Roosevelt In The Kansas City Star - free ebook by Theodore Roosevelt

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Roosevelt In The Kansas City Star

Theodore Roosevelt

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ROOSEVELT IN THE KANSAS CITY STAR

ROOSEVELT IN THE KANSAS CITY STAR

WAR-TIME EDITORIALS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RALPH STOUT Managing Editor of The Star Publisher mark BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1921 BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1921...

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I

I

The request, repeated and urgent, has come from many sources that the editorial articles, contributed by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt to The Kansas City Star during our country’s participation in the World War, be preserved for the future. It is in response to this request that this volume is published. Newspaper publication is ephemeral. Newspaper files are short-lived. Anybody who has examined a newspaper of thirty years ago knows how flimsy it is, how it breaks and disintegrates to the touch. I

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II

II

The Star supported Taft in the campaign of 1908 because it had faith that he would carry out the Roosevelt policies. Events early in the Taft Administration weakened that faith; the Winona speech withered it. Mr. Nelson had had no correspondence with Colonel Roosevelt while he was hunting in Africa. Two letters came from the ex-President, one March 12, 1910, from the White Nile saying he expected to return in June; another from Porto Maurizio, a month later, saying, “I know you will understand h

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III

III

As the presidential campaign of 1912 developed, there were frequent exchanges of views. In May Colonel Roosevelt wrote that he was confident of victory in the Republican Convention in spite of all that was being done against him by the men in control of the party. Only those who were in the thick of the Republican Convention in Chicago in June realize how the fighting blood of the men on the progressive side, from the leader down, was aroused. Mr. Nelson was at Chicago during the Republican Conv

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IV

IV

In the 1916 campaign Colonel Roosevelt and The Star were of the same mind. Deeply attached to the principles on which the battle of 1912 had been conducted by the Progressive Party, they were conscious of the futility of continuing the fight for those principles in a third party. The American devotion to the two-party system had been convincingly demonstrated again. The World War had been in progress two years, the Lusitania had been sunk without stirring the Administration to more than impotent

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V

V

When the “cub reporter” came to take on his “new job,” he learned for the first time of the conditions at Camp Funston, in Kansas, the big national army training camp of the Middle West, to which his old friend, Major-General Leonard Wood, had been assigned. The drafted men were assembled there from the farms and towns of the Middle West before adequate provision had been made for their care or their training. They were trained with wooden cannon, and broomsticks served in place of rifles. Colon

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VI

VI

Colonel Roosevelt’s last visit to his desk in the editorial rooms of The Star was early in October, 1918. It struck those who had been associated with him that he was not quite as fit as usual. I asked him if it were true the physicians had placed him on a diet. He said it was, but, to be frank, he had not given much heed to their recommendations. In a discussion at his desk with men of the editorial force a recent article about Roosevelt by George Creel came up. “I must admit,” said Colonel Roo

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DR. FITZSIMONS’S DEATH[1]

DR. FITZSIMONS’S DEATH[1]

September 17, 1917 The first name on the casualty list of the American army in France is that of Dr. William T. Fitzsimons, of Kansas City, killed in a German air raid on our hospitals. Dr. Fitzsimons had already served for some time in a French hospital. As soon as this Nation went to war he volunteered for service abroad. There is sometimes a symbolic significance in the first death in a war. It is so in this case. To the mother he leaves, the personal grief must in some degree be relieved by

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BLOOD, IRON, AND GOLD

BLOOD, IRON, AND GOLD

September 23, 1917 Bismarck announced that his policy for Germany was one of blood and iron. The men who now guide, and for some decades have guided, German international policy have added gold as the third weapon in Germany’s armory. A PAGE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF ONE OF ROOSEVELT’S EDITORIALS A PAGE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF ONE OF ROOSEVELT’S EDITORIALS To a policy based on callous disregard of death and suffering, and the brutal use of force, they have added the habitual and extensive employment of

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THE GHOST DANCE OF THE SHADOW HUNS

THE GHOST DANCE OF THE SHADOW HUNS

October 1, 1917 Ten days ago a ghost dance was held in St. Paul under the auspices of the Non-Partisan League, with Senator La Follette as the star performer. We have the authority of the German Kaiser for the use of the word Hun in a descriptive sense, as representing the ideal to which he wished his soldiers in their actions to approximate. It is therefore fair to use the word descriptively as a substitute for the German in this war. It is also fair to use it descriptively of the German sympat

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SAM WELLER AND MR. SNODGRASS

SAM WELLER AND MR. SNODGRASS

October 2, 1917 Readers of “Pickwick,” if such there still be, will recall the time when Mr. Pickwick was arrested and some of his followers resisted arrest. Sam Weller made no boasts; but he spoiled the looks of various opponents. Mr. Snodgrass began ostentatiously to take off his coat, announcing in a loud voice that he was going to begin. But he gave no further trouble. Over eight months have elapsed since Germany went to war with us, and we severed relations with Germany as the first move in

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BROOMSTICK PREPAREDNESS

BROOMSTICK PREPAREDNESS

October 4, 1917 At present we Americans have two prime duties. The first is to make the best of actual conditions; to prepare our army, navy, merchant marine, air service, munition plants, agriculture, food conservation, and everything else as speedily as possible, so as to fight this war to a completely victorious conclusion. The second is not to fool ourselves, but to face the fact of our complete and lamentable unpreparedness. And to inaugurate a policy of permanent preparedness which will pr

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THE BONDHOLDERS AND THE PEOPLE

THE BONDHOLDERS AND THE PEOPLE

October 7, 1917 Not many years ago one of the favorite cries of those who wished to exploit for their own advantage the often justifiable popular unrest and discontent was that “the people were oppressed in the interest of the bondholders.” The more ardent souls of this type wished to repudiate the national debt, to “wipe it out as with a sponge,” in order to remove the “oppression.” The bondholders were always held up as greedy creatures who had obtained an unfair advantage of the people as a w

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FACTORIES OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP

FACTORIES OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP

October 10, 1917 The training camps for the drafted men of the national army are huge factories for turning out first-class American citizens. Not only are they fitting our people for war; they are fitting them for the work of peace. They are making patriotism, love of country, devotion to the flag, and a sense of duty to others living facts, instead of unreal phrases. The public schools are laboratories of Americanism for our children; the training camps are laboratories of Americanism for our

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PILLAR-OF-SALT CITIZENSHIP

PILLAR-OF-SALT CITIZENSHIP

October 12, 1917 When Lot’s wife was journeying to safety, she could not resist looking back to the land she had left and was thereupon turned to a pillar of salt. The men from the Old World who, instead of adopting an attitude of hearty and exclusive loyalty to their land, try also to look backward to their old countries, become pillars-of-salt citizens, who are not merely useless, but mischievous members of our commonwealth. The dispatches of the German Government, just published by the State

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BROOMSTICK APOLOGISTS

BROOMSTICK APOLOGISTS

October 14, 1917 The chief of the Ordnance Bureau of the army, in commenting on the shortage of rifles, has said that it is of no consequence, because “every soldier will be supplied a rifle when he starts for France.” Of course he will, otherwise he cannot start. One of the leading papers of New York backs up the statement by saying that the “drilling in the camps without rifles is ended now” and that “General Crozier delayed the work so as to get rifles with the same ammunition our allies are

