New-York tribune. [volume], August 25, 1915, Page 6, Image 6

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Xm 5<rrk a?rttroujt?
First to Last?the Truth: News? Editorials
?Advertisements.
WKl>NKf*l>AY. Arr.t ?T ?5. ?15.
OirMd and pub?lah?l daily by Th? TMrune ?Mwlatton.
a Km? T.?rk corpora?!..-,. ?Vi?? M S?l?l. r-aul-m. O
H.???!,. Sn'w'in *n,l Tt?a?ux_. Art-lira? Tribu? u
M?Ses Us I * Hemeam Sus*. Hi? Toi_
et r.srnirnoN tut?**? b- Mail, raus? raid, ?-tairt?
o? l.rta-.rr Nrnr Yor?
Tal-T A Si? .lay. 1 nv I "M'tllt *?-.!-. 1 lo??-H*. ??I M
Dally * Hundajr, ? n. ? * I'allj ml*. ? mmilh?.. ? I ?X
? Sunday. 1 ?rar. S .'0 l>ai:y nnlj. 1 ?ear. ? ?J
' oui*. ( b?oM!_ . 1 M Suri.la.i t?S. 1 ****. ????
mRElCN KATT.S I ?.-?AMAN nATt***
MII*i AMI SI MUT I t'All.V ASH St NDAY.
On? m~ni>.11 tt One MM?I.I '?
t>t.? ????? ... M ?'i ? >*ar ??...? __?!? ???? ?*?
??AT ONLY: l'ATl.Y ONT.T:
Wa SM-tlta. S s." On? ?tx.ila. SO
On? j-ar ... ( ??? in.? M-ar _?__?_ ? ** ?*
HAI1.Y OKIal SfM-AT ONLY:
1>M> BimiUi. 1 t? On? tBnnlh.M
O-e j.ar. - -?- . ?*>*
trt?r?4 at th? r<*?toffl? at N*? Yottt t? Serons Clai?
Mall Malt*r.
Yon csn purchase merchandise advertised
in THE TR1BINE with absolute safety?for
if dissatisfaction results in any csse THE
TRIBUNE guarantees to pay your money
back upon request. No red tape, no quib?
bling. We make good promptly if the ad
?ertiser does not.
The German Request.
The German request for a suspension of
Judgment pending the official report of the
commander of the submarine which sank
the Arabic will naturally be granted and
???ill with less warrant be made the basis
for hope that the peril seen clearly by a'l
now may be averted.
There is only one possibility of a final
escape from a perilous break between the
I States and the German Empire.
This is not to be found in any facts con?
cerning, the Arabic incident. If the Ger
jnans are able, as seems utterly incon?
ceivable, to build up some defence for thif*
action, the real danger will remain, not in
the incident, but in that settled policy
which is the cause of the German-Ameri?
can difficulties.
If the German Government desired to
abolish all chance of a break with the
United States, it could do it by announc?
ing that henceforth its submarine comman?
ders would sink no passenger ships save in
conformity with the practices of interna?
tional law. It has only to abandon the
methods revealed in the Lusitania and
Arabic incidents to put aside all opportu?
nity for war between the United States and
itself. But unless it consents to do this
the situation will only undergo a tempo?
rary amelioration, if Germany's defence in
the Arabic case is even technically suffi?
cient to satisfy the American Government.
Permanent improvement there can be no
prospect of while German policy remains
fi-xed.
For if the Arabic was not an "incident,"
accepting the extreme view of a few Ger?
man newspapers, then there is certain to
be a real "incident" without great delay.
A man resolved upon murder may escape
indictment in a specific case, but if he
sticks to his resolution he will kill sooner
or later and the crime will bring inevitable
consequences.
Every German comment expressed in
this country since the Arabic sank follows
the same line so clearly indicated by Count
! ntlow. All agree in asserting what
I wholly evident, that the facts are still
unknown to Germans, since the version of
their naval officer remains to be supplied.
But all equally agree that if the .-Arabic
was sunk as America believes it was
sunk, it was an altogether righteous act
I and only a detail in German naval policy.
