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1 ; PetrogradThe Seat of Social Revolutions IH i i B I 111 iWJBl ' i ftUhfl m m ' I 7 " B B v KT?j P v FTVii .-'faj BB Bft-ffE- B VB Jt vSfrB BB B 4 A J mm I ( C ) Prr. I M Servirf Till". St Petersburg ol our school-day geographies w.is liberated from the German influences in its name, and 10 became the Pctrograd ol war-time dll patches. Then it was liberated from Cxarist rule and leemed in a fair way to become the capital of the Russian republic But it was liberated" again from the republican plans of Kerensky, and became the Red capital of Lentne and Trotsky. For the past rear it has been the (enter of attempts at another "liberation" Admiral Kolchak and Gen. Vudcnitch endeavoring to restore the city again to the Russian people and i con stituent assembly. Here il a street scene in this famous Russian city whi h (howl how favorably Russian urban I i f - com pare! with that in the best civilized of cities. True, tin morals of many Russian cities are about as loosi as ' v could be anywhere on t he globe, but archi tect rally, commercially and socially they are on a par with the cities of more favored countries. The street here portrayed is a Spacious one. lined with substantial buil ind bearing much the same kind of life as WOttld 1" found in any other metropolitan center. The stores have a modern note about them. The Russian theater, si everyone knows, has reached a high degree of devel ment, and the greater plays are presented by more first-class companies than is commonly the ease (hand Stand (iaycty H' h" i odfl news from Paris. Some cafe pro prietOTI have thrown open their cafes to night suppers and night dances, as in the vanished years be fore ln14. And the experiment has failed. " Only I few lone and timid couples have come to spacious dining halls with waxed floors, once thronged by hundreds. Yet if Paris were to be gay Paris, it has all the n. i teriala of mirth. It is Still full ol girls, but they are working girls, or wealthy girls who have known what work and privation arc during the pressure of the war : re arc thousands of young men. but they weir wound stripes and medals. Thus if girls and young nun and champagne and food and dancing were all that was needed to make a gay Paris, it would have i ien from the ashes of the past ( r we would not have understood why the night life of Paris did not live again. Now we do under stn' 1 t. Paris, the people of Paris, are not unduly gay, npr unwontedly given to late suppers and stupidly stI ti nal nurth. The French people have shown that they are profoundly serious as of old, though fond of mirth and jollity in their proper season. And though the war was a grave war, the peace is serious ' I ace. So the people of Paris, who never went to all the lund institutions of which foreigners tell, and where foreigners went without injury to their reputation, be ,n Msl,ln. "sightseers," are ' still not gOtflg to "gay ? , . ! be" are leavmg these superfluous and arti- 1 instttuttons to foreigners who wish to be dused '"to ttu notion that they are seeing Paris by seeing sti, ws. The artificial and organised machine gay- ! Pjl was produced purely for the benefit of hv ,n,,trr. and without globe trotters it cannot Ihiis, ifer a fu. trnc parjs jN scrj,,ns So is all e world fundamentally in earnest, or fond of doing ctn"uj earnest The Prince of Monte Carlo is mjWn . K'reat gambling den which he maintains 1 Ihn tatt, But even that prince has given his ''owl a portion of his revenue, to scientific rc- ... ' , ' ' ' the world's oceans. He happens to be a Wini 9e keeper, but thinks of himsell as an panograpner hum,,' UVi Un tru fun- e al1 a(,mirc tnc trur hves " V i rta' ttirthmakcr, who cheers our tired tun 'a,,hter and light song. Hut there is HO real lln(j truc amusement, no actual laughter from be ihorten i ' n an rXllt,nuilt that poisons life, or Ils sleep, or endangers others, or Mights the rior""ffl (,f youth. These are abnormal, and all them , , nl'h-. in Paris or Pumpkin t. die. will reject in America. At a time when only one company was offering to the United States Maeterlinck's "Blue Bird," then in the first flush of its popularity, fourteen com panies were touring Russia. The real significance of the Russian revolution and the Soviet experiment is clouded by the censorship and counter-propaganda fostered by the fear-struck reactionary autocracj of other countries. Hut some day it will he made clear that we have been passing through a social experiment compared with which the French Revolution was a mere street brawl. It is a thousand pities that the whole world could not have had a clear and unobstructed view of the experiment while it was proceeding, for then the world could have seen with its own eyes exactly what happens when an idealistic social scheme becomes mixed with the human nature of its sponsors and prospective beneficiaries. It ever the world had reason to be grateful that Russia has a vital literature it is now, for when the cloud lifts we may expect works of immeasurable importance from Russians who have observed the Social experiment from its beginning to its end Russia may prove to be the most useful object lesson the world has ever had. Cer tainly it is the first time in history that social idealism has been attempted on a national scale. A Polish National Bank has been formed with a capital of 100,000.