The Washington herald., 1921-12-29

II FEW trenchant thoughts issue editoriaiy il
~ the philadelphia Public Ledger anent thu
= sad present state Of Emma Goldman 3ns
Alexander. Berkman. Not so very long after the,
were banned from these shores Of freedom for IN
regenerate scditiousnesss they were tagged mo
wanted in Russia, where they had frequently fer
ventiy ionged to be. Now. they Communist
Grant, and in, considering their unenvable position
the Ledger harks back to the case of the illus
trious Castro, of Venezuela Furthermore thi
publication is unkind enough to attempt to stril
from them even their reputation dangerous TO
mentors.
"The Wandering Jew and President Castro,
of Venezuela" remarks the Ledger, "are up to
1921 the only eternal wanderers. Capt. Mar
ryat in The Phantom Ship and Eugene Sue in
more celebrated novel tried to illustrate the
idea of a permanent peregrination. Both failed
artistically; but Gen. Castro's constant touching
at port after port, only to be driven Oh to an
other, was real and both comic and pathetic.
{ What has become Of Castro by the way? The
last time he appeared on the surface he was
strutting grandly down the gangplank, either at
Bordeaux New York, and grandly waving
aside gendarme cop.
Now Emma Goldman and Alexander Berk.
suddenly assume, with grinding teeth, the
unwelcome mantle. They have escaped from
grim Russia which seems loathly glad to have
them go, and have had few days respite in
Lctvia which seems to be country which
heals the wounds OF Socialists and anarchist
sufferers under Russia S. cruel rule; but Letv1a,
having fed them and given them clothes, now
orders them hence to Germany Germany is
willing to let them pass through, provided they
do not stop The last heard of them they were
besieging consulates to find country which
would let them stay for month or year, and
besieging in vain Everybody is willing to let
them pass through stay for day or two, but
after that they must pass on
Gloomy days for Emma and Alexander,
gloomier than when Director Henry Clay
wouldn't let her deliver her lecture on Eugene
Walter compared with Strndberg, in Phila-
delphia. For they won't let her back in the
United States, where the police have comic
idea that she is dangerous; and after all, the
United States is, she says her country. She
never did any harm here she only thought she
did; she was a humorous character, like An
thony Comstock in his last decade or like
George Francis Train. And now she has got to
be Castro, Wandering Jew 1t may Hatter
her sense OF dignity to feel that the foreign
offices and the gendarmes OF the world think
she is dangerous when, in her heart, she knows
she isn't; but what price to pay! For, after
all, Emma loves the gas log and the family
photographs over the mantel and the Christmas
turkey and likes to wind up the clock at 10
o'clock and put out the cat and get all the solid
American comforts you can't get IN lspahan
She's no terrorist. AS for Alexander, he did do
wild things when he a youngster, but all ne
wants now is an occasional mention IN the pa
pers Poorer material for Wandering Jews, tor
Castros for Sue and Marryat heroes, could not
be devised. Has Lenin no sense OF humor
whatever? Poor devil!