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THE LIBERTY LOAN AND THE PRO-GERMANS

THE LIBERTY LOAN AND THE PRO-GERMANS

October 16, 1917 Mr. Victor Berger, the Socialist leader of Milwaukee, is reported in the press as sneering at the Liberty bonds, berating the Administration for, as he says, appointing thirty-three wealthy capitalists on the National Council of Defense, and in effect seeming to persuade his hearers that they ought, at this crisis of foreign war, to be hostile to those of their countrymen who are “capitalists” instead of the Kaiser. This is natural. The Socialist party machine in this country is

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A DIFFICULT QUESTION TO ANSWER

A DIFFICULT QUESTION TO ANSWER

October 18, 1917 A correspondent in Pueblo, Colorado, writes me as follows: By what logic are we “at peace” with Austria, when she is furnishing troops or artillery to Germany to fight and kill our soldiers on the western front? The same question might apply to Turkey. Remember, too, that we are furnishing money and supplies to Italy, our ally, in her struggle with Austria. The Western folks are looking to you to answer hard questions of this sort for us which we don’t understand. Neither I nor

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NOW HELP THE LIBERTY LOAN

NOW HELP THE LIBERTY LOAN

October 20, 1917 The concrete services to the United States which every decent American not fortunate enough to be a soldier can now render, is to buy as many Liberty bonds as he can afford. The Treasury Department has set forth in the public press the facts about the campaign which the pro-Germans in the United States are waging against the Liberty Loan. The campaign is being waged by trying to prevent banks from handling the Liberty Loan, and by the publication in certain newspapers of article

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A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE TRAINING CAMPS

A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE TRAINING CAMPS

October 21, 1917 The Playgrounds and Recreation Association of America has undertaken a capital work in pushing the War Camp Community Committee, of which Mr. John N. Willys, of Toledo, is chairman. The War Camp Committee work for Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Colorado has made Mr. I. R. Kirkwood chairman, and has begun an active drive to get the three-quarter of a million dollars allotted to this district out of the total of four million to be raised in the country. The movem

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THE PASSING OF THE CRIPPLE

THE PASSING OF THE CRIPPLE

October 23, 1917 If men are alert, resolute, and energetic, they can usually secure some compensation from any calamity. This dreadful war, attended by the killing and crippling of men on a scale hitherto unknown, has brought as a compensation a determined move to do away with the cripple; that is, to cease the mere effort to keep a crippled man alive and, instead, to endeavor by reconstructive surgery to restore him to himself and to the community as an economic asset. Surgeon-General Gorgas an

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THE PEACE OF COMPLETE VICTORY

THE PEACE OF COMPLETE VICTORY

It is stated in a press report from Washington that the Allies wish the United States to stop sending men abroad and use its ships for food and munitions instead, but that the Administration will not agree to the plan, and furthermore that the Administration is determined that there shall be no peace until Germany is completely beaten. If the report is correct, the Administration is absolutely right on both points. As to the first point, we can well understand, in view of the steady U-boat campa

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FIGHTING WORK FOR THE MAN OF FIGHTING AGE

FIGHTING WORK FOR THE MAN OF FIGHTING AGE

October 25, 1917 The Y.M.C.A. is one of the most powerful agencies for good in our military camps here at home and with our armies abroad. It would be a veritable calamity not to have it do this work. The women and the elderly men who have gone abroad under present conditions are rendering a patriotic service of high value, but every young man of fighting age who has gone abroad for the Y.M.C.A. at this time is a positive damage to the work and should be instantly sent home. It is an ignoble thi

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WISE WOMEN AND FOOLISH WOMEN

WISE WOMEN AND FOOLISH WOMEN

October 27, 1917 There are wise and foolish women just as there are wise and foolish men, and in any great crisis the welfare of this country depends upon the extent to which the wise and patriotic men and the wise and patriotic women can offset or overcome the folly of the foolish. The woman who bravely and cheerfully sends her men to battle when the country calls takes her place high on the national honor roll. She stands beside the mothers and wives of the men of ’76 and of the men who wore t

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WHY CRY OVER SPILT MILK?

WHY CRY OVER SPILT MILK?

October 28, 1917 Nice, short-sighted persons, when the evil effects of our folly in failing to prepare are pointed out, sometimes ask, “Why cry over spilt milk?” The answer is that we wish to be sure that we do not spill it again, and, unfortunately, the nice persons who bleat against any one who points out our shortcomings in preparedness or who excuse and champion those responsible for this unpreparedness, are doing all they can to invite future disaster for the Nation. The bleat assumes diffe

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SAVE THE FOODSTUFF

SAVE THE FOODSTUFF

October 30, 1917 Mr. Hoover has been appointed as the man to lead us of this Nation in the vitally important matter of producing and saving as much food as we possibly can in order that we can send abroad the largest possible amount for the use of our suffering allies and for the use of our own gallant soldiers. Mr. Hoover’s preëminent services in Belgium pointed him out as of all the men in this country the man most fit for the very position to which he has been appointed. Let us give him our m

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ON THE FIRING LINE

ON THE FIRING LINE

October 31, 1917 Our men are now actually on the firing line, and while, of course, they are as yet there primarily for purposes of instruction, nevertheless, they are there. They are at times under fire. They are at any moment liable to death in upholding the honor of their country, of your country, my reader, and of mine. General Pershing’s original division under his direction and the direction of his lieutenants, such as Major-General Sibert, Brigadier-General Duncan, and their associates, h

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NINE TENTHS OF WISDOM IS BEING WISE IN TIME

NINE TENTHS OF WISDOM IS BEING WISE IN TIME

November 1, 1917 A few days ago I expressed in The Star the regret and uneasiness felt by all men with knowledge of international matters at the failure of this country to declare war on Austria and Turkey. Various Administration, and, of course, the leading pro-German, newspapers took exception to this statement and announced that the procedure advocated would be unwise or improper. Since then the great defeat of the Italian army by the Germans and Austrians has occurred, and among the Italians

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WE ARE IN THIS WAR TO THE FINISH

WE ARE IN THIS WAR TO THE FINISH

November 2, 1917 The disaster to our Italian ally should make every American worth calling such awake to the real needs of the hour and should arouse in him the inflexible purpose to see that this war is fought through to a victorious conclusion, no matter how long it takes, no matter what the expense and loss may be. Our first troops are now actually in the trenches; American infantry and American artillerymen are under fire; blood has been shed. Our sons and brothers have begun the trench life

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SINISTER ALLIES

SINISTER ALLIES

November 3, 1917 There are well-meaning, but not overwise, persons who bleat against any sincere and truthful effort to make us more efficient in this war by protesting against grave shortcomings. These worthy persons should realize that they are acting against the interest of the United States and in the interest of Germany. If they doubt this, they have only to ponder the fact that in their attitude they stand beside such sinister allies as German papers like the New York Staats Zeitung and Il

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THE NEW YORK MAYORALTY ELECTION

THE NEW YORK MAYORALTY ELECTION

November 8, 1917 The triumph of Tammany in New York City and the large Socialist vote have in some quarters been hailed as showing that New York City is for peace at any price and that it is against the Administration. Neither statement is warranted by the facts. The Socialist vote was about one-fifth of the total vote. It included most of those who wished the war stopped at once, this number being made up of professional pacifists, of red flag Anarchists, and of poor, ignorant people who pathet

