New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-04-23
PROBLEMS FACING
STRICKEN WORLD
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War?
RUSSIA'S TRIAL OF SOCIALISM
Ultimate Good to the World Locked
for From the Practical Test
Now Being Made in That
Country.
RUSSIA'S TRIAL OF SOCIALISM
Article XIV.
BY A ~COMERFORD.

't' 49, i''iNNif pt'h w
manding II trial, a test. The demand
has been growing. Before its advo-
Gates Can he silenced they must he
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
sNrer il question, satisfy "A demand,
and tend to quiet unrest.
The falr-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, wen among the
conservative, responsible leaders of
who did not admit that conditions in
the world before the wa were not
right that some change in the order
of things was inevitable; that the dis
satisfied elements in society were ON
ing together and that unless men were
given better lives, they We're deter
mined TO fight. The working man was
d"eteriorating physically under the
strain of brutal working conditions
which eNacted 100 many units of phys
teal energy for the number of calor-
les of food he was getting. The haemo-
glohin count, the red corpuscles, were
disappearing from the blood of the
working people. 1t was not Il theory
mn aAtr1I .An 10 IL, ,l,., f,.o, ,.-1 800
ments of the people. Medical men
recognized the fact. 4 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 stimulan,s to keep up.
Tea, coffee and alcohol were being
used in increasing amounts.
Always on Verge Of Want.
Men were stretching their arms and
yawning. Squaior 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 I've the smallest
surplus, They could not by scraplng
and denial get a week ahead of the
game. II had become II hand-to-mOuth
existence, a weekly, monthly fight to
meet the grocery bills, buy stockings,
shoes, and the scant amount of clothes
10 V their bodies. Il was bread
and coffee for breakfast, bread with
and tea for dinner, tea and cheese
for supper. Sausage sometimes took
turns with cheese. once n week, the
Sunday repast, ii great stew. Il few
and a bone. In the Latin
II 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
a thin, weak thread, the dreaded sword
IF poverty. Men feared that the thread
might break any minute. 1t was the
by which they held the thing
called n ".loh." What did they care
lbout the rights of private property?
=
They didn't have any private prop
'rty. The socialists had willing list
'ners when they ranted about COM
nunism. 1t promised tn give these
people property, to give them a com
non ownership of everything. II
wasn't hard to convince them that this
vas better than ownership Of nothing.
The bOlsheviks of Russia are en-
tiled to the presumption of good
'aith in selecting the MARKHAM formula. |
t is only fair to them, and to the rem
'dy. to examine the experiment with
mind free from prejudice. In admit
ing the good intentions Of the boil
! am not c0nceding that boil
Is practicable, workable; that
I has succeeded or can succeed. For
he present ! nm trying 10 fairly give
he whole story Of the effort. 1t is
IS foolish to try to answer the boil
Ihevik propaganda by calling the boil
ugly names. as 1t would be
to accept bolshevism because
Is advocates are sincere.
Need for Calm Consideration.
Russia is the patient. If we are to
ntelligently judge the treatment
allied bolSheviSm. II Is necessary TO
-et a complete history Of the patient
nd examine the conditions under
the experiment was tried. ANY
who is a scientist would follow
uch n procedure in handling n med
ral case. II a doctor announced to
he scientific world that he had n rem
dy for cancer which ut the present
is an incurable physical disease.
as poverty is a social one. the
dentists would give a hearing to his
heory. seek a fair test for II. keep
heir minds open. and judge the eff
acy Of the remedy by the results it
reduced. Communism. as a treat
rent. a cure for poverty. has never
cen put TO the test on n scale and in
which Justify any posi-
We Judgment as TO whether or not
plan il a practical me-. As | have
the Russian bolsheviks insist
hat If every n owns everything in