Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-15
BEHIND THE STRIKE

pOUND-EIED surprise in the De.
~ partment of Justice at the discovery
that William u. Foster is lurking some
where behind the railway strike and
pulling sensitive wires is, perhaps, the
most surprising revelation in the days
news
What did the detectives. the attorney
general and the railway officials think
Mr.. Foster would be doing at n time like
this! Gathering buttercupsi Playing
ukulelc? Taking his case at Palm
Beach, lcninc is somewhere behind
the strike. too. Trotzky is somewhere
behind it, Every one who would like to
, ditch the established social and economic
order is somewhere behind it and some
how interested in il.
II this is news to the Department OF
Justice. 10 tho President aud to the
members Of his cabinet it is not news
to all the other normally intelligent
people OF the country. And it should
be no moro surprising TO find rebels like
Mr.. Foster in the background now than
1t would be to find Mr.. 1umulty in the
White House or senator in the Senate.
Each functions in his appointed place.
And the surprising thing is that since
Bolshevists are actually bad lot they
should be nightly and constantly helped
in their work by masses and multitudcs
of people who profess to detcst them.
\ drifting government. n drifting
Congress. an cnfccblcd President. drift
ing railroad organizations. II drifting
attorney general have united with
protitecrs Of all sorts 10 neglect and
harass tho workers in the most i'm
portant of all public utilities and
created shining opportunities for the
apostles of unrest. Is it to be supposed
I chat Mr.. Foster and like minded men
would let such opportunities pass?
Discomfort ana disillusionmcnt in
large groups Of wage earners is the raw
material Of the Bolshcvists' trade. The
Department of Justice. therefore. will
have TO push its diagnosis a little
farther. It will have to say that while
Mr.. Foster is behind the strike. untold
numbers Of Americans who like to be-
called conservative are actually behind
Mr.. Foster, giving him the aid and
comfort without which Il" rouldn t
junction at all.
, y Nrt.od and general implication Of
diNloyalty aimed at the striking railway
men came with poor grace from a cab
met meeting dominated by Mr.. Palmer.
To tell th" truth about these men Is
enough. They adopted a desperate aud
rCprchenSible methCd. Had they been
abe they would have dragged all the
people in other industries down into
, hardship and id.CncSs by tying up th"
transportation system in n hard knot.
Theirs was Il gesture Of terrorism chat
had I" invite the Stcrnest sort of 0p-
position from a country concerned about
it, own safety now and in thc future.
Hut no one familiar with tho funda
mcntaiS of the strike will suppose that
any considerable number Of the railway
workers were willing rebels or actual
converts to tho Foster idea.
Tn" situation by which radical agi-
rators ar" trying to profit was made
TO order for them. II was not whouy
created by thc men empluycd ou thr
railways. II was the precise sort Of
situation that all apostles OF unrest view
with glcc If they rise now in the
background ard point to it az iustihra-
tion of themselves they are doing only
the inevitable thing.
Mr.. Palmer and the President him
self may remember that tho rail work
orS have tried every other method for
wage rcadjuStmcntS made imperative, in
their opinion 10y the oppressive costs OF
living. And even white they were being
subtly charged with following after bol