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GERMAN HATRED OF AMERICA

GERMAN HATRED OF AMERICA

November 13, 1917 There have recently been published various books by Americans who, during the Great War, have officially represented this country in Germany and in Belgium, when the Germans conquered it. Ambassador Gerard is one writer. Mr. Gibson, secretary of our legation at Brussels, is another. Mr. Curtis Roth, until recently vice-consul at Plauen, Saxony, is a third. Their testimony is of profound significance because of their official position and personal standing. Two facts leap to the

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START THE SYSTEM OF UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING AT ONCE

START THE SYSTEM OF UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING AT ONCE

November 17, 1917 Lieutenant-General S. B. M. Young, U.S.A., retired, gave long, faithful, and efficient service to this country, from the beginning of the Civil War, for nearly half a century. But he never has rendered greater service than by his steady insistence upon the immediate introduction by law in this country of the system of obligatory universal military training as our permanent policy. This should be done at once; and all the young men from nineteen to twenty-one should be called ou

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A FIFTY-FIFTY WAR ATTITUDE

A FIFTY-FIFTY WAR ATTITUDE

November 20, 1917 The attitude of the United States at this moment toward Germany’s three vassal allies, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria, is a fifty-fifty attitude between peace and war. It is not honest war, neither is it honest neutrality. It is the attitude of the backwoodsman, who, seeing a black animal in his pasture at dusk and not knowing whether it was a bear or a calf, fired so as to hit it if it was a bear and miss it if it was a calf. Such marksmanship is never happy. Bulgaria is now si

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THE GERMANIZED SOCIALISTS AND PEACE

THE GERMANIZED SOCIALISTS AND PEACE

November 26, 1917 The American Socialist party at the present time is a thoroughly Germanized annex of the Prussianized militaristic and capitalistic autocracy of the Hohenzollerns. Honest social reformers have left it. No patriotic American ought longer to stay in it. It is purely an aid to the capitalist and militarist Hohenzollern party of Germany. It is a bitter enemy of the United States and a traitor to the cause of liberty throughout the world. Its leaders are the supporters of an alien a

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MOBILIZE OUR MAN POWER

MOBILIZE OUR MAN POWER

December 1, 1917 It has been announced from Washington that, in view of the shortage of labor on the farms, there will be an effort in Congress to permit the importation for temporary use on the farms of Chinese coolies. I do not believe the effort will be successful, and if it were successful it would be one of the greatest calamities that could befall the American people. Never under any condition should this Nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit. He should always be looked at

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THE LANSDOWNE LETTER

THE LANSDOWNE LETTER

December 2, 1917 Lord Lansdowne’s proposal is for a peace of defeat for the Allies and of victory for Germany. Such a peace would leave oppressed peoples under the yoke of Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria. Such a peace would leave the liberty-loving nations of mankind at the ultimate mercy of the triumphant militarism and capitalism of the German autocracy. It merely makes such a peace worse to try to hide the shame of the defeat behind the empty pretense of forging a league of nations, including G

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THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

December 5, 1917 The President has in admirable language set forth the firm resolve of the American people that the war shall be fought through to the end until it is crowned by the peace of complete victory. He states unequivocally that our task is to win the war, that nothing shall turn us aside from it until it is accomplished, and that every power and resource we possess will be used to achieve this purpose. He states that there shall be no peace until the war is won. He says that this peace

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FOUR BITES OF A CHERRY

FOUR BITES OF A CHERRY

December 7, 1917 In his recent message to Congress President Wilson stated that in order “to push our great war of freedom and justice to its righteous conclusion we must clear away with a thorough hand all impediments to success,” and added, “The very embarrassing obstacle that stands in our way is that we are at war with Germany, but not with her allies.” He recommended that we declare war on Austria, and added, “The same logic would lead also to a declaration of war against Turkey and Bulgari

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THE RED CROSS CHRISTMAS MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

THE RED CROSS CHRISTMAS MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

December 12, 1917 Next week, the week before Christmas, the Red Cross wishes to add ten million new members to the five million members it already possesses. Last June the Red Cross War Council asked the people of the United States to raise one hundred millions of dollars for Red Cross work, and the people responded by raising one hundred and nineteen millions. The purpose now is to increase threefold its membership. This is the people’s war. All people should, so far as possible, share the burd

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BEING BRAYED IN A MORTAR

BEING BRAYED IN A MORTAR

December 18, 1917 President Wilson speaks in military matters through his Secretary of War. The sole importance of the Secretary of War’s report comes from its being the official declaration of the President. I discuss it as such. According to the reports in the New York World, the Secretary of War states that “he does not favor universal military training as a permanent policy.” Mr. Wilson’s secretary, therefore, takes what is in effect the position of Mr. Bryan, which was picturesquely phrased

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RENDERING A GREAT PUBLIC SERVICE

RENDERING A GREAT PUBLIC SERVICE

December 20, 1917 Senator Chamberlain has rendered a public service by presenting the bill to provide universal obligatory military training for all the young men of the Nation. Senator Wadsworth has rendered a public service by pushing the senatorial investigation of our lamentable military unpreparedness. Congressman Medill McCormick has rendered a public service by showing that we have heavily burdened our war-worn ally, France, by demanding from her the guns which it was inexcusable in us no

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A BETRAYAL OF DEMOCRACY

A BETRAYAL OF DEMOCRACY

December 21, 1917 President Wilson has announced that we are in this war to make the world safe for democracy. Either this declaration was worse than empty rhetoric or we are in honor bound to make it good. Indeed, to prove false to it now is to be guilty of peculiarly offensive hypocrisy. The only way to make the world safe for democracy is to free the people over whom Turkey and Austria tyrannize. Every day’s delay in declaring war on Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria has represented and now repre

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BROOMSTICK PREPAREDNESS—A STUDY IN CAUSE AND EFFECT

BROOMSTICK PREPAREDNESS—A STUDY IN CAUSE AND EFFECT

December 27, 1917 It is earnestly to be hoped that the congressional investigation into the fruits of our military unpreparedness will keep two objects clearly in mind. First, the aim must be to speed up the work of efficient war preparation by doing away with all the present practices that are wrong. Second, the aim should be to make evident to all our people that our present shameful shortcomings are due to failure to prepare in advance and that never again ought we to allow our governmental l

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OUR DUTY FOR THE NEW YEAR

OUR DUTY FOR THE NEW YEAR

January 1, 1918 In the papers there recently appeared a brief statement made by an unnamed young American major to his troops in the trenches in France. He said: We have reached the top in training. If you need anything, come and tell me and I will get it for you if I can. If I do not get it, I do not want to hear about it again, for it means that I cannot get it. We will have three meals a day if we can get them. If we have to miss one meal, we will not be badly off, and if we miss two or three

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TELL THE TRUTH AND SPEED UP THE WAR

TELL THE TRUTH AND SPEED UP THE WAR

January 4, 1918 Any man who at this time leaves undone anything to increase our fighting efficiency is a foe of America and a friend of Germany. The man who objects to fearless exposure and criticism of the governmental shortcomings which must be exposed if they are to be corrected is a foe to America and a friend to Germany, and in addition shows that he possesses a thoroughly servile mind. The critic whose criticism is not constructive, or who treats shortcomings as causes for being dishearten

