New-York tribune. [volume], May 06, 1919, Page 10, Image 10

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First to Last?the Truth: News?Editorials
?Advert iscnients
Member of tho Audit Uurrau of Circulation?
TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1919
0?-M Mid published dallj by New York Trthnti? Inc.
a .\>\?r Torts OorporaUon. Ogiten Iteld. President; O.
i lent; Helen Rogers Held, Secre
I? F A. Suter. Treaaurer. Address. Tribune Building,
I I N'a toi Street, N'en Sorti Telephone. BeeKman :ooo.
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i . . ..
General Wood
es, of Now Hampshire,
Lly in contact with his constituents,
ring conviction that Gen?
eral Leonard Wood is to be a Presi
il candidate in 1920, and predicts
that it* he is nominated ho is practically
certain to be elected.
General Wood was born in New
Hampshire, and his native state craves
the hon r of i ubmitting his name to tho
nominating convention. He entered the
army from Massachusetts, and many in
the Bay St the privilege should
be hers. Kansas hi.s adopted him as
i :' her beloved citizens, and voices
favoring him come out of :''i.;*> modest
state. The rivalry suggests at in one
:' General Wood meets one condi?
tion of a Presidential candidate?he is
big enough to : :en across the
country.
of those who do not look with
favor on the Wood candidacy, men who
fear it and would head it off, have in?
dustriously insinuated tho idea that
less" is not a wide enough plat?
form. The proposition is doubtless
. but it does not apply. An attrac?
tive quality of General Wood is his
steadfast refusal to be sore. Other men
might have been when he was shunted
to a side track when the war began, or
when a board of doctors was called in
seemingly with the purpose to retire him
as an invalid, or when ho was denied an
opportunity for foreign service. But he
was so busy with duties that he had no
for other thoughts.
In the Presidency America prizes
character more than anything else, and
character is not shown by what particu?
lar job a man holds, but by the way he
reacts to jobs placed on him. It is
thus not stran.ee that Leonard Wood has
steadily grown in public esteem. His
life has been one long success. In his
first profession and in his second he
won distinction. Then, turning to highly
complicated tasks as Administrator of
Cuba, he organized a new nation. He
had imagination and the spirit of prac?
ticality in admirable mixture.
Then, in the trying days prior to our
entry into the war, he displayed the high?
est gifts of statesmanship. Except for
the preparedness campaign which he
i on, practically without official
rt, we might have arrived too late
u Thierry and the Argonne.
Except for his refusal to be gagged,
American casualties might have been
1,000,004 rather than 281,000.
Not by accident, not by phrases, not
by self-advertisement has he won hi3 re?
pute?not by accident is he hailed as the
inheritor of the great Roosevelt tradi?
tions.
How to Feed Russia
Tchitcherin, the young aristocrat and
dilettante searcher for new emotions,
who is Bolshevist Foreign Secretary,
deprecates the Wilson-IIoover-Nansen
food scheme and asks for a complete
lifting of the blockade, "which," he says,
"is the real reason*for our food difficul?
ties."
' course, is too intelligent
Ived himself by such an ex?
planation, lie knows better. He is
aware the starvation in Russia proceeds
courses other than the blockade,
le is internal. Russia has been
the greatest food producer in the world,
g 6,000,000,000 bushels of cereals
durii 1 Ich there are
6gui
land is there, the workers arc there,
adfl are there. The only troublo
is an unwillingness to work, which arises
D it of doubt by tillers of tin? soil whether
r back-breaking
r. The peasant is offered worthless
; of paper iur his grains and will not
tie so to feed hia own
family, but not to turn over a wurplua to
fon g parties.
troubles are great,
r chief ev ? :onomic. The cen?
tral soviet ?" vi has smashed the
ne and, of course, it won't
' ot R la to the world is
? 1 ' aple. The merits of the Marxian
bave been preached with euch
atic fervor that many have been
led to have faith in it. It in trie/1, and
. '?'.'.- months it brings general famine.
Tifc ' ?peril njt han been hard on the
. but they have placed the world
undt ? ' Won.
All that Rui a needs to escape from
. to plant, to cultivate
? ? She will do these thing?
: the property he
r to 1 '.';. i ood cargoes
/nay save a few live?, but what R?atela
requires is a chanco to feed herself, and
this chance will come to her when Bol?
shevism is overthrown, and not sooner.
All excuses put forward in extenuation
and support of Bolshevism are thus
propaganda to let Russia starve.
