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Show PROBLEMS FACING STRICKEN WORLD Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in Europe Follow the Great World War? ANALYSIS OF SOVIET RULE Cold Reasoning Easily Proves Fallacy i on Which the Idea Is Based Demagogism Its Foundation Stone. Article XXI. By FRANK COMERFORD. Lenine has frequently observed that representative government Is a failure. fail-ure. He has Insisted that the democratic demo-cratic form of government Is debauched de-bauched and destroyed by the political machine; that political corruption vetoes ve-toes the will of the people. If Lenine Is right In this conclusion, then the bolshevik government In Russia offers just from three to five times as much chance for political corruption as our own form of government If It Is dangerous dan-gerous for the American people to entrust their business to an agent whom they directly elect and who Is directly responsible to them, how much more dangerous .must It be to turn over the public business to 17 men appointed by a central executive committee, the members of which have been appointed by an All-Russian congress, which All-Russian congress Is elected by Soviets for whom the people did not vote? Applying this plan to our own government, our congress con-gress would be elected by the state legislatures and the aldermen of the cities, then this congress so elected would pick an executive committee of 200, nnd this committee would elect 17 commissioners to whom would be given the supreme power of the state, both legislative and executive power, the right to make laws, and the authority au-thority to enforce the laws. Democracy or Autocracy? All down through history two theories the-ories of government have been at war. One Is that the majority shall rule the other, that the minority sin l rule. The people struggling for freedom have battled for the former; the few seeking special privileges have fought for the latter. The first Is democratic, democrat-ic, tho second autocratic. No compromise compro-mise Is possible; there Is no middle ground. These two antagonistic ideas have nothing in common; like parallel lines, they can never meet, in their nature they are separale and apart. The government of the late kaiser of Germany, the government of Nicholas, tho autocrat of Russia, were founded on the Iden that the minority shall rule. History shows that minority rule has always enslaved the majority. major-ity. The rule of a minority over a majority means slavery for the many. It Is human nature. The principle always works the same result. If It Is a ).a!ltlcal meeting and the minority minor-ity runs it, the result Is a machine: and a boss. When It Is a nation, you have a bureaucracy and a dictator, deriving de-riving his power not from the consent of the governed, but from the bayonets bay-onets of the army. There may be room for honest differences of opinion between be-tween honest men on many questions, but there is not any room for difference differ-ence of opinion among honest free men on the proposition that minority role Is a menace. In Article III of the bolshevik constitution con-stitution we find Incontrovertible evidence evi-dence that tho government of soviet Russia Is built on the tyrant's s-tone, minority rule. Section 25 reads: "The All-Russian congress Is composed com-posed of representatives of city Soviets Sovi-ets In (he ratio of one delegate for every 25,000 voters, and of ivpresent-atives ivpresent-atives of the Soviets of liie provinces in the ratio of one delegate for every 125,01) Inhabitants." D'iscrimination Against Peasants. No explanation Is given for basing tin: representation in congross from tile cities on the number of voters, while the representation In congress from the provinces is based on the number of inhabitants. The words are not synonyms, a voter Is an Inhabitant Inhabit-ant of certain age and possessing certain cer-tain qualifications. An inhabitant is anyone who lives In the province, regardless re-gardless of age or qualifications. If the word inhabitant Is given the same meaning tlict the word voter is given, then It Is apparent that the constitution constitu-tion unjustly discriminates against tho "poor peasant." As they have had no general elections In Russia. It Is Impossible to give the official rnni motion mo-tion of these two words. If ibe word Inhabitant means any man. woman or child living In the province, the discrimination dis-crimination against the "poor peasants" peas-ants" Is Just as obvious, although it does not go to the same length. As nn Illustration,' If we read this Important Im-portant provision of the constltiuinn (,-ivlng to the word Inhabitant the snnie meaning as we give to the word voter, then we see that the voters of tie-city tie-city have one congressman for every 25.0"". while the "poor peasants" have one congressman for every 125.-O'm). 125.-O'm). If we cnriMnjo the word voter to mean th1 qualified h :nl voter, anrl the word inhabitant to moan any human hu-man b'-itig living in lite provinces, we learn that the people of the oiiv have one oi;-ro--nian for every 2"."'H voters, while the people of the prov- hires !l!Ve on" CO ; j - r ' - - 1 , 1 1, II for eer.V I- :.' -...!r. I r ic-h this .liiitii.. r !!.. foiio A j.s la, -,::ii r : In the I'nit.