The Washington herald., 1919-05-18

4 IoNllNtrD rhbM PAGk ONE.
To keep this machine of civi!izatio
lfunctioning smoothly all the time is
what gives the capitalist his interest,
the landlord his rent. the Iaborer his
job the business man his profits and
the consumer shoes for the baby,
Civilization or BoIsheyism.
And because the forty or fifty bill
lion dollars which the reparations
committee holds in trust is big
chunk of the worlds credit. it is of
utmost Importance to civilization
that the lid on the egg basket shall
be well guarded.
But we who ara in the system.
who are a part of the machine
scarcely realize that our east of the
| Rhine another kind of civilization
is trying to function. 1t cares
nothing for capital.
Indeed il is trying to abolish cap
! ital and replace it with community
credit. 1t cares nothing for rent.
For IT Is trying to abolish rent and
socialize land and land improve
mcnts.
| 1t cares nothing for wages. but
would guarantee every man who
| works a living. giving all certain
fundamental equaIities such as food.
clothing. shelter. amusements. edu-
cation, books and travel without
much difference in the share that
/ each has in the common stock. And
as for commerce. this civilization
trying to declare itself east of the
Rhine is striving to cripple COM
merce by reducing the processes of
business to the minimum. 1t is
more than a queer civilization.
1t is revolutionary. More even than
! that it is inexorably the enemy of
our civilization. The civilization of
the nineteenth century cannot live
| if this thing called Bolshevism sur
wives.
One or the other must go down.
Either we are going to have a
civilization in which interest. rent.
wages. credit and shopkeeping pre-
vail. or we are going to have the
civilization which is trying to es-
tablish itself in the Slavic coun-
tries and southern Germany.
Most people who would maintain
the present system hope more or
less vaguely that a gradual read
| justment from time to time Of in
terest. rent. wages and profits will
produce justice.
Large Groups.
They are willing to reduce inter-
est, rent and profits and thereby
Increase wages. but they cannot rea.
! lize that a world may not turn on
Its axis without these things.
But now in every country in the
! world a group more or less large
/ and probably growing. with some
/ certainty if not CELEBRITY. is forming
which would abolish all these fun
damentals of our nineteenth CEN
tury life.
For instance in Frf/lce. the
socialist party during the war was
only slightly in advance Of the
American progressives. But late in
April of this year the French So
ciaIists by an overwhelming vote
left the progressive position, and
adopted a program distinctly rev.
oiutionary and essentially Bolshe-
vik - certainly Bolshevik as nearly
as the French mind and French
temperament could express 1t.
The formal leadership of the
French socialist. passed into the
hands of Jean Tongue. a grandson
Of Karl Marx. Utter scorn for the
Peace Conference and all it's works
was shown by the French socialist
program.
Indeed. President Wilson. who in
January was the idol of the French
socialists. was told by resolution to
go home and release Debs and the
/. w. w. and thereby establish at
home the democratic guarantee of
free speech which he was talking
about so nobly abroad.
Speakers were cheered and denouuc-
ed the league of nations as a capital
istic scheme TO fool the workinGman
into Imperialism.
And all the fine dreams of middle
class justice for the workers were re-
iected as milk for babies. but UNIT
food for men. Now the Socialists in
France represent only about one-thlrd
or two-ffths of the voters of France
at best. But the Socialists have a ma
iority In Belgium. and are dangerously
near a ma ajority in England and Italy.
Socialism in France is not more radi-
caI than in other coutries. and in Eng
land the Socialists are forcing their
program upon Lloyd George and the
Liberals. SO that when one>ssys that
the civilization which we cherish so
dearly is really in danger. one is well
within the facts.
Danger Point.
And the place where danger will
hit is the committee on reparations.
There all the eggs of civilization are
an one basket. and FIVE men are
perched on the ~.
Tip over that basket, throw Europe
into panic and bankruptcy, force mil
lions of men temporarily into idleness,
spread industrial famine where war
has brought death and hardship. ana
It win be dark day for the fine
| house of credit and commerce, capt.
tai and wages. rent and interest
which we have been building up for
1000 years upon the doctrine OF Chris
tianity and Acknowledgements fault
| ily we may have built.
Now one of these two civilizations
must so; the world cannot live half