The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-05-17

aloft and sit in high places God made
the world SO. and no laws which can
be made by any man can alter 1t.
There is no short cut in the millennium.
Work is the symbol Of worthy citizen
ship in free state, in free world.
Utopia can be realized only through
labor, and labor OF the head is less
labor than Is labor OF the hand, a fact
which the rcactionary experimenters
of Russia have overlooked in prepar-
ing the laws for citizenship In the Re
public OF the Soviets Of workers .
soldiers. and peasants deputies All
honest labor is honorable. Unpro-
ductiveness alone is dishonorable. for
1t partakes OF the nature OF crime.
the crime of living upon the toll OF
our fellow men. The future will have
little patience with the merely orna-
mental element in society. those who
feel that the curse Of Cain has been
so lifted AS to leave them free from
the Obligation to add TO the world 3
means OF subsistence.
Worlds Greatest Problem.
| |"rhe w6ri1ls greatest problem to-
day is not political. In the demo-
| ratio countries we have real. political
democracy No man who enters the
protected silence Of his voting booth
and marks his ballot, certain that 1t
will count as much as the of any
other citizen. can doubt that fact. Po-
| itical democracy is no longer the goal
| Of the struggling millions of mankind
| who dwell in what we properly call
| the democratic countries. Their eyes
are now fixed upon a new goal, which
! they call industrial democracy. To-
| ward it all free peoples arc now strug-
| Cling We all long to reach ito
| realize industrial democracy as COM
| pletely as we have realized political
| democracy; but the sane among US
| know that we cannot reach it by the
| murder of talent, by national or an
| international career of crime such as
that which makes Bolshevism men
| ace to the worlds progress.
We in America do not fear Boil
sh evism; for we know that revolu-
lions never go backward. Our people
| are not mad, and they will not per-
nit 80 reactionary a movement, even
labeled progressive" to find n per-
manent Judgment among us. The
Item millions who own their own homes
Twin say no, The ten million policy
tholders will say no, The fifteen mill
Hons who have just bought Liberty
/, Bonds will say, MOL The millions who
lhave their little capital, the legit-
innate offspring Of labor and thrift, in
tect their future. will say no. The
fathers and mothers who look with
lpridc upon virgin daughters and sons
trained to respect the sanctity OF
:, holy wedlock will say no, They
ihave watched the blood stained mad
mess in Russia and they will remem
) Der. They know that there is in
America no proletariat, no labor
ling class no capitalist"
We are all. il worthy of our name,
of the laboring class, and all eager
by honest labor and thrift. TO lay
aside that little board of surplus
which will make us also capitalists
We know that the dweller in America
whether OF native or of foreign birth
who speaks in terms of class, is not
an American. He is using words
which indicate a type of though,
which does not belong to America A
man who hates the rich because they
are rich. or who despises the poor be-
cause they are poor is not an Ameri-
can. He who opposes the legitimate
ambitions of labor or OF capital is
I'M American. He is reactionary
and the reactionary shall not enter
into the political, social and Industrial
Republic which we, the nation of
lmany races, are building. slowly
painfully. but patiently. making sure
OF each stone as we raise IL to its
lplace. Genius the French pro-
verb says. rs one long patience" and
it will require people of such genius
to solve the problem OF perfecting a
lsociety based upon equal opportunity
TO train and to use such talents as
each possesses. without the exploita-
ton OF the weak. or the hampering OF
the strong.
Fixed and Settled Order.
There is fixed and settled order
In the AFFAIR OF true republics an
order which the mind Of man cannot
reverse: First let the people know,
land then the representatives of the
people will understand
There exists today, even within
the walls of the national congress, a
feeling that our constitution is une-
quail to the task OF making real the
new and pressing demand for in
,dustrial democracy. This belief has
(opened to Bolshevism a vision of con-
quest. Schools have been organized
flor the purpose Of cultivating this
sbelief Eager young devotces, with
ia vision extending over fifteen or
/ twenty summers, and minds which are
| tabula rasa to every visionary folly.
throng the halls where sit old devo-
tees, cynics who view the world under
the single category-economic deter
Misunderstanding the poison designed
{ to complete the wreck OF what they
cali our capitalisttc empire.
/. "Our people are being scientifically
. and systematically persuaded that
! their dream of industrial democracy
cannot begin to be realized until after
"a revolution until our constitution
has been swept away to make room
for the new ideals Of Bolshevism, and
/, for q new constitution like unto the
constitution OF the Russian Socialist
Federal Soviet republic.
F: TT the people cannot be made to
!, realize that our. federal constitution
offers surer basir for Industrial do.
mocracy than - offered by that OF the