losopher's window and-waved to him. And suddenly life took on new meanings; and one who has not lived in a

T

great selfish city will never understand the thrill of happiness that went through the Young-Old Philosopher. For some

HE interpretation given by the American press and by their European correspondents regarding the present insurrectionary movement in the Red Army in Russia stresses the point that this insurrection is being undertaken by the soldiers and their brothers in the factory centers, as a revolt against the Soviet Government. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Government as such-that is, a government by labor councils, soldier councils, and peasant councils-has long since ceased to operate. Since the organization of the Third International the Russian revolutionary movement as headed by Lenine and Trotsky has, in fact, ceased to be a government of councils-that is, a soviet government-and has become a communistic government managed by an oligarchy, whose object is to create a world revolution through propaganda and, incidentally, abolish the institution of private property and property in land. The original soviet form of government recognized the principle of free elections after excluding the propertied classes, but the small councils which now determine the actions of the present communistic Government are chosen and not elected. The Communists who now govern Russia probably do not number one-half million, hence the suppression of elections.

The soldiers and workmen who are revolting against the Red Army have for their object the restoration of the Soviet Government-that is, a government of labor councils and soldier councils-and the overthrow of the Bolshevik tyranny which, has enslaved the laborers, deprived them of their votes, and failed to provide food and fuel. Therefore these insurrections have interest for us only as holding out the hope that if they continue they will so weaken the Red Army that it will cease to be a menace at home and abroad.

The movement of overshadowing importance in Russia, little commented upon by the press, is concerned with that unknown quantity, the Russian peasant. Left to his own devices, it is not at all probable that the peasant could ever build up an organization capable of coping with the Red Army. He stands, however, as everybody knows, for the institution of private property and property in land. On this point he is, and will remain, unalterably opposed to the Bolshevik Government.

Since the middle of 1918, when terrorism was resorted to by the Bolshevik Government as a means of coercing its real and imaginary foes called the Counter-Revolutionists, many of the intelligentsia of the various towns in Russia

TH

one, in all that hive, knew of his existence and was glad to see him back at his beloved window.

HE author of this article is an American of New England ancestry and education who lived in Russia many years in charge of one of the most important American concerns doing business in that country. The assets, property, and records of this American organization were seized by the Bolshevist Government when they came into power and he himself was driven from the country at the risk of his life. The nature of this business was such that the only injury done was to Russian people themselves, and not to the parent American company, against which the enmity of the Bolshevist leaders was directed. The author speaks Russian fluently and is perhaps as familiar with the Russian character, Russian politics, and Russian needs as any man in this country to-day. -THE EDITORS.

were driven back to the villages and have adopted the life of the ordinary muzhik, wearing his kaftan, tilling the soil, and, so far as possible, adopting his lingo. In these various villages to-day will be found doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, merchants, and officers of the old army. This infiltration of the intelligentsia among the peasantry has served to clarify their minds and to unite them against the Bolshevik Government. There has been organized a so-called "Green Party"-that is, a party of the agriculturists who stand for a thoroughly representative government. This party is insisting upon the convocation of a Constituent Assembly and the establishment of a government which will give legitimacy to land titles.

The Soviet Government, in the early part of 1918, in order to secure the support of the peasantry to their cause, promised them the estates of the landlords and allowed them to proceed with the division and appropriation of these estates. The peasants, however, feel uncertain of their titles, and therefore are primarily interested in the establishment of a government which can give them guaranteed titles to real estate holdings. The "Green Party" has been formed with the assistance of the intel ligentsia. This party has uniformity of structure, and as a proof that it is in constant opposition to the CommunisticBolshevik Government, let us take the following extract from one of the official organs of the Communists:

During the last six months of 1920 Lenine's Government was called upon, in the twelve governments contiguous

to Moscow, to stamp out 289 so-called
counter-revolutionary plots among
the peasants, and during the same
period to suppress 147 insurrections.
Accompanying the suppression of
these plots and insurrections there
were executed 4,305 people, and 29,-
800 people were thrown into prison.

The above is a striking instance of the ferment that is going on in the Russian country districts. In all probability during the current year the Agricultural Party will be in the ascendant and will organize sufficient forces to drive out the Bolsheviks. We here in America should at the present moment be formulating plans with regard to Russia when the Red Army ceases to be a menace.