Hope of peace and friendly relations
cannot be based on such premises. "We
don't know whether we murdered Ameri
, bot if we did it was the right thing
to do and the thing we intend to continue
doing!" This is the content of German
press comment. Such being the case, what
permanent difference will it make whether
the Arabic was a case in point or not? If
it was not, to-morrow or next day is sure
t.? bring one.
Conceivably?it is just and proper to
consider the possibility. Germany has at
last recofnitsd what will be the conse?
quences of a policy of murder. Perhaps
at the last moment she has determined, in
tin face of consequences no longer mistak
ahle, to change her policy?abandon her
outlawry - consent to live within the law.
I f i brj has?so much the better. Here alone
is it possible to find any hope for the
future.
I'resident Wilson will wait for the Ger?
man statement. He is bound to do that
He will give it the consideration it merits
when it comes. I'ut a mere technical de?
fence, unaccompanied by guarantees for
the future, he cannot accept as satisfac?
tory? he cannot permit to stay his decision
to break off relations with Germany.
It is anneeoss-Tj and unwise to foreclose
on the German course. It is highly im?
proper to assume a wholly intransigeant
attitude while the German statement is yet
unmade. Until it is made and found un?
satisfactory we must wait patiently and
calmly. J.ut we should neither deceive
ourselves nor let the Germans be deceive!
on the main point. Friendly relations be?
tween the United States and Germany aro
hereafter impossible unless Germany re?
nounces a policy of assassination and a
campaign of murder which finds American
citizens for its victims.
The City Hall Restoration.
Restoration of the interior of the City
Hall in all probability might not hav?
been undertaken for years if impetus to
the demands for it had not been given by
Mrs. Sage's generous act in financing the
remodelling of the rotunda and Gover?
nor's Room. The effect of that was to
start the restoration of a great part of the
interior to the condition of beauty and
simplicity comparable to the original in?
terior of the edifite.
Great care has been taken by the Muni?
cipal Art Commission and the architects'
to make this work, now about completed,
serve purposes of utility as well as acsthet-j
ics, so that the city has a building better
and safer, as well as far lovelier, than
before the patch-work alterations of years
had been put into harmony with the ex?
terior of the City Hall.
It is to be hoped that this commendable
work will not be passed over by the
zens. There is no finer building in
city than this; it is a splendid spec
of architecture. An hour or two spe
visiting it would be profitable for
New Yorker not familiar with its I
ties, now brought to full bloom a?
Many a citizen, presumably full of
pride, will journey to Salem, to <
bridge, to Princeton, to view the fin?
Colonial houses which still stand,
.there are thousands on thousands
have travelled all over Europe vis
?famous edifices who won't go five
lutes' walk out of their way to inspect
?of the city's choicest possessions.
Retaining "The Tail of the Tick
Both the Republican and Dcmoei
parties are pledged to the short b
principle?the Democrats to a specifi?
duction in the number of elected offk
the Republicans generally to a "subs
tial" reduction. If the short ballot scr
recommended by the Constitutional I
vention Committee on Governor
Other State Officers be defeated by
machine politicians and officials who
now opposing it, this defeat will
stitute a deliberate betrayal of p;
pledges. Moreover, if some of the <
gates vote against it who are now sai
be working against it, this will be a
liberate violation of personal pledges
The merits of the short ballot long
passed out of the stage of controve
just as the plan passed out of partisan
?tics. It is the one means of repairing
political machinery put forward in re?
years on which practically everybody
been agreed?everybody but the politici
who find in the dickering over subordir
jobs and the election of their men at '
tail of the ticket" the surest way of mi
taining their organizations. The pre*
fight is a fight for jobs, pure and sim
It is an effort to keep patronage wit
the power of political bosses rather tl
to place the appointment of state offic
in the hands of the Governor, who is li
!y to be pretty free from domination
those politicians.
There should be no compromise on tl
The plan favored by the Committee
Governor and Other State Officers did I
go far enough, for it retained the Att
ney General as an elective official, agaii
all reason. This should be corrected a
the committee should then force a vote
the convention. The public wants a sh?
ballot. If the machine politicians fear
enough to be willing to stand up and
counted against it. they should have 1
opportunity. The public can deal wi
them later if they defeat the proposa
Fighting in the Gulf of Riga.
