The Washington herald., 1919-02-23
RULED
BY CAPITALISM,
SAYS WILLIAMS
Unrest Prevails Under the
Surface in u. S., De-
clares Soviet Agent.
ASKS FOR FAIR PLAY
Must Not Stiae Discussion
of Grievances, He
Declares.

IF there is any violence in this
country, growing out OF the unrest
and grievances seething in the souls
Of many persons, it will make the
violences of Russia during the Boil
shevik revolution look like a tea
party"
This was the declaration Of Albert
Rhys Williams. writer. lecturer and
| former correspondent of the New
York Evening Post before the Over
man subcommittee of the Senate Ju-
dietary Committee yesterday.
Capitalism is the present organi-
zation under which we live" said Mr..
Williams. People who have large
sums Of money have absolute control
OF the press, at least a partial control
OF the pulpit, and in a certain sense
control Of legal utterances.
Inevitable In AmerIc.,
"A cataclysm is inevitable in the
United States unless YOU can drive
into the ruling class some impression
! of the unrest that prevails under
the surface, for it is Overwhelmingly
| present. The best way of avoiding
such a cataclysm is to give every
body free play TO discuss grievances.
remedies and such things, and not
attempt to stifie them as is done at
the present time"
Mr. Williams declarations followed
a hypothetical question by Senator
/ WolCott as TO whether with his pres
ent views he would favor the nation
aliZatiOn of industries in this coun-
| try without giving compensation, or
through violence. The witness de-
clared that personally he was op-
posed to taking over industries and
the land without paying for them
and also to the use of force
Mr.. Williams said in reply to a
| question of Senator Wolcott:
ernment have not taken the position
that the end justiffes the means, nor
have l. But there are groups in
the United States that take that
stand. Those men who deported the
citizens from Bisbee. Ariz., and at
other places, and have moved down
strikers and others with machine
/ guns, take that pisition. They are
the real anarchists in high life"
Considered "Incident Closed
Mr.. Williams told the commit
tee that he had been associated with
! the Soviet government in Russia
/ Tor several months. Furthermore nc
was delegated by the government
! of Lenine and Trotzky to open A
/ soviet bureau of information in
this country. This was never
/ opened, ne said. because he was in
| formed in Washington such a bu-
reau could not be established here,
and he considered the incident as
l closed"
Admission that he was "a parti-
san of Bolshevism" was made by
/ Mr. Williams. who claimed, how
/ ever, that there was no BoIshe-
| Nistic government in Russia. The
I Soviet government was not the gov
. ernment of one political party, but
/ of many. Papers advocating the
. overthrow OF the Soviet government
were suppI essed, it was said, ana
later this Suppression became even
more drastic.
Mr.. Williams. like other propO-
nents of Bolshevism. minimized the
( fatalities growing out of the Boil
/ i'shevist revolution saying that it
I was accomplished in Petrograd by
the killing of only fifteen or eigh-
teen persons, mostly Bolsheviki. In
/ the entire country, he claimed, that
only about $4,000 were killed.
1t was admitted that German Of
tiCers were in charge of BoIshe-
Wiki, but Mr.. Williams denied that
German influence had predominated.
In COntravention of this Mr.. WILL
Jams said that 80 per cent of the
100000 rubles appropriated for the
spread of BOlshevistic, propaganda
by the government had been spent
in Germany.