New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-17
Chairman. Rockwell and
Prince
and

battlefield in France, is a new remind
CIR of the fashion in which America
Is represented in the world struggle.
In recent days three young men,
Chapman. Rockwell and Prince, have
given their lives in the struggle for
what many Americans, most Amerl-
cans of the Revolutionary strain, be-
lieve to be principles which are
American, and to defeat what they
conceive to be clear and deliberate
effort TO undermine the whole struct-
ure of democracy in the world.
There is no more splendid page in
contemporary American life than
that which is supplied by the scores
of young men who have volunteered
for service in France, either with the
French colors or with those ambu-
lance corps whose work will remain
a permanent bond of sympathy be-
tween two great democracies. These
young men have gone to the front in
the spirit and temper of the Crusad-
ers; they have gone with an eager
but a comprehending desire to serve
the cause and the principles which
they deem most worth while in this
world.
Those who have met these Ameri-
can boys, for many of them are only
boys. either in France or on the jour
neys to and from this country, have
been impressed with their spirit, their
devotion, and above all the point of
view which they have as to the issues
of the struggle now going forward
and the meaning Of this struggle to
Americans. If one desired a COM
plete statement of what the German
thing means in Europe to-day it
could not be better expressed for him
than in the simple, veracious, modest
words of these boys, who have faced
German shells, seen German brutal
ity and known the beastliness, as we'll
as the inhumanity, which marks leu
tonic methods.
In a sense it is a little thing, this
contribution of America. We have
given but a few lives, we are risking
the lives of but a few hundred of our
youth. in a contest which is eating up
the manhood of many nations, and
vet there is something symbolical and
hopeful in this response of American
youth, spontaneously, splendidly, TO
a call which sounds but vaguely upon
the ears of an older generation.
Those who find reasons for pessi-
mism in contemporary American life,
in the snug, selfish, materialistic
spirit Of 50 many men Of middle age,
who see the denial of so much of
what Americans in other generations
believed and fought for, must still
find warrant for optimism in the
actions, for their words are very few,
Of the many young men who have
offered all they had or hoped to have
TO the cause Of human liberty, which
is being fought for in France.
With the realities Of life. as con-
trasted with the theories and the pre-
fences, these boys are becoming well
acquainted. Those who return will
bring back TO their own country a
useful, precious commentary upon
the weak, the fabby and the futile
policies and purposes which still hold
so many Americans in thrall and
make the American situation as
grave as was that Of Great Britain
when the war broke out.
We shall continue to be proud
many Of US, that there were Ameri
cans, American boys, who had tn,
courage and the inspiration 70 serv
in France, TO repay, in very rea
way, the debt which American de
mocracy owed 10 France from tn
hour Of Lafayette. His spirit, hi
enthusiasm, his loyalty to a grea
and noble principle, is theirs. The
cross the seas, as did he, TO serve i
an army fighting for a cause whic
is neither limited by national from
tiers nor circumscribed by the wild
est seas. What our ancestors Tough
for at Lexington, Concord and Bun
ker Hill, what they establishe'
through the victories Of Saratog'
and Yorktown, the French are fight
ing for. From Marathon 10 tn
Marne the road runs straight ant
clear.
That old America, the America
which derives from the sufferings
struggles, traditions Of l775, will b.
permanently grateful 10 the youth
which has revealed devotion 20 an
Gent principles by service in tn
latest conflict, by personal enlistment
against an enemy more brutal, more