New-York tribune. [volume], May 25, 1918, Page 10, Image 10

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First to Last?the Truth: News?Editorial?
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SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1918
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Words Out of Place
More important, we think, than the
conviction of Rose Pastor Stokes was an
oblique aspect of the trial which, owing
to the delicate nature of its implications,
is not easily dealt with as it deserves to
be. But as it cannot be ignored, and as
the pretence of ignoring it from a sense
of false propriety may be misunderstood
by people of alien and rebellious moods,
we purpose to challenge it frankly.
In the news report of the trial tele?
graphed from Kansas City Wednesday
night the following paragraph appeared :
"Mrs. Stokes testified that Woodrow
Wilson's book 'The New Freedom' had
been instrumental in shaping her views
on capitalism, and extracts from the book
were read to the jury. It was explained
that the book was written before the
war."
The explanation should go further.
The book was produced before the war
began in Europe. Strictly speaking, it
was never written. The President in
the preface says: "I have not written
a book since the campaign [meaning the
campaign of 1912]. I did not write this
book at all. ,It is the result of the edi?
torial literary skill of Mr. William Bay?
ard Hale, who has put together here in
their right sequence the more suggestive
portions of my campaign speeches."
Therefore, the book was compiled, not
written; and it was compiled from Mr.
Wilson's public speeches.
But all explanation is beside the main
point. The point is that a book called
"The New Freedom," by President Wil?
son, contains passages which may be
quoted b?r extremists like Rose Pastor
Stokes in support of such opinions on
war and capitalism as now are forbidden
by the government to be publicly ex?
pressed.
This fact taken by itself is startling,
not because we did not know it before,
but because we had almost forgotten it.
Radicals, no doubt, will cite it further
in their own defence, privately and
publicly. They will make much of the
apparent inconsistency that "revolution?
ary" social views somewhat correspond?
ing to those of the President are taboo
in war time. Indeed, the point may be
pressed to a most unexpected issue.
Since the conviction of Rose Pastor
Stokes The Tribune has been asked to
say whether it would be proper for a
publication secretly opposed to the war
and violently anti-capitalistic to print
as its own certain radical passages from
"The New Freedom," especially one in
which a "bloodless" revolution is dis?
cussed; and whether a publication that
did so would be taken up under the
espionage act.
We accept the question squarely. It
would be improper for such a publica- i
tion now to print those passages, either*
as its own or as the President's, with
intent to foment emotional distractions
or to embarrass the Administration. We
may go even further and say that some
of the passages apart from the qualify?
ing context ought not to be printed at
this time at all by any publication for
any reason; and we say this without the
slightest reflection upon the views set
forth in "The New Freedom" or upon
the author of them. They are such
views as we are all accustomed to hear
and to evaluate in peace time, when the
law of change and the law of inertia are
in bjtter opposition. It is with much
pam and misunderstanding that we learn
how to destroy what is bad and preserve
what is good of that order into which
.we are born unawares. Strong words
are spoken and forgotten.
Under normal conditions we are con?
tinually at war with discovered imper?
fections. But in war time all that kind
of strife must stop in order that the
household .tself may be preserved for
further improvement. The vital matter
is to present a united front to the en
w? iU isJidiculous." said Judge Van
Stoke';t ??h\?h: tr?ed R0Se Pa*tor
Stokes, "to ?unk that the President
could stop in the face of the enemy Jo
clean house. We don't stop in the face
o?rVeZl"thUnder8t0rm t0 han? ?Ut
The President almost more than any
ST. M* a?le t0 make the ?^?action
He would not now go about the country
makmg the speeches he made in the
campaign of 1912. Why? Because in?
ternal dissensions hinder war In 1912
he was appealing to intelligent discon?
tent with a social order in which there
are many evils to be reduced. The radi?
cals who quote selected and striking
passages from "The New Freedom" ap
peal to disaffection and disloyalty.fc There I
is the essential difference.
Time and intent determine the pro- i
priety of words. It seems never to occur
to those irreconcilable radicals who con- j
fuse freedom of speech with license that ?
there is such a thing as freedom of self
restraint for a common cause.