The Fiume Compromise
The Paris dispatches again put a
strain on the mentttl faculties. It is
said a compromise is to give Fiume to
Italy, provided there are adequate safe
| guards of the freedom of the port
! against shutting off the trade of the
hinterland.
Put forward as something new, this
is the settlement Italy has advocated for
months. The Austrian flag was hardly
down before the citizens of Fiume, hav?
ing declared their adhesion to Italy, out?
lined a plan by which the hinterland
could freely trade. Not satisfied with
! laying this plan before tho peace con?
ference, the Mayor of Fiume, that Amer
! ica might be informed, journeyed to this
country, and interviews carrying his
statement appeared in the newspapers.
He thought it absurd for any one to
think that Fiume did not wish to pros?
per and favored a customs barrier
against Croatia and Hungary. That
Fiumo should have a special status is a
cornerstone of Italian policy.
Doubtless Italy will be wise enough
to consent to face-saving. If her de?
sires are met she probably will dis?
creetly avoid mention of the fact that
the offer closed with was long ago made.
But why?oh, why?do the inspircrs of
Paris news continue to assume America
has no memory?
Saga vs. Communiqu?
The Lost Battalion was never lost,
says General Alexander. Not at all. It
merely occupied the position assigned
to it and held it. To be sure, the reserve
was not rightry placed and the situation
, of Major Whittlesey's command was
' recognized as "extremely critical." Only
! two days' rations and ammunition had
1 to last five days. Five direct attacks
i were made in an effort "to again come
into communication with him." And in?
cidentally the French artillery raked tho
i ravine, being convinced that the com
j mand must have surrendered. But the.
? battalion was never "lost" or "rescued."
We have this on the word of the com
! manding general, speaking officially.
The world has had much experience
I with "official" statements in the last
! five years. Communiques of war taught
; us so much about the ingenious art of
! concealing truth by stating facts that
it seemed as if nothing was left to come
after. But the official statements of
j shut diplomacy and the Quai d'Orsay
j have surely reached a new climax.
| Never again! Give us our sagas and
i romances and myths and let who will
j read an official anything about anybody.
The Young Professional Man
In the competition in well doing, which
occurred two years ago, no element was
i more eager to offer its services than the
' younger men of the professions. Law
I yers, doctors, dentists, pharmacists,
architects, engineers, etc., the majority
; of whose feet were on the first rungs of
| the ladder, flocked to the colors.
The older men possessed resources,
had established connections which they
| knew would stand the strain of tem
? porary ab5;ence. But their younger
l brothers were well aware they would be
forced to begin again. Yet they did.
? not hesitate. The professional schools
from one end c f the country to the other
were almost depopulated. The only
thing asked was an opportunity to serve.
Now, these young men are receiving
their discharges, and to thousands of
them the outlook is not bright. Under
the best conditions it is not easy to get
ahead In a learned profession, and the
task is doubly difficult when nearly three
years of supply must h absorbed in a
I few months.
The Tribune ventures to speak a spe
j cial word for the young professional
man. His duties in the army, enlarging
his experience, and generally along the
lines of his aptitude, make him compe
j tent. Remember this young man, par
| ticularly if he is one who has a family
! to support, f
Sea Power in the War
Rome extreme Mahanites continue, to
say that Allied sea power won tho war.
: This distorts the true perspective. It is
nearer the facts to say that the sea
! power made it possible for the Allies
| to win the war on land. Admiral Sims
? put it that way on Saturday, when ho
told the English-Speaking Union that
"the foundation stone on which the suc
??. cess of the war was built was tho British
Grand Fleet.?*
Admiral Sims remarked that had an
earthquake engulfed the British fleet in
the North Sea, so that tho German High
Sea fleet could have ventured forth, noth?
ing could have stayed the hand of tho
Germans. That is beyond dispute. But
\ if tho British fleet had been engulfed
I before August, 1914, Germany would
have been master of Europe immo
dlately. One of tho biggest handicaps
to the German conquest of Europe was
Entente sea power. Tho Germans went
to war with the hopo of destroying It.
This they were never able to do. Look?
ing at the farts fairly, it is easier to
I prove that sea power lost the war for
? Germany than that it; won the war for
tho Allies. Without sending a battleship
or u submarine beyond her coastline
waters, Germany conquered Russia, Ru?
mania, Serbia and Belgium, and almost
I overwhelmed Italy. She had only to fight
: Franco and firent, Britain to a draw on
: the West front, in <>n\t'r to consolidate
j ?lie Middle European and Asian Rmpiro
, which ?he had set up. But a persii tent
< misuse of the U-boat forced the United
1 States to join her enemies. And the
United States furnished the strategic
reserve which enabled Foch to carry
through his victory offensive.
