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Vol. 37 EDITORIALS AND SHORT COMMENTS ON THINGS IN GENERAL THOS. E. WATSON. An Interpretation of Bolshevism When you see the working classes of a dozen different nations doing the same things at the same time, your common sense tells you that a general came is the motive. Russians, Germans, Englishmen, South Ameri¬ cans, and North Americans are too far apart, geographically, to act in substantially the same violent manner, if there were no common cause of complaint. The fact that in every one of these cases, it is the downtrodden poor who rise against the rich, is the key to the riddle. In Russia, there have been vast estates, owned by grandees who never saw them, and managed by local agents who used the lash to collect the rents and the taxes. These enormous tracts of land were given bv the Czars to their favorites, and the Czars themselves held no better title to the land than the peasants who had been forced into the army and made to conquer these lands from previous owners. For ages, the peaasnts were held in slavery by the grandees, and were sold as chattels when the estates changed hands. Here is the root of Russian Bolshevism: the peasants want the lands and the products of their own toil. In my “Story of France,” which is now a text¬ book in French schools. I demonstrated how this very question brought on the Revolution of 1789. The grandees of church and state, who did not labor at anything blit court favor, held the land, enjoyed the privileges, and treated the common labor class like so many beasts of burden. The base-born canaille, was the contemptuous name given to the French peasants who did fall the work, produced all the wealth, and lived in squalid poverty themselves. The canaille of 1789 differ but little from the B olshevists of toda y; and if the Bolshevists killed a Czar, we must remember that the canailleToTIecra King. So did the English. Crimes are incident, to any gveat social upheaval and reformation: we must deplore the crimes, but we must admit the need of reformations. When any class monopolizes the favors of the Government, and takes to itself the whole net out¬ put of production, there will be unrest which may soon swell into revolution. My friend Harry Weinberger of New York has me a booklet in which the trial of four Russian Jews is set forth. Thev were tried before Judge Henry D. Clayton, of Alabama; and he sentenced them to terms of twenty years. For what ? For distributing circulars against the employment of our army in Russia. Senator Hiram Johnson and other Congressmen have been doing the same thing, and their con¬ demnation of the use of our army in Russia goes through the U. S. mails regularly. Russia saved France, at the loss to herself of four million soldiers, and yet our troops are now fighting Russia. Why? They say it is to put down Bolshevism. But German soldiers have been shooting down German Bolshevists, in Berlin and in Bremen: and thus the German military caste, which we were to “crush,” is again on top. One of the prisoners to whom Judge Clayton gave a 20-year sentence, was asked why he had written the circular; he answered: Since I came to my understanding, I have always thought that government by the people, for the people, and from the people—the work¬ ers—was the only right government. The workers produce all the necessities of life. They are the one* who build the prisons where we are put and build the court-rooms where we are tried, and I, therefore, thought that the workers’ government should be established. We should keep in power. I was overjoyed by the Idea that, for the first time In the history tofhe world, we have a government by the people, for the people, and from the people. When the Bolsheviks came into power, Presi¬ dent Wilson delivered speeches In various parts of the country favoring the Russian Gov¬ ernment, that Is, the Soviet Government. In a speech to Congress he said: ‘‘I stretch out my hands to the Bolsheviks.” On another occasion he said: ‘‘We will not conclude peace without Russia.” .... Then, a few weeks later, he sent, without announcing It to the people, a military expedition to crush the Russian revo¬ lution. My Intent In writing the leaflet was to protest against this. Why not leave Russia to he rown “self-deter¬ mination”? What have we to do with her internal affairs ? We .might as consistently send an army to (Continued on Pago 3) Price $2.00 Per Year WHY THIS GOVERNMENT FIGHT ON COTTON IT IS RUINING THE SOUTH. It is quite apparent that the governments of this country and Great Britain are discriminating against cotton—the only possible money crop of the Southern States. There is reason to believe that the English spin¬ ners have bargained with our cotton gamblers to secure control of the crops of 1918 and 1919. These spinners dread the competition of German goods in South America and in the Orient. \ou will notice that the astonishing blockade which England has established against American goods, while the peace negotiations are in progress, does not include cotton. This is very significant of the fact that they mean to keep British ports open to our staple, while the ports of Central Europe are closed. Congress has already appropriated the enormous sum of 8100,000,000 to purchase food from the Meat Packers and the Flour Trust, to feed the very na¬ tions with whom we were so recently at war, and who are charged with having starved the prisoners they took from us. from England, and from France. We learn from the New York papers that thou¬ sands of tons of food from this country have already been shipped across the ocean, and distributed in Germany, Austria, Poland, etc. There was a splendid opportunity when this $100,000,000 appropriation was on its passage through Congress, for some Southern representative to have made a strenuous fight to put a rider upon it— demanding that the German ports be opened to cotton, just as they are open to meat and flour. That, opportunity has now passed, but others present themselves. 