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The Commoner
FEBRUARY, 1915
13
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be the supplies for their maintenance, gasoline,
oil, tools, and accessories of all kinds. To pro
vision the army, wheat, corn, oats, beef, pork,
and clothing in vast quantities must bo provided,
every item equally important in the successful
movement of an army; every item a link in the
chain. The gun is really no more important
than any other link in the chain. In fact, not so
much so, because men can not fight unless they
aro fed and clothed.
The ammunition maker, the automobile, sad
dle, harness, blanket and clothing manufacturers
would not object very much, perhaps, to an em
bargo on foodstuffs. Nor would the farmer se
riously object to an embargo on factory products.
We are all much in the attitude of the man who
wanted all property divided up equally among
all of the people, land, horses, money, every
thing except hogs, for he owned quite a drove of
them. But as a representative of a great agri
cultural state, I propose to be an exception to
the rule. We own quite a drove of hogs and
uncounted millions of bushels of wheat, corn,
oats, barley, rye and potatoes, and hundreds of
thousands of head of horses, cattle, sheep, and
so forth, that we desire to sell to those who need
them and have the money to pay for them, and
I deny the moral right of the national govern
ment, in times of peace, to say to a citizen that
ho can not sell his products to any one who de
sires to buy them.
We are furnishing five times as much wheat,
six times as much corn, twice as much flour, and
twelve times as much beef and on an averago
five times as much bread stuffs generally to Eu
rope as we did last year, nearly all of it going to
the armies of the warring nations. Not only
aTe we feeding the armies but we are sending
them tens of thousands of auto trucks, hundreds
of thousands of saddles, hundreds of thousands
of blankets, hundreds of thousands of sets of
harness, thousands of wagons, and countless tools
of every kind and character. Millions of our
people are engaged in this profitable business,
and these millions also buy other hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of our farm, products
for their own sustenance. We are all tied to
gether in a mighty mass, and when any portion
of our body politic suffers, the shock is felt
throughout the whole. -
WILL FORCE DOWN FARM PRICES
Should we conclude to place an embargo on all
war supplies so as to really hamper the belliger
ents the results would be as disastrous to us as
to the belligerents. The day the law would go
into effect, the surplus on our markets would
drive prices down probably on an average of from
thirty to fifty per cent. Wheat would drop pos
sibly to 60 or 70 cents a bushel, corn to 35 or 40
cents a bushel, and all other products accordingly.
The value of the season's farm products in the
state of Nebraska alone would shrink at least
one hundred million dollars from present prices.
Thousands of factories would discharge half their
employees or close down entirely, and our home
4 market would suffer proportionately.
These are not vague fears; they are facts borne
out by the experience of every business man.
Nearly every port in the United States on the
Atlantic seaboard is congested with cars loaded
with our products destined for European mar
kets, unable to get ships fast enough to supply
the demand. Place an embargo on this trade
and, throw this surplus back on the home mar
ket, and this country would face financial disas
ter of the greatest possible magnitude. Are we
ready to create such a condition with a very
worthy, though misguided, belief that we will
thereby check the war movement in Europe? Are
we willing to make the useless sacrifice? That
is the question for every citizen to consider be
fore he commences to clamor for a resolution
that contemplates the national government inter
fering with the trade of its citizens. My own
honest judgment is that our efforts would pro
duce no results that would bo anywhere in pro
portion to the coste The misery in Europe would
go on, and maybF would be prolonged, and we
would a(M to it our own misery. There are
many beautiful sentiments expressed by the ad
vocates of this resolution, with which no one
disagrees and. with which all are in hearty ac
cord. They simply have no value-in this'argu
'ment, but greatly befog the question, by-bringing
into it a force that blindly interferes with a
sane and sensible solution of the problem.
