New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-30
YANKINC THE APRON STRINGS
West Didn't Cut Loose from East, but
Scared the Old Lady

To the Editor Of The Tribune
Sir: A recent letter in The Tribune by
&c. R. A. mourning over the "efeminate"
West because Of its vote in the late election
seems pregnant with personal rather than
Harveyized patriotic grief Between the
lines Of his lamentaton we read 4 personal
loss and pique because his political Absslon
was left hanging in a tree and the Demo-
cratic mule went on his way rejoicing. What
this personal loss may be we can only sur
mise. but that the "effeminate" and decadent
spirit of the West should be given as a
cause by this recent Importation from the
effete East into the cafeteria city of Los
Angeles. the winter Mecca Of long-haired
men and short-haired women from New York
and New England is not at all surprising.
The writer lived for thirty years in East
ern Hughes states" and has lived in the
Wilson West" for twenty-five years, so he
is not wholly ignorant of the characteristics
Of the people in both sections. Always Re-
publican. he voted for &c. R. AS" uncrowned
hero, but he did so with no little hesitation.
To the men and women who had gone chasing
of after the vagaries OF Terrible Teddy there
were no strong party affiliations or princi-
I
pies, and they very easily fell in with po-
itcal current that has been rapidly growing
Of late years in the West.
New York and New England have wisely
pursued the policy Of electing some Of their
blest men TO Congress, and then have kept
them there term after term. The experience
of such men, their chairmanshps OF impor-
tant committees, have given them power
out Of all proportion TO their representation,
and as a result these few Eastern states have
dictated and made the laws and directed the
governmental policies under which the whole
country has had to live. The West, more
democratic and open minded, has but just be-
gun to open its eyes 10 this situation and to
realize that it might be we'll to get a brand
ing iron of its own.
The West is not deluding itself behind
sectional binders. While it realizes its de-
pendence as a growing factor in L Pluribus
Unum, IL also appreciates the part it took in
bringing dismay upon the faces OF men and
women in New York, Boston, Philadelphia
and Washington which Colonel Harvey so
poignantly laments.
If the day ever comes when the mothers
in the West are called upon to make sacri-
fees for the national veal and honor, 1.-The
emancipated woman who not raising her
boy to be a soldier" will furnish thousands
of boys whose patriotism and chiyslry will
put TO blush the man who insults Western
women and the men who sit behind their
money bags wrnging their hands and drool-
/ ing about the selfish and sordid' spirit Of
/ the West
The West has not cut the apron strings
that have so long tied il TO the Old Lady OF
the East, but it gave them such yank In
the late election that she had to adjust her
"specks" and gaze with wonder and hurt
to the spirit upon progeny which she has
these many years regarded with patronizing
self-complacency. The almost solid West
and the solid South have shocked the Old
/ LADY with the fact that President OF the
limited States can be elected independent OF
New York aud Indiana.
WILLIAM r. REYNOLDS.
Tacoma, Wash, Dec. 20, 1915.