UNITED STATES AND FEARFULNESS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 349, 7 February 1917, Page 2

UNITED STATES AND FEARFULNESS.

(By H. R. FRENCH.) At last. •tue mint has been reached, ano the i nneu oiates is not going to us e runner wins with uermany ii vtcrinany aoueres to ner cieciureu programme, ivuen Germany muruerea, x-resident Wnson enquired "was it one or our boys?” sometimes it was, sometimes it was anuIner Human. Crermany was asKed tor the reason, and sue supplied it. xt it was not benevect, it was accepted. Now Germany tells tne world she is not going to invent excuses any longer, her outrages to date, even wiien discounted by the editor of "Stead’s Jtteview,” curdles me neart of feeling Humanity witn norror. Now she throws restraint to the winds. Tnere is only the fear oi pumsnment to deter her devilisH tricks. As a nation we detest reprisals. Our Allies have used that weapon for the protection of their own, and it has proved effective. Our authorities have now issued a clear warning that if hospital snips are sunk, punishment will be immediate. The French did not hesitate to give the Germans a counter demonstration of aerial bombardment, of open towns, and the Germans hereafter kept that strafing for a country that would not hit back. The Russians did not confine themselves to executing a thousand Germans found guilty of using flame projectors. She used German harshness to German prisoners, ana

in a very short time German bruta lity to Russian prisoners was put in leash. If the United States is to take a worthy part in the struggle her way will be the way of difficulty. Ana paradoxical as it : may seem, the more frightfulness the Huns commit within her borders, the more quickly and effectively will she bring her strength to bear. The love of peace in that great land has vitiated national judgment. When, Elihu Root passionately told three thousand Republican delegates oi the State of New York that their nation held aloof while the Allies fought their battle he was cheered to the. echo. But the lead of the East has yet to be followed by the

Middle and the West. Only German fearfulness unbridled will change the pro-peace determination. Judge Hughes heard Elihu Root, but in his presidential campaign he ‘ignored the vital connection between what the Allies are bleeding for and the liberty which the United States is supposed to represent. The explanation is not hidden. Professor David Starr Jordan wrote betoit t’ e pie-idc ntial candidates 1 eghn to oi ate tn it no pro-war man Mould Laie tm slightest chance of election. It was repeatedly stated, Milsm is amateur, but he has kept us out or tne war, and that is good enough. ’ W hen the National Guard was called out to-mebilise on the Me n hi hotdei, it was not only a revelation oi military unprepaicdn ss but ot strong passive resistance io tiie us< of force. In a recent number ot "Everybody’s Magazine th< 1 lilure of each State to respond to the call is summarised. Auprovingly, the Rev. Daniel S Me< o.xie, Moderator of the Presbytery of Cheyenne, bears witness to the hostility shown to the assembling of the Wyoming National Guard: “I visited Cheyenne, the home of 1 ort Russell on June 26th and 2<tii (last year) and took pains to enquire after the sentiment of our citizens. Condemnation of the war move was so strong that miliin t u re weakly apologetic when thev even dared to speak. A small cl m >nsti ition to the National Guard, gotten tip chiefly by the mi i hmt of pheyenne fo“ advertising purposes, was flatlj' turned down bv organised labour.” A citizen, bv name Badger Clark, wrote an article entitled “Cowards and hoots Fall In.” It was published bv "The Survey.” It poured ridicule upon the nation for calling t ts n 5, and upon the sons who i > tn calk In response to demands from many quarters that art 1 rej rinted, and is on sale for five dollars per thousand copies post paid. In the volume of comment the article aroused, one correspondent pertinently asks, “What practical policy suitable to a democracy like ours would a non-resistant suggest.” Mr. Clark replied, “Nine Belgians out of ten would heartily enjoy using a German flag for a mop, while they salute joyously and reverently the Stars and Stripes. Could we win the respect of the j Mexicans in some such bloodless 1 fashion? Feeding them, all ot them, would be cheaper than fighting them, and with results infinitely more pleasant.” It is the same sickly sentimentality that prompts Y’anxee women to carry gifts to unrepentant murderers while the victims of their outrage are forgotten. Her tne Germans try their methods of frightfulness in the, States against the States, and it will not be long till they feel the fury they will arouse. The great Statue of Liberty, presented to the Yankees by the French, is now a mass of light when darkness falls. As the current ot electricity illuminates the figure in the pall of night, so may the vital streams of the nation be at last turned on, to keep the fires of justice, liberty and truth aglow for the guidance of humanity.