-d I States W9 estimate that tnfre In m voter In every five of tho population. This calculation Is based upon malfl suffrage alone, with the voting ig tixed at twenty-one years. In Russia both men and women have the suffrage, suf-frage, and the age qualifying on to voie Is eighteen years. I. therefore, figure that there would be one voter for every two In population. There Is no question about the discrimination against the "poor peasant" and the favoring fa-voring of the city voter. It U onlj a question of how much. Machine Politics. Lenine may be the Idealist some peo pie say he Is, but this section of th constitution proves him to be t practical prac-tical machine politician In his methods. meth-ods. The provision was written to meet a situation. It has a purpose. Lenine has frequently written and spoken about the "poor peasants." He can be forgiven for overworking tho phrase. The "poor peasants" make up the great bulk of the population of Russia. It Is not bad politics, although al-though It smacks of demagogy, to speak often aud sympathetically of the "suffering poor," particularly when the "poor peasants" make up the majority ma-jority of one's constituency. Many successful politicians owe their offices to this appeal. In Russia over 80 per cent of the people live o the land over four-fifths of all the Russians are peasants. Less than one-fifth one-fifth of the population live in the towns and cities. Measured by his words, Lenine Is the friend of the "poor peasants;" by the constitution their enemy. As we have seen, the constitution specifically declares that the supreme power of the government Is vested lu the All-Russian congress. Of course this Is true only In theory, for we have read how the All-Russian congress turns the supreme power over to tho central executive committee, which In turn surrenders the power to the 17 people's commissars. The discrimination against the "poor peasant" runs all through the constitution; consti-tution; the bolslievlk8 are at least consistent. con-sistent. Paragraph "B" of section 5il of the constitution furnishes additional addition-al evidence of the conspiracy against the peasants. It reads: "The provincial Soviets are composed com-posed of representatives of the city Soviets and the rural Soviets, one representative rep-resentative for 10,000 Inhabitants of the rural districts, and one representative represent-ative for 2,000 voters In the city." In the regional congresses It Is tho same, one representative for 25,000 Inhabitants of the country, and one representative rep-resentative for 5,000 voters of the city. Aim at Disfranchising Peasants. The governments of the nallon, of the regions, of the provinces, are based ou the disfranchisement of tho "poor peasants." I am wondering If there is any significance In the fact that tho people of the city have one representative represent-ative for a certain number of votes, and the people of tho country havo one representative for Just five times the number. You will note the ratio is always the same: For congressmen It Is 25.000 In the city, us against 125,000 in the country; In the regional congress It Is 5.000 voters of the clly as against 25,000 inhabitants of tho country. In the provincial congresses It Is one representative for 2,000 voters In the city, one representative for 10,000 inhabitants from tho rural districts. dis-tricts. Why this five to one? I am wondering how Lenine hit upon tho ratio of five to one; Is there any connection con-nection between this five-to-one discrimination dis-crimination against the "poor peasants" peas-ants" and the ratio of population In Russia between clly dwellers and "poor peasants," which Is about five to one? It Is not difficult to guess tlio reason for this action. Any American ward politician could furnish the explanation ex-planation In a minute. All political experience proves that a political machine ma-chine ( best controlled, easiest organized or-ganized In the cities. Political machines ma-chines Wive never been popular In the country districts. The soviet form of govermient Is a political machine. The control of tin? machine Is Insured by disfranchising the "poor peasants." Ttie men who designed the bolshevik constitution knew one thing about practical polities, and knew that one tiling thoroughly, and that Is that cities cit-ies are accessible to political control, amenable to political InlUience, Ideal for the political machine. The soldiers nnd sailors aro generally gen-erally stationed In cities. This gives tli, 'in file power of city voters. They are not discriminating against, fln.v are favored. Soldiers and sailors are not free airenis in the sense the civilians civil-ians usually are. Civilians have a freedom of thought and action that the military do not enjoy. Tho sol-filer's sol-filer's occupation prevents It. First, be Is an employee of the government govern-ment ; second, he Is under discipline; disci-pline; third, the people's commissars lix ids pay, determine fhe quantity and quality of bis food, arrange for tfie comforts of the barracks: the votes ami tho bayonets of the military sustain arel support Lenine as truly as the military force held (lie cv.fir or, bis throne. (CnjiyrlK hi. i:,21, Wetrn Nwpiipr tjnlonl |