The Turning Tide
As in great music the harmony may
be suddenly overlaid by melody, so now
to the faith that abideth in us there is
added a new note, which is the hone of
the end's beginning. The ear may hear
and the heart may stir, but the hand
must not relax. It is not enough that
the U-boat is defeated. It shall be utterly
destroyed. Yet we may lake joy in the
thought that Germany has at last de?
spaired of winning the war with that
abominable weapon. Lloyd Georg?, an?
nounces that shipping now is pro?
duced by the Allies faster than it is
sunk. For the first time we can see
over the top of that beastly menace. Ho
adds that the submarines are being de?
stroyed faster than Germany can build
them. This is to have taken the most
formidable first lino of all. He is sure
there will be another great offensive on
the West front, but the defence has been
greatly strengthened in men, morale and j
experience; and we know, as the enemy
knows, that each day henceforth until
the hour of victory the weight on our j
side will increase out of America's
boundless resources in man power and
munitions. The tide is turning. And
we have only begun!
Women Make Ready
The women of New York will have J
their first experience in party enrolment i
to-day, and judging by all the signs j
many women already arc more keenly
interested in the occasion and know more
about their responsibilities than many
men. There is a lagging remnant. There
is much educational work yet to be done.
Yet we think every one, suffragists in?
cluded, has been astonished at the speed
and enthusiasm with which women have
entered upon their new duties to the ?
state. ' i
And they purpose to enroll as citizens,
not as suffragists, or as a sex. The old
divisions and classifications have van- j
ished in a few short months. Suffrage I
is in New York a settled and accom- j
plished fact. The first prophecies of evil
have already been shown to be false and
unfounded. The real test, the long test,
now begins. It is a good omen that the
women of New York enter upon their
first step with zest and intelligence, show?
ing an interest in party affairs and a .
realization of their importance which can
be a hopeful example and hint for all too
many men.
The "No Limit" Army
The "no limit" army which the House
Committee on Military Affairs has voted
to authorize will have no rigid limit writ
ten into the law. But it will have a more
or less definite limit, fixed by the man ?
power which is available under the |
selective draft acts and the acts amenda
tory thereof. The President cannot call
into the military service persons not sub- ;
ject to draft under existing laws.
What would be the strength of an !
army raised by utilizing the man power :
now at the disposal of the government?
General Crowder's report of December :
20 last furnishes pretty complete infor?
mation on this point, if it be assumed
that the regulations framed for the mus- ?
tering in of the first quota are to remain
unchanged. The registrants between
twenty-one and thirty-one years num?
bered 9,586,508. Of these 3,082,949 were !
called for the first quota, and 1,057,363
were accepted. The yield was, roughly, \
one out of three. At the same ratio, j
those still uncalled last December (6,- i
503,599) would yield 2,227,246 additional !
men.
Estimating the regular army and the
former National Guard ' organizations
(raised through volunteering) at 900,000,
we had about 2,000,000 soldiers in sight
last winter. The 2,227,246 to be pro?
duced from the uncalled registrants !
would bring the total up to about 4,200,- !
000. The new law drafting men who
have reached twenty-one since June 5,
1917, will add, perhaps, 500,000 to 600,
000 more. So that if the exemption
rules remain unaltered the strength of
the army will be a little short of 5,000,- !
000.
In one respect the rules have been
modified by a clarification of our policy
toward resident aliens. Neutral aliens
are now automatically exempted. Sub?
jects of Allied nations are to be released
to service under their own colors, if they
so elect. All aliens ought to be excluded
from the draft rolls. In the first quar- !
ter 457,713 aliens were called and 76,545
were accepted. If all aliens are exempt?
ed the total of drafted men still avail?
able will be reduced by 131,434. If aliens
now in the service are discharged or
transferred there will be a further loss
of 76,545.
Instead of being an army "without
limit," the array contemplated by the
amendment to the army appropriation
bill will not run much over 4,500,000. Its
strength can be increased by narrowing
the exemptions, especially the exemption
granted because of dependents. But that
would involve a radical modification of
our policy of recognizing claims of fami?
lies deprived of support?a step which
the government may be very reluctant to
take.
