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OSWALD

KIRCHWEY
LEWIS S.
VAN

$5.50,

New Yorlr

20

to

1170 Peoples

of

$6.00.

72 Oxford St.,

it appears that the explosion in Wall

Street was either the act of a single criminal fanatic
or the deliberate conspiracy of a group. In either case censure and denunciation mustbe unqualified. If it was the act
of an anarchist or anarchists, its stupidity is exceeded only
movement will suffer
by its criminality.Everyforward
from the act; every reactionary force will be strengthened
by it. Thiscountry will neverbemadeover
by anysuch
means. Just when we have had the clearest illustration the
world has ever witnessed of the futility of the policy of
seeking to establish might and right by force, i t is the saddest of commentaries that there are still men so misguided
as to believe that anything can be accomplished by murder
in any fashion. Bomb-throwers fortify and strengthen the
system they attack. Anybody who reads history knows that
nothing worth while was ever achieved this way; events all
over the world are proving that only by avoiding bloodshed
and violence can the world truly advance. The doctrine of
reforming others and changing opinions by force without
stint only makes the condition of humanity worse.
T thiswriting

- A
2

25,1920

HATthistragedy
will havefar-reaching
effects in
stimulating reaction in America there can be no question. It will bringthe lawless Attorney-General intothe
foreground again and result in terrorist measures that
will
in t u r n be only too likely to produce reprisals,Directly
after the occurrence i t was announced that it would mean

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No. 2882

the immediate reexpulsion from the New York Legislature

of the five Socialist Assemblymen who were reelected on
the very day the explosion took place, by largely increased
votes, over the fusionists who sought t o encompass their
defeat by uniting the Republicans and Democrats in their
districts.Yet this rejection of men legally elected, merely
because their opinions a r e distasteful tothe Republican
bosses, is the surest way to encourage those who believe in
violentrevolution.SpeakerSweet
and his associates were
warned thattheiract
would increase the Socialist vote,
and thewarninghas
come true. A second rejection of
these men may mean not five Socialists in Albany but fifteen
-a sixth candidate came close to election in a district in
which the Socialistshavefigured
butslightlyheretofore.
The Government must and will exert its power t o uphold
publicorder, but it must not make the mistake again of
suppressing opinion or forbidding its free
expression. As
ex-Senator Beveridge so admirably put it before the American Bar Association, ruthless suppressionmeansgiving
%o proscribedwordswings
of fire. Above all else the
Government itself must be calm and law-abiding.
TALY is in a fair way t o establish as significant a revolutionary precedent as the Russian. The workers cahnly
ized the metal factories, keys to the industrial power of
the nation, then told the Government what they wanted, and
the Government, according to the cable dispatches, is granting whattheyask.
Their wagedemands are secondary;.
their primary demand is joint control of the direction of
industry. And it is no mere radical fringe of the working
; the Catholic
class of Italy which makesthesedemands
Peoples Party barelylags behind the Socialists, andthe
considerable anarchist
group
led by the veteran
agitator Malatesta goes farther still.The
Prime Minister
himself,seventy-eight-year-oldGiolitti,
who in all his decades o f political activity never was a Socialist or a member
of the extreme Left, accepts the workers point of view. It
is no longer possible to uphold the principle that in great
industry there must be one single chief in command, he
says, while thousands of dependents must obey with no
guaranty of control over the activities of the chief himself.
The Italian Parliament is tobe called into special session t o
legalize the new status of the workers in industry, and
newspaper reports indicate that the
control which is to
be put into theworkers hands will cover the whole financial
as well as technical field of industry. This is an extraordinary, astounding, and far-reaching revolution, without barricades or bloodshed, revolution aided and abetted by a Government which, though
anti-Socialist,
is awake tothe
kaleidoscopic period through which Italy and Europe are
passing. How littleour newspapers have prepared us t o
understand it!
is getting into the newspaper headlines at last,
and administration officials reply to criticism by
ded a r i n gt h a t criticism is cheap. Secretary Daniels responds toSenatorHardingschargethatthousands
of