The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1920-07-01
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War;
RUSSIA'S TRIAL OF SOCIALISM
Ultimate Good to the World Looked
for From the Practical Test
Now Being Made in That
Country.
Article XIV.
BY FRANK comERFoRp.

has been growing. Before its advo-
Gates can be silenced they must be
shown. Out of the test of socialism
In Russia Is bound to come good
Whether the theory is a practical one
or not putting IT to the test will an
swer question, satisfy a demand,
and tend to quiet unrest.
The fair-minded investigator cannot
deny that there was justification and
reason back of the effort to try the
remedy. That the world has been suf-
fering from poverty cannot be denied.
| have found few men, even among the
| conservative, responsible leaders OF
business and governments in Europe,
who did not admit that conditions in
the world before the war were not
right; that some change in the order
| of things was inevitable; that the dis
| satisfied elements In society were com
ing together and that unless men were
given better lives, they were deter
| mined to fight. The working man was
deterioratfng physically under the
strain Of brutal working conditions
ical energy for the number Of calor-
les of food he was getting. The haemO-
globin count, the red corpuscles. were
disappearing from the blood OF the
working people. 1t was not a theory
one could see it In the faces and move
ments of the people. Medical men
recognized the fact. walk through
the poorer district Of any industrial
city In Europe furnished plenty OF
evidence of this alarming condition.
Men, women and children were resort
ing to false stimulants to keep up.
Tea, coffee and alcohol were being
used In increasing amounts.
Always on Verge Of Want
Men We're stretching their arms and
yawning. Squalor and filth furnished
the homes. Many lived In abject pow
erty, many more lived on the border
line Of the garbage alley. Few were
able TO accumulate even the smallest
surplus. They could not by scraping
and denial get week ahead of the
game. 1t had become hand to-mouth
existence, weekly, monthly fight to
meet the grocery bills buy stockings,
to cover their bodies. It was bread
and coffee for breakfast, bread with
jam and tea for dinner tea and cheese
for supper. Sausage sometimes took
turns with cheese. Once a week, the
Sunday repast, a great stew, few
a In T
countries it was the same except that
diluted cheap wine was substituted for
tea. The great majority Of men found
themselves poorer and older at the
end Of the week than they were at Its |
beginning. Over the workingman's |
head was suspended night and day by |
thin, weak thread. the dreaded sword |
Of poverty. Men feared that the thread |
might break any minute. 1t was the |
thread by which they held the thing /
called a Job" What did they care
about the rights of private property? |
They didn't have any private prop
erty. The socialists had willing list
eners when they ranted about COM
munism. 1t promised to give these
people property, to give them a COM
mon ownership Of. everything. 1t
wasn't hard to convince them that this
was better than ownership OF nothing.
The bolsheviks of Russia are en-
titled to the presumption of good
faith In selecting the MARKHAM formula.
It Is only fair to them, and to the rem
edy, to examine the experiment with |
4 mind free from prejudice. In admit
ting the good Intentions Of the boil
sheviks | am not concedipg that boil
'hevism is practicable, workable; that
t has succeeded or can succeed. For
he present | am trying to fairly give
he whole story of the effort. 1t is
Is foolish to try to answer the boil
hevik propaganda by calling the boil
heviks ugly names. as 1t would be
tupid to accept bolshevism because
is advocates are sincere
Need for Calm Consideration. I
Russia is the patient II we are to I
ntelligently judge the treatment
allied bolshevism, It is necessary to s
ct complete history Of the patient 7
nd examine the conditions under b
'hich the experiment was tried ANY h
octor who is scientist would follow
UGH q procedure in handling a med
al case. II doctor announced to
ne scientific world that he had rem 4
dy for cancer, which at the present a
me Is an incurable physical disease, b
lst as poverty is social one, the n
,ientists would give a hearing to his I,
leory, seek fair test for It, keep +,
leir minds open, and Judge the eff d
ICY Of the remedy by the results It u
reduced. Communism, as a treat e
ent. cure for poverty, has never A
zen put to the test on scale and In IL
which justify any posi- h,
We judgment as to whether or not cl
lie plan is n practical one. AS | have T
ritten, the Russian bolsheviks Insist 81
lat If every one owns everything In A