New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-09
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Is it not time for the President to de-
fine what he means by the rights Of man.
and "rights of mankind" for which alone he
says the American people should be willing
to fight? In his speech at Omaha on October
he is reported to have said:
1--WE want always to hold the force OF
America to fight for what? Not merely for
the rights of property or of national ambition
but for the rights of mankind. Nothing that
concerns humanity, nothing that concerns the
essential rights of mankind, can be foreign
or Indifferent to US"
And again:
when you are asked, Aren't you willing
to fight? reply yes, you are waiting for some
thing worth fighting for. You are not looking
about for petty quarrels, but you are look
ing about for that sort of quarrel within
whose intricaces are written all the texts OF
the rights of man."
On July 4, 1875, body Of men who we're
neither too proud nor afraid to fight met in
building still standing in Philadelphia and
signed a paper, still in existence, in the
opening paragraphs of which they declared,
among other things:
I'VE hold these truths to be self-evident
that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain UNI
alienable Rights, that among these are Life
liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; that
to secure these rights Governments are in
stituted among Men, deriving their just pow
ers from the consent of the governed; that
whenever any Form of Government becomes
doct 1T ia ie oh
the People to alter or to abolish it and to
institute new government, laying its founda-
dation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their Safety and Happi-
mess"
The purpose Of the revolution contemplated
by this Declaration of independence having
been fulfilled, other bodies of distinguished
men met and adopted a Constitution or char
ter for the new Republic, and among the
principles formulated as part of the scheme
to promote the general Welfare and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterty," and placed in that section of the
Constitution commonly called the "Bill of
Rights" is the declaration that no person
shall "be deprived of life, liberty or prop
crty without due process of law" 1t 49, OF
course, quite possible that these men Of an
elder generation were too stupid TO under
stand that what they were really doing was
not establishing country where ordinary
men and women were to live under the i'm
rression that their lives and property bore
& close relation to their pursuit Of happiness,
but a country who chief care should be not
the protection of its own citizens in the pur-
suit Of happiness and the enjoyment of other
inaienable rights, including that of prop
erty. but Service to mankind" which being
interpreted la Wilson means yielding their
inalienable rights, including that of life,
whenever another country should covet them.
Mr.. Frederick j. Stimson in his treatise on
the Law of the Federal and State Constitu-
tions" says
"Most important in our Constitution to-
dav is that portion which is not the frame OF
government, but the liberties of the people;
the Part most neglected by historians and IN
treatises upon constitutional law"
Did he when penning these words realize
that he was prophesying what should some
dav be done by an eminent historian en-
sconced in the White House?