Mar. 18.
Ir Peking militarists are trembling at the growth of Bolshevism in China's intellectuals, the same kind of anxiety is clearly agitating the American public very deeply. The position of the United States in such a matter is different to that of any European country. It has always and justly prided itself on the freedom of all its institutions. It was for many years before the war the recognized outlet of the surplus population of Europe; and on its broad and richly dowered bosom many of the latter grew to such wealth and importance as their ancestors had never dreamed of. On the other hand, many of the immigrants hardly if at all improved their position by coming to America, the struggle for bare existence among them was of ithe fiercest kind and against them capital possessed a power far greater than it enjoys in Europe. There were, moreover, other immigrants who never meant to work, who had tried to live upon agitation in Europe and meant to live on it in America.
And to these men the spread of Bolshevist doctrines, which have thriven even on the denunciation of their opponents without the need of any other propaganda, have given an unlooked for opportunity, aided by the attempt of employers to revert to pre-war standards of payment in spite of increased costs of living. It is these men who are the cause of so much misgiving. The United States can bar the door against further immigration of agitators, but what can it do with those already in its midst? A number were deported after the Seattle strike a year ago. Several more
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.