New-York tribune., 1915-08-04
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: | come from reading that "yirile" ex-
hortation to preparedness written by Theo-
dore Roosevelt in the current issue of pop
ular magazine, and | cannot refrain from
expressing my appreciation of it, 1t ought
to be of great value to the American people,
for it makes clear at last just where the
hero of San Juan Hill stands. There cannot
longer be the slightest doubt that he is
brother in the spirit to all the Won Bern
ihardis. Won Treitschkes and Won Tirptzes
of the Teutonic race. and if listened to will
do as much for the American people as those
immortal leaders of manly" thought have
done for the German people.
For he is giving us exactly the same argu-
ments with certain notifications to make
them more palatabe to the somewhat demo-
cratic Anglo-Saxon) that those gentlemen
used to spur on the declining military spirit
Of their people. In the same way that Won
Bernhard bewailed the growing effeminacy
of his nation, which seemed to show signs
of a waning interest in bloodshed, the Cave
Man of Oyster Bay puts on US the epithets
of "mollycoddle," sissy" "nursemaid" Cow
ard" and dad citizen" In the same way he
warns us that if we do not arm to the teeth
and place our sons under the iron yoke of
American military masters we shall some
dav have TO wear that of the foreign bred
variety.
Indeed so all important does he deem the
wearing of such a yoke that he declares en-
phatically that if we refuse to accept one
for
US would be to have Germany or Japan come
over and thrust theirs upon US. The essen
tial thing to him seems TO be that we shall
wear the yoke, no matter where 1T comes
from Well, ! am one of those almost in
cined to feel that if we must wear such a
yoke anyway it would perhaps be best to
allow the foreigner the expense of manufact-
urng it instead of shaving ourselves to death.
as the Germans have done, to forge our own
fetters.
One point of the doughty Colone's article
particularly interested me. That was his
righteous indictment of the early Christians.
Because some of them adhered sufficiently to
the primitive faith to refuse to wade through
slaughter to enthrone their creed they lost
Z
he points with satisfaction to the Christians
of Europe, who under Charles Martel were
such a contrast TO their more pacific
brethren. It is, thanks TO their taste for
fighting, that Christianity survives to-day in
Europe, he declares.
wonder if il ever occurred TO the trogo-
dyte mind that that is the very reason that
Christianity does not survive in Europe-the
reason that these so-called Christians, not
having Moslem enemies to fight, are now en-
gagged in numbering one another by hundreds
of thousands the reason. indeed, that Chris
tianity has come 10 be such an empty word
everywhere.
Even if he cannot see this, he may be able
TO see the injustice of referring TO pacifsts
as towards, for those pacifsts have always
before them the example of the Sissy" and
"mollycodde" Jesus Christ, who, though so
Enthusiastically milk and water" as 10 abjure
all force was able to walk TO the cross and
die like very much of a man-of all those
thousands of early Christian martyrs who,
bad citizens" though they were (and they
really were bad citizens from the Roman
point of view, just as the pacifsts are from
Theodore's), were none the less, able to go
to the lions and into the fire displaying al
most as much nerve as the Colonel did at
Las Guasimas
However, there are a good many people
like myself who claim to be neither paciists
nor Christians, who are "sssies" and molly
coddles" enough TO be rather suspicious Of
the swashbuckling gentleman's advice. Some
Of US are not so averse TO fighting, after all,
il we feel that we have something really
worth while to fight for, and if we were in
Germany to-day we would be fighting also.
But it would not be in the ranks of the
Kaiser. Instead we would be doing our