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THE COST OF UNPREPAREDNESS

THE COST OF UNPREPAREDNESS

January 6, 1918 Senator Chamberlain, in order to minimize the chance of future war and to insure us against disaster, if in future war should unhappily come, has introduced a bill for universal military training of our young men under the age of twenty-one. The Administration declares against universal training and therefore for a continuance of the policy of unpreparedness, the fruits of which we are enjoying. Some of these fruits are as follows: According to the statement of Mr. Fitzgerald, th

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COÖPERATION AND CONTROL

COÖPERATION AND CONTROL

January 8, 1918 The assumption of control by the Government over the railroads was certainly necessary. Exactly how far it will go is not evident. At present what has been done is merely to introduce government supervision and control over railroads which are required to combine their operations in flat defiance Of the Sherman Law. In other words, the Government has wisely abandoned the effort to enforce competition among the railroads and has introduced the principle of control over corporative

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THE ARTEMUS WARD THEORY OF WAR

THE ARTEMUS WARD THEORY OF WAR

January 17, 1918 The great American humorist, Artemus Ward, whose writings gave such delight to Abraham Lincoln, once remarked that he was willing to sacrifice all his wife’s relatives on the altar of the country. Mr. Ward was not in President Lincoln’s Cabinet. Mr. Baker is in President Wilson’s Cabinet. He takes substantially the same ground that Artemus Ward took, although possibly with a more unconscious humor. He has just uttered a heroic sentiment expressing his pleased acquiescence in the

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THE FRUITS OF WATCHFUL WAITING

THE FRUITS OF WATCHFUL WAITING

January 18, 1918 We have been at war nearly one year. We have failed to do any damage to Germany, but we have done a great deal of damage to ourselves. Recently the President’s Secretary of War announced that the war was three thousand miles away and so he had not prepared to meet it. Incidentally the feats of the German submarine off Newport in the fall of 1916 showed that if it had not been for the Allied fleets and armies the war would then have been on our own shores. But at the moment it is

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TELL THE TRUTH

TELL THE TRUTH

January 21, 1918 Nearly a year has passed since, on February 3, by formally breaking relations with Germany, we reluctantly admitted that she had gone to war with us. During that year it has been incessantly insisted that it was unpatriotic under any consideration to tell an unpleasant truth or to point out a governmental shortcoming. The result has not been happy. The famous war correspondent, Mr. Caspar Whitney, has returned from the front so that he might avoid our fatuous and sinister censor

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JUSTIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

JUSTIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

January 28, 1918 Senator Chamberlain and his excellent committee have already seen the justification of their investigation. They have forced the appointment of Mr. Stettinius, a trained and capable expert, as head of the war supplies purchasing department. The fact that the appointment is made in order to obviate the need of following Senator Chamberlain’s more thoroughgoing programme does not alter the fact that it represents a certain advance and that this advance is primarily due to the inve

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SECRETARY BAKER’S GENERAL DENIAL

SECRETARY BAKER’S GENERAL DENIAL

February 2, 1918 Secretary Baker’s denial of any serious shortcomings in the administration of the War Department comes under several heads. Part of it is prophecy, which we all hope will turn out to be justified. Part of it is explanation or denials of facts, as to which it is easy to get first-hand information. With this part I shall deal in my next editorial. Part of it relates to allegations as to which it is almost impossible to get first-hand information except from officers whose names ca

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LET GEORGE SPEED UP THE WAR

LET GEORGE SPEED UP THE WAR

February 3, 1918 In my last editorial I spoke of the things of which Secretary Baker explicitly or implicitly denies the existence, in justifying the Administration for the military delay and shortcomings that have marked our entry into war. But as to the major facts there is no room for denial. As to these Secretary Baker falls back on the comfortable doctrine that all our shortcomings are of no consequence because they are made good anyhow by the efforts of our allies—who, by the way, with pre

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LET UNCLE SAM GET INTO THE GAME

LET UNCLE SAM GET INTO THE GAME

February 5, 1918 No one can tell how long this war will last. It may last three years more, and we should prepare accordingly. But it may close this year, and it is unpardonable of us not to act with such speed as to make our help available in substantial form at once. Uncle Sam must not be put in the position of the sub, who only gets into the game just before the whistle blows. Above all, he must not so act as to rouse suspicion that this attitude is due to deliberate shirking on his part. The

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CONSERVATION IS IMPORTANT AND PRODUCTION IS MORE IMPORTANT

CONSERVATION IS IMPORTANT AND PRODUCTION IS MORE IMPORTANT

February 15, 1918 It is very important that we should conserve many things, but especially food. It is, however, very much more important that we shall produce the food in order to conserve it. The governmental attitude toward production during the past year has been, at points, very unwise. There has not only been failure to encourage producing the one thing vitally necessary to this Nation at this time, but there has been at times, by unwise price-fixing, a direct discouragement of producing.

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THE PEOPLE’S WAR

THE PEOPLE’S WAR

February 26, 1918 It is not agreeable to keep insisting on the need of doing better than we have done. It is not agreeable to keep pointing out our shortcomings, but to do so is the only way of remedying them and of securing better action in the future. The people, some of them well-meaning, some of them anything but well-meaning, who denounce criticism and who object to telling the minimum of truth necessary to correct our faults, are the efficient allies of Germany and the foes of the United S

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THE FRUITS OF FIFTY-FIFTY LOYALTY

THE FRUITS OF FIFTY-FIFTY LOYALTY

March 2, 1918 A captain in the regular army of the United States has just been justly sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment for trying to combine loyalty to this country with loyalty to Germany. He was born here of German parents. In Germany, for such an offense, he would have been instantly shot or hung. And in Germany organizations and newspapers responsible for causing such action would be instantly suppressed and their organizers and editors heavily punished. The unfortunate army offi

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QUIT TALKING PEACE

QUIT TALKING PEACE

March 5, 1918 The experience of Trotzky, Lenine, and the other Bolshevist leaders in their peace negotiations with Germany ought to be illuminating to our own people. Germany encouraged them to enter peace negotiations, spoke fairly to them, got them committed to the abandonment of their allies, used them to demoralize Russia and make it impossible for her to organize effective resistance, and then threw them over, instantly invaded their land, and now holds a part of Russia. Let our people take

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THE WORST ENEMIES OF CERTAIN LOYAL AMERICANS

THE WORST ENEMIES OF CERTAIN LOYAL AMERICANS

March 10, 1918 The army and navy of the United States in the training camps, on the high seas, and at the battle front, are at this moment proving themselves the most potent agencies of Americanism that our country contains. All good Americans should feel a peculiar pride in the fine and gallant loyalty with which the great majority of the Americans of German descent have come forward to do their part to win this war against the brutal and merciless tyranny of the Prussianized Germany of the Hoh

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GIRD UP OUR LOINS

GIRD UP OUR LOINS

March 16, 1918 The Bible warns us to gird up our loins if we wish to win a race. Most certainly we cannot expect to do well in the present struggle unless we bend every energy to the task and exercise all our forethought in instant preparation. Russia’s betrayal of the Allied cause under the foolish and iniquitous lead of the Bolsheviki has been a betrayal of the United States and of the cause of liberty and democracy and justice throughout the world. Above all, it has been a betrayal of Russia