It is not thinkable that the Russian people can endure another winter of Bolshevik chaos. Something is sure to break, and the opportunity to render Russia a great service will doubtless be ours during the coming summer. Are there people in this country with sufficient vision and courage to meet the situation? We can put Russia on an even keel when the opportune moment arrives. The Russian people will be in need of everything that distinguishes a man from a brute. We should begin to assemble at once at the warehouses of the chief Atlantic ports the things which Russia must have if she is not to fall back into chaos again after the Bolsheviks are driven out. She will need thread and needles, buttons, cotton cloth, large quantities of medical supplies, disinfectants and soap, horseshoes and horseshoe nails, plows and harrows, tractors, condensed food, seeds, etc. The medical supplies and disinfectants should be sent as a gift. The other articles may be shipped and distributed against long-term credits-that is, credits for from one year to eighteen months. But where are Russian credits? Let us consider the zemstvo.

Immediately Russia is in a position to draw an orderly breath, the first institution which will make its reappearance will be the old zemstvo-the county board-that institution which in the past was always so hateful to the old régime because of its influence and control over the people of the village communities. But the zemstvos were those bodies in Russia which could offer reliable credit. Their influence over the peasants was such that they could extend credits to them and collect. It is through the zemstvos that our trading corporations will be able to arrange a basis for trade. Should our trading companies or individuals go to Russia with supplies, as above enumerat they could arrange satisfactory with these zemstvo boards, and

way assist and interest the Russian people in the rebuilding of their country.

It stands to reason that but a small part of Russia could be approached and satisfied with our goods. At first we should attempt to deal only with those zemstvo districts in the neighborhood of Moscow and Petrograd. It is important to make a beginning and give the Russian

B

people an earnest of our good will, and assure them that as fast as orderly gov. ernment is organized and life and property are made safe the outlying districts can hope to benefit by our trade. They will then get to work to produce values.

It will require courage to undertake this venture, but if handled properly there should be no loss sustained. By

giving the Russian people substantial assistance at such a crucial time we would gain their gratitude and insure for ourselves as much of the future Russian market as we desire. If a million dollars are ventured, as soon as Russia is accessible this will prove the most profitable foreign investment that American business men have ever made.

Y a majority of 17,800 the voters of Kansas at the November election added to the State Constitution an amendment designed to lessen farm tenantry, entering on a novel experiment for the Middle West. No State has less excuse than Kansas for tenantry. Settled largely on free homesteads, it was in its early history preeminently a commonwealth of homeowners. In 1880 84 per cent of its farms were tilled by their owners and 16 per cent by renters; in 1910 the ownerfarmers were only 63 per cent and the tenants 37 per cent; in 1918 owners managed only 52 per cent and tenants 48 per cent. Another thing, the number of farms has decreased 12,554, or 7.1 per cent, in the past decade. Why should a rich agricultural State with a most auspicious beginning drift into landlordism?

it?

What can be done about

Two factors are changing the Middle West's landownership. One is the retired farmer. Having prospered in the early homestead days, he has moved to town and rented his farm, preferring to keep the property rather than sell and reinvest the proceeds. It gives him something to think about, and he buys a flivver, riding to the land daily, watching the crop production. He has raised the rent from one-fourth to one-third the crops delivered; or he rents for cash, receiving a liberal interest on the valuation. During the war period the rented farm was an especially 'profitable possession, as the owner had none of the burden of high costs of production. In many instances the sons are the renters, this being the plan of the fathers to keep the boys on the farm.

A second disturbing element is the landlord living outside the State and renting his land through agents, gaining not only a steady income but adding to his wealth by the increment of land values, amounting in the past six years to practically one hundred per cent. One estate owns over 60,000 acres of the richest farm land in the State and demands cash rent, the tenant building his own house and making all improvements. Hundreds of the landlords have never seen their land-it is as foreign an ownership as the feudal system of Europe.

The renting population is ravenous for land. A two-line advertisement offering a farm for tenants brings twenty to thirty replies; farms are watched closely or vacancies and men are known to

travel fifty miles to apply for land that is to be given up by a renter. The price of farm land has become almost prohibitive to the average worker. Take one instance. A half-section, 320 acres, of upland nine miles from town in central Kansas sold fourteen years ago for $16,000. Half of it was disposed of three years ago for $20,200, and in the fall of 1920 the remainder for $35,000. One 160-acre tract bought four years ago for $47,000 had $4,000 in improvements placed on it and gave four liberal crops, then sold in October, 1920, for $71,000. How can the renter to-day hope to become a farm-owner? Even out on the high plains land has reached the $100an-acre mark where long after the homestead era it was almost given away.

to meet with sinking figures for all grains and live stock.

