Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1915-12-14
anything like this before. It never

piled some of the best and strongest
elements of that little, but how heroic,
nation that in a high day Of old staked
its very life to free itself from every
ENHANCEMENT that had darkened the
fortunes of the older nations and set
up a new standard here-that men
of such origins and such free choices
of allegiance would ever turn in
malign reaction against the govern
ment and people who had welcomed
and nurtured them and seek to make
this proud country once more a hot
bed of European passion. A little
while ago such a thing would have
seemed incredible. Because it was
incredible we made no preparation
for it. We would have been almost
ashamed to prepare for it, as II we
were suspicious of ourselves, our own
comrades and neighbors! But the
ugly and incredible thing has actual
ly come about and we are without
adequate federal laws to deal with it.
l urge you to enact such laws at the
earliest possible moment and feel that
in doing so l am urging you to do
nothing less than save the honor and
self-respect of the nation. Such crea-
lures of passion, disloyalty, and an
archy must be crushed out. They are
not many, but they are infinitely
malignant, and the hand of our power
should close over them at once. They
have formed plots to destroy property
they have entered into conspiracies
against the neutrality of the govern
ment. they have sought to pry into
every confidential transaction of the
government in order to serve interests
alien to our own. 1t is possible to
deal with these things very effectually.
l need not suggest the terms in which
they may be dealt with.
Are Disgrace to the Nation.
l wish that it could be said that
only a few men, misled by mistaken
sentiments of allegiance to the govern
ments under which they were born,
had been guilty of disturbing the self
possession and misrepresenting the
temper and principles of the country
during these days of terrible war,
when it would seem that every man
who was truly an American would
instinctively make it his duty and his
pride to keep the scales of judgment
even and prove himself partisan of
no nation but his own. But it cannot.
There are some men among us, and
many resident abroad who, though
born and bred in the United States
and calling themselves Americans,
have so forgotten themselves and
their honor as citizens as to put their
passionate sympathy with one or the
other side in the great European con-
flict above their regard for the peace
and dignity of the United States They
also preach and practice disloyalty.
No laws, | suppose, can reach cor
ruptions of the mind and heart; but
should not speak of others without
also speaking of these and expressing
the even deeper humiliation and scOrn
which every self-pOssessed and
thoughtfully patriotic American must
feel when he thinks of them and of
the discredit they are daily bringing
upon us.
While we speak of the preparation
of the nation to make sure of her
security and her effective power we
must not fall into the patent error of
supposing that her real strength
comes from ornaments and mere safe
guards Of written law.
What is more important is, that the
industries and resources of the coun-
try should be available and ready for
mobilization.
The transportation problem is an
exceedingly serious and pressing one
in this country There has from
time to time Of late been reason
to fear that our railroads would
not much longer be able to cope with
it successfully, as at present equipped
and co-ordained. I suggest that it
would be wise to provide for a COM
mission of inquiry to ascertain by a
thorough canvass Of the whole ques-
ton whether our laws as at present
framed and administered are as serv-
iceable as they might be in the solu-
ton of the problem. 1t is obviously
problem that lies at the very founda-
ton of our efficiency as a people. Such
an inquiry ought to draw out every
circumstance and opinion worth con-
sidering and we need to know all sides
Of the matter if we mean to do any
thing in the field Of federal legislation.
Regulation of Railroads.
No one, l am sure, would wish to
take any backward step. The regula-
ton of the railways of the country by
federal commission has had admirable
results and has fully justified the
hopes and expectations of those by
whom the policy of regulation was
originally proposed. The question is
not what should we undo? 1t is,
whether there is anything else we can
do that would supply us with effective
means, in the very process of regula-
ton, for lettering the conditions I'M
der which the railroads are operated
and for making them more useful serv-
ants of the country as a whole. 1t
seems to me that it might be the part
of wisdom, therefore, before further
legislation in this field is attempted, to
look at the whole problem of coordina-
ton and efficiency in the full light of a
fresh assessment of circumstance and
opinion, as a guide to dealing with the
several parts of it.
For what we are seeking now, what
in my mind is the single thought of
this message, is national efficiency and
security. We serve a great nation.
We should serve it in the spirit of it's
peculiar genius. 1t is the genius of
common men for self-government, in
dustry, justice, liberty and peace. We
should see to it that it lacks no instru-
ment, no facility or vigor of law, to
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