The Commoner
VOL. .17, NO. 11
8
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"STRAIGHT THROUGH"
William J. Bryan is a pacifist in that ho be
lieves in the settlement of international disputes
through reason and adjustment rathe: than by
war. So do practically all Americans believe in
justice rather than force. But Mr. Bryan does
not carry his pacificm to the extent of opposing
war when it is necessary, when it has been thrust
upon a country as war has now been thrust upon
the United States. He holds that when once
war has come the surest way to peace is by a
vigorous prosecution of that war. In a speech
at Chicago the other day Mr. Bryan made a
statement that should be noted by the whole
country, and especially by those who call them
selves pacifists, but who are at heart disloyalists
through their efforts to check and weaken the
government's' war-making endeavors. Mr. Bryan
said:
"I don't know how long the war will last, but
I know the quickest way out is straight through.
Any division or discussion now would simply
prolong the war and. make it more costly in lives
and treasure."
"The quickest way out is straight through."
That Is the best kind of pacifism. It is the best
kind of war-iaking. "We are in and we must get
out, and the only right way out is through vic
tory, and victory is best achieved by the utmost
concentration of every ounce of our national
power upon the thorough' performance of this
duty that has been laid upon us as a people.
"Washington Star.
O MAN!
-Briggs, in Chicago Tribune.
To German-Americans
v
' Analysis of the vote in tho judicial election
shows a condition of mind among German-Americans
in this city and county which we believe
they will live to regret. It is plain that great
numbers of this class of our fellow citizens who
donot believo in tho doctrine of socialism and
who ,would be outraged if told they believed in
a judiciary pledged to defeat the law voted tho
socialist ticket straight.
The motive of such action is as discreditable
as ,tlio act itself. It Is of course clear. These
citizens place the. interests of Germany above
every ;pther consideration involved in this elec
tion.V They aro so unwilling to support the gov
ernment of their adopted country loyally in the
war against tho central powers of Europe that
they sunk every other consideration of orderly
government and tho due administration of law.
This is a state of mind which every true
American must profoundly resent and can not
soon forget. It will be cherished against German-Americans
in all walks -of life for many a
day, and that natural feeling h not going to be
beneficial to German-Americans in either their
business or their social relations. The United
States is going to last a long time after this
war is over, and if the German-Americans In
tend to be accepted by the vast loyal majority of
tho nation as having any legitimate place in its
life or any deserved share in its fortunes they
will have to meet the test of this war in a very
different spirit than their votes on Tuesday in
dicate. Tho nation will not accept as Americans
a class which does not put America 'first always
,anl especially in war time. It will not grant to
men of German blood tho right to both Amer
ican and German. The kaiser once said to an
American ambassador that heknqw of no such
thing as a German-American. He knew only
Germans and Americans, and that saying ex
presses exactly what loyal Americans are feeling
today as they have never felt it before. German
Amoricans must realize what they fail to real
ize, that they must be either whole hearted
Americans or they will be looked upon as aliens.
In this situation the leading -Americans of
German blood in this community and elsewhere
have a responsibility which can not be much
longer evaded. It Is the responsibility of lead
ership among the class in which their influence
is or ought to be greatest. If their own loyal
Americanism has not been ' impugned they can
not altogether escape a share of the discredit of,
German-Americanism. This may be unjust, buK
it is inevitable. And aside from any personal
considerations a natural interest in the welfare
and credit of the. German strain in the American
population must move them. It is therefore se
riously urged upon them that they take up an
energetic propaganda to place the issue of loy
alty clearly and forecfully before our citizens of
German blood. More than persopal loyalty is
incumbent upon them. Men like Judge Bren
tano, Harry Rubens, Charles H. Wacker, and
Oscar Mayer represent tho German strain so
highly regarded in this and other American com
munities before the war, and they ought now to
give their influence actively and not merely pas
sively to the stimulation of a vigorous loyalty
where now it Is unhappily lacking.
The American republic is now at war, a con
dition declared lawfully by its lawful govern
ment. Yet we find a large body of our citizens
willing to introduce a destructive radicalism into
our judicial administration because it is unwill
ing to yield loyal support to tho constituted gov
ernment of the nation. This evil is grave. The
offense is well nigh unpardonable, and the state
of mind which makes it possible calls for rebuke
and prompt correction. Chicago Tribune.
CONGRATULATIONS
A Chicago dispatch, dated Nov. 9, says:
Treasure island, down in the Bahamas, now has
a crown prince.
He arrived in Chicago yesterday via St. Luke's
hospital. He weighs eight and one-quarter
pounds and his last name is McCutcheon. He
has been given John T. Jr. as his name.
The crown prince is an addition the addi
tion to the family of Mr. and Mrs. John T.
McCutcheon.
He is tho first male to be born in tho Howard
Van Doren Shaw family, to which Mrs. Mc
Cutcheon belongs, in three generations. The
baby's maternal grandmother, Mrs. Shaw, is one
of five daughters, and Mrs. McCutcheon is one
of three daughters.
Speaking of wise men as prophets, does any
one recall that when it was urged in opposition
to the entrance of America into the war that it
would mean the sending of hundreds, of thou
sands of American boys to France, Senator Lodge
replied that the number would never exceed
10,000 and that they would be there only for the
moral effect? Yet that remark will be found em
balmed in the Congressional Record for last
April.
When the coal miners struck because they
were not receiving the advanced wage that the
increased price tho coal operator was granted
by the government over his 1915 price justified,
the administration agreed to permit the advance
in wages asked added to the price of coal if the
parties would sign a contract that would insure
that this settled the strike. This is mentioned
to show how little politics is considered by the
President and howhighly business principles
are regarded.
The self-restraint of the paragraphers is al
ways a remarkable phenomenon. We have yet
to read where one of them, after noting that it
has been, discovered that Colonel Roosevelt has
but one eye, has suggested that one eye on the
presidency is all the colonel has ever found
necessary, or that maybe the other eye is on the
presidency, or something offhand, just like that.
Wo have had a great many examples given us
in recent years of just how far men will go in
the effort to malce money, but- none has gone to
the length of the cotton speculators who, solely
because of the great profit in getting cotton in
to Germany, where it Is badly needed in the
making of ammunition, have resorted to devious
means to supply that country.
Judging from the wails that come from some
of the rich men who will have to pay a consid
erably increased tax under the new law, con
gress was not so successful as usual in conceal
ing the fact as to who would pay the taxes, or
else it really made it impossible to pass along
all of tho added taxes.
The Germans have executed another strategic
retreat, and seem to feel very much elated
over it. A strategic retreat is where you grab
the other fellow round the neck,, pull him down
on top of you, thrust your eyes into his fist and
fasten your nose between his teeth.
Attorney General Havner of Iowa has been
having a tumultuous time this year carrying out
his declaration that he proposed to see that tho
statutes were all obeyed. A lot of fellows have
been seeing red exclaiming over his enforcement
of the blue laws.
The fact that congress has placed a war tax
of 10 per cent upon the price of Pullman tick
ets will not be looked upon as a hardship. The
average Pullman passenger has- been paying
more than that in the past with the porters as
collectors.
-
The philosophers who Insist that knowledge
has reached such a stage of development that
there are -few unanswered questions fall Into
one of two classes, those who aro bachelors or
those" who have no children below the age or
ten. . '
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