The Washington times., 1922-07-24
Shall We
Wake Up?

Wake Up? Tafs,s Ia T. Cabinet M I.
was conservative. In conver.
sation a little while ago. a mem.
ber Of that Cabinet said:
"Nicolai Lenin is the only ruler
in the world who is trying for
the ideal while taking account
OF the practical. He is the
greatest statesman alive"
When you consider that this
eX.Cabinet officer as recently as
1912 was rated a conservative,
you get an idea OF how fast
thought is moving. 1t moves
under the surface. TO be sure,
but it does move. Some time,
possibly, other statesmen tnan
Lenin will dare TO say in public
what nearly all of them are
now ready TO say in private.
that II we are to save the world
we must help II to be re-made.
Oup State The Cabinet
Department terred to does
rot share any of the ideas OF
Lenin: far from II What he
sees Is that in the spirit of
Lenin is Me, while in the spirit
OF our timid politicians and
hureaucrats is death
Look at this contrast The
most business-like, industrislly
cautious and experienced OF the
Moscow officials is Leonid
Krass He has been an
engineer and a big business
man most of his life. Before
he would return in 1917 from
Germany to Russia. risking his
fortunes in a social earthquake.
he exacted from Lenin serious
retreats from the then.prevailing
form of workingmens control.
Krassin desired to come to
this country. He desired to
place before our State Depart
ment and our business men his
plans for reconstruction, his
plans for compromise and up
building, for help from us to
Russia, and help from Russia
to the world. We preferred to
gamble with death and destruc-
ton to help another group to
power.
Our State Department would
not allow this nation to be
contaminated by the presence
Of Leonid Krassin. Time
passed, and another Russian
sought admission. This was
the well.known bandit, Sem
enov, claiming the throne made
vacant by the death OF our
favorite, Admiral Kolchak. He
not only received his passport,
but likewise was received by
the head of the Russian bu.
reau of our State Department,
The chiefs of the bureau
cracy dress admirably. No
one Of them ever wears a
white tie where a back would
be more In keeping. Whether
the lowest button of a waist
coat should be open or not is
decided with security and no
hesitation. But the needs Of q
changing world are something
they do not comprehend.
We Split We have teen
talking about the
n HdH cowardice and
shallowness Of politicians.
Let us not confuse shallowness
and cowardice with the tack.
ing and reefing needed by
every mariner. Watch us now
in the soui,stirring feat OF
being able to distinguish and
divide a hair 'twixt the north
and northwest side"
Next TO Lenin. the most
notable statesman who sur
vlved the issues OF the war is
David Lloyd George. The diff
ference between his record on
Russia and that of our State
Department Ia exactly the DIFF
ference between adroitness and
woodenness,
Why should we eompiain Il
Great Britain. or Great Britain
and Holland, get the Russian
oil? II is our own fault. Our
whole Russian policy Is one not
Of tolerant realism, like Eag
lands, but of intolerance ana po'
liticaI bigotry. II Is, perhaps
one of the natural results OF
parochialism. We do not, as d
State Department, want to know
anything about Russia, we only
want to SIT on our tail and emi,
dismal howls. II we kept ou,
altogether, from fear begott1,
Of ignorance, that would be com
preh ensible. But we don't. We
try to combine aloofness with
interference and preaching, We
have acted, not as a detached
country In vacuum, but as a
dociis pupil OF "Amba ssado