The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-09

-
talk about 1t for a year and bind our
selves to take no action prior to that
time? III they do mean these things, II
! our people mean these things, then let
them honestly say so. From my
standpoint such action would be IN
/ conceivably base and cowardly.
i Nevertheless. 1t is at least possible to
accept the mental integrity of the man
! taking II, If he announces from the
beginning that such is his intention.
But it is absolutely and grossly Inn
proper to take It unless the concrete
case to which the general principle
/ is to apply is thus set markedly forth
at the outset. and we agree to abide
/ by action in such concrete case.
! Again. there are Pacific slope edi-
tors and public men who have ex-
citedly applauded that phase OF the
peace-at-any-price propaganda, in ac-
/ cordance with which ii is proposed
that we shall bind ourselves to ar
! bitrate all questions including those
of national honor and vital national
/ interest The movement has been
strong even In California. Now, do
these men and editors who champion
/ this form of peace movement in Cali
fornia, Oregon and Washington mean
that we shall in good faith submit
/ W pNtclnCES LOA al uflAdlApit INV hNNS
ton whether or not there shall be an
unlimited immigration of Asiatics to
/ our shore? Do they mean That a
court containing judges from Japan.
Siam. China. Venezuela, Colombia and
! Ecuador, as we'll as from the Euro
pean powers, shall say whether or
not we have a right 70 decide what
immigrants shall come TO our shores
and her esta blished citizenship? The
Californian who does not believe in
arbitrating the question whether there
shall be such unlimited immigration
of Asiatics to California is guilty of
the grossest bad faith when he cham
pions or fails to condemn such pro-
/ posals. when ne votes for or approves
/ Of the thirty odd peace commission
treaties recently passed by the pres
ent Administration, and the all-in-
/ elusive treaties proposed by the pre-
/ ceding Administration. l hold that
! to arbitrate the question whether we
should or should not allow the un-
| limited immigration of Asiatics to our
shores would be dreadful wrong,
1t is an almost equally se-t5us wrong
! to conclude a treaty specifically bind
ing us to accept such arbitration, and
then to repudiate the treaty.
|
NOW, IHe IdCL tU1l lltSt ulAtF anu
female professional peace enthusiasts
who have screamed so bustly for
peace during the past year have been
afraid to make any concrete protest
against wrong is doubtless due pri-
marily to sheer fear on their part.
They were afraid of the trouble and
effort implied In acting about Mexi-
co. Above all, they are afraid of
Germany. Those of them who are
politicians are afraid of the German
! American vote; for these professional
! pacifists have no sense of national
honor and are great encouragers of
| hyphenated Americanism. But in adj
dition they are terrorized. they are
cowed, by the ruthless spirit of Ger
man militarism. The Berlin Lokal
Anzeiger spoke AS follows after the
sinking of the I.usitania:
Il I'VE do not wish to gain the love
of the Americans, but we desire to be
respected by them. The loss of the
Lusitania will earn that respect for
us more than a hundred battles won
on land
! or course. when the Lokal Anzeiger
spoke of inspiring respect" in Amer
lea, what it really meant was that II
would inspire fear. The murder of
women and children does not inspire
respect; but, unfortunately. 1t may in
spire fear. AS a matter of fact
think 1t did inspire fear among our
pacifists There are plenty of Amer
/ leans like myself who Immensely ad-
mire the efficiency of the Germans
in industry and in war. the efficiency
with which IN this war they have
i subordinated the whole social and In
\ dustrial activity OF the State to the
successful prosecution of the war, and
I who greatly admire the German peo-
pie, and regard the German strain
as one of the best and strongest strains
in our composite American blood, but
who fell the German Government. the
German governing class, has in tlis
war shown such ruthless and donni
neering disregard for the rights OF
others as TO demand protest, and ii
u Unnecessary further action on ouE part
Unfortunately, this ruthless and bru-
! tai efficiency has, as regards many
men of the pacifist type, achieved pre-
cisely the purpose 1t was intended 10
achieve. AS part of her program
Germany has counted on the effect OF
} terrorism upon all men of soft ma
ture. The sinking of the Lusitania
was intended primarily as terrorism
Just as the use of poison gas in the
trenches Ca use defensible only If one
also detendS the poisoning OF wells
and the torture of prisoners) was in,
tended as terrorism. The object
terrorization--has not been achieved
as regards the fighting men of Eng
land, France, Belgium, Russia. Italy
} and Servia But IL has had a dis
tinctive effect in cowing timid persons
everywhere. do not believe It would
have any effect In cowing the bulk OF
our people II our people could be wax
ed up to what has happened but
have no question that II has q very
great effect in cowing that noisy sec
ton of our people which has talked
! loudest about peace at any price. The
people VINO say of the present Admin
!, istration that lat any rate, 1t has kept
us out of trouble with Mexico or Ger
many: the people who say that we
ought not to act about the Lusitanta
the people who say we ought not te
have acted on behalf of Belgium, In
clude in their ranks very many of the
persons VINO are cowed by Germany
who are afraid of what Germany
would do If we stood up for our own
i rights or for the rights of other and
; weaker peoples. Recently. In certain
circles, some popularity has been
achieved by song entitled Il Didn't
Raise My Boy to Be Soldier"-a
: song which ought always to be sung
with a companion piece entitled II
i Didn't Raise NV Girl TO Be a Mother"