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BOLSHEVIKI AT HOME AND ABROAD

BOLSHEVIKI AT HOME AND ABROAD

March 19, 1918 The answer of the Bolsheviki to the President’s message was an example of mean and studied impertinence. There was no gratitude, no apology for their betrayal of America and of the cause of liberty, and no expression of hostility to their German masters, but there was a gratuitous and insulting expression for a class war in America against what the Bolsheviki with ignorant folly speak of as capitalism. A couple of days afterward the Bolshevist authorities definitely concluded with

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THE FRUITS OF OUR DELAY

THE FRUITS OF OUR DELAY

March 26, 1918 The shameful betrayal of the Allies’ cause by the Russian Bolshevists and the delay and incompetence of the American Government have given the Germans a free hand for their drive against the British army. England is at this moment fighting our battles just as much as she is fighting her own, yet, although three years have passed since the Lusitania was sunk and a year since Congress declared that we had “formally” entered the war, America is still merely an onlooker. We owe this i

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HOW THE HUN EARNS HIS TITLE

HOW THE HUN EARNS HIS TITLE

March 31, 1918 By D. Thomas Curtin A scene in Schabatz, when the Austro-Hungarians attempted to flank Belgrade in early August, 1914, has seared itself into my memory. I was in the shambles of an overgrown village. The blood of both armies flowed in the streets and the wine from broken casks and bottles flowed in the cellars, soldiers walking in it up to their knees. The street was deserted save for an Unteroffizier who was passing. An old woman, bent and shriveled, her white locks escaping the

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THANK HEAVEN!

THANK HEAVEN!

April 2, 1918 At last, thank Heaven, comes the news that our little American army at the front has been put absolutely at the disposal of the French and English military leaders for use of any kind in the gigantic and terrible battle now being waged. All Americans who are proud of the great name of America will humbly and reverently thank Heaven that at any rate the army we have at the front is not to remain in the position of an onlooker, but is to be put into the battle. The wanton and cruel b

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CITIZENS OR SUBJECTS?

CITIZENS OR SUBJECTS?

April 6, 1918 In a self-governing country the people are called citizens. Under a despotism or autocracy the people are called subjects. This is because in a free country the people are themselves sovereign, while in a despotic country the people are under a sovereign. In the United States the people are all citizens, including its President. The rest of them are fellow citizens of the President. In Germany the people are all subjects of the Kaiser. They are not his fellow citizens, they are his

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WOMEN AND THE WAR

WOMEN AND THE WAR

April 12, 1918 A Kansas woman has just written me in part as follows: “I have given my all, my two sons, gladly and proudly, as volunteers to my country, for they enlisted last August. But my heart grows sick at the confusion and blunders and apathy. I thank The Star for printing that poem of the Minnesota mother. It appeals to all of us mothers who stay at home and pray and work as we can.” I think more continually of such mothers of soldiers as this Kansas woman, than I do even of the soldiers

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TO MY FELLOW AMERICANS OF GERMAN BLOOD

TO MY FELLOW AMERICANS OF GERMAN BLOOD

April 16, 1918 Hermann Hagedorn, an American whose father and mother were born in Germany, an American of the best and bravest and most loyal type, has just written a little book called “Where Do You Stand? An Appeal to Americans of German Origin.” I wish it could be read by every individual of those to whom it is addressed, and by all other Americans also. I am, myself, partly of German blood, and I make my appeal as an American does, to and on behalf of all other Americans who have German bloo

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AN EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT IN HUMAN UPBUILDING

AN EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT IN HUMAN UPBUILDING

April 17, 1918 Major E. C. Simmons, of St. Louis, the manager of the Southwestern Division of the American Red Cross, has just returned from our army in France. He relates a really extraordinary achievement of the division of orthopædic surgery with the army under the direction of Surgeon-Major Joel E. Goldthwaite. All the divisions of troops sent across, of course, contain a number of men who show physical shortcomings under the strain of actual campaigning. In General Edwards’s division these

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FREEDOM STANDS WITH HER BACK TO THE WALL

FREEDOM STANDS WITH HER BACK TO THE WALL

April 20, 1918 This is a terrible hour of trial and suffering and danger for our war-worn allies, who in France are battling for us no less than for themselves. If shame is even more dreadful than suffering, then it is a no less terrible hour for our own country. Our allies stand with their backs to the wall in the fight for freedom, and America looks on. The free nations stand at bay in the cause that is ours no less than theirs; and after over a year of war the army we have sent to their aid i

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A SQUARE DEAL FOR ALL AMERICANS

A SQUARE DEAL FOR ALL AMERICANS

April 27, 1918 There is no room in this country for the man who tries to be both an American and something else. There can be no such thing as a fifty-fifty loyalty between America and Germany. Either a man is whole-hearted in his support of America and her allies, and in his hostility to Germany and her allies, or he is not loyal to America at all. In such case he should be at once interned or sent out of the country. But if he is whole-hearted in his loyal support of America, then no matter wh

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THE GERMAN HORROR

THE GERMAN HORROR

May 2, 1918 The Hague conferences laid down a number of rules which the signatory powers, including Germany, agreed to observe in order to mitigate the horrors of war. Germany has with equal cynicism and brutality violated every one of these rules. She has waged war as it was waged in the Dark Ages. She has shown revolting cruelty toward soldiers and especially toward non-combatants, including women and children. At this moment a great cannon is bombarding Paris. Not a soldier has been killed by

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SEDITION, A FREE PRESS, AND PERSONAL RULE

SEDITION, A FREE PRESS, AND PERSONAL RULE

May 7, 1918 The legislation now being enacted by Congress should deal drastically with sedition. It should also guarantee the right of the press and people to speak the truth freely of all their public servants, including the President, and to criticize them in the severest terms of truth whenever they come short in their public duty. Finally, Congress should grant the Executive the amplest powers to act as an executive and should hold him to stern accountability for failure so to act, but it sh

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THE DANGERS OF A PREMATURE PEACE

THE DANGERS OF A PREMATURE PEACE

May 12, 1918 As now seems likely, if the great German drive fails, it is at least possible that, directly or indirectly, the Germans will then start a peace drive. In such case they will probably endeavor to make such seeming concessions as to put a premium upon pacifist agitation for peace in the free countries of the West against which they are fighting. To yield to such peace proposals would be fraught with the greatest danger to the Allies, and especially to our own country in the future. Le

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THE WAR SAVINGS CAMPAIGN

THE WAR SAVINGS CAMPAIGN

May 27, 1918 Of course the primary factor in deciding this war is and will be the army. But there can be no great army in war to-day unless a great nation stands back of it. The most important of all our needs is immensely to strengthen the fighting line at the front. But it cannot be permanently strengthened unless the whole Nation is organized back of the front. We need increased production by all. We need thrift and the avoidance of extravagance and of waste of money upon non-essentials by al

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ANTI-BOLSHEVISM

ANTI-BOLSHEVISM

June 5, 1918 On the whole the worst fate that can befall any country is to fall into the hands of the Bolsheviki. Therefore, we should visit with heavy condemnation the Romanoffs of politics and industry who, by Bourbon-like inability to see or refusal to face the future, make ready the way for Bolshevism. Utter ruin will befall this country if it falls into the hands of Haywoods and Townleys and of the politicians who truckle to them, but the surest way to secure their temporary and disastrous

