The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-04-23
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction.
In Europe Follow the Great
World War;
RUsslA's TRIAL OF SOCIALISM
Ultimate Good 20 the World Looked
for From the Practical Test
Now Being Made In That
Country
Article XIV.
BY FRANK coMERFoRp.

The "red flag" remedy has been de-
handing trial. test. The demand
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 practical one
or not, putting 1t to the test will an
swer question, satisfy 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
deteriorating physically under the
strain of brutal working conditions
which exacted too many units of phys
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 theory;
one could see 1t in the faces and move
ments of the people. Medical men
recognized the fact. A 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 were 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, a weekly, monthly fight to
meet the grocery bills, buy stockings,
shoes, and the scant amount of clothes
to cover their bodies. 1t was bread
ana coffee for breakfast, bread with
Jam and tea for dinner, tea and cheese
LOT supper Sausage sometimes took
turns with cheese. Once a week, the
sunday repast, a great stew, a few
vegetables and bone. In the Latin
countries 1t 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
oesinnlng. over the workingman's
mead was suspended night and day by
thln, weak thread, the dreaded sword
OF poverty. Men feared that the thread
might Dreak any minute. It was the
Unread by which they held the thing
called a Job" What did thew care
ABOUT the rights of private pronertvp
They didn't have any private nron-
erty. The socialists had willing list
ehers when they ranted about com.
munism. 1t promised to give these
people property, to give them COM
mon ownership of everything II
wasn't hard to convince them that tbis
was better than ownership of nothing
Inc bolsheviks of Russia are en-
titled to the presumption of good
Ioith IN selecting the MARKHAM formula.
IL Is only fair to them, and to the rem.
eoy' TO examine the experiment with
a mlhd free from prejudice, In admit.
tihg the good intentions of the boI-
sheNlKs | am not conceding that boil
shevism is practicable, workable. tbo+
II mas succeeded or can succeed Eor
the present am trying to fairly giyo
tue "hole story OF the effort. IT Is
us tooilsh to try to answer the bol.
sneVik propaganda by calling the boI-
sheViks ugly names, as It would he
stupia TO accept bolshevism because
IT'S advocates are sincere.
Need for Calm Consideration.
russia is the patient. If we are IN
intelligently judge the treatment
called bolshevism, It is necessary TO
get a complete history of the patient
ana examine the conditions undar
whleh the experiment was tried. Any
doctor who is scientist would follow
sucn procedure in handling med.
'cai case II doctor announced to
the scientific world that he had q rom.
coy Tor cancer, which at the present
time Is an incurable physical disease
Just as poverty Is a social one IA
s s,ts would give hearing to his
.neorS, seek fair test for It, keen
their minds open, and Judge the ef,i.
eaey OF the remedy. by the results Il
prouuced' Communism, as trent.
afht' a cure for poverty, has nevor
p u pun TO the test on scale and in
circumstances which Justify any ~,