(XX) tloty (equivalent to francs which at par are valued at 193 cents each). The new bank will acquire the assets of the Bank of Russia in Poland and of the Polish Loan Hank (founded in 1917) and the proceeds from the liquidation of the Austro-Hun-garian Bank and the amount- owed by the Reichsbank. The new hank will have the exclusive privilege of is suing notes. Bludgeons for Balances SAD news for all orders of mankind comes to us out of Sicily. On some vast and rich estates, hi by ancient families, the peasants have revolted P 1 and robberies are reported from stately mansions which have I i kr reposed on sunny mountains, secure in ancient strength anad the ancient submission of the poor. So one can foretell how far the ravage will run. But one can imagine that the peasantry, once irned to rioting in the palaces of ancient p.er. will WTC k More than many can rebuild. And such wild disorder may result from the uprush of rebellion! that lovers of law and ord r will wK-.me back the older regis and command the peasant to go back to his toil. If the people of Sicily choose to demand more lib erty, tins is welt But if the peasants plan to be the violent establishers of liberty, this is ill news for all mankind. Liberty is not murderous, and does not wreck. Justice USCS a tWO-edged SWOrd and not a bludgeon. The crimes of an unenlightened and over taxed peasantry are likely to be great, because lack oi enlightenment ami over-taxation has distorted the oppressed. But it the peasant uprising is soothed by justice, before too terrible things have been done, let the opulent rubles take this warning. Let them understand as the French nobility before the Revolution could not understand, that man is made f r equality and de mocracy, that the poor and the ri h were both mad--for fair play. The very instinct of man is to balance himself anew when he finds himself overbalanced. If he is falling to the left he throws himself violently to the right So if society in Sicily or Russia r elsewhere is falling to ward aristocratic ruin, be sure that mankind will lurch crudely and roughly toward democra Man loves the sword of justice, and society must not leave any of her children to arm themselves with bludgeons. Men love freedom, and he who ties ropes upon strong arms must look to see the cords sna some day by the mere fretting of the mui l I, Let us all work for real social justice, from Italy to the ends of the earth, so that the irresistible balance of nature's equality does not crush us when all classes are si lk( t aether on her scales. Can ) on Pronounce It? ART: you acquainted with oxybenzylmethylenglycolan s&hyarite? It is the name of a substance invented by Dr. L. IL Baeketand, who was the first 1 so-called, "gas-light" photographic papers, and who has several other important attainment- in the domain of chemistry to his credit. Fortunately, however, oxy etc. has a shorter name, by which it is more familiarly known BakelHe. It is a transparent, amber-like ma terial. employed in the manufacture of fountain pens, cigaret holders, automobile ignition systems and other insulati n. Dr. Baekeland is a Belgian by birth, but has lived in this country a number of year-. He was born in Ghent, went to school there, and finally, by specializing in chemistry, attained a professorship in the university of Ghent. From the time he was seventeen, be sup ported himself by tutoring and lecturing. He did such important work in the science that he was given a traveling scholarship. He came to the United States in 1V,J. and first turned his attention to perfecting photographic pr cesses He then decided to remain in this country, and resigned Ins profess r ship. Since then, he has made many important con tributions to chemical research, and received many hon ors at the hands of his fellow scientists. Trained" to Read and Write "universal hi re's a kind the The uni L V. lb 1 V training" ! sample of the countrv needs. formed group here shown contains 28 private soldiers. They represent N nation alities. At the outbreak of the war not one of them o uld s ak or w nn- ng lish. and a number of them could not write an lan guage. Today, as a result of the educational work which was given them along with then military work, every one of them is a fluent English scholar, at home with books and figures. This group is called the "All Ann rican Platoon." It was brought to Washing ton to prove to Congress the educational work in the army should be maintained. Secretary of W ar Baker (at center with slouch hat I and Gen. Peyton C. March, chief of statT I at right are interested in thiN work. Educational work was undertaken in the army as a military necessity. Soldiers could not obey orders un less they understood the language ii which the orders were given, nor could they make reports unless they understood how to write the prevailing language of the army. In the training camps of I'd 7 it was a frequent spectacle to see foreign-speaking squads, platoons and companies being drilled by commands given in a for eign language. In many hundreds of Instances it was found that American born sons of foreign-bom par- HisssssssssW isM " R 1 flj S vfl (I Bfl I r 1 M II ksHlBv H aa I ' m I (C) Harm & E'nr ents young men who had lived in m near, communi ties all their lives, were unable to speak English. Such a condition would never have been revealed except for the ur al registration which the war made necessary. It was I sort of national stock taking It is regrettable that those human u,entoiies are nevci made from humanitarian motives, instead of waiting for military necessity to undertake them. There is something wrong with the Civil administration of a na tiofl whose military administration can uncover such lacks.