The plan to be followed is yet in embryo. To select land that can be bought at a reasonable price, to select the men to whom it is to be sold on long payments-men with courage but with little means-calls for much ability. In western Kansas is a possibility for irrigation, and the State may use the funds appropriated to undertake an experiment in furnishing watered land in small tracts, provided there is sufficient inducement when the facts are gathered. The average tenant is familiar with crop-raising methods, but he has never thought much about preserving the soil -it has not been his own. The State hopes that it may bring to him this realization of personal interest that will tend to maintain fertility and lift agriculture to a higher plane.

The first session of the Legislature folowing the adoption of the constitutional amendment took no direct action, the Governor informing it that more time is needed to formulate a working plan. A commission will study the matter and submit to the next session a measure fitted

This is what Kansas proposes to do and its Legislature is authorized to undertake: Buy land through a State fund and resell it to the landless. The amendment provides: "To encourage the purchase, improvement, and ownership of agricultural lands and occupancy, and cultivation thereof, provision may be made by law for the creation and maintenance of a fund, in such a manner and in such amount as the Legisla-to the State's condition and that will carry ture may determine, to be used for the purchase, improvement, and sale of lands for agricultural purposes."

It is a curious commentary on the desire for farms that hundreds of applications were made for land under the provisions of the amendment within a week after its adoption. But the Legislature must work out a plan, and it is a serious problem. Governor Henry J. Allen, who secured the submission of the amendment, does not expect it to work itself. "We propose to give the man who wants a farm a chance to buy a farm," he says. "The actual results will depend on the sound good sense of the Legislature and of the men who will be put in charge of the plan. If it is to be a political manipulation, it would be better abandoned now, but that is not likely to happen. Kansas has enough big-hearted, helpful men who are willing to bend every effort to helpfulness with a certainty that it will all come back to the benefit of the commonwealth."

Kansas already, according to statistics, owes some $300,000,000 on farm mortgages. The rate has risen with the financial situation to 7 per cent; many of the loans made when the price level of crop products was high are difficult

out the intent of the voters' decision.

Doubtless there are renters who are unfit to be managers; some can work for others better than for themselvesnot all are cast in the mold of managers. Tenants will exist under whatever plan is adopted. What Kansas is trying to do is to give the man with ability, a record of honesty and thrift, a chance to own his farmstead and become a landowner. He cannot do it under present conditions. Banks or investors will not take chances of default; even the Federal Land Bank does not propose to do more than assist on a perfectly good mortgage, such as, theoretically, any investor would accept. That means an equity in the land-and where is the beginner to obtain that equity?

Not all tenants are failures-indeed, many of them succeed well. A farmer of my acquaintance netted $4,000 from his share of the wheat crop on the farm he leased in 1919. The retired farmer who owns a farm and leases it provides an opportunity for another family-the community has two families instead of one, both supported partly or in whole from the one farm. But the standard of living and of development lessens when a neighborhood is composed largely of renters. Where the Scully

estate owns whole townships of rich land, the border road is eloquent of the difference. On one side are well-improved homes, big red barns, and all the equipment that goes with progressive agriculture. On the other are small, often neglected houses and barns, an evidence that the possessors are mere sojourners. They know it, and act accordingly.

In every Western State, Kansas included, the farm population stands still or actually decreases while the urban population grows. Farm help is scarce and demands excessive wages; the farmer rebels against the increasing

Dear Dr. Abbott:

Wish you would some time write an article on your idea of the greatness of God.

If half a dozen persons talk to you at the same time, you cannot give intelligent attention to one of them. Do you think God can give attention to each one of the millions that talk to him in the same sense that we can to a single person?

Does it seem as if we can believe in such amazing greatness?

Yet it seems to me that Jesus taught it, and what a comfort it is to us to think that God knows us individually and reads our thoughts and motives and aims and is present in our heart! Yours,

I

BELIEVER.

T is said that the Cretans had an image of Jove made without ears, because they said that it was unworthy of the god to think that he could hear the prayers and praises of mortals.

