The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-02-20
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
tBy j. f. Jones)

What does Bolshevism mean? That's
the question n hears everywhere.
Government officials, from President
Wilson and Vice-president Marshall
down, have insisted that it must be
stamped out in America. That this is
no idle threat is evidenced by the ac-
tual work of deportation of undesir-
able aliens. Commissioner of mini
grafton Caminetti says that 5000 Of
these are to be shipped back to Eu-
rope at once. 1t appears likely. from
official information, that this will be
but the beginning of a cleanup in the
interest of America for Americans.
But what does Bolshevism mean?
Why is it so bitterly attacked and so
little explained? And when the ex-
PLANTATION is finally made, it is the Rus
sian Bolshevist theory that is handed
out to us by red-eyed agitators of the
anarchist type, who being unable to
furnish sensible opinions about the
American form of government, are
never relic upon by intelligent people
as authorities on the affairs of coun-
tries as far removed as Russia. Boil
sheyism, generally speaking, is an
European evil, that represents discon-
tent. and is a tester that breeds wars.
We will not attempt to analyze Euro
pean Bolshevism here. But there is
an easy answer to the question:: What
| iS RnlghpVicm in Amnrica and tho non
pie of this country should hasten to
acquaint themselves as to the mean
ing of this strange doctrine.
Senator Nelson of Minnesota, has
done a good service by inserting in
the Congressional Record the aims OF
Bolshevists in the United States as
proclaimed by their leaders in this
country. The statements should be
made into an official document and
circulated everywhere. The publica-
ton from which the material is col
lected, is called "Hunger-The Inter-
national Revolution" This publica-
ton purports to stand. for a lot of
things that no intelligent person wants
and it promises that 1.-The shams of the
present system may be presented and
subjected to analysis" 1t is printed
in Minneapolis, a city in which there
is nc hunger" but almost every par
agraph glares with the lie that all peo-
pie who work are hungry" and op-
pressed by the capitalistic class.
American Bolshevism is an insidi-
GUS and rabid form of class hatred; it
seeks responsibility by attaching it.
self to European "isms." 1t is So
cialism with the brains picked out. 1t
is not much different from the /. W..
W.-only if such a thing is possible,
It has less sense. 1t is a thing that
should be understood thoroughly in
the United States, because it needs
only to be understood to become an
outlaw among intelligent and respecta-
BILE people of every class.
The documents which Senator Mel
son has produced weave together the
most un-Christianlike, debased theo-
ries, that could be collated. The whole
underlying purpose is to create clam
or and build on class hatred. Gov
eminent is nothing, except a thing to
be destroyed. Not even a substitute
is offered. The whole doctrine is IN
true to anything that can be classed
as modern civilization. 1t is very
doubtful whether Bolshevism in the
United States is up to the standards
of our national life.
The Department of Education at
Washington is pressing its work
throughout the country to Americanize
the foreign born. The effort is per-
sistent to break up those communities
that conduct their affairs in foreign
tongues. The war put 483 German
newspapers out of business and these
papers reached three million subscrib-
ers a day. Germany was the worst
offender in peace times in perpetual
ing the customs of the parent nation.
But in our a%ntipathy and distrust of
Germany we should not overlook the
fact that ten million papers in for
eign languages are circulated in Amer
lea every week. There were approx
imately 33, 1000. 900 people in this coun-
try in 1910 who were either born
abroad or under foreign home condi-
tions and neighborhood environment.
In all there are ~thirty-eight different
language groups in the United States.
The war has brought the acid test to
millions of these people, and most of
them have proved loyal. But the
troubles with the disloyal ones make
it very plain that the bonds should be
drawn very tight, and Americanization
must become an accomplished fact
rather than an ideal.