Entente sea power made possible the
transportation of the American rein?
forcement to Europe. Yet, Ludendorff
and Von Tirpitz themselves summoned
that reinforcement.
Before the United States went in
Entente sea power had imposed a block
; ade on Germany. But the blockade didn't
1 starve Germany out. The Entente navies
: had not been able to force the Darda
'. nelles and link up the Eastern and West?
ern fronts, which afbne could save Russia.
j So the war was left to be decided on
; land. It would have been decided on land
if America had not come in. It was de
j cided on land after America came in.
Foch's victories forced Ludendorff .to
quit. The Allied operations at sea were
indecisive. The Get man High Sea and
submarine fleet surrendered only be?
cause the armies in France had been
s driven into a corner and were ready to
: capitulate.
Sea power helped to win the war. But
land power was the ultimate determining
factor.
The Trial of Sunday
It was not exactly a scarlet; Sunday
j that our city enjoyed, we would remind
j our friends who criticise Sunday base
1 ball. A quarter of a million men, women
i and children watched games, profes
sional and amateur, hereabout. But the
professional games could not begin until
2 o'clock. And our theatres are still
closed to the weekday show. A little
pink has been mixed into our old-fash?
ioned blue Sunday. The generally prim
and reposeful character of the day re?
mains.
We believe in going slowly in such
matters. It has long been the amazement
I of our Western cousins upon arriving
: in New York to find this liberal and
j cosmopolitan spot officially taking Sun?
day like a New England town of the
Revolutionary period. But customs are
more important than consistency or
theory in this human world, and as
long as most New Yorkers wanted an
old-fashioned American Sunday we think
they were absolutely right to stick to it.
It may have been an anomaly that New
York insisted upon being far more puri?
tanical on Sunday than Kansas City or
'\ the righteous, churchgoing American
Middle West generally. Even an anomaly
is not to bo sneezed at, however, if it
! represents a genuine community demand.
It is just because that community
view has shifted somewhat that we think
the present permission of Sunday after?
noon baseball right and sensible. Tho
shift has come slowly. It has como
j largely along with Sunday golf and ten
j nis and motoring and the rest of Sun
lay recreations. To some extent it may
have affected churchgoing. The pro
i polling cause, however, has not been a
weakening of faith, but a new interest
' in outdoors and health, in sane rest.
Watching a baseball game is not tho
! most violent form of exercise in the
! world, but it takes one outdoors, and it
1 is good American stuff. It will un
i doubtedly revivify baseball and send
j more boys and grown-ups to one-old-cat
i than ever. *
Therefore we approve and applaud.
i The old-fashioned American Sunday
suited admirably our husky, outdoors
I ancestors. One dank day of overeating
j and loafing was probably good for them.
i But our modern ways are something else
I again. Strictly adhered, to in this era
of offices and nerve strain, the oldtime
Sunday will ruin ten stomachs for every
soul it saves. And in the long run,
;';o;n generation to generation, a good
digestion is a not unimportant aid to
godliness and virtuous conduct. Is it
I too much to look forward to that re
? ligion should some day bracket dyspepsia
! and the devil together and try a joint
I drive against them both?
Munich's Commune Snuffed Out
Tho Municli Commune has gone the
way of the other German communes. It
lasted longer than most of them because
Munich is remote from the centres in
which the German Provisional Govern?
ment has established its authority and
also because Bavaria has shown since
! the war a marked particularist tendency.
The moderate Bavarian Socialist
i regime, which tho Commune displaced,
1 '-ctired to the north. It had no con?
siderando army and was obliged to ask
for assistance from Prussia and W?rt?
temberg. The people of Bavaria are, as
a whole, decidedly anti-Bolshevist. They
??ave. little support, to the Russian inter
! loners and Internationalists, who got
the upper hand !n .Munich and tried to
do there with the backing of tho criminal
elements what the original Commune did
to Paris in 1871. But tho experiment
was factitious. It was snuffed out easily
because there was no real fight in it.
Anarchy for tho sake of anarchy doesn't
appeal greatly to the materialistic Ger?
man temperament.
Leipsic now remains tho only danger
?pot in Germany. It has been in tho
hands of a local Independent Socialist
administration. It is an industrial and
commercial centre with Red leanings.