We should certainly aim at an army
with a minimum strength of from 5,000,
000 to 6,000,000. The easiest way to pro?
vide sufficient man power. for such an ;
army is to raise the maximum draft age. |
No other country stops drafting men at
thirty-one. There are many men above
thirty-one without obligations to de?
pendents. Why should they escape ser?
vice while men under thirty-one with de?
pendents are sent to fight?
Broadening out the draft would give
the government a freer hand to deal
justly with the economic necessities of
the situation. It would produce far
greater equality. And. unless we prac?
tise inequality on a big scale, we cannot
raise the army we nee;l from the limited
classes which Congress has so far desig?
nated for military service.
Pity the Poor Male!
A groan now and then reaches us
pushed from the lips of a distressed male,
distressed because his life is confused and
disarrayed by the appearance of women
where, they are not expected. On trains,
as guards, for instance. When they are
homely, or their uniforms are homely
(as they most awfully are in Mr. Shonts's
bifurcated realm), they annoy one, just
annoy one. That takes a lot out of a
man. And when they are beautiful, and
their uniforms are attractive (as they
unquestionably are in the Hudson Tubes),,
that takes a lot out of a man, too. He
can't, read his paper as faithfully as he
should?the regular morning's terrific
gunfire preparatory to the great drive
may escape him altogether.
This is a pity, and we mean to be sym?
pathetic. But the ways of the male are
old as the record, and there is no question
how their course runs. It is novelty, fem?
inine novelty, that excites and thrills the
male, whether the novelty be a new short?
ening of a skirt, limp Jersey-like frocks
that cling and cling and cling, or some?
body's else wife. It is always the new
girl that gets the casual flowers and the
looks.
So we say to these perturbed males,
wait. For a few months you will have
your disturbing moments, your annoying
thrills. Then you will grow so accus?
tomed to the female guard that you will
not notice her existence. She will, be?
come as the ticket chopper or the Con?
gressional debater. She might wear a
bathing suit, and your morning paper
would hold your gaze unwaveringly. She
will become even as a last year's wife.
You might notice her absence. But her
presence would make no impression what?
ever on your retina.
Pity the poor male, yes. But don't
take him too seriously.
A New Source of Labor
Announcement through the United
States Employment Service that? the La?
bor Department has 75,000 Porto Ricans
ready to augment the unskilled labor sup?
ply here should be gratifying to employ?
ers. This is but a drop in the bucket of
demand, to ,be sure, and a good part of
the drop will be taken for war work on
government contracts. Nevertheless, this
plan shows a reaching out for the much
needed unskilled workers which .should
offset certain contentions of employers,
such as the one that Chinese labor be im?
ported.
The Porto Ricans are Americans. They
are not Asiatics. Their being here will
not produce any of the vexing problems
which the bringing of Chinese into the
country would start. Neither will there
be great difficulty about getting them
here, since they ai'e to be carried on the
return trips of government transports.
So far as it goes, the plan is distinctly
advantageous to the United States, and
should serve at the same time to stabilize
labor conditions in Porto Rico.
Predatory Cats
Despite the opposition which it encoun?
tered in the Legislature? Governor Whit?
man has signed the bill permitting the
Slaughter of cats found hunting birds
which are protected by law. Henceforth
it will be legal for any person over twen?
ty-one years of age who possesses a
hunting license to kill a cat discovered
with a protected bird in its possession
or caught in an attack on such birds.
The measure was designed to aid in
the conservation of game birds, which
have suffered from the depredations of
cats, and song birds, many of which are
tremendously valuable as destroyers of
grubs and insects and eaters of seeds of
noxious weeds. It was substituted for
the bill of last session providing for a
cat license, which failed to become law.
On its surface this is not especially
important legislation, yet it will doubtless
fall into the class with the measure per?
mitting the destruction of dogs caught
worrying sheep, which has been a pro?
lific cause of neighborhood dissensions.
