The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-03-01
MEN TURNING TO B0LSHEVISM
Something Profoundly Disquieting ir
the Constant Repetition of Word
Which Seems to Convey Such
Sinister Meaning.
Article XII
Rx FRANK coMEREoRp.

the United States entered the war lie !
was one of the many impatient at our |
delay. He believed that it was orr
duty to join the fight when the ruth
less submarine campaign torpedoed
the Lusitania. sending to cold, wet
graves American women and children.
| distinctly remember his face as he
read the headlines in the papers tell
ing of the murderous slaughter of
Americans on the high seas. Now
when he greeted me he startled me
with his first words, 1.-THE war is over.
Pm bolsheyik" l did not know what
the word meant yet it carried to my
mind an impression, and while the inn
preston was haZy, it was clear ut
least in one particular. 1t sounded
like the confession of a crime.
He had always been of a quiet, CON
servative type. Before the war one
would have judged him to be pacifst;
he was even-tempered, mild Of manner,
and | still think that before August
1914, he was a pacifist in head and
heart. 1t was only the call Of a just
cause, the fight for an ideal in which
he believed, that had made him a sol
der. In this respect lie was typical
of 90 per cent of his countrymen.
had spoken to him the day he en-
listed, for he was one Of those who
volunteered. who might have waited
for CONSUMPTION and claimed just
exemption. He was in the beginning
of his married life, with two very
Young children. BY profession he was
an engineer Going to war meant
leaving wife and two babies, leaving
a job that promised advancement.
recall his enthusiasm, the intensity of
his patriotism, his quiet disregard of
The danger to himself I am sure
that there was little hate in his mo-
| rale. He saw a danger to the world.
| The honor Of his country had been
offended against. He was an Ameri-
/ can, one Of those upon whom the duty
! fell so lie went.
/ lie 4 bolshcyik Why? l was con-
! founded confused. The only meaninG
gave TO his remark was that he was
I 81 ttiittA NitAfNAa / liz NOIu bOlSAlCSl IN
/ sounded red to me. 1t fared of the
torch, photographed disorder, lawless-
| ness-it registered blood, violence, as
Sassnation, force, hate, insanity.
/, wondered how this nine-lettered word
| had become the vehicle for so many
sensations that disturbed peace OF
| mind and sounded alarm.
Where had the word come from and
what company had it kept. that so
fouled its soul? What did it really
mean-had it a definite meaning
Was it bug like the ''flu" germ? Had
it come among nations to destroy them
and TO the hearts of men to silence the
heavenly message, Peace, on earth
good will to men," Would it rur
around the world as q scourge? Was
t a postscript TO the bloody war les
son, prophesyng more anguish and
tears than four years fighting ha6
brought? Would the world, comine
out of the war bent, now be broken?
Or was it 4 meaningless myth? Was
the word q bogie, bad joke, a night
mare pressing heavily on a tired, nerv
Gus worlds head?
Seeking Words Real Meaning.
Or was the meaning that men ha(
read, into the word a lie? Was Dol
>hevism the message of a new Mes
! Siah being cried down by the money
4 dangers of our time in the same wa,
heir ancestors had silenced the wore
: from the Mount and destroyed til,
Message Bearer with the lash and thu
cross?
Ia every mind was the thought ant
from every tongue fell the word Rus
,ia had given the world a word. !
j had encircled the globe. Everywher
: people were speaking the word
ound Judgment in every brain, a lily
! NJ place in every language. It's us
L rad become universal. The old, tn
: young, rich and poor, the learned, tn
lneducated, the serious, the simple
he toiler, the artist, the poet, and tn
oeddler. the tinker and the thinker
, leld the thought and spoke the wore
' len, women and children spoke tn
{ yord,. read the word, and felt til
< bought it carried.
e To the nine hundred and ninety-nin
was a word of ill-omen, a word G
n error ana fear To the one in a thol
2 sand it was a word of hope, q ligf
or the feet of stumbling world an
ne nine hundred and ninety-nine sal
), hat some Of these people called DO
!. Shevfks We're dreamers of a stfang
{ f.dream, that twisted idealism had mad
8 them mad, that the majority of thos
who profess faith in bolshevism weI
/ sick with a strange, social fever, ths
ID they were Observation-Disclosures, ne'er-d
Z wells, criminals. that they sought I
~ burn the world
! l made up my mind that I woul
= learn the real meaning of the wor
& The dictionary definition threw I