But it is near Berlin, and Herr Noske,
I the head of the Ebert government's
| volunteer army, has shown an extraordi
j nary energy in dealing with what is
' left of the Spartacidc mania.
It is perhaps in keeping with German
j policy that tho Provisional Government
should wish to present an appearance
of solidarity >at home whilo its delegates
receive, tho peace terms at Versailles.
So much that has happened in Germany
since flie armistice has been in tho
nature of political camouflage.; The
Munich episode suggests on its face that
tho forces of order are rapidly gaining
strength in Germany. Will they feel
self-confident and powerful enough te
balk at the conditions of peace? ,
77*6 Conning Tower
__-._
UP THE AVENUE
Yes, I was proud to-day, I'll say,
When ws marched up the street;
That music and those flags were gay.
Those welcome cheers a treat.
But something else, it's mighty true.
Put pep into my stride:
I marched the prouder for I knew
Jim marched there at my side.
Jim was my bunkie, and our game
Was mopping up the nests.
Machino guns kept the ground aflame?
Some hundreds of the pests.
We ducked behind a shell-hole rim
That stopped a hail of lead.
A Boche screeched "Kamerad!" and Jim
Looked up. They shot him dead.
We'd slept together, tired men . . .
And what we had we'd shared;
I liked him all the better when
I know that he was scared?
Even when the fight was in his blood!
He was a man?and, well,
I sent the Hun that got my Bud
Skyhooting down to hell.
A hundred thousand in the stands?
nomo crowd! Eyes front for me.
1 heard the clapping of their hand3?
But one face I could see:
Jim's mother there. And she saw Jim??
How proud he strode along?
And other lads marched there with him,
An unseen, silent throng. C. A.
Mr. Harry Esty Dounce, in the Sun, re?
fers to Mr. ?Stephen Leacock as "the one
exponent we have on this continent of a
certain high and fastidious art in satire,
oft(?n parody." Now Mr. I.cacock's art is
that of burlesque, and not parody. Nor
is ho tho one exponent of tho art. Off?
hand wo cite Robert C. Benchley, Bert
Loston Taylor, Louis Untermeyer (in his
impersonations of poets), and George M.
Cohan.
"Our tradition that Punch is dull," con?
tinues Mr. Dounce, "is about tho dullest
tradition wo own." It is, in fact, so dull
that it hasn't been a tradition for many
years.
Any Yonntr Man Who Takes Any Yonnff Woman
to Any Four Shows, The.se Days, Has Seri?
ous Intentions, Including the Tax.
Sir: If a young man, too bashful to propose,
were to take tho young woman to the four fol?
lowing; plnya?in order named- -do you think that
she'd catch on: "Oh, My Dear!" "I Lovo You,"
"Como Along." "Please Get Married"?
Topst.
Until yesterday "This falls beyond the
periphery of availability" was our notion
of the ultimate in rejection slips. But this
from a monthly magazine is the perfect
dissembler of editorial love: "There is ef?
fectiveness in this strange, odd thing, but
you will not, we trust, think the conven?
tions bind us too closely when we confess
that to us it seems to queer."
At Brentano's, in the puritanical city of
Washington, is advertised "Sale of slightly
soiled modern French fiction."
Prohibition will be without effect In
Prunella's houie. Her papa, Bhe says,
serves nothing but dry Martinis.
-
TO FRFCKLES
T road your bit In Tho Tower, Freckles,
And I want to say this ;
That if you don't belong here,
You don't have to stay here.
Pack your portmanteau, old boy,
And ?o Weit, young man, go West I
I'll send you to the Goldwyn studios
In California.
Put t warn you, Freckle?,
You'll lie sorry you ever said,
"I don't belong here."
A press ftgent lias to work likell
Where the air is lilac.
G. L. If., one of your bosses.
The replies to F. T. T.'s "I Don't Belong
Here" would till a column, and some sunny
day soon we shall run them, saying to tho
foreman of the warm composing room, "We
don't belong here."
_
The Guilty Feeling overwhelms Al when, |
unable after five minutes to get any re
sponae from Central, he allpa in another |
nickel, gets her, shouts that she must re- j
turn his nickels, BOTH nickels, at once, ?
and then sinks back in shame as she re?
turns four. And yet Al probably objects
to government ownership of tho telephones.
