Evening star., 1935-04-21

LEFT: TYPICAL SLUM. PUERTO
| RELIEF ADMIl
the unstable Mr.. Strachey is not going
to prostitute our institutions through
his talks and that the whole episode
is embarrassing because 30 painfully
lacking In any sense of humor.
Clarity Needed in Explanations.
On the other hand, am as sure
now as I have been for years that
aliens should not be permitted to use
the United States as q propaganda
center against foreign nations and as
Q reservoir out of which to pump
money to be used to foster extreme.
radical activities abroad. This was
exactly Karolyi's intention, as it was
later that of Saklatvala. I suspect
that Strachey was merely trying to
earn a living by lecturing.
II the administration Of the day
had had the courage to say exactly
why such men as Karolyi and SAX
latvala were excluded I should have
been able to sign the letters that went
out from the Department Of State
with some enthusiasm. Why should
we not have said of Karolyi: He
wants to carry on propaganda against
Hungary. with which nation our rela-
tions are entirely friendly; he comes
to collect money to promote a cam
paign Of terrorism against the Hunga-
rian government; the American Gov
ernment cannot stand for that sort
of thing" I think that II circum-
stances were clearly stated the Amer
ican people would always realize that
1t is not playing the game to permit
our territory to be used for the prep
aration Of campaigns against a friend
ly government.
Just think of the matter for a mo-
ment the other way around. Imagine
an American citizen who is opposed
to his Government, to the very form
of his Government. He knows that II
he breaches violence at home he will
SO to jail under the law. He therefore
| proceeds to France, or to any other
country. for that matter. and there.
secure from the American police. de-
| claims against his own country, spews
cut scandal stories Of his Government
which have no foundation In fact but
are sensational and are therefore
caught up by the press of the country
in which he happens to be. His tales
turn national feeling against the
United States. Having done this, he
proceeds to collect money to send
secretly to his friends In America to
promote the schemes he has planned.
A Soviet Comparison.
What would be the reaction in the
United States against the nation which
had harbored and aided such a prop
sgandist? Exactly that sort of thing
Is what such organizations as the
Civil Liberties Union insist that we
must not only stand for but support
when the propagandizing Is being
done here against conservative coun-
try. 1t would never occur to them
that the Soviet government ought
equally to permit conservative Amer
leans to go to Russia and there, with
out restraint, to preach the advantages
of q capitalist society. I cannot i'm
agine that they would ask the Amer
lean Government to protest on the
ground of free speech if Mr. John w.
Davis were refused permission to
speak in Moscow on the virtues Of
capitalist banking. And yet I fail TO
see that agitators have any inalienable
right to preach their subversive doc
trines anywhere outside of their own
countries; am certain that they have
no more right to preach them here
than we have to preach democracy in
Moscow.
That thought was what induced me,
at the beginning Of this article, some
what facetiously to suggest that there
might we'll be reciprocal free speech
treaties. They would be quite simple
to negotiate with countries which are
no more afraid of free speech than we
are; impossible to negotiate with any
others. And 1t is the others which
normally send out the agitators.
If exclusion could. somehow, in this
or some other sensible way be made
automatic, there would be no hue and
cry In the press, no free advertising
of dangerous" books, no recrimina-
tions and consequent bad feelings.
This may be q dream. But OF one
thing I am sure: If there must ever
again be exclusion or deportation. let
the reasons be given with courage and
clarity. The American people will
quickly respond.
Radicals Upset Youth.
The dissemination of radical and
un-American ideas unsettles the very
young and the weak minded and in
this way causes trouble for the state;
but even so, 1t Is not primarily this
danger which should cause the ex-
clusion of aliens. We Americans are
not going to cruelty our country on
some foreign madness.
The main reason for exclusion Is
that these foreign propagandists de-
mand all the privileges of American
citizens and are quite unwilling to
assume any of the responsibilities.
They should be excluded because we
do not want this Nation Of ours turned
into debating ground Of questions
which do not concern US: because we
want our new citizens to devote them
serves to becoming good Americans
and to learn to think of this country
as the homeland. We do not want the
United States to be turned into
great platform Nom which foreigners
who do not dare to speak out at home
may with personal impunity attack
their own governments. That way
leads surely to endless international
misunderstanding.
TRIPLE SERVICE SET