Evening star., 1920-07-16
RUSSIAN SOVIET.
CHEERED TO ECHO
BY THIRD PARTY
Correspondent Gives Vivid
Word Picture of Radical
Political Gathering.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
CHICAGO, July 16.-Parlor social
lists have met the real bolshevists a
the third party convention here, ano
will probably go home sadder. bu
wiser men.
For the committee of forty-eigh
was largely a group of progressives
called radicals and bolshevistS by
their conservative friends. bu'
really conservatives themselves wher
ranged alongside the farmer ano
labor groups with their extreme de-
mands and errant psychology.
But the reader must understand al
the outset that by the terms farmer
and labor as used in the third party
convention. a small minority of agri-
cultural workers and small minor
ity of toiiers in factories and ran
roads are meant. So radical ana Dol
shevistic are the aims of the so-calieG
farmer and labor groups gatnereS
here that even the much condemneo
Non-Partisan League of North Da
kota farmers has hesitated 10 ee'
behind the farmer groups here
whole heartedly and join IN the otsy
of agitation and destruction whicn
the platform of the majority OF ins
committee representing the so-caiisu
farmer and labor alliance asked '"e
third party TO adopt
Too Radical for La Toilette.
Even Robert NJ. La Toilette re-
garded as the radical of radicals III
the United States Senate. declined 10
run on the extremist platform.
The truth of the matter is that the
extremists plainly asked for the near
est approach to bolshevism that mas
yet been suggested in a party con
vention or political gathering oi
nd
step further in gathering to their
bosoms most all the malcontents IN
America, including the people VINO
in one breath denounce the ieaeu ue
of nations as an entanShnS alildnSe
and a provoker of wars. and VINO
between the United states and Greal
Britain unless recognition OF tne
Irish republic is granted by ooth'
and the people who want TO stir UP
the race problems of America anew
by granting equal social as Wen as
political rights to negroes ana l Wno
want to affiliate with the revolu- :
tionists in India and Egyrt and enter
into a hearty kinship IL soviet
Russia.
Cheers for Russiae soviet.
Every mention of the Russian So
Wet was cheered. and every refer
ence to initiating what the workers
had done in Russia was appiauded
1t was a gathering of agitators from
all parts of the United states. IN
cIuding men who started the outlaw
strike on the railroads a few months
ago and the men who have been
threatening to overthrow Samuel
Gompers and the conservative lead
ers of organized labor as part OF
their program of chaos and revoiu-
ton
small wonder that Mr. Gompers has
had trouble repressing radicals in the
ranks of labor And if the minority
had a sincere purpose in trying TO get
possession of the labor organizations
throughout the country. it might be
a different story, but the writer was
assured by members of the committee
of forty-eight that this convention
was indeed a revelation to them and
that many of the leaders of the labor
groups here were merely playing a
game of labor politics intended to
help them gain the big offices in or
a case of personal ambition which Is
SO much derided when individuals
give vent to similar human aspira-
tions in the republican and demo-
cratic parties.
All Extremists Present.
II was a good thing all the extrem-
lists in America were gathered to-
gether IN a single room or at least
representatives of every extremist
q safety valve. 1t was well to allow
all the steam to blow off. The ex-
treme radicals revealed their own hy-
poc-isies. They refused even a cour-
teous hearing to the progressives and
liberals who tried to furnish political
sense to the third party program and
guide 1t along rational lines in way
that, it was contended by George l.
Record of New Jersey. for instance
would convert millions of citizens who
might otherwise close their minds
and refuse even to listen to the third
party argument.
The progressives like Amos Pinchot
and Mr.. Record argued that as a mat
ter of political expediency it was moi
wise to go too far in the first year OF
the third party's program.
But the word "expediency" was like
waving a red flag in front of bull
Speaker after speaker from the rank.
between expediency and principle the,
preferred principle no matter wher'
it led them-a splendid manifesto
ton of fighting spirit, but as valu
able in a political meeting as it wouit
be at the battle line if troops refused
to retreat when a commander ad
vised it for strategic reasons or as
maneuver toward ultimate victory
The labor group said plainly the.
didn't even care whether La Follett
accepted the nomination, though mos
Of them must have realized he wa
their best champion on the stump ant
their best vote getter. They woul'
insist, they said, on making a plat
form first and then getting candi
date who would run on 1t.
Cries of 1'ThrOw Him Out
Thew were ready t. -denOunce J.:
Toilette as out of sympathy with TIL
aspirations of subject peoples. ant
they did. indeed. shout down severa
speakers, although one of the plank
of the platform referred in emphati
terms to free speech. Time and again
the chairman of the convention ha'
to intercede with the audience to per
No. .,.. II H. /