New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-25
1.-THE, SPIRIT OF CONCORD"
A Revised Interpretation by of the Cuban Campaign Who Believes
He Was Deuded-T1opes for the Day When a Chastcncd
Spirit Will Conquer Capitalism.

To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: Your eloquent editorial Of January p
Oh THE Spirit Of Concord" touched me deep
ly, inasmuch as the place and events TO which
YOU referred are quite familiar to me, and
those boys, whose sacrifice you recall, were
my friends and schoolmates.
The spirit you describe is indeed noble,
and, hope, still pervades not only little old
Concord but a very large part o. our country.
Yet IL seems 10 me that you do not tell al!
that spirit means at least, not all 1t means
10 me. TO me the essence Of the spirit OF
| Concord is devotion TO the cause Of human
Liberty in its broadcst and fullest sense-the
spirit not only Of the men Of 1915, but that
Of Thorcau and Emerson, Concords own
sons, and Of their brothers Of the soul, Wen
dell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison and
John Brown.
It was that spirit think, which animated
the boys Of Concord in the Civil War and
even In the War OF 1898, which was quite a
different sort OF war. ! remember arising in
! 'he little Concord schoolhouse more than n
gear before that war. at one Of our monthly
debates, and declaming in boyish heat for
\ =
/ How deeply ny youthful sympathy went out
to the people Of the little island in the
struggle for liberty was taught that they
were making, How wildly that struggle
called to my fancy Philips's spirited eulogy
Of Toussaint lOuyerture
And in that very spring which you recall 7,
too, marched out-not in the Concord COM
pany, but in another Massachusetts, com
mand, captained by Concord man and with
other Concord boys beside me IN the ranks.
AZ that time I was very, very sure that was
going forth In the cause OF human liberty,
else could have drawn but little inspiration
from the moment. am convinced that those
other Concord boys OF whom you tell felt the
same thing Otherwise there would have
been little distnctively American in their
feeling. Otherwise their case might easily
be duplicated in the marching forth Of any
company Of conscripts in any German village
proud in the knowledge that their fathers
had thus marched forth In II and their great
grandfathers in the Napoleonc wars.
But was the war in when those Concord
boys fought war for liberty Did It in any
particular resemble the war In which their
I
out hoodwinked, blinded by the light Of a
sublime ideal but 10 be made the tools Of a
sinister force?
Only in later years have come TO answer
the question as Il should be answered, be-
cause only recently have begun TO under
stand the great economic forces behind that
war. We thought that We were going out TO
free Cuba, and We felt breathed upon US the
benedction OF fathers, who freed the
I LACK man. and of our great grandfathers,
who fought TO free the white men Of this
country. But I'm reality we were sent forth
10 spread the sphere Of influence of Amerl-
can fnancier5. And few months later those
who had been called upon TO liberate the
Cubans were called upon 70 enslave the Fill
pinos. All AZ the behest of American finance
and commerce, from whose success no hum
he American citizen could hope to draw the
slightest benefit
Well do ! remember In those days Just
before the war how the great yellow news
papers dinned the call in our ears. Well do
| remember how one great daily in its every
edition called upon President Mckinley 20
declare war and 'avenge the slain of our i'll
fated battleship." 1t never occurred 10 US
than that those imprisoned pleas were in
spired by any but the purest patriotic mo-
tiyes.
To-day most Of US are wiser. and when we
read the similar calls for vengeance that ap-
pear almost daily in the very newspaper that
then was oudest Of all we read with the
knowledge that its owner is also owner Of
millions OF acres in the country on which he
demands vengeance, acres that were wrested
from its poor poems to add to his wealth. And
We know that the scores of other newspapers