Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-12-05
SIGNS OF HUNGER
LACKING IN ARMY
Boys and Girls, Shouting
Communism, Contrasted
With Tired B. {. r.

Continued From First Page.)
ers please. Instead, they raise their
voices, somewhat hoarse from the damp,
chill nights on the road, in the defiant
refrain:
RAISE high, raise high the scarlet
banner
On the line, on the line to He'll"
Imported Radicalism.
1t is not an indigenous but an i'm
ported radicalism, built on philosophy
of social justice. 1t Is something these
people have read about in books and
newspapers or gathered from Wild
haired orators In smelly, unventilated
halls scattered through city slums.
There is no solid framework of expert
ence about it. 1t is only fetid froth
of Communism. 1t has no reality, no
| fiesh-and- blood existence. Everything
is initiated from Russia-the red color
scheme, the white crosses on the arms
of the hunger marchers' hospital
corps" the Soviet uniforms of their
provost guard 1t is not a philosophy
born in suffering, as was that of many
members of the B. E. F.
There Is another striking difference
perhaps the most vital of all 1t is a
difference Of years. The bonus march
ers were, in the very nature of things,
verging on middle age. They had been
battered and nodded by experience.
They were tired and beaten They had
past the days of fighting for the animal
JOY of fighting They were near the
stage of life when men love peace and
a chair by the fire in the evening.
These hunger marchers probably
would average 10 years younger, perhaps
more. There are plenty of middle-aged
men and women scattered among them,
but youth and the spirit of youth is
dominant Many are just boys and
girls, probably in their late teens
Consequently they are rather high
spirited. They like to sing, shout, march
and dance.
March to Keep Warm.
Whole troops Of them marched I'D
and down New York avenue last night
in military formation briskly to keep
| warm, Inumbing their noses at the
| police. singing the Scarlet Banner" and
| shouting their yell:
'We-Want mem- Pigment inSur-
ance."
These boys and girls were about of
the age of college sophomores and the
| characteristic sophomore behavior
doesn't vary much from the snake
dance after foot ball victory to the
red" demonstration for overthrow of
the Government, or what you will 1t
is the same basic phenomenon, what
ever the clothes it wears. Those
| marchers last night were closer to snake
dances than anything else the general
| reader is likely to be familiar with
And this is the sort of phenomenon
| that was utterly foreign-shut of BY
the uncrossable gulf of decade of life
from the behavior of the B. E. F.
| They could have given, at the Sbes5,
| only the most colorless, lifeless imita-
ton of a snake dance. They didn't
have the requisite surplus Of animal
| spirits.
There is still another fundamental
difference between the two groups
which, 1t may be, lies entangled In the
| preceding ones. 1t is in the basic
drives which send men and women on
crusades of this sort. The B. E. F. had
mission, specific focus for their diff
fuse. wordiess thinking. 1t was mis-
| SlO4A sNA11All GOQlu NC lhblOlldllEGQ-
which had, In fact, a very considerable
degree Of public approval and still
larger degree of public sympathy be-
hind 1t. 1t was invested with a sub
stantial sincerity.
Lack Serious Mission.
These hunger marchers, so far as
can be gathered by observation and
| e1iritGd nv
have no serious mission at all. Even
they are not fooled by the overt pur-
poses Of the movement. It is all
| chaotic. They want the Federal Gov
eminent to pay $50 this Winter to
omebody-nobody seems to know just
| who is to receive the payment, but
presumably every one that is unen-
ployed.
They want somebody-nobody knows
| just who-to provide hot dinners for
the school children Of the workers.
| The most tangible Of their demands
seems to be for unemployment insur-
ance" but nobody offers the slightest
information as to how this is to be
brought about.
| They have nothing but catch-phrases
vague and disconnected. If they have
specific, individual grievances, they do
not voice them. Compared to the bonus
marchers. they actually look prosper
GUS. There Is nobody without an over
coat and good pair of shoes. Many
Of the automobiles present a very cred
liable appearance. Nobody shows sings
of hunger, except, Of course, temporary
hunger due to the vicissitudes of the
present march. They are not impelled
by the physical drive of empty stom-
| achs. They are not driven by any Mes
sianic complex, such as was quite prom
inentl among the bonus marchers.
Messanic complex does not arise from
choatic platitudes.
Just ExhibitiOnism.
So the conclusion seems clear that
the dominant drive among them i;
that of pure exhibitionism. They want
to show off, to draw the attention Of
people. to be central figures in the ma
tional picture. This one drive probably
accounts for as much as 80 per cent Of
the movement. 1t was prominent, Of
course, among the bonus marchers-
but not accounting for more than Sc
per cent of the whole affair. It L
prominent in all the organized activities
of mankind. But hardly anywhere else
is 1t more conSpicuously the driving
force-unless 1t be at demonstration
VI COl1GBG xvi ~ 10 4lAOo'
conspicuously a drive of the early
twenties.
There is still another difference
The bonus marchers were not very
rigidly organized. Every man was more
or less of free agent He talked as
he pleased. There was no censorship
on him. He could set up his owr
private soap box. 1t was spontaneous
movement
This appears to be an organized
rigidly disciplined movement. No mar
expresses himself. The provost guard
stops him If he tries to. 1t is another
touch to the un-Americanism of thu
whole picture. Americans are babblers
Only in an European pattern will mer
give up free speech and let a provost
guard put clamps on their tongues. Ans
the essential reason for this imposed
silence, 1t seems, is that the men havl
| r1ntInino fn rT1nNy hora ny,lv y,