1>re si #it Wilson demands more than two thou samT million Hollars as a donation to the wheat We Cannot Send The Sentinel for Less Than $2 Per Year. Clubbing offers are at the rate of $1.50 for each yearly sub. No commission on less than one year. Agent’s commission is based only on full yearly subs. No commission on clubbed subscription. E. H. MILLER. growers of the West: a large portion of that, money will of course come from the cotton growers of the South. If the war is over, as to wheat , why is it not over as to cotton? Is it that the South belongs absolutely to the Democratic party, while the West is independent, fluctuating, and uncertain? Another thing: the President has cabled to Con¬ gressman Padgett, demanding seven hundred mil¬ lion dollars for the Navy: he has not explained his reasons for this sudden demand, and nobody knows what those reasons are. Could not a Southern Senator take the position that the South must bear its part of that stupen¬ dous burden, and that the South is entitled to know the reason why this burden is put upon her? President Wilson is openly and solemnly pledged against secret bargains with other powers, and against secret policies affecting our public welfare. Would it be out of place for a Southern Senator to read these recent? public utterances of President Wilson, and to demand that he take the American people into his confidence? He did not consult them about the War; he did not consult them about Conscription; he did not consult them about the Armistice; and he is not now consulting them about Peace negotiations which may affect the public interests of this country for a hundred years to come. Why shouldn't some Southern Senator rise to the occasion, and quote Woodrow Wilson against Woodrow Wilson? And why shouldn’t a stubborn fight be made to have this embargo lifted from the only money crop of the South, when it has been lifted from every product of the law-breaking, profiteering corpora¬ tions? Pro-Catholic papers are uqw giving their readers pictures of President Wilson and Pope Benedict side by side, while underneath their pictures is a front view of the Vatican, the home of the pope. How do our Protestant readers like the coiqbina tion?—The Menace. Harlem, Oa., Friday, February 14, 1919 W hat objection can there be to letting the Ger¬ man: tmy our cotton? B hy shouldn t the Austrians, Hungarians and Turks be allowed to buy it ? V-Hy should English and American SPINNERS liE IT EMITTED TO HOLD US BY THE THROATS, WHILE THEY ROB US? The South has bought its share of the Liberty Bonds and of the Thrift Stamps. 1 lie South sent her choicest sons to the War. The South has borne every load that the Demo¬ cratic bosses chose to put upon us. The South will soon be again asked to contribute her share to the new six billion dollar bond issue. how can the South respond to this demand, when there is no market for our cottonseed and none for , our cot on? Business throughout the cotton belt is demoral¬ ized: the labor situation is well nigh desperate; the price of the things we have to buy to live on, are exorbitant. T ie actualities of destitution arc at the doors of Bullions of our people; yet we aro asked to donate inconceivable sums of money for the wheat growers of the West, for the meat packers who have been pocketing profits of 17fi per cent; for the Steel T rust, which earned over 400 per cent, and for the g eat banking systems, whose gains, made out of tlfe War, cannot he calculated. If he American hog can be carried into the mar kets of Central Europe, why cannot the bale of cot¬ ton be earned there? If die barrel of flour from America is donated to the hungry Viennese, why cannot our cotton go te th M r mills, and furnish employment to theJdP hands which are now raised against civilization. under the name of Bolshevism? If you feed the hungry man, today, what about tomorrow? This handing out of a loaf of bread to a starving man, is nothing more than the surface treatment of a running nicer, when any scientific doctor would say that the victim needed constitutional treatment. If we, continue to drain America into Europe, Asia and Africa, how long will it be before the level of American life sinks to Bolshevism? My idea is that some Senators and Representa¬ tives from the South should hold a separate caucus on the situation, and resolutely determine that the ban of outlawry should be lifted from cotton, before any more of these monstrous appropriations should be allowed to pass. We do not know what