It is impossible to make out from t
fragmentary reports of fighting in t
Gulf of Riga exactly what has happen
there. The earlier dispatches spoke of
battle in which the Germans had be
driven out of the bay with the loss
one battle-cruiser, three cruisers, sev?
torpedo-boats and four barges filled wi
troops. This was the announcement "sa
to have boon made by the President of tl
Duma, and the battle-cruiser was expic*
ly identified as the Moltke.
A later statement from Russian nav
headquarters is more vague in reckonil
the German losses. Admitting the destru
tion of the Russian gunboat Sivutch,
notes that she had "previously sunk tl
enemy torpedo-boats," but the number ?
torpedo-boats is not given. All we are to
is that "between the 16th and 21st tv
enemy cruisers and no less than eight to
pedo-boa's were either sunk or place
horsdc combat." The Moltke is not name
at all, but "one of the most powerfi
dreadnoughts of the Gorman fleet" is sai
to have been torpedoed by "our gallar
allies," not in the gulf, but in the ope
waters of the Baltic. There is no mentio
of the attempted landing of troops, an
the cautious conclusion is that "the enem
appears to have evacuated the gulf." i
still later statement adds an auxiliar
cruiser to the German losses already ar
nounced, and intimate.*- that "the impoi
tance of this fight consisted in preventin
the Germans for a certain time from for?;
ing our position."
No report of these operations has as ye
come from Germany, and the news w
have is too contradictory to justify defi
nite conclusions. The later reports ar
certainly less glowing than the first, an?
all that can lie gathered from them is tha
the Germans have suffered a tempor?r;
reverse in the attempt to take Riga. I
the statement made in the Duma was wel
founded we should be justified in regard
ling this as one of the most importan
naval engagements that have occurred s<
far in the war, but that statement li
apparently qualified by the subsequeni
reports. The loss of the Moltke, one o]
the most formidable of Germany's tight
ing ships, would be a serious matter; bu1
was the Moltke lost? In the later an
nouncements we are left in doubt whether
the unnamed "dreadnought"?supposinR
this to be the .Moltke?was actually sunk,
No announcement has been made by the
British Admiralty as yet. In any case,
this event appears to have been indepen?
dent of the fighting in the Gulf of Riga,
which was evidently an affair in which
small vessels ojily were concerned.
It is disappointing that no particulars
are given in the official reports of the
landing or attempted landing of troops.
Except in the announcement attributed
to the President of the Duma, the barges
are not even mentioned. According to -i
dispatch from Petrograd, however, three
large transports approached the shor?
and before the landing could be effected
they were all sunk. If this is true the
enterprise of the Germans was extraordi?
narily bold, not to say reckless. Without
anything approaching an assured com?
mand of the sea they apparently under-'
took to land a considerable force with?
out even silencing the batteries at the
point of landing. Some further explana?
tion of the expedition is surely necessary,
for it seems hardly credible that1 they so|
underrated the enemy as to expose them?
selves to so obvious a peril.
The Russian fleet compared with the
German is weak; if the reports that have
been given out arc correct, how is it
possible to account for the deliberate
risking of vessels nnd men involved in
such an attack? The Russian force oti
sea was apparently not even effectively
mask?*?! and the transports were so ba?liy
handled, according to the accounts, that
they lay for two hours ander the fire of
the shore batteries and were smashed to
pieces. It is true that in the early part
of this month there was a report from
Petrograd of the sinking of a large Ger?
man transport apparently bound the sane
way, so it is conceivable that an attempt
of this sort is considered desirable even
at the risk of interference by the Rus
sian fleet. But the reports received so
far are so conflicting and so vague that i*
is well to wait for further intelligence
before drawing conclusions.
Jewelry Style?.
The president of the National Retail
Jewelers' Association is authority for the
statement that the articles the members
sell are not luxuries. Far from it! They
are a necessity of the "higher civiliza?
tion." Moreover, they play so important
a part in life's developments that the time
has come, it has been decided, to subject
them to changes in fashion. ?\ny person
of real pretensions to membership in the
higher civilization who hereafter wears
her diamonds and pearls in the same set?
ting for more than one season will be dis?
tinctly anti-social?she will be, practical?
ly, an outcast and a social criminal.
