Milford High School - Oak Lily and Ivy Yearbook (Milford, MA)

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10 THE OAK, LILY AND IVY the despotism of the dregs It is a case of ignorant people being led by selfish and short sighted leaders. With four fifths of the lower classes unable to read or write, how can one expect them to understand the true meaning of democracy? They have witnessed the progress of Aneriei; thy have seen from afar the workings of American freedom. So n they found themselves able to give free rein t their ambition. They revolted. Phey dethroned the Czar and overthrew bis monaichy, and then, alas tor Bussia ! She was pow¬ erless. At this moment she stood in the open door of revolt, tree to go out into the world of liberty and democracy If Russia had had 1 aimed and intel¬ ligent men to lead her as France was led, she would nc w stand forth among the nati ms of the world, an important factor fighting for the cause of human¬ ity. But the blind cannot lead the blind, and Russia, unable to grasp the brilliant opportunity offered her, has fallen back into the barbarity of the past. The Russian soldier has deserted his ranks and has lost the little self- respect he had formerly possessed. His rifle and his militiiy service, al¬ though disgracefully concluded, give him the license he styles “liberty,” and he has returned from the trenches to be despised and feared by the other classes of Russian society. Even at the front, when the Bolshevik doctrine had thoroughly sunk into the minds of the war-weary peasants, the officers had been barely tolerated. So wholesale had been the murder of the officers that hundreds of Russian privates were severely punished by the Germans for their utter disrespect for higher authority. After all, what is Tavarish but an embruted peasant, the victim of gener¬ ations of autocratic tyranny and injustice? He is not responsible for his ina bility to think. His ignorance of the meaning of patriotism, honor, loyalty and democracy must be laid at the door of those powers that denied him the privileges of a rational human of this age. What example more striking than the story of uneducated Russia is needed to prove to even the most thoughtless American the necessity of edu¬ cation? Imagine the mind of the Russian peasant as he stares at a German poster depicting the ill treatment of the Russian soldier by cruel figures typi¬ fying John Bull and Uncle Sam. On the memories ot what literature or what experience can he draw for aid at this moment ? He falls, an easy prey to the subtlety of Prussian diplomacy which has been able to overcome Rus¬ sia, because it has understood that huge and helpless country tottering on the brink of ruin. it is, perhaps, difficult for an American blessed with every opportunity for advancement to picture a country, as Rus-ia, with so Urge a proportion of its people utterly ignorant, lacking ability even to read or write. But such are the educational conditions in Russia today. Let us always retain before us the vision of dismembere l and helpless Russia as a warning lest we allow the light of learning to grow dim in this independent and liberty-loving land of ours. Let us continue our studies as long as we possibly can and train our minds that we may prove ourselves more worthy to be citizens of our beloved, our free America. Lillian Edna Sweet, ’18.

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THE OAK, LILY AND IVY. 9 amusements were in full sway and gaiety reigned in all sections of the city. Factory strikes prevailed everywhere. The workers, elated with their new power, informed their employers that they would assume entire charge of the factories, and they proceeded to drive out the experts at their pleasure, threatening the owners with death it’ they attempted to close their shops. They regulated their own salaries and in a highhanded and most unscientific way attempted to conduct affairs, in one case ruining in theii ignorance a quarter of a million dollars worth of war material. In many cases, after weeks of confusion, realizing that something beyond the enthusiasm of the worker was necessary for success, they entreated the employers, whom they had driven out, to return. A member of the Root Labor Commission sent to Russia attempted to ell the Russians something of American labor unions and their benefits to he worker, especially children, but Lenine’s newspaper in its editorial col¬ umn demanded, ‘AVhat do we know about union labels and child labor? What we want for everybody is two hours work a day, and no more.” When the Bolsheviki had acquired the political importance which they desired, they shared their power with no man. They scornfully refused to allow a representative from any other party to hold a political office, and ye they term this government democracy. The taint of German gold and insidious Prussian propaganda had done their work. Have you ever stopped to consider the significance of the word Ilohenzollerns ? The early Hohenzollerns were the “high toll takers,” who from their primitive homes on the mountain sides, swooped down upon tired travellers who were forced to pay toll to their barbarous and unwelcome hosts. The modern Ilohenzollern steals provinces instead of purses. And no¬ where has the toll been higher than in Germany’s triumph in the Brest- Litovsk Treaty. To the gloating Prussians, Nikolai Lenine, Bolshevik Pre¬ mier of Russia, and Leon Trotzky, his Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, yielded Poland, Lithuania, Riga, the Moon Islands and an indemnity of $4,000,000,000. Well may we remark in the words of Addison, “Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding.” In less than a year after Trotzky on his ex¬ pulsion from France had declared that he and his political associates would always remain “the outspoken sworn enemies” of Germany, he visited Berlin on his return from America to Russia, and his enemies assert that he was lured by the Kaiser’s gold to reverse his opinion of the Prussians. He holds patriotism in disdain and calls it “a mania of nationalism. Declaring the rescue of the proletariats or workers from the miseries of a long and wcaris mie war to be his sole excuse for bringing about the demobil¬ ization of Russia’s troops, he, with Lenine, with undaunted boldness placed his country in the hands of Kaiser Wilhelm anl E nperor Karl, whom he had but a short time prev ious named as “two criminals who refused to respect the rules and regulations of international law. Thus are the untrained and undeveloped minds of Russia governed by Prussian influence. Well may the government in Russia today be termed

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CAST OF A ROSE O ' PLYMOUTH TOWN.