Sunday baseball relieves, in a slight de?
gree, tho traffic congestion on tho Boston
Post Road, Central Avenue and other mo?
tor-clogged thoroughfares. Tho best chauf?
feur we knows cays "It's dangerous driv?
ing Sunday; too many owners out."
"If you have egcrs," suggests E, S., "pre?
paro to mail them now. The postman is
handling tho mail sack ever so much more
gently than before."
Decntur's platform, rovarnished by Dave
Wallace: "Our country! Would she had
continued wet; but our country, wet or
dry."
HulimUtefl to the Contribs* IMnner Committee
Mr: Why have Muudlnl do It when I've b?en
wrlKKlInK in and out of a tight ?ltlrt ?o many
times that I am a past mistress at It7 And
whot'B more, I'll do It at the Contrlbs' Dinner?
1? you'll protect mo with a Ilcenue. Ja?K!..
The case of Mel, who on awaking hums
the brave songs of nn elder day, has been
dingnosed by nn authority on Freudism.
"To hum songa from tho last century,"
writes the authority, "signifies that tho
singer finds no pleasure in the futuro and
suffers from an unbearable present. It
la a ultra of old ajro when tho future holds
out only death and oblivion, and thus pre
cludea the competition In the pleasure
principles of days gomo by." Or, as Tenny?
son put It Iohm Fireudlahly, a sorrow's
crown of sorrow, etc.
Tho Allied policy on Flume la a 8-year
endowment.
It'B a g. and g. f. when a traffic cop
motions you to stop, although you have
been travelling at only nineteen miles nn
hour, nnd you find that all ho want? is to
ask you to buy another Victory Noto.
Buy n Victory Noto! It flouts, lies flat
on tho brush, and does not dry on tho fnce.
Ask th? man who owns on?.
F. P. A,
Pink Bolshevism
By William J. Ghent
The writer was formerly a prominent member o'f the Social?
ist party in America. He left it because of its pro-German
propaganda. The following is taken from a letter to Henry
R. Mussey, editor of "The Nation," of New York, of which
Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard is publisher. These extracts are
reprinted from "The National Civic Fcderatioyi Review:'
I SHALL deal here only with "The
Nation." I read your periodical regu?
larly and keep my copies on file. I do
not find in it the information believed by
me to be authentic which I readily find else?
where. You say: "We have also been util?
izing absolutely every source of informa?
tion concerning Russia that we can get." I
emphatically dispute this statement and I
shall show that your belief in its correct?
ness involves an almost incredible degree
of self-deception. True enough, I find in
"The Nation" much that is pertinent and
valuable?the text of the Soviet constitu?
tion, of various Soviet decrees, etc.?and I
willingly pay tribute to the enterprise of
your periodical in gathering and publishing
these documents. But the publication of
them does not compensate for tho omission
of other and equally important matter.
The text of a constitution or a decree is
not a description of tho workings of a gov?
ernment. You, who are alwaj s censuring and
ridiculing tho delinquencies of our admin?
istrators, would greet with sardonic laughter
the publication in Russia of the United
States Constitution and pure food law as
evidences of the kind of government under
which we live. If you know anything of
what Is going on in Mexico you would hard?
ly regard the publication of the now con?
stitution as a description of political con?
ditions in that land. It is even conceivable
that a convention of horse thieves might
draw up a constitution containing many
altruistic and high-sounding declarations.
But the publication of euch a constitution
would give only a very misleading notion of
that organization or its workings. What
the world Is entitled to know Is not only
what the horse thieves have to say about
themselves, but what the people feloniously
divested of their horseflesh have to say
about the thieves.
The Grossest, Partisanship
lu all that you print about Russia I find
only the grossest partisanship; in the
testimony, only that which favors the
Lenine-Trotzky r?gime, and in the editorial
comment the assumption that no other
testimony la of the slightest value. You
do indeed, occasionally print a sentenco
disclaiming support of the Bolshevik
r?gime, and on two recent occasions (De?
cember 21 and March 1) you generously
permitted two correspondents, in letters to
the editor, to enter mild demurrers to the
Polshevlk claims. But aside from these,
all that you print on the subject is notori?
ously pro-Bolshcvlk matter.
What you think of the adverse testi?
mony is perhaps best summed up in an
editorial declaration in the issue of Feb?
ruary 1:
"The emigrant Russian princes and prin?
cesses, ex-ambassadors of the Cznr and
Kerensky, and secret agents, who, safely in
exile in Europe or America and abundantly
supplied with money from mysterious
sources, have been filling the press of both
continents with denunciations of the Soviet
government of the Bolshevik!. . . . and
who In tho mean time have been carrying
on an inpudent and insidious propaganda."