Though it portray a sad, sad state of
affairs in this country of pretensions to
civilisation, it is altogether probable that
something like Teutonic autocracy will
be necessary to enforce this decree. Not
that there will not be a small, select circle
who srladly and willingly will live up to
if. "Diamond Jim" Brady has, and in?
evitably always will have, followers and
competitors in the genial art of outshin?
ing Broadway's lights with his jewels.
But the hard, cold truth is that, so fa*' as
| most of us are concerned, it takes so much
|effort and .so much cash to accumulate
i the modest ornaments termed "the family
'jewels" that there's none left for sea?
sonal alterations and additions.
Moreover, a fundamental truth was
once enunciated?regarding diamonds?
by "Fingey" Conners, who maintained
"Them as has 'em wears 'em." They do,
and possession in any style of fabrication
is held to justify it, regardless of devia?
tion from the current year's styles. The
malefactor of great wealth finds it neces
.sary to change his imported motor car
each year just as his wife has her
precious gems reset for better display at
the Metropolitan opening. But the horny
handed ordinary American drives hi*
Ford year after year, and his wife dons,
the same old rings with pardonable
pride when they go out in the evening
to the moving picture show. Neither
stratum of society is likely to rhanj-e its
habits, which doesn't indicate a great like?
lihood of our having magazines devoted
to fashions in jewelry as some are now
devoted to fashions in clothes.
Wrist Watching.
It begins to look as if the long, up-hill
tight of the wrist watch for serious male
recognition was almost won. Uncle Sain
has ordered 400 of the species for his cav?
alry officers. Peeping from beneath the
khaki sleeve and spanning the tanned and
corded carpus of the lighter, they would at
least appear safe from the jibes of car?
toonists and cafe warriors. The Chicago
policeman who was rebuked lately by his
thief for wearing one may now have his
revenge.
But as a matter of fact wrist watches
have long been worn by army officers in
this country, and by the rank and file, as
well as the officers, abroad. Will Irwin
found them common among the men in
the trenches, who, however, were later
forbidden to wear them because too many
serious wounds had resulted from having
their works driven into the forearm by
the enemy's bullets. This danger is prob?
ably not considered serious in the case of
the cavalry. And neither this danger nor
the more appalling one, luckily now al?
most past, of being dubbed a sissy, a
mollycoddle, a highbrow or a pacifist, has
deterred such males as Police Commis?
sioner Woods, Mayor MiU-hcl, Christy
.Mathewson or Louis Disbrow from form?
ing the habit, a habit which is sprea?ling
like wildfire at Plattsburg, introduced
there possibly by our martial Police Com
missioner and Mayor.
It is only in this country that ridicule
has been the portion of this labor-saving
device, probably because it was viewed '?
a protection against the peculiar mode of
chastisement reserved for the effeminate.
But the first thing they know those who
now rail at it will be in a fair way of
being slapped on the wrist by those who
affect it. It may be necessary soon to
wear a wrist watch to prove one's mar?
tial intentions.
We are forced to conclude that the advici
to the Kaiser's agent to "buy lard" was a
disguised reference to the Fatherland.
German Money and Neutrals.
tlrnm ihr Dmm?ot l?\tertt?er i
A Prussian statesman boasted the other day
that, as Germans were living on the country
of the enemy, the war expenditure was much
lighter than that of the Allies. There is,
nevertheless, one item us to which German?
have been very extravagant without reaping
the bent tit expected. The German propa?
ganda in neutral states has been carried on
with s lavish outlay of money. Prince Rudow
?spt-iit enormous sums in Rome. .Raron Scheak,
ut Athens, is receding very large subsidies.
German money has been flowing like a Pac
tolian stream in the Ralkans, and, needlesr
to add, the amount expended by Herr Dern
burg in America was '?kolossal," and that
even in thins German agents have been fling?
ing German cash about with rscfclsss profu?
sion, i
LYNCH LAW IN SOUTHERN EYES
Deplored by Many as a Dangerou:
Expression of Anarchy.
