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Show ' psc.di esse wvp I STRICKEN WORLD j Shall Chaos or Reconstruction j in Europe Follow the Great World War? ' RUSSIA'S TRIAL OF SOCIALISM Ultimate Good to the World Looked for From the Practical Test Now Being Made In That j Country. Article XIV. By FRANK COM ERFOR D. The "red Hag" remedy has been demanding de-manding a triul, a test. The demand has been growing. Before Its advocates advo-cates can be silenced they must be fhown. Out of the test of socialism In Russia is bound to come good. Whether the theory Is a practical one or not, putting it to the test will answer an-swer a question, satisfy a demand, and tend to quiet unrest. The fair-minded Investigator cannot deny that there was Justification and reason back of the effort to try the remedy. That the world has been suffering suf-fering from poverty cannot be denied. I have found few men, even among the conservative, responsible leaders of business and governments In Europe, who did not admit that conditions la the world before the war were not right; that some change in the order of tilings was Inevitable; that the dissatisfied dis-satisfied elements In society were coming com-ing together and that unless men were given better lives, they were determined deter-mined to fight. The working man was deteriorating physically under the strain of brutal working conditions .vbieh exacted too many units of physical phys-ical energy for the number of calories calor-ies of food he was getting. The haemoglobin haemo-globin count, Ihe red corpuscles, were disappearing from the blood of the working people. It was not a theory; one could see it in the faces and movements move-ments of the people. Medical men recognized the fact. A walk through the poorer district of any industrial city i Europe furnished plenty of : . iuvriii.; ul tins alarming condition. Men, women and children were resorting resort-ing to false stimulants to keep up. Tea, coffee and alcohol were being ised In Increasing amounts. Always on Verge of Want. Men were stretching their arms and pawning. Squulor and filth furnished the homes. Many lived In abject poverty, pov-erty, many more lived on the border line of the garbage alley. Few were able to accumulate even the smallest surplus. They could not by scraping and denial get a week ahead of the game. It had become a hand-to-mouth existence, a weekly, monthly fight to meet the grocery bills, buy stockings, shoes, and the scant amount of clothes to cover their bodies. It was bread and coffee for breakfast, . bread with Jam and tea for dinner, tea und cheese or supper. Sausage sometimes took turns with cheese. Once a week, the Sunday repast, a great stew, a few vegetables and a bone. In the Latin countries it was the same, except that diluted cheap wine was substituted for tea. The great majority of men found themselves poorer and older at the end of the weej than they were at its beginning. Over the workingman's head was suspended night and day by u LMn, weak thread, the dreaded sword of poverty. Men feared that the thread might break any minute. It was the thread by which they held the thing called a "job." What did they care about the rights of private property? They didn't have any private property. prop-erty. The socialists had willing listeners list-eners when they ranted about communism. com-munism. It promised to give these people property, to give them a common com-mon ownership of everything. It wasn't hard to convince them that this was better than ownership of nothing. The bolsheviks of Russia are entitled en-titled to the presumption of good faith in selecting Hie Marxian formula.. It is only fair to them, and to the remedy, rem-edy, to examine the experiment with a mind free from prejudice. In admitting admit-ting the good intentions of the bolsheviks bol-sheviks I am not conceding that bol-shevlsm bol-shevlsm is practicable, workable; that It has succeeded or can succeed. For the present I am trying to fairly give the whole story of the effort. It Is as foolish to try to answer the bolshevik bol-shevik propaganda by calling the bolsheviks bol-sheviks ugly names, as It would be stupid to accept Bolshevism because its advocates are sincere. Need for Calm Consideration. Russia Is the patient. If we are to intelligently judge the treatment called bolshevisra, It is necessary to get a complete history of the patient and examine the conditions under which the experiment was tried. Anv doctor who Is a scientist would follow such n procedure In handling a medical med-ical case. If a doctor announced to the scientific world that he had a remedy rem-edy for cancer, which at the present time is an incurable physical disease, lust as poverty Is a social one. the scientists would give a hearing to his theory, seel; a fair test for it. keep their minds open, and judge the el'i-caey el'i-caey of the remedy by the results it produced. ConimunKm, as a treat-n,r:T. treat-n,r:T. a cure for poverty, has never ri v-n put i:? the test on a scale and In Mrcimistaneos which Justify any posi-! posi-! live Judgment as to wlie;::"r or not ( the plan is a practical one. A- I !r: '' . iirltten. the Russian bolsheviks UtM j j Vt if evry one owns ever tli.;, it- ' ror'C::i.'i l.'ro c::n he no fi'ry. '! !::- h: Hi.