Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-11-02

surlnise and fnespun theory. He
does not, for example, follow the
sterotyped precedent OF the great
majority of writer's who tell lis
that Russia's red eruption is i
flare-up OF the embers OF the
French Revolution. He aims,
rather, to show that bolshevisn
and all its brood, by whatever
names they may be called, have
their rise in men and women who
are diseased in mind or body, us
ually in both, creatures OF inferior
heredity, who fall out OF civiliza-
tons line of march because the
pace is too swift for them and the
discipline too rigorous to be sup
ported by their degenerate natures.
Doctor Stoddard quotes a pas
sage from a forgotten magazine
article by Max Nordau, OF Paris,
whose book, Degeneracy, was the
talk of two worlds SOME years ago.
| Says Nordau: Besides the ex-
! treme forms of depener2CV there
are nnlder forms, more or less in
conspicuous, not to be. diagnosed
at a first glance. These, however.
are the most dangerous for the
community, Because their destruc-
tive influence only gradually
makes itself felt; we are not on
our guard against it; indeed, in
many cases, we do not recognize
it as the real cause Of the evils it
centuries iip-evilS whose serious
importance no one can doubt.
"When these half-fools, as Of
ten happens. speak an excited Ian.
guage-when their imagination,
unbridled by logic or understand
ing, supplies them with odd, start
ling fancies and surprising asso-
Citations and images-their writ
ings make a strong impression on
unwary readers, and readily gain
a decisive Influence on thought in
the cultivated circles of their time.
col course, well-balanced per-
sons are not thereby changed into
practicing disciples of these NOR
bid cults. But the preachingS Of
these mattoids are favorable TO
the development OF similar dispo-
sitions in others; serve to b0lariSc
in their own sense, tendencies OF
hitherto uncertain drift, and give
thousands the courage openly, I'M
pudently, boastfully, to confess
and act in accordance with convic-
tions which, but for these theor-
ISIS with their noise and the flash
OF their tinSel language, they
would have concealed with shame
which in any case would have re-
NAMED monsters known only to
themselves and imprisoned i'll the
lowest depths of their conscious
ness.
go, through the influences of
the teachings of degenerate half
fools, conditions arise which do
not, like the cases OF insanity and
crime, admit of expression in fig
ures. but can nevertheless i'll the
end be defined through their po-
litical and social effects. We
gradually observe a general loos-
ening of morality, a disappear
ance OF logic from thought and
action, a morbid iritablllty and
vacillation of public opinion, a
relaxation of character. OffenSes
are treated with a frivolous or
sentimental Indulgence which ell
courages rascals of all kinds. Poop
pie lose the power OF moral in
dighation, and accustom them
selves to deSpiSe it as something
.banal, unbalanced, inelegant and
unintelligent. Deeds that would
formerly have disqualified a man
forever from public life are no
longer an obstacle in his career,
50 that suspicious and tainted per-
Sonalities find it possible to rise to
responsible positions, sometimes 10