The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-07-09
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War;
RUssIA's TRIAL OF SOCIALISM
Ultimate Coed to the WerId Locked
fer From the Practical TEST
Now Being Made IN That
Country.
Article XIV.
BY FRANK coMERFoRp.

Inc EcO INK EoDCoy 1&& D@SM 0@-
handing 8 trial. a test Tie demand
has been growing. Before It's adve-
Gates can be siIenced they must be
shown. Out of the test Of socialism
In Russia is bound 70 come good.
Whether the theory In q practical one
or not putting IL to the test win an
swer a question. satisfy a demand.
and tend to quiet unrest.
The fair-minded investigator cannot
deny that there was justification and
reason back Of the effort 10 try the
remedy. That the world has been SUI
fering from poverty cannot be denied.
have found few men, even among the
conservative, responsible leaders o6
business and governments in Europe,
who did not admit that conditions I'm
the world before the war were not
right; that some change I'm the order
of things was inevitable; that the dis
satisfied elements in society were eon-
ing together and that unless mea were
given better lives, they were deter
mined to fight. The working man was
deteriorating physically under the
which exacted too many units Of phys
ical energy for the number Of calor-
les of food he was getting The kaszs0-
globin count, the red corpuscies, were
disappearing from the blood Of the
working people. 1t was not q theory;
one could see II In the faces ard move
ments of the people. Medical men
recognized the fact. A walk through
the poorer district of any industrial
city in Europe furnished plenty Of
evidence of this alarming conditiea.
Men, women and children were resort
ing to false stimulants to keep up.
Tea, coffee and alcohol were beIng
used in increasing amounts.
Always on Verge 81 Want.
Men were stretching their arms and
yawning. Squalor and filth furnished
the homes. Many lived In abject pow
erty, many more lived on the border
line of the garbage alley. Few were
able TO accumulate even the smallest
surplus. They could not by scrapIng
and denial get week ahead Of the
| game. 1t had become hand-to-mouth
existence. weekly, monthly fight to
meet the grocery bills, buy stockings,
shoes, and the scant amount OF clothes
to cover their bodies 1t was bread
and coffee for breakfast. bread with
/ jam and tea for dinner, tea and cheese
! for supper. Sausage sometimes took
/ turns with cheese Once a week, the
/ Sunday repast a great stew, a few
/ vegetables and a bone. In the Latin
countries 1t was the same, except that
/ diluted cheap wine was substituted for
tea. The great majority Of men found
themselves poorer and older at the
end Of the week than they were at it's
/ beginning. Over the workingman's
head was suspended night and day by
| thin, weak thread, the dreaded sword
/ of poverty. Men feared that the thread
might break any minute. It was the
thread by which they held the thing
called Sob" What did they care
about the rights Of private property 2
They didn't have any private prop
erty. The socialists had willing list
eners when they ranted about COM
munisin. 1t promised to give these
/ people property, TO give them q com-
mon ownership Of everything. It
| wasn't hard to convince them that this
was better than ownership Of nothing.
The bolsheyiks Of Russia are en-
titled to the presumption q good
faith In selecting the Marian formula.
| 1t is only fair TO them, and to the rem
edy. to examine the experiment with
mind free from prejudice. In admit
ting the good intentions Of the bol-
sheviks / am not conceding that boil
shevism is practicable, workable; that
| 1t has succeeded or can succeed. For
the present am trying to fairly give
the whole story Of the efrctt II Is
as foolish to try to answer the Dol
shevik propaganda By calAnE the boil
sheviks ugly names. as IL would be
stupid to accept boIshevism because
its advocates are sincere.
Need fer Calm Consideration.
Russia is the patient. II we are te
intelligently judge the treatment
called bolshevism, IL In necessary to
get complete history Of the patient
and examine the conditions under
which the experiment was tried Amy
doctor VINO is scientist would FOLLOW
such q procedure in handling q med
zeal case. If a doctor announced to
the scientific world that he had a rem
edy for cancer, which at the present
time is an incurable physical disease
just as poverty Is a social one, the
scientists would give a hearing to his
theory, seek a fair test fer IL, keep
their minds open. and Judge the EN-
cacy of the remedy by the results II
produced. Communism. as a treat
ment. a cure for poverty, has never
been put to the test on a scale and In
circumstances which justify any posi-
live judgment as TO whether or not
the plan is practical one AS / have
written, the Russian bolsheviks fnsfsi
that If every one owns everything IN