Pet pussies which take no heed of bird
protection will be potted and local feuds
will arise over their graves. Neverthe?
less, even if mistakes occur and family
Toms and Tabbies succumb, the purpose
sought is a good one. The hunting in?
stinct cannot be eradicated from the fe?
line breast, no matter how much good
food is provided at home. Young game
birds, young rabbits, songsters' by the
dozen are killed by many a country cat
in a season Moi'eover, cats multiply
rapidly and run wild, when they become
more destructive than some of the wild
enemies of bird life. Even in the city
tramp cats invade the parks' and become
pests, to be hunted by the parla? guar?
dians.
In its defence it must be said that the
cat itself is a destroyer of vermin, but
there is considerable question whether
the good it does balances the harm. At
any rate, the burden of proof is now on
the cats?or on their owners.
Coiled in the Flag
Hear s-s-s-s-s t
New York American, January 10, 1918.
Let the Red Cross Exhibit Not Only
Competence but Courtesy.
The Archaic Race
To the Editor of the Tribune.
Sir: The war is daily throwing light on |
anomalies in the German character and un- I
ravelling the inner thread of its parodoxes !
and contradictions. It was quite the fashion j
in circles intellectual, some time ago, to re- j
gard German theorists withbated awe and
genuflected admiration. But as regards the
art of living? ?that was quite another thing. ,
Germans were notoriously smug and soggy
in temperament; Chinese and bizarre in ?
culture. And we inferred with a show of an?
alytic wisdom that there is a difference be- '
twecn theory and life.
Since 1914 many of the predictions of the
King of Dyspeptics have been verified. It
was courageous of Carlyle to argue forty ;
years ago that essentially theory and life
are one; that what a man is in conduct he is, ;
mutatis mutandis, in intellect, vision and j
personality. The personality is, in essence, i
a un'it. Is not the world's experience with
Germany since 1914 striking confirmation of
this truth? Onco Balzac related that a Ger?
man arch-Cologist went digging for knowl?
edge. Forty years he dug, in a state of
comatic patience, and finally his toil ended.
Ile had reached the bottom of his excava?
tions and found?himself!
When I lived in Germany, a student by
the behest of Fate at Prussia's Musical
Fortress, often I encountered the phenom?
enon of suicide among students and the
so-called intellectuals. The "Werther" period
of anaamic romanticism had been followed
by a period of Hinduism and Pessimism,
fostered by the philosophy of Schopenhauer
and the poetry of Lenau. At the academy
where I studied under Professor Willy Hess
four students made away with themselves
within a space of six months.
The German theorists on crime are one?
sided, obsessed by a false notion of objec?
tivity and utterly lacking in insight. The
theories square with the Gorman character:
Carlyle was right. You will find in them a
queer mixture of subjective pathos with an
objective show of figures, data, statistics; a
morbid inner life, with a pretentious scien?
tific exterior; a primitiveness which has not
yet been transcended in civilization. They
have failed to assimilate the humanities un?
derlying learning, although their accretions
of pedantic learning are mountainous. And
these characteristics have been dramatized
by the war. They never were civilized in
the true sense of the word. From the neu?
rotic Romanticism oC Werther, to Schopen?
hauer's pessimism, to Nietzsche's Philosophy
of the Ego, to Bernhardi's Gospel of Force,
the psychological development of the Ger?
man character is a consistent and adequate
expression of the true inwardness of the
German nature. ,
It is a good canon of science that it is
bad to generalize; yet the observation is
inescapable that the German character com?
plex is pathological, specifically in its apti?
tude for reversion to primitive forms of
myth-building and fetich worship, as exem?
plified in their apotheosis of Kaiser and
Kultur. It is this complex which gives
Germany the largest number of criminals
in times of peace; it is this complex which
is working out its maleficent aims in the
present war.
One of the suicides referred to in th?3
note was an interesting boy of eighteen, a
febrile chap, who had memorized the whole
of Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra."
Ho declaimed the "Seven Seals of Eternity"
with the ardor of a fanatic. Pretending that
he detested pessimism in all its forms, he
was pessimistic to the core, and his glori?
fication of Nietzsche was a mask to conceal
his weakness. In the coffee house he held
long disputations on the superman; in his
room was a pile of Hindu sacred books. On
the night of his suicide he spoke not a
word?an alarming symptom in one so gar?
rulous. He was pale and proud; held aloof;
and pathetically gave up his heroic notions
by inhaling gas.
