Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-05-16
The BoIshevik.

Bolshevism is surely the commonest topic of CONVEX
sation. One hears frequently the remark, Il don't quite
understand what a Bolshevik is" We wouldn't under
take to say what a Bolshevik sets out to be, but we
think any man who has been a soldier can tell you easily
what a Bolshevik plainly is.
No soldier of any experience has not time and again
arrived at a new camp or new bilets without discovering
that a reasonable amount of liberty is permitted. Some
one has realized that soldiers are human and refused to
deny them quite everything that human beings need.
Passes are given to the nearby city. And then-two or
three or a half dozen men who want everything go ahead
and gum up the g~ame''-with the neverfaiing result
that liberty ends for all. Fifty or a hundred men out of
an outfit of 200 or 300 men may be enjoying their evenings
in town and disturbing no one. But two or three or a
half dozen must get drunk, raise the devil, make trouble
for their French hosts and at length fall foul OF the mill
tary police. One result always-paSses are restricted, or
oftener, utterly denied, Perhaps this isn't the best solu-
tion. In the army it is almost the only possible solution.
And anyway it always happens.
ASK any soldier. He'll tell that time after time he
reached a new place to find that that the outfit there be-
fore his had spoiled the fun. Sometimes, there hadn't
been any troops ahead of his and they had a pretty good
time-until some two or three or a half dozen Grabbed
the game"
The two or three who spoiled things were Bolsheviki,
though they we're called much palmer and less distin-
tinguished things by their fellows. That's about all a
Bolshevik is, an old and TOO familiar friend, if you stop to
think of it. Give him everything in reason and he wants
more. Then he star5s in to make trouble, and-its al
ways the same-things are s'gummed up'' for everybody.
In the labor world, he's the enemy of labor. In the social
world he's the enemy of good times. In the business
world he's the enemy of sound business.
Oh, we've all had our Bosheyiki moments, the times
when we thought we'd leave undone all the things that
twenty or thirty years ofliying had taught us we must do
just leave them all undone and see what happened.
We've all had them, but we get over them and so man.
age to retain our classification as sane persons. Eve, her.
self, was feeling Bolsheviki one afternoon, and since
there we're no nerve specialists in those days, she wan
dered about disconsolate and fell in with a %propagan-
dist. She had everything in the world but one, but the
propagandist persuaded her she was very hardly used be-
cause she must keep away from the apple tree. Ever
since society has been paying up. Pandora was another
Bolshevik. And the worst of it all is that, like Pandora,
for every singing insect the Bolshevik let's loose to
plague himself, he sets fee 10000 to disturb his neigh
bors.
There's only one thing to do with a Bolshvik, Don't
greet him with the welcome, 'My dear Professor, won't
you tell us something about your distinguished foreign
'ismP' Remark to yourself: Here's the old trouble
maker in fancy Dress, = and-Step on h~im.-MLwAUKEE
JOURNAL.