The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-04-16
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THE hundred years usually are portrayed by
Il historians as the century which was pre-
eminent for the victories won by democracy and
liberty
A hundred years ago Europe was writhing
under the sinister system of Prince Metternich
supreme guardian Of reaction. It was he who
/ prevented the king Of Prussia from granting a
constitution to his people after the Napoleonic
wars He lined up the major powers of Europe
to prevent the spread Of the ideas of the French
revolution. From the Carlsbad DEGREES of 1919
until the revolution of 1848 he held central and
western Europe under his thumb
So absurd was his reactionary outlook that
he actually dismissed a professor in the Uni
versity of Vienna who was giving mathematical
| and astronomical lecture on The Revolution Of
| the Spheres" The word revolution" was taboo
in whatever sense used.
Tens of thousands fed from the harsh
measures which he enacted or induced his fell
! low rulers to enact. The great German
American contingent in our society may be
traced in large part to policies instigated by
Metternich.
VET, in 1884, there men and women
in prison for purely political offenses than
there were a hundred years ago. This as
tonishing fact is set forth in the report of Van
| Gheel GildermeiSter Dutch Quaker who has
been working since 1921 in behalf of the victims
of European political intolerance. In a dis
| patch to The Times he thus describes his work
and the situation which he has uncovered:
Altogether, have obtained the release of
| 1000 prisoners in central and southeastern
Europe, nearly 1000 yearly, during the last
| twelve years in addition to 5000 released in
| Russia. But the efforts of myself and other
Quakers who are working behind the scenes can
only touch the fringe of this great postwar
tragedy.
do neonIe il, Aroarico reo1iza IN u,,ro,oo -
one does-that there are today 100000 political
prisoners, excluding those in concentration
| camps, in central and southeastern Europe alone
not reckoning with Russia?
1 have just come from Prague and am hop
! ing to obtain from President MaSsaryk an
amnesty for Germans and Czechoslovaks Jailed
there as political prisoners.
My services, for what they are worth, are
Of course, equally at the disposal of political
prisoners IN Austria wherever I can see a
chance to get to work usefully. But newspaper
publicity is the worst thing for me.
|
WE know no distinctions of country or of
W political feeling. have obtained the re-
lease of Socialists by the Nazis in Germany and
expect now to get an amnesty for Germans in
Czechoslovakia who were imprisoned by the
| Czechs as NaZi SympathiZerS.
When the world conscience awakens to the
fact that 100000 human beings in central
Europe and the Balkans, mostly members of
national minoriteS in prison on account of
their race or political views, perhaps something
on world scale can be done for them"
The major causes of this contemporary in
tolerance are Fascism, Communism and Ma
tionalism. The first is the worst of the three
because it usually enlists nationalism in its
service.
Contemporary FaScSm has no more respect
for liberty than the autocracy of Metternich
Mussolini'S statement that Italy can not afford
the luxury of public opinion will match any of
the cynical observations of Prince Metternich.
But Mussolini is almost a hbertarian compared
| to Hitler.
When we are attempting to estimate the
total number of political prisoners and the state
OF liberty in the western world today we also
must take into account the several Latin
American relationships, of which Venezuela is
by lar the worst now that Machado has dis
appeared from Cuba. The tortures and bar
| barities which Gomez has inflicted upon his
political enemies is probably unequaled since
the days of the Inquistion
All in all, the picture as whole presents a
rather appalling spectacle as the aftermath of
the great war to make the world safe for de-
mocracy" These facts should be an adequate
answer to those who put their trust in war to
achieve even decent ends.