"Rows and Rows and Rows and Rows and Rows of 'Em March
"Folks Cheered 77th Division which Finally Changed From Toys Into Folks, Too.
"A row of mounted police rode up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"A man carrying a banner on which were the words and figures, '77th Division,' marched up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"A band played all the way up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"A line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"A second line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"A third line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"A fourth line of soldiers walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"A soldier carrying a service flag walked up Fifth avenue yesterday.
"One soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.
"A second soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.
"A third soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.
"A fourth soldier wore khaki and carried a steel helmet on his shoulder.
"They marched precisely.
"They marched steadily.
"They marched firmly.
"They marched in silence.
"The crowds cheered.
"The crowds waved flags.
"The crowds did not fill the stands.
"The crowds applauded.
"The police kept the waves of humanity back.
"The police did not have much trouble.
"The police permitted the crowd to cheer.
"The police permitted the crowds to wave flags.
"Soldiers of the 77th Division marched up Fifth avenue yesterday, and when they had done marching they broke ranks and greeted their friends and relatives who had not seen them since they went to war.
"A mother greeted her son with kisses and tears.
"A mother greeted her son with kisses and tears.
"A mother greeted her son with kisses and tears.
"Change the word 'mother' to sweetheart, brother, sister, and keep on repeating until 'father' is reached and then change 'kisses and tears' to 'smiles and cheers.'"
The hypocritical Socialists at one moment plead for universal peace, the desire of nations, and at the next for class hatred. They are trying to ruin our domestic peace and to expose us to the ravages of lawlessness and crime. By fostering contempt for soldiers and other guardians of the peace, they not only make it harder for them to fulfil their duties, but prevent many from joining the army and navy for the defense of our country against foreign and domestic foes.
Our country at present is well able to defend itself against foreign attacks, but if our domestic enemies continue to sow the seeds of discord and class hatred among our fellow citizens, it will surely fall, for no nation that is divided against itself can stand.
From the very fact that "The Call" of February 10, 1912, dared to publish the following article, showing the intense hatred of its author for the Stars and Stripes, our national emblem, the reader can judge for himself whether the thousands of unoffended subscribers have the faintest spark of patriotism in their hearts:
"'At least honor the flag!' they cry in desperation. 'Honor the flag which stands for freedom, equality and fraternity!'
"What flag? The American flag? The Stars and Stripes? The flag which floats over every hellhole of mine and mill and prison? The flag which floats over station house and barracks whence issue police and soldiers to batter down and murder workers exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and free assemblage? Honor the flag which you, our masters, have changed from a flag of liberty into a symbol of the cruelest exploitation and vilest oppression of the new civilization?
"If I had been Samuel Gompers when he was reproached by the capitalists for placing his foot on the American flag, I should have answered: 'Yes, I trampled on it, and, more than that, I spit upon your flag, not mine; I loathe the Stars and Stripes, once the symbol of liberty for all, but now the stripes represent the bloody stripes left by your lash on the back of the worker, and the stars, the bullet and bayonet wounds in his breast. To hell with your flag!...
"Down with the Stars and Stripes! Run up the red flag of humanity."
Not alone do the members of the rank and file of the Socialist Party attack the Star Spangled Banner, but even its foremost leaders are guilty of the same offense. "The Comrade," July, 1904, furnishes us with an attack made upon our country's flag by no less a personage than Eugene V. Debs:
"Have you a drop of blood in your veins? Has your manhood rotted into cowardice? Wake up and take your place in the class struggle. For the desecration of the flag your leader is in jail. What flag? The flag of the capitalist class--the flag that floats over the bull pens of Colorado. The wholesome truths he stamped upon its stripes are your shame and your masters' crime. Rally to the red flag of international Socialism, the symbol of the proletarian revolt."
CHAPTER XVI
THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST OUR COUNTRY
This chapter is the center of our book, the hub where all the spokes of evidence focus and unite, clearly revealing the unity, power and purpose of the Wheel of Revolution which now is rolling through the minds and wills of American radicals. To make this complex plot simple, it has been analyzed into its parts in the other chapters of "The Red Conspiracy," so that each element may be weighed by itself. In the present chapter the results of this analysis are gathered up again, to show how all the parts fit into one mechanism; and, with the whole thus seen as one contrivance, the working of each part being understood, the plan and purpose of the entire invention stands out as clear as day.