Germany is full of such moral cripples.
A keen intellectual power seems to be at
the service of a perverted view of life.
There lies the germ of German Kultur.
MAYO WADLER.
New York, May 24, 1918.
Mystification
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In the issue of The Tribune of the
20th of March last appeared a dispatch,
from San Francisco to the effect that a
submarine of the Dutch navy was captured
at Batavia by sailors from the interned Ger?
man steamer Von Luttwitz, who succeeded
in putting to sea. <|
With reference to the above, I beg to bring
to your notice that there i.. no foundation
whatsoever for this report and that The
New York Tribune has apparently been t^ie?
victim of a mystification.
I would be much obliged if you could pub?
lish in the same paper that you have been
officially informed of the total non-exis?
tence of any of the facts reported in afore?
said news item. W. DE BEAUFORT,
Charg?e d'Affaires of the Netherlands.
Washington, D. C, May 21, 1918.
How to Save Russia
To the Editor of the Tribune.
Sir: Russia needs a Lafayette to bring
order out of chaos. The man who could,
in my opinion, infuse the Russian national
conscience with Americanism and weld our
two countries into friendship with bands of
everlasting steel is Colonel Theodore Roose?
velt.
He, more than any other man, could stif?
fen the backbone of a stricken, misguided
and suffering nation. And he would no
doubt rejoice over the opportunity.
Let us send Colonel Roosevelt to Russia.
The Russians are a fine people. We need
their friendship and they more than any?
thing else need ours. They need our moral
support as well as our financial aid.
Colonel Roosevelt's name would do much
toward reviving the drooping spirits of the
stricken peasants. He could show them that
America is willing to help in every way.
LOUIS H. CHALIF.
New York, May 23, 1918.
Amiens
\ MIENS! Amiens! Amiens! I hear the
_fV bells
Of your cathedral calling loud on God
To shield the sacred precincts where once
trod
Peter the Hermit from Apollyon's shells,
From sacrilege too base for infidels,
From beasts whose object is to have their
nod
The law from Cork to Nijni-Novgorod,
Converting Christian homes to servile hells.
Amiens, your builders lived when war was
war!
Amiens, you were a fortress of the soul!
Your trinity of porches could restore
Peace to the weary, make poor cripples
whole:
To some your silent majesty meant more
Than "right divine" to play a C?sar's r?le.
RICHARD BUTLER GLAENZER.
Ain't many of us left any more. Everybody else is helpin' to win th' war.
?From The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Revolution or Pogroms?
By Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky, the noted Russian story-ivriter and playivright, again
arraigns the Bolsheviki, and in line with Boris Savinkow, former Minister
of War, wlw, in an article which has just been suppressed, asked "What
Has Become of My Russia?" the editor of "Nova Zhisin" (New Life) ad?
dresses himself to the Soviets or People's Commissioners to inquire whether
it is not a reign of pogroms rather than the revolutionary r?gime that they
seek to establish. The issue of "Russkaya Vedomosto," which published
the article of Savinkow, lias been suppressed. Gorky's "Nova Zhisin,"
according to last reports, still continues to he published, but no one knows
what will happen n\xt. The article given below has been reprinted in the
"Narodnaya Gazette," the Russian Socialist paper, published in this city,
from which the English translation was made.
i /?rTF^HE proletarian is the bearer of
H a new culture." In these
words were incorporated the
| beautiful dream concerning the triumph
\ of righteousness, reason and love, the
! dream of the triumph of man over the
beast. In the struggle for the realiza
? tion of this dream thousands of men of
all classes gave up their lives. Now the
proletarian is at the helm, he has se?
cured the coveted freedom to labor and
create freely.
It is now in order and pertinent to
ask: "How does this labor and the pro?
letarian's freedom to create express it?
self?" The decrees of "the Government
i of People's Commissioners" are no. more
! than newspaper feuilletons, no more, no
; less. It is that sort of literature which
i is written on water, and even though a
| real idea is now and then given expres
! sion to, the present circumstances forbid
; the realization of any idea.
