Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1915-08-26
America s Part "Ignoble. -


90 For 10 months America has playe'
an ignOble part among the nations. W
have tamely submitted to seeing tn
weak, whom we had covenanted to pro
tect, wrOnged. We have seen our owl
men, women and children murdered
on the nigh seas without action on on
part. lnasmuch as we as natloi
have done nothing whatever for ma
tional defense during tine past L
months, it is well that private individ
uals should have tried, however lnsut
ficiently, to provide some kind of sub
stitute for proper governmental action
The army officers and enlisted mer
have put all good Americans under 9
fresh debt by what they have done IN
connection with this camp; and we owe
much to the private citizens who have
advanced the money without which the
camp could not have been held.
" You men have had to pay for the
privilege Of learning how td serve your
country. For every one man like your
selves who can afford to come here
there are hundred equally good Amer
lean citizens, equally patriotic, who
would like to come and are unable to-
1t is undemocratic that the young
farmer, that the young hired man on a
farm, that the hard working clerk or
mechanic, or day labOrer, all of whom
wish TO serve the country as much as
you do, and are as much entitled to
the benefit Of this camp as yOn are,
should be unable to attend sucn camp.
They cannot attend it unless the ma
ton does as Switzerland has done and
gives the opportunity for every gen
erous and right thinking American to
learn by, say, six months actual serv-
ice in one year T two years, now to
do his duty to the country if the need
arises.
Poltroons Must Learn Lesson.
Every man worth his salt will wish
to come to these camps. As for the
professional pacificists and the pol
troms and college sissies or organized
peace-at'any-price societies, and the
mere money getters and mere money
spenders, they should be made to under
stand they have got to render what,
ever service the country demands.
" Under The Hague convention it was
our bounden duty to take whatever ac-
ton was necessary to prevent, and, if
not to prevent them, to undo the hide
Gus wrong that was done to Belgium.
We have shirked this duty. We have
shown a spirit so abject that Germany
las deemed it safe to kill our women
and children on the high seas As for
the export Of munitions of war, it
would be base abandonment of moral.
ity to refuse to make these shipments,
Such n refusal is supposed only to
favor the nation that sank tine Lusi-
tania and the Arabic and committed the
crime against Belgium.
"lt is an evil thing to practice
timid and selfish neutrality between
right and wrong. II is right for a
private firm to furnish arms to the
policeman who puts down the thug, the
burglar, the white SLAYER and the black.
handler, 1t is wrong to furnish the
blackhander, the burglar and the white
SLAYER with weapons to be used against
the policeman,
Analogy Applied to Nations.
"The analogy 1olds true in interna-
tonal life, Let us furnish munitions to
he men who, showing courage we have
not shown, wish to rescue Belgium
from subsection and spoilation and
degradation. And let us encourage
munition makers so that we may be
able to hold our own when the hour of
peril comes to MS in our turn, as
assuredly it will come if we show our.
selves too neutral to speak word on
behalf Of the weak who are wronged