New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-07
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The issue in the approaching election
is moral, not economic, and in this it differs
from every other campaign since the Civil
War The people of the United States must
be made to appreciate this; then there will
be no danger of the election of Wilson. To
vote for him is an immoral act, the only ex-
cuse for which is that the voter fails to
recognize its immortality. We may pity
blindness and forgive it; we may hold that he
who is blind need not keep to the right like
the man who can see. but we must not let the
blind rule US or choose one of them TO guide
our traffic.
During the Wilson administration there
have doubtless been enacted some excellent
laws If only economic accomplishment were
to be the measure Of success it would be
possible to make plausible argument that
Wilson ought to be reelected although to
my mind even this argument would be un-
sound If only material prosperity were to
be regarded, would look with respect on an
advocate of the retention of Wilson, and feel
that he differed from me only in a matter of
Judgment, which did not necessarily predi-
cate either lack of intelligence or of moral
FIBRE | could read Mr.. Theodore II. Prices
mastery juggling of statistics and admire
the cleverness of his deductions without
my admiration of Mr.. Prices intellectual
achievements dssolving into pity for Mr..
Price that he cannot look so broadly as to-
gee the supreme unimportance of all he
writes If believed that the only thing
that matters is the full dinner pail and the
happiness of Wall Street | should sit back
Il ~ tpo "a
most all it could mean to me would be few
dollars more a few dollars less.
But know that much more than money is
at stake. Our self-respect is at issue, our
pride in our citizenship, our place in the
world our level in civilization. What true
American would not be willing to give up a
little of his eating and his drinking and his
warmth to know that his nation is justified
in its being, that our influence IS for prog
ress, our voice for freedom? And when the
keenest minds Mr.. Price to the contrary
Notwithstanding us that in seeking
these noble aims we shall not even have to
sacrifice in material things, how can we hest
tate?
I say that it is immoral TO vote for Mr..
Wilson because he has degraded our citizen
ship and haggled with our honor. When the
world is struggling to maintain civilization
and 20 overthrow barbarsm, he has SMILED
that he could see no difference between them.
When more than at any time in history the
influence of the judgment Of every thinking
man in the world was needed, he whined his
unspeakaby base request that we be "neu-
trail" even in thought. When the Lusitana
was sunk, owing to the fact that even after
rotce from the German Embassy that it was
intended to sink her our government took no
to nravent IL he yVh nDered his iPnohle
too proud to fight" When the existence and
safety of democratic institutions throughout
the world are threatened by the lawless am
billions of absolutism. he babbles that we
have no concern with the causes or purposes
of the war He congratulates on his birth
day the bloody tyrant whose hands are
STEPPED in the gore of innocent Belgian
women and children; he addresses in phrases
q friendly respect that government which is
responsible not only for the execution of
Edith Cavel and the murder of Captain
Fryatt, but for the slaughter of hundreds OF
our own citizens.
II il be immoral 10 have no heed for JUS
tce, humanity, honor. democracy, treaty OBJ
legations and the whole fabric of civilization
il is immoral 10 vote for Wilson. II il be
immoral to disregard the history and tradi-
ton OF our nation and the sacrifices for
democratic liberty of our forefathcrs, il isl
immoral TO vote for Wilson.
What American who is not blind could vote
for Wilson while German submarines are
still in fact sinking non-belligerent mer-
chantmen and the dickering for the price of
the drowned and mangled victims of the Lusi-
tania is still going on? To say that Wilson
will be reelected is to insult us and dishonor
our mothers. for II we he truly the sons of