Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-02-28
PRIVATE ARMIES
(From The New York Times).

IOIIl tllC NCW AOAAA
Some of The photographs publish
ed in Tuesdays newspapers after
the Bund's Madison Square Garden
party must have given many New
Workers a start We hope they did,
for they looked as though they had
been taken in Munich, not on Man
haitian. We are not accustomed to
storm troopers. We do not intend,
to any noticeable extent, to get ac-
customed to them. No matter how
foolish the Bund may seem, we must
do something sooner or later ABOUT
the problem Of the uniformed pri-
vate army. We leed to consider
carefully what this something is to
be.
We should get into difficulties if
we decided that the wearing of a
certain style of boots, breeches,
shirt and cap was wrong. Millions
of our felloW-citizens take a perfect
ly legitimate pleasure in putting on
fancy dress once in a while and
having a parade. The Boy Scouts,
the Girl Scouts, the American Le-
gion and dozens of fraternal organi-
cations wear uniforms on occasion
and no one minds in the least. We
can hardly say that the Republicans,
the Democrats, the Single Takers or
any other, political organization
shall not request its members to
wear a certain kind Of shirt. Legal
ly citizen has right to dress up
in a sheet and pillow case, as the
Ku Klux Klan does, though the by
stander may wonder why he shares
with the burglar d desire to hide his
face and why our laws permit dem
onstrations by masked men.
The legal restrictions on what we
shall wear are, in fact, few Some
are imposed for decency's sake.
Some forbid us to take advantage of
others by appearing to be what we
are not. An unauthorized Oerson
must not, for example, impersonate
a police officer or an officer Of the
army or navy. But where private
armies are concerned the costume
is of secondary Importance. Like
the external spots that indicate meas
les, it is only a symptom.
In the recent experience of other
countries, including not only the au-
thoritarian States but also England
and France, it is a symptom of con-
tempt for law. The Nazis in Ger
many, the Fascists in Italy began as
uniformed private police. Their
imitators in France under the Croix
de Feu, in England under the Black
Shirts differed only in being unsuc-
cessful. Gangster tactics were used
in each case. We can imagine the
situation here if we can conceive of
any leader marching uniformed
group of his faithful followers down
the street, beating up inoffensive
citizens, smashing windows and loot
ing stores.
We are not disposed to let any,
thing of this sort happen. We are
disposed, one may safely saw. to
treat political gangsters like other
gangsters. But at what point arc
the forces Of law and order to begin
to assert themselves? Obviously tho
right point is at the very beginnino
OF the process. We ought to roe
quire the most complete publicity
concerning the doings of these or,
ganizations-their lists of menbore
tnelr rules and regulations, and par
ticularly their finances Whaao
Nt'OAA~J ONSp CllCSc nlIIlI6rV hnntc
these Sam Browne belts, these mill
tary Standard? Does any part Of
1t come to the United States from
foreign sources? Does any bart of nf
it come from Americans who hide
their contributions behind convenN
lent anonymity? Who pays for thc
elaborate propaganda which MANY
of these organizations use? To what
commitments and what lovaIt;os
have they pledged their rank and
file? ''iio-
There is no orderly and self-ro
specting body which would bc ~
jured by the requirement that =" -
make public all information of this
kind. But wholesome and viporo,,"
publicity would make it moro dire;
cult for tho sinister organization -
operate successfully, and helm =" :"
scotch at its inception the vicious
institution of the private army