What new things, then, is the revolu
? tion bringing; how is it transforming the
bitter realities of Russian life; how
much light is it bringing into the dark?
ened lives of the Russian people?
For the period of the revolution ten
\ thousand lynchings have already been
j accounted for. This is how democracy
! is meting out judgment upon those who
? have in some way sinned against the
new order.
; A thief was caught at the Alexandrian
i Market in Petrograd. The mob threw
i itself at him, assaulted him in a mur
! derous manner and then his disposition
; was pfaced before a vote of the crowd.
What form of death should be dealt out
to him? Should he be drowned or shot?
It was voted to drown him, and the
wretch was thrown into the ice-cold
! river. He succeeded in swimming to
safety and crawled out at the edge of
! the water. Then one of the mob stepped
forward and shot him. Two deaths
then; he was both drowned and shot.
The middle ages of our history are
known to be .epochs of excessive cruelty,
but even then it was the rule that when
a condemned man through some mishap
fell from the gallows alive he was al?
lowed to go free.
What effect do these lynchings have
upon the rising generation?
Soldiers are leading a thief who is
about to be drowned. He has almost
been beaten to death. He is entirely
covered with blood. His face is torn
| and one eye entirely extinguished. The
, procession is followed by a large as
: semblage of children. Then the children
| turn back dancing and hopping and
shouting: "He is drowned, he is
drowned !"
And these are our own children, the
builders of our future ! How cheap human
life will become in their estimation, and
human life?we should not forget this?
is the best, the most precious gift, the
greatest treasure in the possession of
the world.
The war has placed the human being
on par with a piece of lead, and on
account of this estimate we have raised
a hue and cry and attacked the "Im?
perialists." Whom should we now blame
for the daily brutalities perpetrated
upon human beings?
Due to a whole chain of. circumstances
the publication and circulation of new
books in Russia has been entirely dis?
continued and at the same time numer?
ous of the most valuable libraries are
being destroyed. Only recently the
peasants pillaged the estates of Chud
skow, Obolemski and a whole list of
other wealthy establishments., The peas?
ants appropriated everything that had
any value in their eyes and burned the
books in the libraries, broke the works
of sculpture with their axes and cut up
and tore the paintings to tatters. These
forms of art and culture and science
have no value in,the eyes of the coup
try people, and it is even doubtful
whether any perceptible appreciation of
them prevails among the masses in the
cities.
For many nights now they have been
robbing the wine cellars. Throngs of
infuriated men beat each other over the
heads with bottles, cut their hands with
the glass and then wallow like pigs in
the mire and blood. Up to this time
wine to the value of millions has already
: been destroyed and many more millions
; will be lost in the same manner. The
I sale of these valuable goods to Sweden
! would have brought us large sums of
! money or great quantities of other mer?
chandise of which the country is greatly
in need, especially raw material, ma?
chinery, medicines, etc.
The gentlemen at the Smolny Insti?
tute have awakened too late to a realiza?
tion of the situation. They now threaten
to punish drunkenness with the severest
penalties. But drunkards are not afraid
of punishments, and they go on destroy?
ing the goods which long ago should
have been requisitioned and used for
the welfare of the whole impoverished
population.
During the days of the progress of
drunkenness human beings were shot
down like dogs and the cold-blooded de?
struction of human lives came to be a
commonplace daily occurrence. In the
newspaper "Pravda" the pogroms of
the drunken mobs are written up as the
"provocative acts of the bourgeois"?
which is clearly a misrepresentation, the
employment of a pretty phrase which
can only lead to the further shedding of
blood.
Theft and robbery are increasing from
day to day. The practice of the art of
taking bribes is becoming more and
! more widely introduced and our new
officials are already as well trained in
? the art as those who served under the
i Czar's government. The dubious indi
| viduals who have assembled around the
Smolny Institute do not even hesitate
to intimidate the frightened citizens.
