New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-26

/ ,nsrt Of the ricicS OF CdnoU'uHS r.
| ,o,dirq the attitude Of the United
States ,o,rcrd the combatants an the
EHropson rar.
Vbv have we not entered this war and
!, = not a national obsession from which
sball awaken o sadly sobered people!
srv citizen of the United States who
,.ks that ouesdon-and it is constantly
| ,.ked-lays bare thereby the fundamental
,asson why Canadian esteem for our great
,scbbor has dissolved into very thin ar
| .,co August 4. 1914. Rightly or wrongly,
viselv or fooHshly, the people Of my coun-
.v believe. with unanimity that most
Americans have as yet failed to realize
hs. the United States has reached the
,riroBs stage in its national development
rbsn if instinctively weighs It's principles
m the scales Of material good and finds
them lighter than they once were. WIN
bitter disappointment that is deeper be-
cause our friendship has been 50 long
lived and because we wished so 10 stand
,orether. the conviction has come at last
that the nation which at its birth was
dedicated "to secure the blessings Of lib
erty 10 ourselves and our posterity' has
in this great crisis proven unworthy OF
its great traditions and noble founders.
We utterly refuse 10 believe that Amer
cans at large indorse the infamy Of The
Savannah Press" when it says: Whatever
NAV be the facts il the quarrel between
England and Germany, the vital fact with
Us is that American trade is suffering ~
We have never thought that the present
opportunities for the acquisition Of world
trade were the only narcotic influence;
but after watching events closely during
the last eighteen months we have been
forced 70 the conclusion that the United
States does put comfort before con-
scierce," that it does think mV1e Of the
horrors Of war than it does Of the horrors
Of Injustice" that lt as looked at It's re-
sponsibilities 70 humanity-hyins and 70
eome-through the glasses Of present ex-
pediency. and as one of the great moral
forces Of the world it has failed Of its
duty.
II it be urged that this war is none Of
your making, but only a jealous contention
for supremacy between Germany and Eng
land, we answer that it is certainly none
Of ours. but that every thoughtful Ameri-
can knows in his heart Of hearts It is the
nightiest conflict Of ideals the world ever
saw, the final death struggle between
democracy and tyranny in which any ma
tional riyalries are the rerest incidental,
and if we Canadians did not believe this
absolutely not even our allegiance or our
debt Of honor % Great Britain would have
sufhced 70 make US enter the CHASTITY fray.
II you say that war is q reversion 20 bar
bsrism and settles nothing, we answer that
submission 20 the forces VIC are opposing
would % any man who loves liberty be
worse than death itself, and would settle
the fate Of all free MISUNDERSTANDING the
United States-beyond all doubt or cayil.
The attitude Of Germany and her allies
toward "hfe, liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness" is no longer matter 81 argu-
meut L has been brazenly proclaimed in
Zabern and Luxembourg, in Belgium and
Armenia, IN the Lusitania, the Ancona and
all the other bloodthirsty examples, in
pagan Bernhard and his followers, in
broken treaties and traitorous hyphenated
citizenship. Who would weigh these IN
the same scales with an over-zealous Brit
ish inspection Of American cargoes at sea?
And the menace Is 20 all the world. We
know that the "Frankfurter Zeitung' only
voiced the intention Of the Kaiser and his
war lords when il said: "As soon as Ger
many has rec1perated from the war she
vii undertake a widespread well organ
lied work Of education in America" and,
IL necessary, stronger attitude will be
adopted % American alterations
Mind you, We do not think and we
never have thought or suggested, that
the United States should take up arms
and enter the fight; at least not unless
abe wished % DO 50 for her own sake. Pure
sltruiGn u that kind is TOO much 20 ex-
pet Of any nation, and we are by no
mean sure that We should be fighting
now II Great Britain we're not bound in
honor, and also constrained By the Ger
mar menace ~ the empire. 20 leave her
bland security and send heg forces into
Europe and her navy forth On the seas
What the Canadian people h0d hoped for
what believe all the world. outside OF
Tie Central Powers, had hopc1 for-"as
nat when Belg1m's neutrality was NO
iA,ed and her innocent people crushed IN
ins d.abolical way they we're the United
etaNs, a. The one great power standing
es'aehed and impartial, the one neutral
nsron which could speak With some au-