did not
speak. This caused considerable COM
ment.
The afternoons discussion was de-
voted to a consideration OF laws and
Government proceedings In England and
America, past and present. to which the
conferees objected. Mr.. De Silver. after
reviewing the espionage act. complained
that men and women are still being
deported because OF what they think"
A herd spirit Of fierce intolerance" he
poet calls the land of the free and the
home OF the brave
How Make Calm NaIuattont
The heresy hunt goes on" said Mr..
De Silver. who is a young man OF large
proportions, especially about the lower
jaw, but mild and gentle OF utterance, as
a true radical should be. Sometimes
II hunts one thing, sometimes another.
During the war Il was directed against
paclfsts. Now II turns its attention to
Ing. Is II possible for America to make
calm valuatione7"
There WAS a slight ripple of dismay
whom one Of the speakers said there was
no doubt that reformers had got to meet
the seeming paradox of how can an
anarchist say: 1T want TO overthrow
the State: give me police protection -
The disapproval was more manifest
when a man named Durand. with many
apologies, yentured the opinion that per-
haps II would be impossible for any
group to survive II individuals set up
their conscience against the Govern
ment Then II was that Mrs. Walling
with her cleaning smile. leaped into the
breach.
That 10 no paradox" she cried. at
10 very clear and simple. Meet II by the
clear and simple answer, the Just de-
rnand to the authorities SO called: Il
have a right TO call upon you for pro-
lection. even while I seek to destroy
you.'"
Well known English delegates to the
confab are r. w. Pethick Lawrence.
pioneer English feminist Gilbert Can
non. playwright; N. w. Ever and Mrs.
Monica Ever. To-day there will be two
sessions. at which the speakers will dis
cuss international Aspects" and Flu
ture Attainment" The delegates have
been entertained at dinner at the City
Club and the conference will wind up
with another dinner tonight at the
Hotel Commodore.
- 80 ~-~-lF~xxg,