Cretans still live in the twentieth century and in Christian America. There are very few atheists in the world; very few who have not sufficient spiritual and intellectual development to perceive with the North American Indian that we must believe that there is a Great Spirit. But there are a good many philosophers who think that to believe that this Great Spirit can hear what little spirits say or can communicate his own thoughts and feelings to little spirits is to belittle him. So they conceive a Great Spirit who is deaf and dumb, and curiously think that their conception of the Great Spirit is greater because they deny to him the capacity which human spirits possess and on which they place a very high valuation. And this is the more curious because it is so manifestly inconsistent with our ordinary spiritual estimates.

We esteem a great man the greater because his greatness does not prevent his attention to little things.

I was once in the White House when a Western cowboy was visiting President Roosevelt. Something like this conversation went on between them.

Cowboy. Mr. President, do you remem

cost of production and declares he can not furnish the needed foodstuffs at a living profit. When, added to this, and partly growing out of this, is the increase in tenantry, it brings a most serious problem for future development.

The plan upon which Kansas is entering is not idealism; it is a plain, practical effort to bring back to balance the producing and consuming factors of its population. If it can place before the man who wants to become a land tiller and a home-owner a chance to accomplish his ambition, it will have pointed the way to better State development. Unquestionably it is not going

KNOLL PAPERS

BY LYMAN ABBOTT CRETAN PHILOSOPHY ber riding over the - trail on a white pony in 1890?

Mr. Roosevelt. No. It was '91.
Cowboy. So it was.

has gone blind.

Mr. Roosevelt. Who has him now? Cowboy. Oh! Jim. Same boy. But the pony is eating his head off. And Jim can't really afford to keep him.

to be as easy for the farmer during the next decade as it has been during the war-time period of high price levels for all his products. The men who are helped will be compelled to face conditions calling for financial expertness; but the fact that the State is lending its credit to assist them and is looking to them to show a way out of dependency ought to have an energizing effect. It will do the people of Kansas good to put forth this effort in behalf of a more wholesome agricultural life.

CHARLES MOREAU HARGER, Editor Abilene "Daily Reflector." Abilene, Kansas.

Mr. Roosevelt. Give me Jim's address. I'll see that the pony is taken care of.

And Mr. Roosevelt wrote down the address in order to provide hospital accommodations for the blind pony.

Does any one think less of Mr. Roosevelt because, while he was managing such affairs as the Panama Canal, the Russo-Japanese peace, the German threatened invasion of South America, he could attend to the housing and feeding of a blind pony in the Rockies?

But can we "think God can give at tention to each one of the millions that talk to him"?

A member of Mr. Roosevelt's Government told me the following incident.

"I had prepared," he said, “a report which the President had asked me to read to him before I sent it in, and he appointed a time for me to submit it to him. I called at the time appointed. He was reading a scientific book, but told me to go ahead. As I read my manuscript he read his book, and I at first thought he was giving me no attention. But every now and then he would interrupt me with a question, and when I had finished he offered me some suggestions which made it clear that he had understood the report. Then of course I knew that he had not really been reading the scientific treatise. But he asked me to stay to luncheon; and the author of the treatise was there and throughout the luncheon he talked over the treatise with the author. He had mastered both report and treatise at the same time-hearing the one, reading the other; taking in one through the eye, the other through the ear."

Most of us have to give undivided attention to what we are doing if we wish to do it well. But this is not always true of any of us, nor even generally

"If," Jesus said, "human fathers, being evil, can give good gifts to their children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" If, I say, human spirits can give attention to two or three trains of thought at the same moment, much more can the Great Spirit give attention to innumerable messages. We may not be able to conceive the greatness, but we can believe that it exists.

From thousands of temples, fron. millions of homes, there are always going up to God voices of prayer. From thousands of temples, from millions of homes, there is every hour of every day issuing a ceaseless stream of men and women who in prayer have found new light on their problems, new comfort in their sorrows, new strength for their tasks and their temptations. How he hears all these his children and answers their requests we cannot picture to ourselves. But if there is any truth in human testimony, any trustworthiness in human experience, no fact is more certain than the fact that prayers are somehow heard and answered. These unnumbered millions believe in prayer and continue to pray for the reason which inspired the faith and continued the practice in the ancient Hebrew psalmist:

I love Jehovah, because he heareth
My voice and my supplications.
Because he hath inclined his ear unto

me,

Therefore will I call upon him as

as I live.