The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1916-03-31
Jul OF THE

Sometimes q minority of the American neonle
makes such a noise that it is taken for a majority.
The majority says nothing; the minority does all
the talking. Good patriots, hearing the noise.
despair OF the country. Then when the votes are
counted it turns out that the silent majority was not
a%pathetic, cowed. unpatriotic, or stupid.
The Kaiserists and Pacifists are making a great
racket at present. Those in Congress think they
gauge the minds Of their constituents, hit happily
the general thought. Do they? There are only a
few Indications yet what the silent are thinking.
Perhaps the most notable came when Congressman
Witherspoon of the Fifth Mississippi died. With
erspoon thought he had reflected the sentiment
OF MS district bv opposing preparedness, and one Of
the candidates for his vacant seat donned the With
erspoon mantle and made his fight on that issue.
silent vote.
Congressman carew of the Seventeenth New
York recently tried an experiment in making the
silent vote vocal. He sent a letter to his %constitu-
ents telling them to stay off armed liners. Silence
instantly turned to speech, incandescent speech,
calorlc speech. Mr.. Carew's mail became a deluge
OF letters from his indignant constituents. They
overlooked into the newspapers, and the burden of
their sudden discourse was that they were Ameri-
cans and did not think Carew was; that they eagerly
awaited next November to convince him in a way
he would never forget that the Seventeenth New
York was not what he thought; that the kind of
Congressman it wanted was one who would vote to
keep the American flag On the Capitol and not run
any foreign one up above it. Expensively, but
thoroughly, Carew was learned what the silent vote
was thinking.
Congressman Frederick w.. Rowe of the Sixth
New York has tried out the silent vote now in his
turn. The results are happier for Mr.. Rowe than
for Mr.. Carew, but the lesson they teach is the
same. Rowe's Brooklyn district is as American as
Carew's Manhattan district. He sent a letter to his
constituents asking them their views on prepared
ness. He got them by the thousands. After l re.
celved five or six thousand replies l quit counting"
he says. Now he has written to them again
acquainting them with the result of his novel plebis-
cite. OF the replies SO per cent. favor substantial
increases in the army and navy" Where there is
anything to criticise in the replies it is generally
because the writer erred not on the side of moder-
atlon-some of them wanted an army of a mil
hon. Letters referring to the navy called for a
navy equal to that of Germany, or one capable of
whipping the entire world" Rowe finds his constit-
to table the McLemore resolution.
We have now heard from the Fifth Mississippi,
the Seventeenth New York, and the Sixth New
York. The silent vote in other districts has not
had a chance to become vocal. But the three places
where the silence has been stirred are probably
typical. One lies in the Mississippi Valley, a Bryan
stronghold; the other two on the Atlantic Coast, one
of them a Democratic district and one Republican.
/ any more Congressman wish to prod that silence
into spa3ch it will be safer for them to try Rowe's
metho6..sstnan CareW's. The anti-American, little
American. ApTpAier1nan, peace-at -any-price hula
Ibaloo Wy a5n for afeW months longer. Then what
Babel fhafIs slnajestiealIy climbing to the sky will
shrivei like Ai1.siin's Tower. Il thought you said
there are only two. We'll, I thought so; they made
a noise like 200" An old story, but American poll
tcians have never learned the point of thew
York Times.