The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1915-08-13
MR.. BRYAN's POSITION.


AuOTe tnhu scraps OF paper Oh III
treaties he has negotiated, and o
: which history will judge his caree
as Secretary OF State. There mus
; be a sentiment behind these treatie
; or in case of any incident affecting
the national honor in public opinion
, the prediction of Mr. Roosevelt will
come true and no attention will b,
paid to them. 1t is true we had nj
| such treaty with Germany, but thai
country had accepted the principle
and again proposed to abide by it
lIf we are bound by solemn treaties
Ito arbitrate with any one of thirty
countries of the world, how may we
consistently refuse similar peaceful
lconciliation between friendly coun-
TRY and ourselves, even If no treaty
ACTUALLY has been signed.
AMERICAN SYMPTOMS OF WAR
FEVER.
One reason for the change in pub
lie view-and the main reasons
4
that we are being tremendously in
fiuenced by what is going on abroad.
AS gladiatorial spectacles made Rome
callous to suffering so we may not.
without becoming more or less indif-
ferent and brutalized, look on these
llife-and-death struggles which are
making shambles of the war zones
of Europe. Unconsciously also we
are adopting the military point of
view and theories formerly held are
now dubbed Utopian. We are ex-
hibiting some of the symptoms of
that hysteria which frightened each
of the countries with the belief that
it was about to be attacked by the
enemy, and caused it to redouble
preparations for national defense, so
that when the day of ultimatums
came each was confident of strength
and the cataclysm was certain. All
of this plays into the hands of our
own military party, and such
thoughts, of course, are selfishly en-
couraged by makers of ammunition
and other munitions of war, ship
builders, rifle-makers, aeroplane and
submarine contractors and by all the
many interests which expect in one
way or another to profit financially
by war
Our observations of the scenes
too. have swayed us from
neutrality and aroused prejudices old
or new
Language, of course, is the strong
est of influences. Nearly all our
people read English only. The his
tory and literature in that language
are accessible to every fairly well
educated person. In addition the
laws, customs, social and religious |
influences of the Anglo-Saxon are
strong with us. The larger proper
lion of our foreign commerce is with |
under the British flag and |
English capital in immense sums has |
been invested here. So we have alb
'orbed from English writer's their |
views of history and politics and the |
'easons they assign for the war and
heir reports of its progress.
The German military machine is |
leld up before us as the juggernaut1
civilization, while the Brit
sh naval machine, even though de-
lying us the freedom of the seas, is
described as almost a beneficient in
and an instrument for the
ulfillment of Anglo-Saxon destiny.
Therefore, not even on the Fourth
# July do we any longer twist the
ions tail, and there are some pre-
umably patriotic citizens who look
With no disfavor on the possible
ctual union of the two countries.
AS for the actual events of the
onfiict to date, the situation even
nore strongly tends to misconcep-
ion. We are informed of only what
he London censor allows to pass his
lue pencil. Even German official
ispatches are edited in London.
When we add to the above the fact
hat the average American news
aper reader gets his information on
Y from the headlines written over
be mutilated dispatches, we may
now how likely public opinion on
he subject may be ignorant or
rejudiced.
Nor did Teutonic behavior i'm
rove the situation. The German
ress was bitter and untactful. So :
t the time the Lusitania was sunk
ur minds were almost without .
that we were committed !
, the principle of arbitration; and
e were as restless under such sug- :
estion as was Austria Hungary !;
hen the archduke and consort were 4
illed. II
All of which may well justify the r
uery, Is there any assurance that .
lie psychological influences which
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