-, .-:,u..-!.-..-iit ..n i'iv.i that eon;r:i:;::: -ia will incp-ne p:MYi-:em. Tt.'-y c!-,,:a tkat c-c: ;h-t ; : !ui si .a ' i e-i production. T'.!'- s:,. t!.;it the o. m-i!ivc m-i!ivc s;-t,-Mi takes fr.,t:i i'.i indl-vidual indl-vidual the inducement to work that communism would give him an incentive incent-ive to work ; that It would be a stimulant stimu-lant ; that under It men would work better and produce more. They add that the present system Is bound to provoke an increasing number of strikes and that strikes stop production, produc-tion, cause waste. Increase poverty. 'There Is no doubt about the fact that there could be no poverty in the so clallstic state If communism succeeded in stimulating men to work harder, thus greatly Increasing production, because be-cause there would be more to eat, more to wear, more to use, and as the distribution dis-tribution would be controlled by the state, all of the people would receive an equal share of the great abundance, all would have enough. For the sake of fairness to them, I am conceding 'hnt the distribution program would !e honestly and Justly carried out, but a better distribution, a more equal and just division would mean nothing If the first, the fundamental promise of bolshevlsm greater production Is not fulfilled. Any plun which decreases production causes a shortage of the things necessary to life. If the bolsheviks bol-sheviks are wrong In their belief that communism will Increase production-then production-then bolshevlsm would make poverty general, universal, and Instead of bolshevlsm bol-shevlsm curing the cancer on the body of civilization, It would make the entire en-tire body of civilization a cancer. If the claims of bolshevisra are well founded, sound In common sense, capable cap-able of fulfillment, communism would be the greatest blessing ever conferred upon humanity. On the other hand, If the bolsheviks are wrong, and communism com-munism took from them the inducement induce-ment to work, then notwithstanding the good Intentions of the bolsheviks, their communism would be the greatest great-est scourge the world has known. This Is the simple issue In the case. If bol-shevism bol-shevism is the good thing its advocates advo-cates say It is, it will bring the millennium, mil-lennium, and every human being should be in favor of it; but If it it not practical, and will not work out, then It is a danger, the red lag Is Its proper signal, and the world should avoid the danger signal as an engineer charged will) the safety of human life would avoid running by a red light on the track ahead. Examine Before Condemning. Going back to the case of our friend, the doctor who honestly and sincerely believes he has a cure for cancer, let us consider what the scientific world would demand before offering a judgment judg-ment as to the value of his proposed cure. First, they would free their minds of all prejudice. They would be reasonable and patient as th'sj would be thorough In examining the proposed remedy from every possible angle. They would analyze the formula, formu-la, examine It In the light of experience. experi-ence. Why shouldn't we follow thfl same sensible plan in considering bolshevlsm? bol-shevlsm? Won't we get farther If wa do? Hasn't such a course an advant age over quarreling about it? Why should some of us accept it without knowing what it Is? Why should others condemn it without understanding? under-standing? And why should both these groups get excited and Irritated, call each other names, learn to hate, and add to the world's unrest? I propose to follow the method of the scientist as nearly as I can In examining ex-amining the patient, Russia, the world cancer, poverty, and the remedy bolshevlsm. 1. A complete family history, so that we may know and understand the constitution of the patient. 2. The physical and mental condition condi-tion of the patient at the time treatment treat-ment was begun. 3. The formula the remedy. 4. The theory of the cure. 5. The methods used In applying the remedy. 0. The history sheets showing the effect of the treatment upon the patient. pa-tient. 7. The condition of the patient after more than two years of bolslievism. (Copyright. 1920. Western Newspaper Union) |