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GENERAL WOOD

GENERAL WOOD

June 15, 1918 Senator Hiram Johnson has rendered many notable services to the public, and among them is his recent speech concerning the cruel injustice with which Major-General Leonard Wood has been treated and the very grave damage thereby done the army and the Allied cause at this critical moment of the war. General Wood’s entire offense consists in his having, before the war, continually advocated our doing things which now every one in his senses admits ought to have been done. Nine tenths

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HELP RUSSIA NOW

HELP RUSSIA NOW

June 20, 1918 Russia has been thrown under the iron tyranny of German militarism and capitalism by the Bolshevists of the Lenine type. The Russian people are slowly awakening to this bitter truth. The far-sighted, the Russians of genuine patriotism, have long been awake, but the peasants, who are at heart good, but who are ignorant and misled, are now awakening also. Plenty of them, especially among the Cossacks, are well aware that submission to Germany now means death for Russia. Plenty of the

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AN AMERICAN FOURTH OF JULY

AN AMERICAN FOURTH OF JULY

June 23, 1918 It is announced that on the Fourth of July the celebration is to be by race groups—that is, by Scandinavians, Slavs, Germans, Italians, and so forth. In sport organizations it may be necessary to have such a kind of divided celebration in some places, but I most emphatically protest against such a type of celebration being general, and I doubt whether it is advisable to have it anywhere. On the contrary, I believe that we should make the Fourth of July a genuine Americanization day

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HOW NOT TO ADJOURN POLITICS

HOW NOT TO ADJOURN POLITICS

June 25, 1918 In the current North American Review and its supplemental War Weekly there are two strong and deeply patriotic articles on the President’s recent announcement that politics is to be adjourned. When contrasted with the injection of politics by the President into the senatorial contests in Wisconsin and Michigan, never before in any great crisis in this country has there been such complete subordination of patriotism to politics as by this Administration during this war. Witness the

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HATS OFF TO THE INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION

HATS OFF TO THE INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION

June 27, 1918 The published reports of the International Typographical Union, issued from Indianapolis, make a very remarkable showing and put that organization high on the honor roll of America for the Great War. Forty-one hundred journeymen members of the union and seven hundred apprentices are in the military and naval forces of the United States and Canada. Seventy-five members have already paid with their lives for their devotion to their country. The union has paid $22,000 mortuary benefit

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THE PERFORMANCE OF A GREAT PUBLIC DUTY

THE PERFORMANCE OF A GREAT PUBLIC DUTY

July 3, 1918 It is announced from Washington that the President has been converted to the need of universal military training of our young men, as a permanent policy. This is excellent. If this policy is forthwith incorporated into our laws, it will represent an immense national advance. In the first place, it will guarantee us against a repetition of the humiliating experiences of the last four years, when our helpless refusal to prepare invited Germany’s attack upon us and then forced us to re

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REPEAL THE CHARTER OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN ALLIANCE

REPEAL THE CHARTER OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN ALLIANCE

July 11, 1918 The United States Senate has struck an effective blow against the Hun within our gates by unanimously voting to repeal the charter of the German-American Alliance. It is earnestly to be hoped that the House will at once follow suit with like unanimity. The Alliance has been thoroughly mischievous in its activities. It has acted in the interest of Germany and against the interest of America. It has tried to perpetuate Germanism as a separate nationality with a separate language in t

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EVERY MAN HAS A RIGHT TO ONE COUNTRY

EVERY MAN HAS A RIGHT TO ONE COUNTRY

July 15, 1918 Every man ought to love his country. If he does not love his country and is not eager to serve her, he is a worthless creature and should be contemptuously thrown out of the country when possible, and at any rate debarred from all rights of citizenship in the country. He is only entitled to one country. If he claims loyalty to two countries, he is necessarily a traitor to at least one country. If he claims to be loyal to both Germany and America, he is necessarily a traitor to Amer

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MURDER, TREASON, AND PARLOR ANARCHY

MURDER, TREASON, AND PARLOR ANARCHY

July 18, 1918 One of the cheapest methods by which some well-meaning, silly people, and some sinister people who are not well-meaning, achieve a reputation for broad-minded liberality in matters relating to social reforms is to champion or excuse criminality on the ground that it is due to social conditions. The parlor anarchist or parlor Bolshevist is not an attractive person, and he may be mischievous when he joins the genuine anarchist, the “direct” man with the bomb, because selfish and unpa

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BACK UP THE FIGHTING MEN AT THE FRONT

BACK UP THE FIGHTING MEN AT THE FRONT

July 26, 1918 There is no American worth calling such whose veins do not thrill with pride when he reads of what has been done by General Pershing and his gallant army in France. The soldiers over there who wear the American uniform have made all good Americans forever their debtors. Now and always afterward we of this country will walk with our heads high because of the men who face death and wounds, and so many of whom have given their lives fighting for this Nation and for the great ideals of

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THE AMERICANS WHOM WE MOST DELIGHT TO HONOR

THE AMERICANS WHOM WE MOST DELIGHT TO HONOR

August 1, 1918 At long intervals in the history of a nation there come great days when the picked sons of the Nation determine for generations to come that nation’s place in history. During the last few weeks our fighting men in France have rendered all the rest of us forever their debtors. They have won high honor for themselves and for their country. Our children’s children will owe them deep gratitude for what they have done. All Americans hold their heads higher because of their deeds. Their

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SOUND NATIONALISM AND SOUND INTERNATIONALISM

SOUND NATIONALISM AND SOUND INTERNATIONALISM

August 4, 1918 The glorious victory of the Allies in the second battle of the Marne, a victory in which the hard-fighting soldiers of the American army have borne so distinguished and honorable a part, may mean the failure of the German military offensive for this year. Therefore it may mean a renewal of the German peace offensive. No man can prophesy in these matters, but the Germans may continue the war for a long time; and therefore we should prepare to have in France an army of four million

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THE MAN WHO PAYS AND THE MAN WHO PROFITS

THE MAN WHO PAYS AND THE MAN WHO PROFITS

August 9, 1918 The men who do the fighting at the front and their mothers and wives back here are those who in this great and terrible crisis are paying—the blood of the men and the tears of the women, and with the suffering of men, women, and children—for our failure to prepare during the two and a half years before we entered the World War. For this failure to prepare, in spite of the most vivid warning ever given a Nation, the warning that befell the rest of the world during those two and a h

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OUR DEBT TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE

OUR DEBT TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE

August 16, 1918 Judge Ben Lindsey has recently written two or three striking pieces about what Great Britain has done and is doing in this war. Incidentally he points out how far ahead of us she now is in certain types of social legislation, such as that dealing with children. But the lesson he inculcates which is of most immediate concern is the giant part England has played in this war and the debt we owe to her because, in standing up for Belgium and France, she was really defending us during

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THE CANDIDACY OF HENRY FORD

THE CANDIDACY OF HENRY FORD

August 20, 1918 Every loyal American citizen in Michigan should read the last two numbers of Mr. George Harvey’s War Weekly. In these numbers there are quotations from Mr. Henry Ford’s speeches made two years ago and again since we entered the war. Mr. Ford has not questioned the accuracy of these quotations given by Mr. Harvey. Speaking of American flags over his own factory Mr. Ford said: “I don’t believe in the flag. When the war is over these flags shall come down never to go up again.” The

