Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1920-05-27
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction IA
Europe Follow the Great
World War;
MEN TURNING TO B0LsHEvIsM
Something Profoundly DIsquIetIng IN
the Constant Repetition of Word
Which Seems to Convey Such
q Sinister Meaning.
Article XII
BY FRANK coMERFoRD.


met young American major just
back from the French front. l had
known him for many years. Before
the United States entered the war he
was one of the many impatient at our
delay. He believed that it was our
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, "The war is over.
I'm bolshevik." did not know what
the word meant, yet it carried to my
mind an impression, and while the i'm
preston was hazy, it was clear at
least In one particular. 1t sounded
like the confession of crime.
He had always been Of quiet, con-
sentative type. Before the war one
would have judged him to be pacifist;
he was even-tempered, mild Of manner,
and l still think that before August,
1914, he was a pacifiSt In head and
heart. 1t was only the call Of just
cause, the fight for an ideal in which
he believed, that had made him a SOL
dier. In this respect he was typical
of 80 per cent Of his countrymen.
I 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
job that promised advancement.
recall his enthusiasm, the intensity OF
his patriotism, his quiet disregard of
the danger to himself. / am sure
that there was little hate in his mo-
rale. He saw 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 he went.
He a bolshevik Why? was con-
| founded, confused. The only meaning
gave to his remark was that he was
an anarchist. The word 'bolshevik''
sounded red to me- 1t fared Of the
torch, photographed disorder, lawless-
ness-it registered blood, violence. as
sassination, 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 Sc
fouled it's soul? What did 1t really
1 mean-had it definite meaning
Was it bug like the 'flu'' germ? Had
1t 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 1t run
around the world as a scourge? Was
It postscript to the bloody war les
son, prophesying more anguish and
tears than four years fighting had
brought? Would the world, coming
out of the war bent, now be broken?
Or was it meaningless myth? Was
the word boyle, a bad joke, night
mare pressing heavily on tired, nerv
GUS worlds head?
Seeking Words Real Meaning.
Or was the meaning that men hat
1fn2 Was hnl
4 shevism the message of new Mes
siah being cried down by the money
changers of our time in the same way
their ancestors had silenced the wore
from the Mount and destroyed the
Message Bearer with the lash and tht
cross?
i In every mind was the thought ant
from every tongue fell the word. Rus
STA had given the world word. /
had encircled the globe. Everywhere
people were speaking the word--i
found Judgment in every brain, a liv
ing place in every language. Its us'
had become universal. The old, thu
young, rich and poor, the learned, th'
uneducated, the serious, the simple
the toiler, the artist, the poet. and thu
peddler, the tinker and the thinker
held the thought and spoke the word
Men, women and children spoke th'
word, read the word, and felt thu
thought 1t carried.
To the nine hundred and ninety-nin'
It was a word of fll-omen, word O
terror and fear. To the one in thou
sand It was a word Of hope, a ligh
for the feet Of stumbling world, ant
the nine hundred and ninety-nine salt
that some OF these people called Dol
sheviks were dreamers Of stfang
dream, that twisted idealism had mad
them mad, that the majority Of thos
who profess faith In bolshevism wer
sick with a strange, social fever, tina
they were mischief makers ne'er-do
wells, criminals, that they sought t
burn the world.
l made up my mind that woui'
learn the real meaning Of the word
The dictionary definition threw n
1 light on It's meaning. came to tn
i N