You here link together revolutionist and ,
reactionary, democrat and imperialist, tho
lifelong servant of tho Russian people j
with the parasite who has lived upon them,
in one common mass of discredited adven?
turers; and you cannot see, such is the
blind violence with which you have written
this sweeping sentence, that in the use of
the little phrase "safely in exile" you have
perpetrated a ghastly joke on your own
assertions of the mildness and justness of
Bolshevik rule.
One Side Only
I say now that you cannot point to a
single line in these fifteen issues that gives
to an open-minded reader the slightest Indi?
cation of a wish to treat the Russian situa?
tion fairly. You may have wished to treat
ft fairly; you may have thought you were
treating it fairlyj but the evidence that you
have not so treated It is here in unmistak?
able black and white. There 1b one side,
and one only, presented. The honored lead?
ers in the long history of the Russian revo?
lution are for the most part ignored, or
they aro mentioned only to be dismissed as
of no consequence.
Your failure to print anything explana
A Thick Thorn Speaks
To the Editor of The Tribuno.
SIR: At the last banquet of the Italian
Chamber of Commerce In Chicago, 111.,
Mr. Malato emphatically demanded to know
wherefrom comes the money which is being
spent for the Jugo-Slav propaganda in tho
United States. There is no need for Mr.
Malato to go very far for tho answer to his
query. Becauso this propaganda seems to
be a thick thorn in his heel, and because
ho Is evidently very interested in same, he
could find out from the actions taken that
no ono elso is financing this propaganda but
the Jugo-Slav population in this country,
sacrificing hard earned dollars for the cause
of something that they believe to bo their
pies enunciated by President Wilson.
The Jugo-Slav Republican Alliance, carry?
ing on this propaganda, does not blamo tho
Italians when they try to convince the world
of something that they believe to be their
right, but the tolerance cannot reach so far
that the Jinro-Slavs would gag their mouths
and timidly look on when their undoubt?
ed rights and national existence are in
danger. The Italian propaganda In the
United States has at its disposal pecuni?
ary means far superior to ours and if
tho Jugo-Slav propaganda Is, in spite of
all this, such an agonizing thorn In the heel
of tho Italian propagandist:) that the latter
run wild, this may bo naturally explained
by the fact that it is oasy to defend Justice,
anil extremely hard to defend Injustice.
Mr. <tacar Durante, in hia groat anger
over this propaganda, reached tho limit and
declared that all money used for Jugo-Slav
propaganda in tho United States is fur?
nished by British shipping interests, espo
tory of the Socialist and democratic opposi?
tion to Bolshevism might possibly be at?
tributed to chance, though he would be a
bold man who would bo contend. But your
distortion of particular episodes cannot,
even by the widest stretch of charity, be
bo explained. You treated, with character- I
istic denunciation, as a lie out of the whole
cloth, the pres3 story of 'an intended massa
ere on November 11. Yet it was not that
kind of an untruth; it was a report that
had a plausible basis. Even "The Libera- l
tor," which usually shows an entire absence j
of fairness, -forgot itself for the moment j
and explained, in its January issue, the
origin of the story. The threat of a general !
massacre, admits "The Liberator," was
actually made, "in a heated speech," by
Zinovieff, then, president of the Petrograd ?
Soviet. It is unlikely that you are ignorant
of what appears in "The Liberator." Weeks ?
have since passed, but you have made no i
mention of Zinovieff.
Fomenting Revolution
On December 14 you indulged in Boms
rather elephantine humor over the charge
that Bolshevik funds were being used to
foment revolution in Germany. On Janu?
ary 18 you granted yourself another in?
dulgence in the same pleasantry. Yet noth?
ing is more certain than that these funds
were so used. The fact has been admitted i
by tho Bolshevists Joffe and Radek and by j
certain of the Independent Socialists, par?
ticularly Cohn and Haase. Joffe says that |
up to December 23 altogether 24,000.000 j
rubles had been placed at the disposal of j
the German revolutionaries. The matter j
ha3 been widely discussed in the German j
press and has been further debated in the ?
National Assembly at Weimar. That some ,
part of the funds may have been intended |
for the relief of Russian prisoners may or i
may not be true; but no reasonable person j
now denies tho essential truth of the orig- ?
inal story. Nevertheless, though weeks have
since passed, you have made no admission
of the unfair treatment you gave to this i
episode.