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: As a Northerner who has lived murl
in the South I would like to (rive the wid
publicity of your columns to the words o
the late Kobert Means Duvii and I.ynch law
They are a timely defence against the mis
! taken iden that persons of intelligence de
fend mob violence because they happen t?
l,e .Southerners. Those who palliate lynch
ing in the South belong to the class of illiter
ates or are of those on the verge of it
Professor Davis was for many years teach
er of history in the University of Soutl
(srolina. A masterly and genial scholar, h?
was also, it would seem, a prophet, for wha
he predicted ten years ago has veritabl;
come to pass in the Frank case. He wa
treating of anarchy i probably the Freud
Revolution suggested it), and branched inti
the subject of Lynch law. I was astonishe?
and impressed with what he said, and hav?
often made use of his words to refute mj
Northern friends in their wholesale cas?
against the Southerner. In meeting hin
outside the classroom I heard him protes
vigorously on the subject, and deplore th?
i fact that the South, which had given th?
?world so many distinguished jurists, shouW
?also provide such spectacles of anarchy. Bil
! words as I made note of them were:
"I.ynch law "s only a fantastic name foi
I murder, and every man who excuses it ex
cuses murder; every man who assists in iti
I performance is a murderer. To-day it is in
?oked against the negro; but in the end II
Iwill turn against the whites who have em
ployed it. Without distinction of race 01
color, wherever Lynch law is allowed to pre
rail Juatlea will be rendered impossible. \V<
?shall yet see in these Southern states th?
?courts of justice besieged by the mob, nn?
I we will he driven to protect judge and jurj
?with the militia."
The disgrace which has come upon Geor
?gia was exactly foretold in those words. II?
expressed, however, only the opinions an?:
the fears of every thinking man and womar
of the South. W, RFAI) IIFRSEY.
Sagamore Reach, Mass., Aug. 21, 1915.
Away with the Hyphen.
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: A news item this morning apprise?;
the public that a certain organization
formed under German-American isic) au?
spices, and calling itself "The Friends o<
Trace," has dispatched to the President of
the I'nited States a telegram Signed by one
John Brisbea Walker, chairman, presuming
to advise and even warn the President as
to his duties and rights under the Consti?
tution.
This is a free country, and freedom of
speech is guaranteed to all, which means
that any person or set of persons is privi?
leged to pive public utterance to any ideas,
however asinine, which they may be pleased
to entertain. Therefore it were idle to
waste breath in commenting on the silly
and disingenuous sophistries and wilful per
rersiom o? fact contained in the telegram
referred ?...
It is, however, going a step too far when
any foreign or semi-foreign organization has
the unparalleled impertinence to offer ad?
vice to the President as to his duties. It
la a piece of anapeakable insolence which
should not be tolerated for a moment.
And l?t me further say in thi- -unie con?
nection that it is high timo for all of us
dearly to understand and bear constantly
i-i mind tnat there i- only one kind of Am
trican eititOD. It Is time to abandon the
I u c of such loose and meaningless
"Herman-Americans," "An
? V' cans" and the like and, pre-emi?
nently, it is time for all those who have
been classing themselves as Germ?n-Ameri?
ta choose, once and for all, either one
side of the hyphen or the other.
Th--re i? not, and there never can be, such
r. tiling as S Herman-American. A loyal
American citi7?n of German birth or extrac?
tion is perfectly conceivable, and differs In
no whit fron any other real American. Like
"iie can understand and respect a loyal
(.cunan subject residing temporarily in this
country. Rut a mixture of the two is *
glaring contradiction in terms, an Inconceiv?
able end misbegotten hybrid, neither fish,
i.or fowl, nof good red herring; as
absurd and grotesque an impossibility as the
dock Turtle in "Alice in Wenderland."
GEORGE WE8TERVELT.
New York, Aug. L"_', 1916.
-?
Bride's Promise and Groom's.
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Some time ago a man said, after ex?
amining conditions in the states where
women vote, that equal suffrage had in?
creased petty jealousy and unfriendly strife
among the women, except in Wyoming. He
aaid m considering the working of this
(?uestion the women of Wyoming must be
left out; that trey were in a class by them
selves; of superior character and intelli?
gence. He did not seem to see that he was
arguing for suffrage and not against it, for
the women of Wyoming have voted since
Mr. EH Appelbaum need not work himself
into a state of mind as to what might, could,
or would happen if women voted; all he
need do is to remove bis blinders and look
at the question from all suies. I have six
nieces voting m four states and I have a
clear understanding of its practical work?
ing out.
