The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-03-04

AOr IOtlOWlng ID tne IOOtStepS OF the
first Lover of the Poor were those who
cried out against the tencments. de-
manding for human beings the sun
shine and air cattlemen give their
stock. These unpopular ones were the
same who brought ice to keep milk
cool In the hot summer for the chill
dren Of the slums; these were the
crusaders against child labor, the
protestants against compelling the
women who bear the children OF the
race to work SO many hours each day
that exhaustion marred and marked
the physical and mental strength of
children.
So 1t was that these redeemed.
freed children of Russia learned Of
the cancer and feared 1t rs much us
the thing they had escaped.
None Able to Check Disease.
They beheld old-school politicians
acting as doctors to sick civilization.
These doctors. miscalled statesmen.
were agreed as to the cause of the dis
ease and that the symptoms threat
ened death. Many prescriptions have
been given the patient. but none seem
to check the disease. These prescrip-
government. the constitutional mon
archy. a democracy. republic. The
giving of these various treatments
failed to effect cure. Civilization
continued to suffer. At times pain be-
came uncomfortable and the doctors gave
local anesthetics These were the laws,
included under the general designation
Social Welfare Legislation" They
made the patient temporarily more
easy. They allayed pain that might
otherwise have produced convulsions-
Revolution.
And then these Russian people.
studying the new world into which
they had SO recently come. discovered
that many Of these political doctors
were quacks. they were unreliable and
dishonest. They were more interested
in their own fortunes than the fate of
the patient. They imposed upon the
people who hired and trusted them.
Their time and thought was taken up
In holding their Jobs, rather than In do
ing their work. That the schools of
political medicine. called political par
ties, responsible for these doctors,
were diploma mills. graft rings. That
some of the people suspected these
physicians Of being Interested in keep
ing the patient sick and were not max
ing an honest effort to cure. It had
even been rumored that there are peo-
pie in the world who make profit out
OF poverty; that special privilege is
the powerful profiteer of our day.
Turned to Old Theory.
Plato had spoken about another
remedy way back in the fourth CEN
fury before Christ. So had Marx. An
untried remedy-a theory. Its object
was to cure poverty. The Russians.
seeing that the remedies in common
use had failed, turned their thoughts
to this old remedy which had never
been tried. At least 1t had not failed;
this was In its favor. 1t was an ex-
pertinent, to be sure. but Nothing ven
tured. nothing gained" Many argued
that 1t could not more completely fail
than the prescriptions at present In
use.
And with the fall of Imperialism
there came into Russia one who had
been exiled. For many years he had
been a teacher and preacher Of the
untried remedy. Russia saw in him
n savior. He came with a message.
He said that communism would keep
them free. make them happy. They
listened. they believed. They were as
little children, so great was their
faith. To them promise was a truth
fulfilled, the word covenant; and the
promise was that peasants would have
their own land, that working men
would he their own bosses. 1t was the
word they had waited for. the realiza-
ton Of the dreams they had dreamed
in the dark treadmill. The Prophet
had come. The new day awaited
them. They reioieed and cried, Long
live the new Messiah" No one sacri-
legiously questioned the practicability
of the dream. Every one forgot the
common. controlling instinct Of man
selfishness. Maybe in the intense gen.
eral selfishness Individual selfishness
could not be seen.
The man was I.enine-the message
Communism.
Copyright. 1920. western Newspaper Union)
Food Smuggling In Germany.