GERMANY'S ATTITUDE
Germany does not contend that we are unneutral
r in selling war supplies to the belligerents, though
she,is unable at present to buy from us. Germany
knows our actions in soiling to all who can reach
our markets are in perfect accord with interna
tional law and customs. She has never asked
us to alter our laws in her bohalf. Her interest
now that she is blockaded by the Allies would
be enhanced by this proposed legislation because
the allies would suffer by such a law in having
one source of supplies shut off. Germany has
an enormous capacity for producing war mate
rials, greatly out of proportion to all other na
tions. In fact it is an open question whether
Germany would buy guns and ammunition from
us if she could. She needs vastly more than
guns, automobiles, horses, saddles, harness and
our wheat, corn and meat. These are the war
supplies Germany needs. They aro also the war
supplies the allies most need.
The United States has been selling theso sup
plies to all nations without discrimination. Now
it has transpired since the war broke out that
two of theso nations can not reach our markets
because of a war blockade. As a result of this
condition we have lost an immense trade with
these two nations, Germany and Austria, through
no fault of ours. They can not reach us. Now
the proponents of this measure want us to make
a clean sweep and quit trading with the remain
ing nations that can reach ou.' markets because
Germany and Austria can not, and thereby wipe
out the rest of our commerce. It Is certainly
an absurd suggestion from an economic point of
view, and sinco the question is not a moral
question at all, because the proponents of this
measure are not willing to have this nation stop
making arms and ammunition for its own de
fense, or to disband our army and throw our
fleets of warships into the scrap heap, it remains
purely a question of economics and observance of
neutrality. If the advocates of an embargo on
arms are not ready for the United States to go
out of the business of preparing to kill future
enemies of her own, they are certainly hypocrit
ical in their claim that wo are criminal becauso
we make arms for other nations with which, to
kill their enemies. The whole scheme of arms
and armaments is a hellish buslqess, and clearly
a device of the devil that is in us, so why talk
about morals when we know just what we aro,
the passions that move us, and the wars that are
sure to afflict mankind for ages to come. Peace
at any price is only possible with Christ-like men
and there are too few of them to count for much
in these mighty passion waves that sweep the
earth.
German diplomats aro careful not to take the
position that we are unneutral In selling arms
and war supplies to her enemies who are able to
reach our markets, because they know that Ger
many has always followed that practice herself.
No protest has ever been made officially by this
country or any other so far as I have heard
against the practice. It no doubt would bo a
precedent, if established at the request of Ger
many that would greatly embarrass her when
this war is over, for Germany has the greatest
manufacturers of arms and ammunition in tho
world. She not only has the greatest gun makers
in the world, but the greatest in all history. She
has supplied the markets of tho world, impar
tially, selling to all who wished to buy.
During tho titanic struggle between Russia
and Japan, Germany furnished vast quantities
of guns and ammunition to both belligerents. No
one in this country complained that Germany
was wading In the bood of those two nations for
the profit she could make. German-American
citizens were not outraged by the conduct of
their cousins, brothers and countrymen in Ger
many at that time. Nor aid we cry out when
German arms factories supplied the Boors in
South Africa with their arms and ammunition
during the Boer war with England. No one pro
tested against Germany furnishing the great bulk
of war supplies for the horrible war in the Bal
kan states so recently closed. Nor was there a
voice raised in this country that I now recall,
against the acts of Germany in supplying arms
and ammunition to Spain during the Spanish
American war, to be used by that country against
our own country when we were waging one of
the most unselfish wars for human liberty in
history. German-American soldiers by the tens
of thousands were serving in that array of liber
ation,, under, tho starffnd atripes, and they were
shot by Spanish oppressors with guns made by
their German cousins, in Germany. Our soldiers
were not particular about the make of the gun
with which they were shot. There were no neu
trality meetings held at that time anywhere in
this country, declaring that Germany was un
neutral, and should stop selling supplies to our
enemies. Such an action would have appeared
foolish to us then, and it would so appear to us
now woro it not for tho fact that wo have been
misled by a propaganda that has had for its mo
tive the securing of support for Germany in this
conflict.