Herbert Hoover is doing with those vast sums of money; we do not know to what use Woodrow Wilson puts them. We cannot understand why we should take the bread out of the mouths of our own needy classes, and donate it to foreign people for whose alleged conditions we are not in any way responsible. What we do know is: that President Wilson has virtually abolished Congress; has usurped greater powers than the Kaiser ever arrogated to himself; and that if this reckless course is continued, some CATASTROPHE OF IMMEA8UREABLE EXTENT IS BOUND TO FALL ON OUR COUNTRY. Our Representatives in Congress were sent there to represent us, and they are not doing it. Let them be faithful to their trust, and make a gallant fight for our interests; natiohnl necessity calls for it, and life-long glory will be the reward of the man who is brave enough to do it.' Congress is the arena in which the battle should be pitchtd. T, E. W. The call of the hour is for men—men who will stand for the free institutions that have been bought by the blood of our forefathers; men who refuse to bow the knee to Baal or to the pope; men who will stand as sons, of liberty against the encroachment of the sons of bondage.—Exchange. Issued Weekly Rev. Dr. Gambrell Sees It, at Last In The Christian Index of February 0, Dr. J. B. Gambrell publishes a very strong article under the headline, “Are the Charges True?” The “charges” relate to the favoritism shown the Roman Church by our Government during the War. Dr. Gambrell says that "the Catholic hierarchy has been given enormous advantages in the War, while the non-Catholic bodies have been denied everything.” The Doctor further alleges that the huts of the Knights of Columbus were the centres of Romanist propaganda among the soldiers in the camps, “while Methodists, Baptists, and others were outside, on rented ground; and this was only a part of a gov¬ ernmental sectarian policy carried out in the War.” This is a serious charge to bring against a Gov¬ ernment whose. Supremo Law prohibits that kind of thing, and whose President has twice sworn to uphold that Supreme Law. In effect, Dr. Gambrell accuses our Government of having deliberately betrayed us to the Pope during the War. In substance his charge is. that the military camps, where several million Protestants were sta¬ tioned, became missionary ground upon which none but Catholics were allowed to work for their reli¬ gion. Protestant churches were “denied everything,” and were forced to rent locations outside the en¬ campments. Dr. Gambrell also charges that, the Knights of Columbus worked for their Roman church in tho hospitals, among the sick and wounded. Ah, yes, the Doctor can see it now, when it is too late. The Christian Index, also, can see it plainly enough, now that it is too late. What do they propose to do about it? The iior-G-dIndie clinches have no organizations that can oppose the Roman secret societies. I doubt, if any non-Catholics would bind them¬ selves by the dreadful oaths taken by the Jesuits, the 4th degree Knights of Columbus, and even by the Catholic priests, bishops, and Cardinals. What do you suppose Dr. Gambrell proposes to do against those immensely numerous and powerful secret societies of Rome ? Tho Doctor says— “We are going to need some John the Baptists shortly to look officials squarely in the face and tell them the plain truth.” That’s a fine remedy! What officials are you going to look in the face, Doctor? “We” are going to need some John the Baptists! Are, we? When? And where are we to find what we need? v When Dr. Gambrell was figuratively slapped out of the camps on the Mexican border, a few years ago, “we” were going to do about and slay quite a few hears, on account of it ; but what did we do? Nothing, As I remember it, a very little delegation of John the Baptists went to Washington to raise tho roof off the White House: and, after their arrival, they forgot what they had meant to say. The valiant protest against governmental favor¬ itism to the Pope ended in a fiasco. Dr. Gambrell now declares that “there should be such a protest as will make men in high plnces sit up and take notice.” Can these men in high places, after they shall have been made to sit up and take notice, do any¬ thing? They cannot disband the Jesuits and the Knights of Columbus. They cannot disfranchise the Catholic voter. They cannot, repeal a single one of the autocratic Jaws of the Pope. They cannot apply the religious test to the mili¬ tary or the civil service. They cannot force the daily papers to print anti Cntholic articles. They cannot now put an end to Rome’s control of the libraries, the school-hooks, the “movies,” and the theatres. In fact, Dr. Gambrell, you have waked up too late. T. E. W. ♦ 4 - 4 - The North and West will never feel the same labor worries that the South has—and will always feel. Climatic conditions are such that the negro laborer looms larger than the immigrant in the North and West. Tho negro population fluctuates and diminishes from many causes; with the open door policy, in regard to immigration, the North and West have always a fresh supply of labor. A + ♦ Telling the cotton planter to restrict his cotton acreage, is just about as sensible as it would be to tell him to stop fattening his hogs. No. 21.