Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-07-21
WIN. IR MILLS
new YORK letter
New York, July Is, 1916

New York, July Is, 1916.
Forty-nine stars In the American
flag! Yes. it is seriously proposed to
create new state, right In the heart
of the thickly-settled East. For
Greater New York Is In revolt against
the control Of it's affairs by the state
government. It demands home rule,
but won't get more than shadow Of
autonomy from the Constitutional
| Convention now In session.
So the talk is of secession. It is
only talk now, but the seeds Of polit-
ical action are sown in talk, and the
agitation foretells of a formidable
movement to cut New York State in
two.
The greater city, formed in 1898.
with Long Island, would form the
smallest state in the Union in area,
not any bigger than little Rhode Is
land, but. with more than 5000, 900
people, the proposed State of Man
haitian would be larger in population
than any other American Common
wealth except Pennsylvania.
The remainder of the state, with
about 100000 Inhabitants, would
then rank fourth, the order being Pen
sylvania, Manhattan, Illinois and New
York. But which would be the EN-
pire State? Would the title go with
the name with which it is now associ-
ate.:, or would it belong to the new
city-state?
This is not going to be done today
or tomorrow, but it is on the calen-
dar, for city of 100000 people can
not be expected to remain a minority
in the Legislature of state of 11,O0O,-
900 inhabitants, and the Constitution
III Convention refuses to grant repre-.
sentation in proportion to population
There was series of distinct sur
prises in the public reception of Ger
many's reply to the Presidents note
Brushing aside the lingo idea thai
I'VE must get what we demanded be
cause we demanded it," and ignoring
the Nominations of leading metropo!
itan newspapers, the men in the stree
saw in the contemporaries of thu
Imperial Government fair provision
for the safety of American traveller:
and accepted this as granting the sub
stance, if not the form, of the Ameri
can demands.
This of their minds, the public be
gan to question, as the "American'
put it, whether the Government hat
any right to demand that German,
cease to attack British commerce ex
= cept under regulations laid down b.
the American Government. Whel
the issue seemed to be Humanity VS.
International Law, the public wa
!. keen for Humanity, and was even will
ing to back the President in the ex
pertinent Of attempting to make inter
national law to fit the case, but TIL
dictates of humanity having now beef
met by the Germans, the sentiment il
the street has become more toleran
of submarine warfare, as something
that no longer threatens American
lives, except so far as Americans
= willfully put themselves in peril.
With the simmering down of this is
sue, there came crystallizing of tn
sentiment that america should de
mand all it's neutral rights from al
combatants, and nothing but it's neu
trail rights from any combatant."
So the topic in the streets today i
not so much the Lusitania as the in
reference with American commerce
under the British Orders in Council
Americas protest was fouted by tn
: long range blockade" which is n
t blockade at all, and neutral commerce
v is held up on the high seas in viola
u ton Of international law, and to tn
q enormous loss of America.
y There is a rapidly rising tide of re
q sentiment against this violation of tn
+ freedom of the seas, for which Am
9 erica fought in 1912, and there
q steadily increasing demand that thi
+ Government deal as firmly with Grea
~ Britain as with Germany, defendin,
, all our just rights, requiring that GU
=, commerce be respected as we'll as tn
y lives of our people.
OF course this feeling is most kee]
right here at the commercial centre O
- America, but it is a feeling that i
radiating out along the national high
'. ways Of trade to the producing cite
- and towns whose goods are rottin
- unpaid-for in British ports.
VI So there was immediate popular re
. Spouse this week to the demand O
Hannis Taylor that the Congress b.
called together, for the remedy lies il
that body. The weapon to compel al
belligerents to respect all American
rights is not diplomatic correspond
ence, but the menace of an embargo.
s Presidential politics are stirrin,
J. here. Col. Roosevelt let's loose a de
e fiance of Germany and demand TO
the reconquering of Belgium and set
y out gayly-in the other direction. Blu
there appears the same day a sup
q posedly authorized statement that h,
e will accept 'any decent Republican,
4 for the Presidency. Thereat the Pro
e gressives shiver and few more tum
Bile back into the G. o. p, while tn,
; unregenerate cynically ask if there /.
anyone who fits the Colonels test ex