The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-02-12
TIME TO CALL A HALT

= 4-f-1 = "a - -
Germanisrn and now is called
bolshevism. France and Eng
land refused, and Mr.. Wilson had
eventually to recognize, since he
entered the war on their side.
that they We're right Unhappily
those honorable scruples Of his
the lives of millions of men. The
would have thought it would
have been better understood.
In La victoire. Gustave Herve
writes:
The sermons Wilson has adj
dressed to the different Russian
parties are the same he adj
dressed with evangelical pa
tience to the belligerents in the
great war for two years before
deciding to take part in the
quarrel If Lenine refuses the
Cancellation offered he will put
himself in a bad position, and
then without scruples the good
judge of international peace will
draw his powerful sword and an
initiate the demon who has re-
fused his olive branch This
method has the great drawback
OF prolonging the suffering of
the patient. What blood and
suffering might have been saved
II Wilson had not waited nearly
three years before taking the
side Of the victims In the war
against their executioners!
The Echo de Paris characterizes
the proposition as insane" L'Action
Franchise calls 1t ridiculous" The
Gaulois says it Is "perilous," and 50
on through all the French common!
save that from socialist sources.
There and there only the presidents
benevolent attitude toward the Dol.
shevik butchers Is eulogized.
Rumor attributes the origin of the
plan to Lloyd George. Why England
wished Mr.. Wilson to pull her chest
nuts out of the fire is open to any.
ones guess. But Mr.. Wilson pulled
them Prediction of the official an
nouncement is unmistakable II
smells OF the long-familiar type
writer leagues away. 1t lacks abso-
lutely nothing to confirm identified
ton save perchance a may ] not
and an "acid test" here and there. 1t
is President Wilson'S own document
and worthy of him at his visionary
worst. Take for instance this as.
tonishing clause:
The associated powers recog-
nize the revolution without reser-
walton, and will in no way and in
no circumstances aid or give
countenance to any attempt at
counter revolution 1t is not
their wish or purpose to favor
or assist any one of the organ
lied groups now contending for
the leadership and guidance OF
Russia as against the others,
What revolution Is recognized
without reservation Is it the
revolution which overthrow the car,
or the financed, Hun-inspired
Lenine-Trotsky revolution which
overthrow an embryo orderly gov
eminent and made Of Russia a
traitor to her allies and the theater
of wholesale murder, arson and
brigandage? Is it any one Of half
uOZen OIner revolutions or which
this was either the parent stem or
the provocative cause? And what
counter-revolution is it that will not
be tolerated? Is it counter-revo-
luton that would restore decency
under a sane democracy and over
throw the red ruin of the prevailing
anarchy, or does it mean merely a
counter-revoIution? There
is nothing to show what it means.
1t is as vague and befogged as the
fourteen commandments themselves.
1t puts the unspeakable bolsheyik as.
sassins and brigands on the same
moral level with decent supporters
of law and order. 1t asks the fathers
and sons of those wantonly tortured
and murdered to clasp in cordial grip
the hands of those who did the tor.
turing and numbering. 1t is an in.
suit to every decent Russian on the
face of the earth, and as such has
been repudiated and excoriated by
decent, law-abiding Russians every
where And this is the first achieve.
ment to date of the Reconstructed
world psychology! Senator Hard.
ing's words were not one whit too
strong. The world today does owe
a very large part Of the growing
menace of bolshevism to the utter
ances OF the chief executive of the
United States.