There are many other Bimllar instances
which I could mention; but for the present
theso will do. Yon suppress one kind of test!- j
mony, and you disseminate the opposite kind, j
But your distortion and suppression are not j
limited to the mere matter of the juggling ,
of testimony. In your editorial comment j
you carry the work further. You constantly
assume as facts what the most reputable
witnesses assert to be untrue. You constant?
ly declare or imply that all the opponents
of the Bolsheviki are reactionaries, in spite
of the fact that most of the noblest and tho
best of the Russian progressive elements have
opposed theso usurpers. You repeatedly pay
out praise to yourself for your alleged prac?
tico of truth telling, although no other jour?
nal so uniformly distorts the truth; and you
repeatedly harp upon the alleged "lying" of
other journals, although these journals have
printed the most dependable testimony that
has come out of Russia. And you never fail
to pour out upon those persons, no matter
how upright, who oppose your position a
stream of objurgatory epithets.
Laura Jean Rhetoric
Of course, this editorial manner is a tradi?
tional one in your office, and perhaps there
is no escape from it. It comes down from
the days of E. L. Godkin. There is, however,
a difference. Godkin scattered the largess
of his odium in cynical disdain; you peoplo
do the thing in riotous frenzy. Your journal
has long been the particular organ of the
college professors and detached intellectuals,
and this manner is after their hearts' desire.
These cloistered savants are, in the main, a
timid folk who do not ordinarily venture
far from their sheltered retreats. But what
they lack In contact with actual life they
make up in Imaginative adventure. Just
as shopgirls and serving maids find escape
from the trammels of everyday life in the
glowing pages of Bertha Clay and Laura Jean
LIbbey, identifying themselves with tho hero?
ines of theso romances and listening to the
ardent wooing of princelings, lordlings and
rich manufacturers' sons, so theso faineant
intellectuals ride to glorious adventure on
the wings of your denunciatory rhetoric.
Your battles become their battles; and they
see themselves the doughty victors on a thou?
sand fields.
ciully the Cunard Line. Mr. Durante would
most likoly be hard pressed if he were made
to bring forth proofs for his accusations. If
the Jugo-Slav propaganda had such funds at
its disposal it could give the just Jugo-Slav '
causo such tremendous publicity as would i
mako Mr. Durante even more uncomfortable
and very unpleasant, but the Jugo-Slav
Republican Alliance never asked for any
foreign support, because this organization is
fighting for the rights of a nation and is :
well aware of the fact that self-determination
would ba sacrificed if that nation should
happen to come under any foreign yoke or
if it would fall into the hands of big corpora?
tions, whero all economic independence would
bo lost.
And, after all, Mr. Durante would reap
an immortal gratitude if ho would only try
to prove what he claims. Excerpts from tho
Roman "Tribuna," of course, are not proofs.
Not only in private life, but also in political
fights, baseless suspicions are despised and
avoided by all honest men.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
Jugo-Slav Republican Alliance.
A. J. Terbovec, Secretary.
Chicago, HJ., April SO, 1019.
Why Talk of Peace?
"Yes, Mother Citronille," said her gossip,
according to "Le Riro," "my girl is still with
the Opera. Just now ?he Is dancing in
"Castro and Poilu.'"
"Ah! Another military piece."
When He Got Double Cross
(/.'rom The Boston Herald)
Hut General Wood'a real decoration enm?
with his enrolment by the public in tho
Order of Good Losera.
The Negro Soldier
By Robert R. Moton
Principal of Tuskegee Institute
1
THERE was apparently no doubt In any?
body's mind in France, as far as I \caa
able to find out, among the French or
Americans, as to the qualities of the Ameri.
can negro as a soldier, when led by whit(
officers. There was also little question
about the fighting records of the four regl.
ments, the S69th, 370th, STlst and S72d
which had been brigaded with French
division, but when it came to the 92<J
Division, there was a subtle and persistent
rumor in Paris and in other places ij
France, as far as my travels, observation!
and investigations went, substantiating th(
rumor which was also prevalent in America
?only, in France it was much more irenerally
accepted as true -namely, that tie r.epro
officers "had been practically u failure,*
and that it was a mistake to have ever
attempted to have a division with negroes
as officers,
A Single Failure
I took a great deal of pains and care, &%
did also the gentlemen with me, to rui
down every rumor. Wo spent much time la
and out of Paris ferreting out every state?
ment that came from the "whispering g*\,
lery." We finally found that, so far as the,
92d Division was concerned, only a very
small portion of a single battalion, of b
single regiment, had failed.
