New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-07-25
THE NATIONS OPPORTUNITY
To Resist Temptation and Strike
for the Right.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Germany's reply to President Will
son's note faces us with the great tempta-
ton. Satan has led us to the top OF the high
mountain and is offering us the power ana
the glory if we will but serve him. what
shall be our answer
"Once to every man and nation comes the
moment TO decide.
In tho Strife of Truth with Falsehood. Tor
the good or evil side;
Some great cause, Gods new Messiah ohcr-
ing each the bloom or blight.
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the
sheep upon the right;
And the choice goes by forever, twixt that
darkness and that light"
We failed to take notice of the terrible
atrocities committed in Belgium; we sara
not a word by way Of protest against the
use Of asphyxiating gases and burning liquids
and we allowed the world to think that the
barbarities practised in this war concerned
us not at all. We acted thus, seemingly
because these matters were not in the pond
Well. we are now confronted with more per-
sonal matter The opportunity Is given Us
to declare ourselves in deed as well as IN
word for the bloom and the light.
We dare not miss this opportunity. FOR
I'M 20 now we have of set purpose, removed
ourselves from the divinely cleansing hres
Of this war. leaving L to individuals to purify
themselves in the natural springs OF their
charity. But the nation as whole IS SUN
unbaptized. and this weary length OF dipio-
matte correspondence, with its pitlaDle eH-
cuses, its evasive arguments and Its degrad-
ing pleas about the necessities OF war;
threatens to sterlize our native enthusiasm.
Az I 90 to business every morning l see
neople scanning the "war news" with mild
interest or with sighting comment on the
slovness of events Another yard gained
they say with shrug of the shoulders, and
proceed to shuttle the cards for the next
rubber. We seem to be a little tired of the
performance staged for US, as it were, in the
gladiatorial amphitheatres of Europe. IL IS
time we girded up our loins and made ready
70 enter the arena ourselves. i is time for
our souls sake.
For not only is our honor as nation at
stake. but the souls Ct our people are IN dan
ger of damnation. Is our neutrality to mean
utter silence at the continual devastation OF
civilization that is going on in Europe! Is
il to mean lf-complacency in that we are
not sufferers in the ruin of empires? Is our
nationality TO mean only our private safety,
our private comfort, our private prosperity
and our private peace? Has the United States
no interest in mankind other than business
interest? Once it staked its very existence
for a high ideal. II came out of that great
struggle, fifty years ago, nation so much
the more finely tempered in spirit than when
il entered il that it stands now, as 1t stood
on the occasion of its memorable founding,
rooted in those principles of humanity which
make for enlightenment and the rights OF
man in wider commonalty combined. Now
that those principles and rights have Deen|
ignored and trampled under foot, are we to
stand aside with smiling indifference? Is 1t
nossible for any true hearted American to
look unmoved at this tragedy of a second
Crucifxion that is being enacted before his
very eyes? cannot believe it. | cannot
believe that we are so utterly dead to all
the impulses that make for clean hearts and
brave souls.
What virtue there was in our neutrality is
now gone out of it. The vampire in Germany
has. in this its latest reply to US, sucked the
last drop of its life blood and there is now
nothing left of it but the pale corpse OF its
legal form.
We need not be afraid Of the outcome of
our entry into this struggle. We shall be for
the right and against might-and the fstes
are always kind to the daring lover And our
action will, | feel sure, hasten the coming of
the peace for which the whole world is now
waiting in an agony of expectation.
RETRO NE SATHANA.
New York, July %, 1915