As to taking literally the "obey" part of the
- promise the conscientious Mr. Appel?
baum might do well to consider the bride?
groom' to endow his bride with
all his wordly goods and its practical work?
ing. An hour after the ceremony in many
instances even the bride's wearing apparel
docs not belong to her, and the house, in
utter years, which the wife helps to buy
can be rold by the aforesaid dower with?
out even consulting her.
SAJU T. LEFFERTS.
Kii/iibeth, N. J., Aug. 92, P.II5.
"Fear Play."
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Now it would seem is the time to dis
eard Fair Play. War is not play, and all is
fair in war! The Cruikshank letter in to?
day's issue of The Tribune indicates a usa
of fear play, to incite this nation to abandon
the aforethought of the founders of our
Republic and entangle us in an offensive alli
srhieh can but result in placing us for?
ever on the ?iefensive. It is demanded we
weigh our anchors and drift into the Sar
Sea of Kuropean retrogression, whence
th'?re would be no return.
And this sacrifice to be consummated for
what? Not as the specious pleas put it, for
humanity, but to retrieve the fortunes of
the beaten nations, whose gratitude measured
l>y the world's standards, would enrich ur
with a share in their indebtedness. A* for
| off future attacks?no known method
could more positively assure such under
takings.
It is s fact worth remarking that those
who would embroil our fair land go not
adventuring to the field of battle, preferring
to let others do it
I .RL A. KEHEWIEJHE.
| New York, Aug. J-', pjl5. I
THE FISHERMAN.
TO CREATE AN OFFICERS' RESERVE.
Military Science Is a Highly Technical Vocation Which Needs Constant
. Brushing Up.
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In the writer's humble opinion. The
Tribune has scored another bull's-eye in
its editorial of the 16th entitled "An Offi?
cers' Reserve." i
It, must be evident to those who know
something of the military game that these
rookies at Plattshurg "are, in effect, the
small end of a megaphone through which
his i General Wood's) words of military
wisdom may penetrate to the uttermost
ends of the land." If four weeks at Platts?
burg will turn out efficient officers, why
four years at West Point making due
allowance for the time devoted to scientific
and liberal studies, which most of the
Plattsburg rookies have already had?
Military science is a highly specialized and,
in many respects, technical vocation. Per?
haps none realize this more than do our
National Guard officers who, after years
spent in practice and study, need con?
stantly to brush up and read anew in order
to pass the periodic examinations required
of them. The very business men who are
now at riattsburg would not intrust a po?
sition in their offices with the responsi?
bilities of a commissioned officer to a man,
however bright, who came to them with only
a month's preparation in as important "duties.
I?arge corporations, such as the Pennsyl?
vania Railroad and the large electrical and
manufacturing concerns, coniluct courses in
their shops in duration from six months to
tour years, -vhiJh many engineering gradu?
ates enter; and lucky are these men to g?*t
a foreman's job upon completion of the
course.
The school at Plattsburg is a good thing.
We ought to have more like it. Rut let us
not misinterpret its value. That value is
chiefly the experience these business men
will get out of it; the effect it will have in
opening their eyes to the magnitude and
seriousness of the proposition of adequate
military preparation, and through them the
?Iissemination of this knowledge to the public
and our legislators.
Whatever plans may be made for de?
veloping an officers' reserve adequate in size
and training, our first duty is unquestion?
ably to make use of what we have. There
arc thousands of men with years of train?
ing in the regular service and in the Na?
tional Guard men with experience as non
coms, and commissioned officers, who
have the qualifications, physically, mentally
and morally, to tit them for command who
are rusting in civil life, when they ought to
be organized into a reserve, required to at
?end schools, perhaps to drill three or four
times a year, given opportunity to attend
camp with the active troops and- assigned
as officers of skeleton organizations, work?
ing in harmony and developing ts/trit </?'
corps. There are other thousands, dis?
charged as privates, who are available as
non-coms, or privates, who should likewise
be organized and brushed up in their duties.
