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Show V" , A WAlt WITH IGXORAXOI3. We are on the eve of a great Avar in -Jthe United ' States a war with Ignorance. This is the Im- presslon ono gains from reading John Graham Brooks' "American Syndicalism," which is the first authoritative study of .this movemont in ' 'America. Only a few years ago the average citizen citi-zen dismissed tho subject of Socialism with a deprecating remark about its foreign origin. Syn- ' dicalism is more foreign that Socialism. It is a I rocont importation from Franco. Still it menaces I fthe United States ovon more than it does tho coun- ) i try -of Its birth, bocauso conditions In this country offer a most fertile field for syndicalist propa ganda and. warfare. The syndicalist movement of this country, tho I. W. W., does not'sook converts to its cause from among the middle class Americans. It loaves them ito tho progressive movement. Nor does it soak converts among tho fairly well to do, but polltle-' polltle-' ally dissatisfied masses of working people. It i leaves them to tho Socialist movement. Tho I. W. W., according to Brooks, "raps labor strata" lower than either of these. It makes its oppeal ' to the groat irmasos of tho uneducated foreigners who do tho 'unskilled work of tho country. It Capitalizes their Ignorance. There are, It is estimated, some 15,000,000 im- i migrants employed in our largo Industries. These men are unleavened as far as American civilization civiliza-tion Is concerned. They come from the least civilized countries of Europe. Fow of .them havo homes here. They live in shacks or hovels near their places of work. They shun Americans fully as much as they are shunned by them. Their view of government is that It exists for oppression. They are hostilo to all officialism. No one has taken the trouble to acquaint' them with tho nature of republican government and institutions, arid they are as mistrustful of them as thoy are of tho autocratic officialdom of their native lands. There are, of course, a few among them" who havo seen the light, but these few enlightened ones, like Uw rest of their brethron, are not voters. These millions of workers have grievances. Numerous Nu-merous government investigations of conditions in the big Industries prove that. If thoy are too helpless help-less to seek to remedy the abuses from which they suffer themselves, they will welcome any man who brings them a promise of something better. Now the man, or movement, who will come to those workers and advise them to seek rollef through governmental channels, through legislation, -will have a good deal of prejudice to overcome. It requires re-quires much education to bring a man who has been accustomed to consider the government his enemy around to the view that tho government is not only his friend, but his servant. The indiscriminate shibboleth of the I. W. W., on the other hand, that all governments, republican repub-lican no less than autocratic, aro tho enemies of toiling masses, cannot fall to win the npprovnl of these hordes of immigrants. The turbulent meth- rwla tf Qvrwllrin Main fllrnnf nntlrm cnlirtnrft tlin rrnn. eral strike, are just the sort of methods to appeal to these semi-primitive men. Logic and reason will leave them cold. Appeal to passion and force will stir them to blind and brutal activity. Ignorance, no matter, how bulky, no matter how large its legions, has never accomplished lasting last-ing reforms. In fact, it has- always defeated Itself. But It has never failed to act as an explosive. It has nover failed as a destructive force. By harnessing har-nessing this widespread ignorance of certain labor strata In this country, and training it to do its bid-Jing, bid-Jing, the I. "W. W. inay become one 6t the greatest agencies for violence and bloodshod history has recorded. The iJroper method to draw the venom from tho fangs of syndicalism does not He, .however, in Indiscriminately In-discriminately imprisoning its leaders. It lies in making tho flold for syndicalist propaganda in .tho United States loss fruitful. A campaign to oducate the great masses of unskilled. workers to the meaning mean-ing of democratic govocninont and the possibilities possibili-ties of institutions is tho surest antidote for syndicalism. |