Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-12-01
A LINE BEING DRAWN

ing OF a definite line without twilight
perpotuatlng American institutions
and those who wish TO destroy them.
While pitiful app, ais are being made
for more aid to the suffering Rus
SLAMS. men like Rorah are urging us
TO extend the hand of fellowship TO
the Russian government which has
Impoverished its people.
General Pershing is a man not
given to cxtravagant statement.
Notably he is a door rather than a
tallser and is by no means an alarm
list. but in a speech at Minneapolis.
Tuesday. he said
Let us look cold, hard facts in the
face and not forget our obligations
IN the blind hope that We may not
again engage in armed conflict At
present we do not see definite indi-
cations, but none of us can tell
whether we shall have war in five,
ten or twenty years. II we knew
now TO certainty that armed con-
fct would come in twenty years.
there would be an immediate demand
for preparation. Yet that is the ap-
proximato interval that we have had
in tho past between major wars.
There is no reason to think that the
immediate future will bring about a
cessation OF war even though 1t was
said that we entered the World War
10 bring about the end OF war. Ma
polcon said the same thing when he
began ono of his latest campaigns"
That is much too sensible advice
TO pass unhecded II should need
no confirmation. but ii may be inter-
esting to learn OF what Alvin Owsley.
national commander of the American
Legion. had TO say at private lunch
con given him this week by the
city officials OF Philadelphia. He told
how in some communities the Com
munlst clement is meeting discharged
prisoners and imprcssing them into
tho ranks OF the Internationalists.
He told OF tho four million dollars
spent last spring in printing, and
distributing in this country, pamph-
lets prepared under the direction of
Trotzky and Lcnin and urging citi-
Icls To rise and seize the rifles and
the government: he told of the rich
freaks. whose faded or diseased
nerves cry for excitement. contrib
u'ing funds 10 bring about rcvolu-
tion; he told how the radical or
carnations in this country had in
creased their number by 100000 the
past year, He reminded his listeners
that those who suppose Lcnin and
Trotzky to be ilIiteratc zcalots are
badly mistaken; that they were cdu-
Gated at the best universities in
Europe and that when Trotzky left
this country for Russia he told the
ZOO followers who went TO the New
York pier to see him off. that he
was going to take Russia out Of the
war against Germany and that they
should remain here and work to des-
troy the Government of the United
States
II is possible that Commander
Ovsley's apprchensions are unduly
large but it is just as possible that
they are too slight. that the gravity
of the situation is greater than he
estimates. The people of this coun-
try are right now in a mood to COM
NIT follies. otherwise the Kuklux
would not be able to attract so much
OF notice. to say the least. Watch
the Bcrgcrs and the Debs pricking
up their ears. They think they hear
something
But whether all this is or is not
n passing madness need not be de-
tcrmincd in order to decide whether
the people of this country haven't
some very plain and urgent duties
10 perform. They have. They must
sec TO 1t that the literacy rating Of
the American people is better than
eleventh. give heed to the fact that
half our young men are physically
for the most part might be corrected
by proper training, that a quarter
of our population are unable to read
and write our common language and
ten million cannot speak English.
Evidently there is something impor-
tant to do besides building great
institutions and piling up wealth if
We would have our accumulation
be of profit to those who come after
US.
General Pershing. in this address,
explained at considerable length the
needs OF q suitable army and OF the
working out of the National Defense
law. He added. and his words are
very convincing:
Il do not suggest military training
as . cure for ali civic ailments, but
firmly believe that 1t inculcates
ideals Of honor and duty in our ybuns
men that must constitute . most
valuable national asset. 1t develops