There is much that is attractive in mili?
tary service. Men who have seen service,
who are not shirkers and come willingly,
coubl be moulded into very efficient skeleton
organizations. With light demands upon
their time, it should be easy to obtain
volunteers for such a reserve. The associa?
tion of men with military experience in an
organization with a common aim would
tend toward s morale that no new organiza?
tion would have, and morale, Napoleon said.
is 75 per cent of efficiency. The State of
New York has a new law upon its statute
books which partially meets this need, but
it refers to ex-commissioned officers alone
and does not go far enough. There should
be a more comprehensive effort in thi*
direction, not alone in this state, but
throughout the country; that ij, a national
reserve.
Your editorial also discounts the ides of
placing dependence to any extent for an
officers' reserve upon graduates of those
state colleges giving military instruction
under the .Morrill land grant act and other
college students who have merely attended
the Plattsburg and similar camps.
The writer was a student at one of the
land grant colleges -um. years ago, and we
had military drill as often as four aftei
noons a week during the fall and sprinj
However, the whole matter was taken ver
much as a joke by the great majority c
the students and discipline was almost zen
We had hotter discipline by far in the Roy:
Brigade to which I h td formerly be!<rnge<
This was partly <!u<- to the commandant o
cadets, a retired army officer, who hail see
active service in the Indian campaigns bu
hadn't th?- a't of getting the men intereste?
I have heard of a former officer there wh
had this quality of enlisting the men's in
terest, but M is an uphill job at the best, fo
the students are there for another pur
pose and consider a military drill and th
study of tactics as a necessary evil. Thi
was a condition not only where I attendee
but I heard directly from students at a
least two other such colleges that it pre
vailed there.
It is unfortunate that this is so, for ther
is no question tha' here is the very materia
that, with the proper incentive, could b
welded into the needed military officer afte
service with troops. It is a question whethe
by offering a bonus or subsidy to student
specializing in military studies, the need.-'
interest could be brought, about. The idei
is not entirely worthy and the best result
can no doubt only be obtained where there i
a true tspr?t oV Corps, such as at a strictl;
military school. There are such schools, an?
no doubt some of them are very efficient
The writer has no personal knowledge o:
them, however.
The post-gra.luatc summer camp, being o
such short ilura?ion, has the same objection;
that apply to the business men's camp a
Plattsburg, Therefore, unless the students
course there can be extended and in addi
tion graduated to be progressive during sue
ceeding seasons and unless the tu
incentive can be found for students of lane
grant colleges, such as a separate and self
contained military school, our reliance, a
you advocate, must be pluced in an enlarge?;
West Point and perhaps its duplicate in thi
West.
Comment on an officers' reserve should no1
close without reference to the opportunities
presented in the .National Guard. It is no!
the lot of all of us to be college students
nor to have time to attend summer camps
such as st Plattsburg, but any able-bodied
young man or even mi?ldle aged man of good
habits can obtain excellent training in the
Guard, and get more or less enjoyment out
of it at that. The writer speaks from an
experience of almost eight years, and hopes
he may be able to remain years longer.
It is, in fact, the duty of young men to
join the Guard. A singular case in point
was recounted ts ni" by an officer of the
Guard in high command. He was struck by
the intelligence and conciseness of statement
of an operator on a military telephone in
delivering a message to him in the recent
summer tour of duty. Good operators are
the exception, ?o he took time to look up the
man, and found him to be a professor in a
well known educational institution, thirty
five years of age, who had decided that he
owed something to his country that he hadn't
paid as yet, and had therefore recently en?
listed. There is opportunity for men of the
proper type to advane,? to be non-coms,
and later to be commissioned officers.
It will not be accomplished in a week or
in four weeks; but the training will be
thorough if the state legislature is liberal
enough to provide suitable field prsctice.
and he will have much enjoyment and pleas?
ant associations on the road, further, he
will be discharging a duty to hi? country and
to himself. CAVALRY.
Brooklyn. Aug. 21, 1911
What Most Americans Feel.
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Si: Having been a constant reader of
The Tribune for several years, let me thank
you for the splendid editorial in to-day's
Tribune ?>u "An Inconceivable Blunder."
I believe you express the sentiments of the
great majority of the American people.
To continue friendly relations with the Im?
perial German government would bs to sur?
render all rights and honor.
Again let me thank you for your magnifi?
cent editorial. ART1U.R G. KAYHART.
