The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-11-26
AMERICA, FIRST, LAST
AND ALL THE TIME
New York Staats-Zeitung0


Following is probably the last edi-
torial written by the late Herman Rid
der, one of the best beloved German
Americans of the United States, and, !
editor of that great German periodical
the New York StaatsZeitung. He
died two weeks ago.
The words of President Wilson
spoken at the jubilee of the Daugh-
tiers of the American Revolution to
the entire American people, must
serve as a reminder to those who have
been ready, nay, anxious to draw US
into the war, that the ideals of Ameri-
cans are pledged to peace.
Sentimentally we are divided, as a
people, into three groups over the
merits of the war. There are those
who sympathize with Germany, there
are those who sympathize with Brit
ain, and there are those who sympa-
thize with neither belligerent.
The first and last group have never,
to my knowledge, urged our partici-
patton in the war. | cannot recall
single German sympathizer who has
advocated the abandonment of pol
icy of neutrality. There are some who
do not admit our particular brand OF
neutrality to be eminently fair to
both parties, but they do not urge
war as a remedy for the situation.
The only call for war has come from
the group of British sympathizers.
admit they are powerful and numer-
Gus. They include the financial ana
journalistic power of the United
States. 1t is to the credit of the presi-
dent that he has not yielded to this
insistent clamor for war. A less de-
termined man, a less just man might
have, long since, yielded to the i'm
portunities of the powerful propagan-
da of American Intervention in behalf
of Great Britain.
The following sentences addressed
to all Americans should be platform
upon which all Americans should
stand:
america has heart, and that
heart throbs with all sorts of intense
sympathies, but America has schooled
its heart to love the things that
America believes in, and it ought to
devote itself only to the things that
America believes in, and, believing
that America stands apart in its ideals,
it ought not to- allow itself to be divid-
ed, so far as its heart is concerned,
into anybody's quarrel Not because it
does not understand the quarrel, not
because it does not in its head assess
the merits of the controversy, but be-
cause America has promised the world
to stand apart and maintin certain
principles of action which are ground
ed in law and in justice. We are not
trying to keep out of trouble, we are
trying the preserve the foundation up
on which peace can be rebuilt. Peace
can be rebuilt only upon the ancient
and accepted principles of information
al law, only upon those things which
remind nations of their duties to each
other, and, deeper than that, of their
duties to mankind and to humanity. >
We owe ourselves the duty of sym
pathy and understanding. We owe
ourselves the trial of standing closer
together, shoulder, to shoulder, during
days of stress. Our national life must
not be scared by lines of division, by
the HOPELESS setting~of class against
class. The great melting pot must
continue to blend and harmonic.
Our foreign born citizens, be they a
Schurz, or Lane, or Coudert, can and
should unite to keep us out of this
war. 1t is difficult for those of British
or French ancesty to realize that we
have a higher duty to perform than
to send our young men to the slaugn-
ter"
Men like Roosevelt and Elliot can
learn much from the millions oil
Americans of German birth, who have
never deviated by single word from
the policy of neutrality declared at the
beginning of the war
If America is Dledped to a OoiicN
of peace, then those who shout fol
war are the real enemies of America
If our ideals demand a neutrality Of
action, then those, who urge war be,
tray our ideals.
Let the weight of public opinion
fall upon those who would drag u,
into the fray, and let it support Those
who hope and pray that such a day
may never come.
rITH TIT@TT oT@N