The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 25, 1921, Page 4

¥ thaf the possibility of its doing so was so far in the future that it - need not be considered. War, poverty, vice and misery are man- made things that can be eradicated by man, without the human race starving to death as a consequence. ' Every little while a Malthus with a fraudulent theory to refute reformers “scientifically” has his day of popularity. Right now England is talking about a sensational treatise by Dean Inge of the Church of England, who has leaped into fame because he has dis- covered “a law” that upholds imperialists and militarists. He says that “under a regime of peace, free trade and unrestricted immigra- tion, the colored races would outwork, underlive and eventually ex- terminate the whites.” His conclusion is: “The abolition of war and the establishment of a league to se- cure justice and equality of treatment of all nations would seal the doom of the white laborer.” But the day is past, we believe, when the common run of people, the workers, the farmers and all those not benefiting by war and un- just political and economic conditions, will be put off by such theo- ries. Malthus for nearly a lLiundred years was believed by the common man as well as by the plutocrat. Inge may be believed by the militarists and imperialists, but by nobody else. T IS publicly announced that business men of the “100- per-cent” variety have or- ganized a branch of the Ku Klux Klan in South Dakota with the intention of using it to fight the Nonpartisan league. The farm- ' ers of the state, Farmers to so State tSectlfia,- tary o e Meet Attack Leoic Soves of Ku Klux says, will meet this attack fearlessly and in the open. Mr. Ayres has already demanded that the governor, take steps un- der the laws to protect citizens from this secret, oath-bound band of night-riders and mob- bists whose methods are intimi- dation through murder and ar- son, or threat of them. The Ku Klux was a secret body of terrorists which oper- ated in the South to suppress - and keep down the negroes after _ the Civil war had brought them freedom. It died out after the reconstruction period, leaving a black record of murder, rape and rapine that has always been a blot on American history. Re- cently the organization was re- vived in Georgia and spread to other southern states. It retains its old “demand” for “white su- premacy” and adds, to bring it up to date, a “demand” for the suppression of new ideas about economics and government. That sane men should revive ‘in these days an organization with the history of the Ku Klux is scarcely believable. That, af- ter being revived in the South, where its announced war on the nsgroes gave it some standing, it should spread to the North and West is even less believable. The governor of South Dakota has a chance to show whether a cowardly, secret body of this kind can-intimidate him. p OTH houses of congress have passed the Borah resolution authorizing and requesting President Harding to call a con- : ference between the United States, Great Britain and Japan looking toward an agreement to limit naval preparations. Secre- tary of State Hughes announces that he, on behalf of the president, has “informally approached,” not only the three Move for powers named in the resolution, but Italy and World P France, to ascertain “whether they would con- orid * €ace gider a formal invitation to a conference on dis- Takes Shape armament.” Lloyd George has told the British . parliament that he welcomes the move and that he will accept the invitation on behalf of his government. > President Harding at first opposed the Borah resolution but accepted it later-in an unconvincing statement. His hand was forced from the start by sentiment in America for cessation of the insane race in armaments. It is a great victory for the people. The Republicans will claim the credit for bringing about the - l LANGUAGE THEY UNDERSTAND I —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. conference, of course, but it never would have taken place if the people had not insisted. The president should now see to it that -the conference is public. This is too big, too serious, a matter to be handled in the dark by secret diplomacy. HE Nation (New York) has started pubplication of a series of ‘ articles entitled “The Truth About the American Legion.”. Arthur Warren, the author, brings -a serious indictment against the Legion. He says that the Legion has established a cen- sorship of public meetings, that it frequently resorts to violence, that it intimidates public officials and peace offi- s cers, that it is attempting to dictate to the public kegmn N{F;} schools, and that it is sponsoring bigoted and re- nswer 1his pressive laws and policies. He declares that the or Suffer Legion has made no thorough or honest attempt to , suppress violence-of its members and local posts. The Legion can not ignore charges as serious as these in a publication .of the influence and standing of the Nation. Mr. Warner. produces a. mass of facts to sustain his allegations and conclusions. We hope that the Legion will meet these charges fairly and purge itself of those leaders responsible for putting it in a position where it is subject to such criticisms and attacks. We can not believe that any con- siderable number of Legion- naires, nor a majority of its offi- cers, want the organization to be, or to be known as, the kind _ of organization Mr. Warner pic- tures. Such an organization is not representative of the ex- service men. The charges do not apply to the Legion bodies in " many states, where it has al- ready purged itself ofgbad lead- ership, but the facfs given by - Mr. Warner as to its vicious activities in a number of states can not be denied. The Legion’s reaction to the articles in the Nation will be a test of its honesty and good faith. The Nation’s good faith can not be questioned. It is per- forming a service for Legion members as well as the publie in calling attention to wrongdoing and irresponsible leadership in the organization. ILLIAM HOWARD ‘ )s / TAFT, as Senator Bo- rah charged, is a poli- tician and as such poor material for a United States supreme court justice. He is a strict con- servative, if not a. reactionary. ’ His appointment Taft Gets " by Eresident . arding does the Biggest not add strength of Plums to the liberal minority on .the court which has been attempt- ing in vain to have-this most powerful tribunal in the world get in step with present-day progress. But we ought to be . glad the president didn’t do worse, considering what forces put him in power. We have no reason to believe Taft isn’t honest, even if ignorant of and blind to progressive reforms. Though his administration as president was a failure and he carried only two of the 48 states when he ran for re-election, he functioned well on the war labor board, where he was associated with men who understood labor’s problems and where he had an opportunity to get labor’s viewpoint first hand, and see the greed of big busiriess employers. He has said and printed more inane things and rot about the Noppa'rtisan league and North Dakota-than almost .any prominent politician who might be named. But when the Leader called his attention to the sources of his misinformation and pointed out the falsity of at least one of his charges—that to the effect that the state superintendent of schools had “circulated among school chil- dren pernicious doctrines about the home”—he retracted and apol- @6(‘»!1- - ogized in a public statement. Taft wants to be fair, we think, and it may be that on the court, where he is compelled to hear both sides of every question, he may turn out better than progressives predict.. Whatever one may think about that, it must be-admitted he has landed the biggest political plum in the United States and can’t be called a piker. "~ PAGE FOUR ) : L = P