The Mena weekly star., 1919-04-17
COULDN'T HUSH
 THE DOLSHEV|kS
The Reds Were Persistent in Propa- ganda at Archangel-Made Night ly Harangues Across No-Man's
 Land in Northern Russia.

their propaganda among the Ainet'' can troops fighting under the North ern Lights. The Associated Press has had a correspondent with the Al lied forces in Northern Russian thru out the entire campaign. His dis- patches by cable and mail have given inc only detailed accounts of the ac- tivity of the American forces; in fact, he has reported every skirmish be- tween the Allies and the Bolshevikl Army. He also told exclusively the story of the recent refusal of one American infantry company to go to the front line trenches, later con- firmed by General March, chief of staff of the army.
 Regular Lectures for Tanks.
 A letter received today is particu- larlv timely because it throws a clear light on Che Bolshevist methods which General March discussed in Washing ton today in his weekly conferences with newspaper men. The letter, which tells of the Bolshevik propa- randa from the first effort when over lures from the enemy were received with ridicule down to the moment when homesiclness made some of the doughboys more receptive to the in- sidious oratory and literature, is as follows:
 The Worlds Best Propagandists.
 Archangel, February 12.--That the Bolsheviki are the worlds best propa- gandists was demonstrated during the long, cold nights that occur in this region.
 Down on the line of the highway to Petrograd, along which are the graves of the Americans who have fallen and where Yankees had been fighting for months around a little B-house village called Kadish, the Bolshevik orators showed how expert they were in spreading their views. Generally they talked in Russian, their speeches being translated by in- terpreters in the American ranks.
 Occasionally they sent to Petro- grad and got some ex-American im- migrant to give lectures in English on the reasons for Bolshevism to a more or less interested audience of doughboys on the other side of No Mans Land.
 There were formal state occasions when Bolshevik officer would cry out from the dark that he wanted to talk to an American soldier A lieuten- ant of q captain would go down to the middle of the bridge to meet him The American officer would take his interpreter with him and the thres would stand in the cold or rain.
 These conferences usually began with mutual inquiries about the stat' of health of the prisoners held by th' respective forces and ended with thu Bolshevik officer kindly requesting that an armload of Bolshevik printed propaganda matter be handed to thu American troops. Perhaps this wa against the rules of warfare, but thu American officers, generally speaking could see no objection to it, as the. were much in need of paper, and tn propaganda helped keep the troop happy. The Tanks would laugh al night at it and then go out and figh in better humor the next day.
 It was on this same sector that thu Bolshevilxi, thinking that it might stii up discontent among the Americans if they knew that the war in Franc was ended, decided to advertise tn fact.
 This the Bolsheviki did in th, night, hanging large red banners printed in English, to trees. Thes, banners blazoned forth in great whit letters on their red background tha s'The Workingmen of France an, England and Germany Have Mad Peacep and urged the Americans t come and do likewise.
 In the printed propaganda, most o which by the way, either bears tn signature of an English iournalis who has joined the Bolshevist admin istration in Moscow, or shows tn handiwork of some Russian journalis who once worked in New York, grea stress is put upon the claim that th' Bolsheviki are workingmen and in vitinc the Americans to come ant join the happy proletariat.
 The Americans, so they themselve
 
 declare, have not yet figured out fo themselves why they are up here aft CT the war with Germany is finished but they also say they took no stocl in the "downtrodden workingmeI stuff" of the Bolshexiki
 "Working1nen," one of the Yanks remarked disdainfully, they never did work; they're lot of long haired never-works."
 The BolsheviE in this propaganda tried to convince their foes that they were not as bad as they were painted particularly with reference to treat ment of prisoners. As the Tanks ID here have got it. the Bolshevists kill prisoners, and because of what they know about this. they call him the ssbolo."
 The Americans have seen some oi this brutality. There were five mutt lated bodies of Americans dawn Ust vaga way in Shenkursk sector, tha' outweighed all the Bolshevist propa gandas, but on the whole, one day down on the Kadish line the Bolshe wiki sought an excuse to trot out ans show our soldiers how well the! treated their prisoners. They brough out one American who had been miss ing a long time and also Scot, il