I do not blame Germany for doing all In her
power to sccuro tho sympathy and support of her
blood relations everywhere in tho world, but I
think ovcry naturalized American citizen should
know that this propaganda is not being waged at
all in the interest of neutrality, but solely against
neutrality. I have read tho proceedings of thes
so-called neutrality moetings, and invariably thoy
dovclop into tho most rabid and partisan de
fenses of Germany's attitude in this war. The
advocates of so-called neutrality soon throw off
their pretonso of neutrality, by lauding Germany
to tho skios, abusing Great Britain, and slander
ing their own country. Tho gross misrepresenta
tions of tho administration, tho charges that It
Is an ally of England, tho charges that it permits
England to do as she pleases with our commerce,
aro so common at these meetings that ono some
times wonders whether some of tho most rabid
havo not forgotten their allegiance to our own
beloved country that guarantees to them liberty
and tho pursuit of happiness. Ono of theso sdi
called neutrals in a speech delivered January 24,
at a so-called neutrality meeting held in Wash
ington city, after slandorlng hla own government,
shamefully, charged that a British warship had
fired a shot across the bow of tho United States'
battleship Now York, ordering her to stop. Tho
captain of tho Now York cleared his ship for ac
tion, and a fight was barely averted by the Eng
lish captain apologizing. As a reward for this,
brave defense of our rights and dignity, thq
speaker charged that tho captain of tho Now
York was reprimanded by tho administration.
The whole story was a malicious falsehood, fab
ricated and circulated for no other purpose than
to Injure tho administration In tho eyes of oui
naturalized citizens, and force, if possible, the
congress to pass this embargo resolution in fa
vor of Germany and Austria under tho fraudu
lent pretense of neutrality. The man who made
tho charge appears to bo wholly unable to ap
preciate tho blessings of peace that this country
now enjoys, becauso It has as president and sec
retary of state, two of the greatest advocates of
peace in tho world. Thoy refuse to bo turned
from an observance of absolute neutrality by tho
misrepresentations of men of this charactor,
Such hot-heads as these constantly harassing
and hounding the administration, at such a crit
ical period in our history when every loyal Amer
ican ought to be holding himself in restraint,
merits the condemnation of honest men.
The naturalized citizens of tho United States
appreciate the blessings of this new and wonder
ful land whore they have made their homes, and
to which they owe their allegiance They are all
bitterly opposed to war and they want to be neu
tral. It is true they have a deep alTd profound
sympathy for their respective fatherlands, and
it is commendable that they have, but in spite of
It all they are for their own adopted country
first, and the hot headed partisans who have tried
to mislead them into believing that President
Wilson and Secretary Bryan are not observing
absolute neutrality, will find that their efforts
havo been wasted. If there Is one virtue greater
than any other In our German-American cltlze.u
it is his sense of loyalty to his government, He
feels that ho must depend upon this .government;
for life and liberty and opportunity. He knows
that his government must bo loyally supported
in times of stress like these, and he hates most;
cordially an agitator. It is true he feels keenly
the dire stress of his fatherland, and he may fol
low his very natural and worthy sentiments off
affection for his countrymen by wishing success
to the German cause. No one can criticise him
for that. My own blood and kin are now serv
ing in the Kaiser's army, fighting for Germany'
cause, if they have not already died for their
country, but that Is no reason why I should In-j
slst upon this country becoming an ally of Ger
many. I wish ray country to give Germany a fair
dearffl this deadly struggle with the allies, and;
that is what this country is doing, its slanderers
to the contrary notwithstanding.
We are not to blame because the allied navies
have blockaded German and Austrian porttf. W
do not own these navies, nor did we aid or abefc
this horrible war in any particular. We can not
be expected to change our laws or morals in a,
crisis like the one confronting this nation simply
because Germany and Austria, old time friends
and customers, have got pinched in the war
game. If the situation were reversed Mid Ger
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