?New Yvrk, Aug. 2?, lulo._ j
"A LOVERS' QUARREL"
"G. K. C.'s" Views on Feminia
Denounced as Rank Sentimer.talit
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: "A lovers' quarrel" that ii J
Chesterton's term for one of the I
and ignoble chapters of human hi
age-long struggle of women for human rig!
in face o*f the blind, instinctive, dog-in-tl
manger opposition of men.
One must be either an inveterate opt,mi
or a drooling sentimentalist ?
ant an analogy in this relation, ??-?pecially
one knows the ugly facts of that histoi
The basis of a lovers' quarrel is usually
misunder.stan.ling arising from the fact th
language started so much later than emoti<
that it has not yet caught up with it. Tl
basis of woman's quarrel with mar. is tl
brutal law that the physically s* ->?
to oppress and thwart the weak. Sa. Chfl
terton: "The quarrel between the rich at
the poor may be settled. The rje
tween man and woman can never be settle
for it is a love?-s' quarrel." The tinklc-tink
cleverness of this analogy cannot hide i
absurdity, for the very essence of a lover
quarrel is that it is settled, and -*'.tU
quickly. And so the awful thought, isjlfe
den, arises within us: Can it be that all tl
cleverness of our paradoxical Mr. Civ -'ert*
is due to false analogy and la/y sent
mentalism?
For lazy is none too strong a word to sppl
to a man who sets up and bowls over ths ol
straw man argument that "suffrage will n?
bring the millennium," and thinks he ha
disposed of the suffrage question; who is
alts his own petty personal pre. udlea
against innovation and thinks he is r*ai*e
ing; who is so befuddled by charges at tie*
tion frauds that he considers voting it ?If ?
no value to any one, since "the mach.ne wil
win anyhow"; who is so tired and diail
lusioned that, ostrich-like, he buries hii
moral torpitude in "cleverness" and expecti
to be passed unnoticed.
Creep into thy narrow bed,?
Creep, and let no more be said.
Vain thy onset ! All stands fast.
Thou thyself must break at last.
Let the long contention cease!
Geese are swans and swans are go se.
Let them have it how they will!
Thou art tired: best be still.
Mr. Chesterton is tired, so tired, in fsct
that he finds all effort, political, moral or
mental, too exhausting, so he sil ki bic?.
with a sigh into the slough of d?sp ?r.d and
pretty sentimentalism. For it Is pretty to
conceivp of th?* kitchen as a place at f.*?ries
and goblins; it is still prettier to ipeah of
"the epic of the washing day." bu" Sri |? stSf
there with our sentimentalism?" W ? s >t i?
on at.?! speak of the "glory of ths ballot
box," "the priceless boon of loving man to
noble womanhood," etc., etc.? Ru?, no. CaSS*
terton is ? conservative even in s entil a? --?tal*
ism; only the post is lovely aaeugh "" <**
lam his garlands of pretty epithets. Be?
sides, it is so much easier to WAS poetic over
the good old things of the past the i.itchen.
wash day and that glorious sen'iment o
jour grandfather, "woman's place i- Il "?"?
home." There are no time bettered similes
for the ballot box; we should ha\> t> mas?
new ones, and tha? InvrotVi '? *n
thought Is so fatiguing to the ?spiritually old
Mr. Chesterton's cleverness ia exeeediagU
depressing; it is the phosphor?-.'?; ICS ta ?
decadent ?pint. Politicians are corrupt
humbugs, so let's sit back ami laugh at th?
foolish antics of fanatu-i who try to irr.provt
matters; democracy is a failure, so lets not
seek to find a reason nor apply any remedy,
for what's the use? "The machine will "*"?
I anyhow." Finally, don't lot's think, logil '"
so "brutal," facts are so horr.d, It ?? ?*
much nicer to close our eyes and ?'lean* oj
the glorious -lay when once more ?h? -pirtt 01
sentimentalism shall rule the minds *ni
hearts of men, and the kitchen be a fairy?
land, wash day an epic and all women do?
mestics. W. F MU?IOS, M. D.
Brooklyn, Aug. I??, lillb
Praise.
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Permit me to express to you my ap?
preciation of your war editorial?. They not
enly tottrat the situation in a masterly **'?*''
but are a delight to read as real literature.
I.IDA HARKNESS.
j Sargentvillc, Me.. Aug. 22, 1915._?