BOSTON'S FINEST

"Riding into a crowd of massed students as they stood peacefully awaiting an opportunity to protest the welcoming of the German cruiser "Karlsruhe" Boston's highly touted police force was on hand to dispel the crowd before any kind of demonstration could be staged. The necessity of maintaining law and order is acknowledged, but the manner in which it was done yesterday, even before the necessity for so doing arose, may be subject to the harshest criticism.

Before the crowd could register and protest they were pushed and driven from a vacant lot where they were massed, into the street a by a group of burly Boston policemen, swinging clubs freely and shouting curses at the fleeing students. Every person in the way of the blue-coated avalanche was threatened by horses' hooves and night sticks. The right of free speech is one of the cardinal rights of a citizen of the United States and if a group of citizens has secured the right to assemble and parade, there is not reason why brawny guardians of the law should interfere. Furthermore, if interference is deemed necessary, there are two ways of doing it. The brutish tactics of the Hub policemen yesterday represents one way, but there is a more sensible one, of which the Boston bluecoats seemed unaware.

Any nation espousing a belief in freedom of speech will not submit to a subjugation of it under the tattoo of horses' hoofs. The brutality and officiousness demonstrated yesterday are to be deplored. Courtesy must be extended to the visiting ship, and the activities of shouting "Red" or other agitators who insist on making themselves obnoxious must be curtailed in the interest of good sense, but the tactics pursued must be different than those used yesterday.