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Bum I ' l MjMm & Thinking Paper Jhr Thinking People " H EUROPE TREMBLES AT MENACE I l," OF WILSON AND REDS I r l rNLY a few months ago civilized Europe was fighting madly some VJ times almost in despair to rid itself of its greatest peril the kaiser and kaiserism. Today it is astonished to find that another peril , of almost equal magnitude has arisen Wilson and Bolshevism. $ At the outset we disclaim any intention of fixing all the blame on iMr. Wilson, but we wish to shed upon the situation a light which hitherto has been barred from us by the censorship. Grjat Britain, France and Italy, out of consideration for President Wilson and the United States, has repressed those publicists who felt disposed to point out the perils pervading the policy of the president and arising out of his very presence at the peace table. When he arrived in Europe there was no little trepidation among the monarchs who were clinging to their thrones, as it were, by mere threads. In Spain, in Italy, in Great Britain the rulers felt their thrones shake when the president of the United States set foot on European soil. His idealism and his proclaimed purpose of "making l the world safe for democracy" aye, the traditions of freedom in the I United States all these elements commingled to make his presence P a menace to monarchical rule. In the United States not one of us ' blamed him for any of these things, but in Europe the kings, although r they hugged him to their breasts, so to speak, feted and acclaimed sT him, they trembled with fear at his influence. t There was one thing for which he was blamed in this country as W well as in Europe his wavering attitude toward Bolshevism. In- m stead of taking a firm stand against Bolshevism as he should have W done he temporized with it and turned a willing ear to its apologists p and propagandists. In his fourteen points he had said that the attitude jb of the nations toward Russia would be the test of their good inten- tions. Naturally enough, when he arrived in Europe, the revolu- ' tionary forces, rightly or wrongly, whispered that he was one of them. jl . Within the last week the entente nations have shivered at a new ! battle cry in Hungary. "We are Wilsonians," shouted one of their f . - leaders and, no doubt, the cry will be taken up by the Reds who are f robbing banks, stealing private property, and murdering those who L disagree. r It has been reported with what truth we know not that when I Mr. Wilson was in Italy the Italian government feared a revolution p and was forced to take elaborate secret precautions to prevent an out- t break in the name of Wilson and the principles which he was supposed I to represent. I " As soon as the revolution had gripped all of Hungary the French I were for sending General Mangin, who commanded the Americans II and their comrades in the first of the mighty smashes which broke the I German power, to fight the new peril. But the councils of President I Wilson and of Lloyd George prevailed. Instead of sending a military ,, expedition of magnitude the allies contented themselves "with the dis- i patch of General Smuts as an investigator. The consequence has been that Bolshevism has established itself in Hungary and is making itself strong by paying its soldiers $90 a month and pampering them in M every possible way as imperialism pampered the praetorian guards in M declining Rome. M Western Europe views the situation with terror. "Where will M the tide of Bolshevism stop?" is the question. Will it sweep westward M until it has carried the old civilization into the Atlantic? If so, will M not Europe have Mr. Wilson, and to a much lesser degree, Lloyd M George to thank for the debacle ? jH It is all very well for Mr. Wilson calmly to view the spread of M Bolshevism, they will say. It is all very well for him to urge pacific J negotiations and to give warning that no American troops will be used H in Eastern Europe. Soon he will have departed for peaceful America, H where Bolshevism has little or no hold upon the people. From far-off H Washington he can view with more or less equanimity the tidal wave H of Bolshevism overruning Germany and Austria and threatening to H swamp Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and H Norway. H The French and Italian governments do not know whether Mr. H Wilson's covenant is to prevail. If it does prevail they will be able M to use American troops to preserve their territorial integrity and ex- H isting political independence from "outside aggression." But will the H American government regard the spread of revolution as outside H aggression ? H Italy and France see that they must protect themselves against H the Bolshevist monster, but how are they to do it when the president H of the United States vetoes military measures and urges further H temporizing and negotiating? Bolshevism has taken possession of H the bankrupt countries, the countries that cannot pay their debts, that H are committed to poverty. Bolshevism is eager, as were the Huns of H old, to force their way into solvent countries and seize the national H wealth. By looting Italy, France, Spain and the neutral countries H they can pay the way of Bolshevism in Germany, Austria-Hungary H and all of eastern Europe. H Naturally the solvent countries do not wish to be robbed of all H that they have fought to protect. Of what avail, they ask themselves, H was it to sacrifice millions of lives and spend billions of dollars if, in H the end, they are to lose all that they fought for? They see the ncces- H sity of stopping Bolshevism where it is. While Lloyd George and H Mr. Wilson talk of negotiating, Clemenceau and Orlando, backed by M the neutrals, are willing to fight. H It only makes matters worse that President Wilson and Lloyd. M George are temporizing with the Bolsheviki. We take it for granted M that both of these statesmen find the principles of the Reds abhorrent M and that they would annihilate Bolshevism if they could. In the ex- H isting crisis France and Italy acquiesce in the Wilson policy and thus H give hope and encouragement to the propaganda for a world-wide M revolution. If war were declared on Bolshevism Italy and France M probably would be joined by Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, H SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, APRIL IS, 1919, , ,-u U m ' fiVM ktt i . . V . -l