The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-03-11
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction IN
Europe Follow the Great
World War;
RUssIA's GRAVE MORAL ERROR
PorcibIe Seizure of Land Understand
able, but to Be Regretted as Maxi
Ing 4 Precedent to Justify
Dishonesty.
Article XIX.
By FRANK coMERFoRD.

| started, reveals several findings wnlch
are necessary to complete the history
and physical examination.
Russia was rs per cent illiterate.
This means that nearly four-fifths Of
! the people In Russia could not read
or write 1t does not mean that they
could not think. There is as great
difference between illiteracy and in
telligence as there is between illiteracy
and ignorance. l have met many Rus
sian peasants who could not read or
write. who had good native minds,
genuine power of reasoning-hOme-
spun thinkers The head of Russia
had not been trained. but 1t was not
empty.
There are many reasons for the IL
literacy of the great majority OF Rus
sian people. The autocratic state was
the principal conspirator against the
Russian people getting IN education.
The autocrats knew that ignorance is
the greatest insurance against up
risingN the greatest sedative to keep
the slave from complaining. The
Church In Russia, the Orthodox
Church. was used to keep the light
from the people. The czar was the
Little Father" the divine agent Of
God on earth. and the "Unholy Synod"
of the Russian Church bowed. not be-
fore the Christ, but bent low before
the czar. They betrayed Christ, even
as they betrayed the sons and daugh-
| ters of men, their own blood. the Rus
sian peasants and toilers.
nj. e.I~e~
The people of Russia held firmly
to their faith in God. The rest and
ease their faith gave them was the
| only comfort they had. In moments
of intense religious communion they
were lifted out of themselves and for
seconds forgot their burdens. These
seconds were long spaces Of relief,
green spots in the endless desert waste
of life.
How Christ must have wept when he
witnessed the Holy Synod" the
monkish rascals. with their sacrilegious
icons, silencing the protests Of souls,
throttling the cry for freedom, by
quoting in his name that those
who suffered most here would be high
est in heaven. A blasphemy, a cor
ruption Of the Lowly One. who used
the word brotherhood to define equal
ity, and the fatherhood Of God to ex.
press the Justice that man owed to
man.
1t was agreed by and between the
Holy Synod and the czars that the
Russian worshipers Of God must not
know how to read or write his name.
So 1t was that the orthodox church
of Russia used religion to insult God
and hold his creatures in bondage. It
was the only great church in the
world that did not provide prayer
books for its members. 1t was ar
gued that II the people had prayer
books they would learn to read, and
II they read the Christ message on the
Sabbath they might read other strange
and dangerous books on Monday and
Tuesday and the other days of the
week. They might misuse their abil-
ity to read. and read things like the
American Declaration of Independ
ence. The churches Of the Byzantine
painted the story Of religion on the
side of Its walls. They gave the peo
pie an education by the picture booh
method We use for children before
they have reached the kindergarten
age.
I. Boishevlsm ohseialiy Launched.
The birth certificate Of bolshevlsn
was issued on November 10. 1917.
"The All-Russian Congress of tn,
Councils Of Workingmen's. Soldiers
and Peasants Deputies DEGREES the
form Of the administration Of the
country, PENDING THE MEETING
OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEM-
BLY. The provisional workers ant
peasants government 10 to be callet
the Council Of Peoples Commission
ers. The administration OF the indi
vidual branches of state life is to bt
entrusted to boards, the composition
of which is to secure the carrying out
of the program proclaimed by the con
gress in close contact with the organ
izntions of workers. sailors, soldiers
peasants and employees. The gov
ernmert authority belongs 20 the boart
and c!.airmen of these commissioners
tnat is. to the peoples commissioners
and the right of systematizing then
belongs to the All-Russian Congress.
of the Councils of Workmen's an,
Peasants and Soldiers Delegates aAS
its Central Executive Committee"
The government Of the car was au
tocratic, not because 1t was bad gov
ernment and misgoverned the people
1t was autocratic because the peopl,
did not have voice in 1t. A goot
government that denied the people
| vOico would ho ouuaIIy 40 ontocro tec
With the fall Of the Kerensky regim'
Lenine and Trotzky, and their bolshe
vik followers, did not have time ant
1t was not expedient or possible t