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SPEED UP THE WORK FOR THE ARMY AND GIVE ALL WHO ENTER IT FAIR PLAY

SPEED UP THE WORK FOR THE ARMY AND GIVE ALL WHO ENTER IT FAIR PLAY

August 23, 1918 Our Government must learn that needless delay is worse than a blunder. We are sending troops to Siberia. This is good, but it would have been ten times better to have sent them last spring when the need was precisely as evident as it is now. The Administration is now preparing to ask Congress to arrange for putting between three and four million men in France by next July. Six months ago our best military advisers and our most far-sighted civilian leaders were urging that we prep

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SENATOR LODGE’S NOBLE SPEECH

SENATOR LODGE’S NOBLE SPEECH

September 1, 1918 Senator Lodge’s speech dealing with the principles for which we are fighting and setting forth in detailed outline the kind of peace which alone will mean the peace of victory was a really noble speech. Nothing is easier, and from the national standpoint as distinguished from the standpoint of personal benefit to the speaker, nothing is less useful than a speech of such glittering generalities that almost anybody can interpret it in almost any manner. Only a great statesman pos

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APPLIED PATRIOTISM

APPLIED PATRIOTISM

September 8, 1918 The official record of the Illinois branch of the United Mine Workers of America furnishes an instructive lesson in applied patriotism. The president of the branch is Mr. Frank Farrington. The United Mine Workers are affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. President Farrington’s circulars to the Illinois mine workers set forth the need and the justice of this war and the duty of patriotic Americans in the most straightforward and clear-cut fashion. He states that this

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GOOD LUCK TO THE ANTI-BOLSHEVISTS OF KANSAS

GOOD LUCK TO THE ANTI-BOLSHEVISTS OF KANSAS

September 12, 1918 The absolute prerequisite for successful self-government in any people is the power of self-restraint which refuses to follow either the wild-eyed extremists of radicalism or the dull-eyed extremists of reaction. Either set of extremists will wreck the Nation just as certainly as the other. The Nation capable of self-government must show the Abraham Lincoln quality of refusing to go with either. The dreadful fall which has befallen Russia is due to the fact that when her peopl

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THE FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN

THE FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN

September 17, 1918 The Government of the United States is asking us Americans, is asking us, the citizens of the United States, to subscribe to the Fourth Liberty Loan, a bigger loan than any yet issued. It is our duty to back up the Government by floating the loan. Moreover, the performance of this duty should be treated by us as a high privilege. It opens to us a fine opportunity to put our shoulders with all the strength we have into the great shove which is pushing the German barrier back ac

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FAIR PLAY AND NO POLITICS

FAIR PLAY AND NO POLITICS

September 20, 1918 A Democratic member of the Senate has introduced a resolution to investigate the primary campaign expenses of certain Republican candidates for the Senate, including Commander Truman Newberry, whose recent triumph over Mr. Henry Ford in the Michigan Republican primaries was greeted with heartfelt thanks by every sincere and far-sighted American patriot. This Senate, which comes to an end on March 4 next, has the same, and only the same right to investigate the election conduct

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SPIES AND SLACKERS

SPIES AND SLACKERS

September 24, 1918 Mercy to the German spy or pacifist slacker in America is foul injustice to the American soldier in France and to his brother, who is preparing to go to France. Our Government has been altogether too weak in dealing with the pacifist slackers and so-called conscientious objectors. It has actually issued elaborate instructions for and to these creatures practically telling them how to escape doing the duty which all patriotic Americans are proudly eager to perform. There is not

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QUIT PLAYING FAVORITES

QUIT PLAYING FAVORITES

September 30, 1918 It is announced that the young men of eighteen or nineteen included in the draft will be sent free to college by the Government and will there be given the chance to earn commissions and escape service in the ranks. Either this represents sheer deception or it will mean gross favoritism. We now have plenty of young men who have been serving in the ranks for nearly eighteen months. Scores of thousands of these left college to go or had just finished high school when they went.

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WAR AIMS AND PEACE PROPOSALS

WAR AIMS AND PEACE PROPOSALS

October 12, 1918 Our war aim ought to be unconditional surrender of Germany and of her vassal allies, Austria and Turkey. We ought not to consider any peace proposals from Germany until this war aim has been accomplished by the victorious arms of our allies and ourselves. It is worthy of note that the Central Powers show a greedy eagerness to accept the so-called “fourteen points ”laid down by President Wilson. I earnestly hope that when the time for discussing peace proposals comes, we shall ou

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PERMANENT PREPAREDNESS AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

PERMANENT PREPAREDNESS AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

October 15, 1918 The vital military need of this country as regards its future international relations is the immediate adoption of the policy of permanent preparedness based on universal training. This is its prime duty from the standpoint of American nationalism and patriotism. Then, as an addition or supplement to, but under no conditions as substitute for, the policy of permanent preparedness, we can afford cautiously to enter into and try out the policy of a league of nations. There is no d

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HIGH-SOUNDING PHRASES OF MUDDY MEANING

HIGH-SOUNDING PHRASES OF MUDDY MEANING

October 17, 1918 A keen observer of what is now happening in the world writes me that there is very grave danger that this country will be cheated out of the right kind of peace if our people remain fatuously content to accept high-sounding phrases of muddy meaning, instead of clear-cut and truthful statements of just what we demand and just what we intend to do. The recent action of President Wilson in connection with Germany has shown the imperative need of our people informing themselves of h

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AN AMERICAN PEACE VERSUS A RUBBER-STAMP PEACE

AN AMERICAN PEACE VERSUS A RUBBER-STAMP PEACE

October 22, 1918 In Wallace’s Farmer, a journal devoted to the interests of the farmer, and also to the interests of every good American citizen, but which has no concern with partisan politics, there is a strong editorial against our acceptance of a peace on the terms of the famous fourteen points laid down by President Wilson in his message of January last. It reads in part as follows: Of course, Germany would like to make peace on the terms laid down by President Wilson in his speech of Janua

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UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

October 26, 1918 When the American people speak for unconditional surrender, it means that Germany must accept whatever terms the United States and its allies think necessary in order to right the dreadful wrongs that have been committed and to safeguard the world for at least a generation to come from another attempt by Germany to secure world dominion. Unconditional surrender is the reverse of a negotiated peace. The interchange of notes, which has been going on between our Government and the

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WHAT ARE THE FOURTEEN POINTS?

WHAT ARE THE FOURTEEN POINTS?