Later, in talking with the hlphest AmerV
can military official in France, regnr.iinj
his story of the failure of negm officers, h<
said that the possibilities were that any
officer, white or black, under the same bJ,
verse circumstances that these men faced
would have failed, as the very few did,
About a dozen officers of the battalion were
sent before a board for trial for hnving
shown cowardice. They were not, however.
all found guilty; and to offset this, sora<?
of the other colored officers of this regk
ment, for conspicuous bravery in the samt'
engagement, wer promoted and decorated
with the Distinguished Service Cross.
It would appear that this small part of|
battalion whose failure was so widely re.
ported had never before been under tire,
and had been taken from a quirt sec'ar s ni
brought forward with the expectation thai
they would not be put into the figh
several weeks; but it so happened thai tho
Germans were much stronger than the
French behind whom this unit was placed,
When the French troops were badly cut to
pieces, the negro unit in question had to
go into the fighting within twenty-foni
hours after reaching the front, which waj
much earlier than expected. In connection)
with this alleged failure, there are alto
some other very Important consideration!
that will later probably be brought on)
officially.
The Fete Inefficient
It was gratifying to find that the col*
manding general, who knew all phi i ?'
the affair, did not tukij this failure anything
like as seriously as the rumor about it
seemed to warrant. The facts in the caw!
in no sense justified the ?jmmon report.
In talking with the commanding gene
at Le Mans, I referred to the fact th
something like fifteen negro officers h
been sent back as "inefficient." II,. sala ti
me: "If it is any comfort to you, I
you this: We Bent back through Bloia to
America in six months an averupo of one
thousand white officers a month, who failed
in one way or another in this awful struggle,
I hope. Dr. Moton," he added, "tha yoa
won't lose your faith in my race because
of that, and certainly I am not g
lose my faith in your race because the
record of a few colored officers who
failed."
We talked with Colonel House, Ray
Stannard Baker, Captain Walter Li tss,
and leading Y. M. < '. A. workers, and many,
many others. Everybody assured i it
they, so far as they v. ere able, I ?
the . slanderous rumors cone
negro soldiers, and were glad
facts.
ni
Liverpool Slave-Ships
(.From The Manchester Q-ua*-dl an)
Attempts which have been ma ie I connem
the warehouses of old Liverpool with the.
days of slave-trading are Inti r
"N."), but not conclusive. I ? .
great deal of money in the elghte nth century
out of the slave trade. It ?s estin I id -v;at
between 1680 and 1786 over 2 1,1
year were exported to I I be?
fore the war of American h are 392
ships were engaged in the tra
of them, sailing from Liver
most part this was a Liver; a n ici
the same sense that most which
now engage in the c i outil
America are Liverpool shi] -,-.ef
see Liverpool, but that city I " he??
profits. As to the selling i ' Live*"
pool itself and their actual pre i there
it should not be forgotten that it was ?3
early as 1772?forty years before he eT?
tive abolition of the trade- 'hat Lord Man*-j
field gave his famous ruling In I I
of the negro Somerset, that "as soon a? *l
slave sets foot on the soil of British islands!
he becomes free."
Women as Pharmacists
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In view of your "First to Last?tW
Truth" slogan, it may Inte ? " '>??'?*
that the distinction of being the only worn?
pharmacist employed In a New "i ork City
hospital does not rest with Mr?. Frar.cei
Freedman. Tho following Institutions ha?!
the women pharmacists named on the?
staffs:
Cornell University Medical Hospital Ml? P?w
Myerson.
Woman's Hospital. Mi?? Ros? Frlct
Knickerbocker Hospital. Mis? Rose Ofri??.
Manhattan Eye and Bar Infirmary. Mi s Viw
gima Dakar
Lutheran Hospital. Miss Dorothy Taris!.
French Hospital, Mrs. G. Bcld.
There are, no doubt, many other women tO
employed, but the above is, I think, a r"^
fair representation. All of the above m??
with the exception of Mrs. Rejd, are praij
ates of the Columbia University College'
Tharmacy.
It is interesting to note that Mary &
Putnam, the College of Pharmacy'? '***
woman graduate, who later became the w
of the celebrated Dr. Abraham Jaco'-. pr?*j
tiaed pharmacy in the hospitals of this <"?
ns lonp; Bjfo BS 18681
W. B. SIMPSON.
New York, May 2, 191&, .?l