The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-04-30

for following In the footsteps ~ d
first Lover OF the Poor were those W.
cried out against the tenenant.
manding for human beings the
shine and air cattlemen g.va ,h.'
stock. These unpopular ones woro ~
same who brought Ice to keen NM
cool In the hot summer for tba IA
dren of the slums; these were i
crusaders against child labor <.
protestants against compelling x.
women who bear the children n -
race to work so many hours each a.
that exhaustion married and martss
the physical and mental strength !,
children.
SO it was that these redpemod
freed children of Russia learned I,
the cancer and feared 1t as much !,
the thing they had escaped.
None Able to Check Disease
They beheld old-school politician,
acting as doctors to sick civilizanon
These doctors, miscaIled Statesmen
were agreed as to the cause of the M
ease and that the symptoms threat.
ened death. Many prescriptions bay.
been given the patient. but none seem
to check the disease. These prescrin.
tions had been various formulas al
government. the constitutional mon.
archy, a democracy. a republic The
giving of these various Treatments
failed 70 effect a cure. Civilization
continued to suffer. At times pain be.
came uncomfortable and the doctors gaya
local anesthetics. These were the laws
included under the general designation
Social Welfare Legislation" They
made the patient temporarily more
easy. They allayed pain that might
otherwise have produced commissions
Revolution.
And then these Russian people
studying the new world into which
they had so recently come, discovered
that many of these political doctors
were quacks. they were unreliable and
dishonest. They were more interested
In their own fortunes than the fate Of
the patient. They imposed upon the
people who hired and trusted them
Their time and thought was taken up
in holding their jobs, rather than in do
ing their work That the schools Of
political medicine, called political par
ties, responsible for these doctors
were diploma mills, graft rings That
some of the people suspected these
physicians of being interested in keep
ing the patient sick and were not max
ing an honest effort to cure. II had
even been rumored that there are PEG.
pie in the world who make profit ont
of poverty; that special privilege .
the powerful profiteer of our day.
Turned to Old Theory.
Plato had spoken about another
remedy way back in the fourth cen
fury before Christ. So had Marx. An
untried remedy--a theory. It's Object
was to cure poverty. The Russians
seeing that the remedies in common
use had failed, turned their Thoughts
to this old remedy which had never
been tried. At least it had not failed,
this was in it's favor. 1t was an eh' +
pertinent, to be sure, but Nothing ven
tured, nothing gained" Many argued
that it could not more completely lau
than the prescriptions at present Y
use.
And with the fall of tmperlahsn
there came into Russia one who haa
| been exiled. For many years ne W.
been a teacher and preacher OF iN |
! untried remedy. Russia saw IN nn
savior. He came with messase
He said that communism would keep /
them free, make them happy. lns'
listened, they believed. They were y
little children. so great was tlsa
faith. To them promise was up
fulfilled, the word covenant; anu s.
promise was that peasants would nas
their own land, that working
would be their own bosses. 1t was =
word they had waited for, the feaiA Z
ton of the dreams they had drealpss
/ in the dark treadmill. The ffop ast
had come. The new day ava
them. They rejoiced and cried Ig.a
live the new Messiah" No one ss ~.
legiously questioned the practeaUu.hs
of the dream. Every one torso'
common, controlling instinct OF pnan
selfishness. Maybe in the INTENSE
eral selfshness individual seitSnNss
could not be seen. .oep
The man was Lenine-the tneso's
Communism. .... ,,.,o,t
Copyright. 1920. western NewspaP'
Eood spoIunIinu in Germany