The coarseness of the representatives
? of the government of the "People's
! Commissioners" has aroused universal
I protest, and yet these representatives
: speak in grieved tones. The various
| petty officials who hover about the
; Smolny Institute appear to be drunk
| with a sense of conquest and regard the
I citizens as if they were the conquered,
acting even as the misguided police of
former days were in the habit of acting.
They shout and scold and give com
; mands to every one, just as of yore the
village sheriffs would treat the inhab- j
itants of the obscurest rural districts in
Kanotop or Tchsuloma, and all this is
done in the name of the "proletarian, '
in the name of the "social revolution."
j But in reality it represents only the tri
! umph of the beast over man, the as
I cendancy of the Asiatic spirit which still
; dwells among us, the ugly growth upon
j our soul. Where, then, is that spirit
? which expressed itself in "the idealism
! of the Russian workingman" whom Carl
| Kautsky has so enthusiastically eulo
; gized?
Where is that which is supposed to be
? incorporated in the morality of social?
ism?the new morality?
I expect that one of our "realists in
! politics" will answer me contemptuously
\ with the usual phrase:
"What is it you wish? Do you not
! realize that this is the revolution?"
No! I do not recognize the unmis
! takable signs of the social revolution in
this association of zoological instincts.
It is a combination of the feelings of
; our lower selves, without socialism,
: without the spirit of socialism, without
the psychology of socialism.
Repatriate Them
To the Editor cf the Tribune.
Sir: When the conflict now raging in
Europe is over I w^uld suggest that all
German-Americans and Germans in this
country who all through this world calam?
ity have felt uo loyal to their fatherland,
in spite of the constant piling up of indis?
putable evidence of cupidity, rapine, vas?
salage and wanton murder, be forced to re?
turn to Germany. This is the only way any
of these patriots can be induced to prove
their loyalty to Willy and aid in rehabili?
tating the home cf kultur, for they well
know what a pleasant task confronts them ?
.pending the rest of their lives under heavy
taxation in order to pay for the disaster
brought on Germany by the mad Kaiser
and his band of hell-hounds!
FREDERIC E. MOWLE.
New York, May 23, 1918.
Imported Strife
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Mrs. Rose Pastor Stokes says, "For
twelve years I was half-naked, ill-nour?
ished and poorly clad. I worked by night as
well as by day to help piece out my fam?
ily's existence. I never had anything I
wanted." Allowing for customary rhetori?
cal exaggeration, we may suppose the state?
ment to be true of the class of people to
which Mrs. Stokes belongs. It would not
be true of an American young girl. The
conditions she complains of were imported
conditions. They are no longer existent.
Hundreds of thousands like Mrs. Stokes
arrived in this country in droves, steeped
in ignorance and superstition and pro?
foundly distrustful of actual Americans.
They segregated themselves and were ex?
ploited cunningly and unscrupulously by
their own people.
New and un-American conditions Vere
thus created by people who were un-Ameri?
can. Sweatshops and tenement house con?
tract labor had eventually to be suppressed
by American legislation. As the younger
immigrants of this class grew up and found
liberty of expression they had better memo?
ries of the sweatshop iniquities, but made
the mistake of blaming America arid Ameri?
cans for the evil conditions.
They had suffered from a disease they
brought with them, and yet Mrs. Stokes
and agitators of her people, not yet fully
developed in Americanism, are so unintelli?
gent as to blame America and Americans
for the results of the disease. They seek to
wreck the Americanism which made it pos?
sible in due time to prohibit sweatshop
iniquities. Most of us remember the fearful
howls with which Mrs. Stokes's own people
greeted the reform laws which destroyed
the sweatshop. They protested against the
salutary application of Americanism to the
very thing that enslaved them. In the
sweatshop era they invaded certain indus?
tries, and in every instance they degraded
them. The policy of the exploiters of
Mrs. Stokes's people included shoddy pro?
duction and price cutting. Those who in
such industries were conforming to Ameri?
can principles of industrial justice were
many of them driven out of the popular
markets.