October 30, 1918 The European nations have been told that the fourteen points enumerated in President Wilson’s message of January last are to be the basis of peace. It is, therefore, possible that Americans may like to know what they are. It is even possible that they may like to guess what they mean, although I am not certain that such guessing is permitted by the Postmaster-General and the Attorney-General under the new theory of making democracy safe for all kinds of peoples abroad who have n

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FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE FOURTEEN POINTS

FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE FOURTEEN POINTS

October 30, 1918 The second in the fourteen points deals with freedom of the seas. It makes no distinction between freeing the seas from murder like that continually practiced by Germany and freeing them from blockade of contraband merchandise, which is the practice of a right universally enjoyed by belligerents, and at this moment practiced by the United States. Either this proposal is meaningless or it is a mischievous concession to Germany. The third point promises free trade among all the na

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FOURTEEN SCRAPS OF PAPER

FOURTEEN SCRAPS OF PAPER

October 31, 1918 In my article yesterday I discussed Mr. Wilson’s fourteen peace points which had been accepted by Germany. After the article was sent in, Mr. Wilson explained one of the points by stating that it meant exactly the opposite of what it said. A New York paper has asked for the election of a Congress that shall see eye to eye with Mr. Wilson. But only a Congress of whirling dervishes could see eye to eye with Mr. Wilson for more than twenty-four hours at a time. When Germany broke h

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THE TURKS SURRENDER UNCONDITIONALLY

THE TURKS SURRENDER UNCONDITIONALLY

November 3, 1918 The British have beaten Turkey to her knees and she has surrendered unconditionally. America has no share in the honor of what has been done. President Wilson, although we were at war with Germany, has refused to aid our allies against Turkey and has preserved the same cold neutrality between the Armenians and their Turkish butchers that he formerly did between the Belgians and their German oppressors. Turkey had inflicted inhuman wrongs on the subject peoples and had infringed

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PEACE

PEACE

November 12, 1918 Four years and a quarter have passed since Germany, by the invasion of Belgium, began the World War and made it at the same time a war of cynical treachery and of bestiality and of inhuman wrongdoing. Almost from the beginning our governmental authorities were well informed of the organized brutality with which it was waged and of the fact that the Kaiser and the leading soldiers, politicians, and commercial magnates of Germany had deliberately plunged the world into war becaus

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SACRIFICE ON COLD ALTARS

SACRIFICE ON COLD ALTARS

November 13, 1918 A friend, a California woman, writes me that there is staying with her a widow whose only son has been in the navy and has just died of influenza, and that the mother said: I gave my boy proudly to my country. I never held him back, even in my heart. But if only he had died with a gun in his hand—a little glory for him and a thought for me that my sacrifice had not been useless. My correspondent continues: There must be so many mothers who feel that they have laid their sacrifi

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THE RED FLAG AND THE HUN PEACE DRIVE

THE RED FLAG AND THE HUN PEACE DRIVE

November 14, 1918 The war is won. A twofold duty is now incumbent on us. We must strive to make the peace one of justice and righteousness and to throw out such safeguards around it as will give us the greatest possible chance of permanency. Then we must turn to setting aright the affairs of our own household. But before we set ourselves to the performance of these two tasks we should thoroughly enlighten our enemies at home and abroad on one or two points. Let all anti-Americans stand aside. Le

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THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

November 17, 1918 There are so many prior things to do and so much uncertainty as to the form of agreement for permanently increasing the chances of peace that it is difficult to do more than make a general statement as to what is desirable and possibly feasible in the league of nations plan. It would certainly be folly to discuss it overmuch until some of the existing obstacles to peace are overcome. That such discussion may be not futile, but mischievous, has been vividly shown in the last six

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AN AMERICAN CONGRESS

AN AMERICAN CONGRESS

November 18, 1918 The election of a Republican Congress a fortnight ago was first and foremost a victory for straight Americanism. To the Republican Party it represents not so much a victory as an opportunity. To the American people, including not only Republicans and independents, but all patriotic Democrats who put loyalty to the Nation above servility to a political leader, the victory was primarily won for straight-out Americanism. A very important feature to remember is that this victory wa

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THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS AND THE ENSLAVEMENT OF MANKIND

THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS AND THE ENSLAVEMENT OF MANKIND

November 22, 1918 The surest way to kill a great cause is to reduce it to a hard-and-fast formula and insist upon the application of the formula without regard to actual existing conditions. It is announced in the press that the President is going to the Peace Conference especially to insist, among other things, on that one of his fourteen points dealing with the so-called “freedom of the seas.” The President’s position in the matter is, of course, eagerly championed by Germany, as it has been G

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PRESIDENT WILSON AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE

PRESIDENT WILSON AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE

November 26, 1918 No public end of any kind will be served by President Wilson’s going with Mr. Creel, Mr. House, and his other personal friends to the Peace Conference. Inasmuch as the circumstances of his going are so extraordinary, and as there is some possibility of mischief to this country as a result, there are certain facts which should be set forth so clearly that there can be no possibility of misunderstanding either by our own people, by our allies, or by our beaten enemies, or by Mr.

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THE LEAGUE TO ENFORCE PEACE

THE LEAGUE TO ENFORCE PEACE

December 2, 1918 Ex-Ambassador Harry White is a capital appointee for the Peace Commission. He is not a Republican, but an independent in politics who has worked as closely with Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Olney as with Mr. McKinley and Mr. Root. It is a good thing to have him on in view of the exceedingly loose talk about the League of Nations or League to Enforce Peace. Fortunately Mr. Taft has set forth the proposal for such a league under existing conditions with such wisdom in refusing to let adh

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THE MEN WHOSE LOT HAS BEEN HARDEST

THE MEN WHOSE LOT HAS BEEN HARDEST

December 8, 1918 There recently died of pneumonia in France Major Willard Straight, of the American army. He was above the draft age, he was a man of large and many interests, he had a wife and three children. There was every excuse for him not to have gone to the front, but both he and his wife had in their souls that touch of heroism which makes it impossible for generous natures to see others pay with their bodies and not to wish to do so themselves. The one regret that Major Straight felt—an

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THE BRITISH NAVY, THE FRENCH ARMY, AND AMERICAN COMMON SENSE

THE BRITISH NAVY, THE FRENCH ARMY, AND AMERICAN COMMON SENSE

December 17, 1918 The first essential in an alliance is loyalty. The first effort of an enemy to an alliance is to produce disloyalty to one another among the Allies. To any man who knows anything of history these facts are of bromidic triteness. But the Administration, as usual, stands in urgent need of learning the elements of fair play and common sense. It was announced from the peace ship that President Wilson was going to work for the reduction of naval armaments and for a form of naval agr

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LET US HAVE STRAIGHTFORWARD SPEAKING

LET US HAVE STRAIGHTFORWARD SPEAKING

December 24, 1918 Senator Lodge in his admirable speech has given the reasons why at least five of the famous fourteen points should not be considered in the peace negotiations proper. But the special merit of Senator Lodge’s statement lies in the fact that it is straightforward and clear. There is no need of a key to find out what he means. The men who represent, or assume to represent, the United States at the Peace Conference, should be equally clear with our allies and our enemies and also w

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A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE MEN AT THE FRONT

A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE MEN AT THE FRONT

December 25, 1918 We should show our respect for the men at the front by more than mere adulation. They are the Americans who have done most and suffered most for this country. It was announced in the press that in many cases they and the families they have left behind have not for months received their full pay. This is an outrage. All civil officials are paid. The Secretary of War is paid, and he ought not to touch a dollar of his salary and no high official should touch a dollar of his salary

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THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS[2]

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS[2]

January 13, 1919 It is, of course, a serious misfortune that our people are not getting a clear idea of what is happening on the other side. For the moment the point as to which we are foggy is the League of Nations. We all of us earnestly desire such a league, only we wish to be sure that it will help and not hinder the cause of world peace and justice. There is not a young man in this country who has fought, or an old man who has seen those dear to him fight, who does not wish to minimize the

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