Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-11

take every advantage of the country until
/ the coufAry wakes again and shows who Is
master. The waking must come at once.
| rs THIS nation of villagers? For year
we have been asleep and talking in our
sleep of theories, of militarism and of pa
! cfsm. The terrible light of day has been
! beating in through our windows and yet we
! sleep. For six months our Congress has
shuffied its footless way toward popgun pre-
paredness There is chance, a last desperate
| chance that the country will wake and be
galvanized into action once more by contact
with the cold electric steel of fact.
| It is no longer necessary to discuss any.
thing. We do not need to know whom the
United States is to fear as an invader. We
do not have to learn CALLING lesson from
Great Britain. We need not cry for war or
prepare to beg for peace. We must only rec
ognize exactly what the condition of the
United States is at this moment.
In simplest terms the situation is this. In
order to punish q bandit who had committed
murder on American soil the President of the
United States has sent virtually the entire
mobile regular army of the United States into
a foreign country or to the frontier. To meet
the threats of n disorganized and anarchical
country that force found shamefully and
dangerously inadequate and the President was
compelled to call upon the National Guard OF
three States to relieve part of the regular
force on frontier duty II the entire Guard
responds, some 5000 men will be relieved for
active service. In the face OF a second raid
the commander of the United States forces
compelled to report, IL have no more men
to send"
At that very moment the two Houses of
Congress found themselves hopeessy apart
lin
mum be accepted for regular army of 250.O00
men to safeguard a population of 100 900, 900.
The disagreement came after FIVE agonizng
months. in every day of which the United
States threatened with war
In the five months since Congress has met
no provision has been made for ammunition
or guns, for commissariat, for promptly In
creasing the number of trained officers, for
enlarging the personnel of the navy. for build
ing ships, for exploiting the advantages
of the aeroplane for making even the small
army and navy at our disposal effective
weapons Of self-defense. The record of Con-
gress is one of deliberate indifference to the
demonstrated necessities of the country. But
that is not ALL
Beyond this schedule of physical facts there
lies the damning evidence of our year of dis
grace with Germany. Because the submarine
issue seems for the moment to be settled Con-
gress relapses into its state of mental coma
Because the disgrace has been wiped out by
an activity of patience and diplomatic skill
possibly without parallel in our history Con-
gress assumes that 1t ia forgotten The shame
is not that we did not go to war with Germany,
but that in alternate spasms of hysteria and
cowardice Congress did give Germany ample
reason for believing that under no condition
would we go to war. A hateful and unse. ,
ductive Delah Congress has twice laid it's
shears on the locks of a worn and luxurious
Samson.
But Samson can only be shorn If he is
asleep. Half a year ago, when the President
spoke for moderate item Of self-defense, 1t
seemed as If no inert body could Withstand
the terrible impact of ideas which came to us
from Europe. No one expected the country to
be heroic" No one asked 1t to play the heavy
hero in meodrama. What was ardenty de-
sired was a modicum OF good sense, a calm
realization of dangers cool loyalty to the
principles of our faith in democracy. It seems
that even that has been denied
The United States, If it is betrayed by Con-
gress and accepts that betrayal may we'll be
called "a nation of Villagers" England suffers
today because 1t does not yet understand that
its frontier is not on the North Sea, but some
suffer eternaly until 1t realizes that its from
tier is created anew wherever and whenever
the rights of an American citizen are trnperiled |
or denied. But villagers we have lived in |
prosperous ease. Our very wars have minis. |
tered to our riches and our pride. With lofty |
words of brotherhood and universal love we |
have concealed the cowardice Of our pacihsm. |
The American pacifist. in New England or in |
Idaho, is against war not because he loves his |
enemy, but because he loves himself VII, |
layers at heart, we have thought of war as |
struggle for land commerce. while our |
country has grown so that we must fight for |
principles and for faith. Self-centred, ignorant
Of the world. content in the corruption of our
luxury, grasping at small things. incapable of
the tremendous revolutions which |
the war will bring, concerned with money
and immured in self-esteem. we stand ready
TO forfeit the proud heritage of a clear-eyed |
and capable liberty. of democracy with all its
deals made real.
Congress was once the most august law
making body In the world because. 1t was a
group OF statesmen legislating for a nation
Of freemen. Today Congress Is a group of
politicians leglslating as If for a nation of
villagers. If that is the kind of Congress the
nation wants it can say so next November.
II not. a mandate and warning should be
sent to Congress at once. If Congress is
wrong Heaven help 1t on election day. But
L Congress is right, may Heaven help the
country!