Other races of immigrants went through
the same experience, but not so acutely
or extensively as did the Russian Jews. We
remember the segregations of the Irish and
Germans before the coming of Italians,
Hebrews and Greeks. Within twenty years
I have visited factories in the Eastern Dis?
trict of Brooklyn, owned by Germans, in
which the majority of the mechanics could
not speak English. There were then, and
there may be now, districts in Williams
burg in which very few persons could speak
English. This condition was encouraged
by exploiters, whose aim was to secure
labor, skilled and unskilled, below the price
of real American labor. These districts
were dangerous to America solely because
they were un-American.
Is it not necessary to keep these facts in
mind and to vigorously object to the slan?
ders of America, which half-way Americans,
such as Mrs. Stokes, continue to utter,
despite the fact that the American spirit
has made it very difficult in this last decade,
if not for a longer period, for employers to
exploit employes?
I was myself an immigrant. I came to
New York forty years ago a youth alone,
with less than $50 in my pocket. No one
ever attempted to oppress me. Everywhere
I had a square deal, but no mollycoddling.
At times I was hard up and twice I went
real hungry?"busted," and nothing to eat in
sight. But I always worked for Americans,
and Americans are not oppressors. Ameri?
cans helped me to become an American, as
they have helped Mrs. Stokes and folks of
that ilk to emerge from slavery imposed
upon them by their own people, not yet
American. And now, is. it not disgraceful
that, because of race-made bad conditions
now abolished, so many of these people, led
by Mrs. Stokes, are giving aid and comfort
to our enemy and weakening our defence of
the liberty which existed here before they
came here, exists now if one has the spirit
to recognize and accept it, and will con?
tinue to exist when the not unprofitable
occupation of disloyal agitation has ceased
to be profitable? H. L. B.
Jersey City, N. J., May 23, 1913.
No Tolerance
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: A recent issue of "The Dial" con?
tains an article on American intolerance.
The point of the article seems to be that
the "dominant" class in America is jealous
of its "prestige" and is aided by the war in
opposing a "true cosmopolitan democracy."
Also that we are lamentably intolerant in
our viewpoint toward our enemies.
To quote: "Our best people have ap?
proved some of our worst excesses or have
excused them as being inevitable."
Also: "Our certified Americans educated
in the theory that the world war was a
struggle for Anglo-Saxon prestige"
And: "The 'enemy within' is our enemy
only because we make him so."
The dictionary gives the word intolerant
as "unwilling to endure contrary beliefs."
Now, I would like to suggest that the
above acticle is twofold misleading. And
at this time criminally so. Can the author
of it name the "dominant" class in Amer?
ica? It would be very hard to do so at :
this time, when bankers are the backbone of
our war preparation?, whev; manufacturers
are serving the government, when million?
aires' sons are in the ranks, farmers are
prosperous, and the immigrant of a year
ago is accepted by our best blood as a
comrade in the war.
The article in "The Dial" is misleading
in another sense, for it decries intolerance.
When the first British soldiers went to
Franco they were tolerant of their enemies,
as one sportsman is of another. They
learned their error speedily.
We were tolerant, the country and Con?
gress, of German submarines, and we were
rewarded with the thing that; is best called
"frightfulness" by Germans themselves.
The Italian and Russian soldiers were be?
trayed into tolerance of their enemies only
to face invasion as the price of their mis?
take.
If General Washington had not been
hotly intolerant of weakness wc might
never have had the United States of Amer?
ica. And if General Grant had not been
intolerant of halfway measure-; the United
States of America might not have lived.
If the early Christian disciples had not
been intolerant of idolatry, how would
Christianity have been established? If
Luther had been tolerant of certain wrongs,
would there be a Protestant church to?
day? If Pasteur had been "willing to
endure" disease, how would his invaluable
anti-toxins have been discovered?
Intolerance is our best armor- -for thos?
of us at home -against our enemies. Espe?
cially when we are offered, via Berlin, a
fruitless peace. We tried tolerance too
long. And we are beginning to see that it
does not work.
The article in "The Pial" would be first
rate if it tvrncd around and pointed the
other way. At present it has a Hearst ian
tone. That is a bad thing to say about it.
But is no? Hearst the leading disciple of
"tolerance" in this country'.'
HAROLD A. LAMB.
New York, May 19, 1918.