New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-18

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
sir. The latter Of "a New Englander' In
today, Tribune would hardly call for
.erious answer had its writer not styled him
soIf ono of the "newer breed" by which
,unpose he means one Of the younger genera
tion. and need hardly add that this suppo'
sition IL also warranted by the general con-
tants Of his letter. When the rising genera
tion Gets its knowledge of American institu'
tions and constitutional law from opponents
Of socialism. whose object it is to create dis
satisfaction and erroneous Impressions some
effort should be made TO set them IN the
right path. and so ! ask The Tribune to lei
another New Highlander (by birth and train
ng) make a brief reply.
"A New Highlander" processes to understand
American psychology" and, indeed, we mlgh'
naturally expect some degree OF proficiency
along this line from ono who has been per
mitted 10 sit so near the feet Of the late
Professor Mansterberg, Of Harvard. bu'
perhaps. after all, it was German and not
"American psychology" that New EnglandeI
absorbed at Cambridge, as his letter in some
respects suggests the German rather than the
American point of view. There is something
decidedly Teutonc in the manner in which ne
professes TO have smashed our American
'little tin gods" and one cherished illusion
after another. IL reminds one Of the icono-
elastic Huns and Vandals, Krupp guns and
the assurance Of the German mind.
One little tin god" TO wit, a sense OF
gratitude to France for aid in our Revolu-
ton, he has Shattered" Cor processes that
he has done sol in the following language
"The agency that helped us was not repuo-
lican France, but the feet and army Of Louis
XVI. So then our debt of gratitude was not
to the French people, but to the ancien re-
CINE, their oppressors, who naturally helped
US because they were fighting England them
selves"
But not so fast, my young friend and fell
low New Englander. We cannot so easily
repudiate our debt Of gratitude 20 "the French
people" We cannot ignore those from whom
we have begged assistance in our darkest
hour of need and who generously responded
TO our cry for help. II becomes us TO recall
the fact that it was the intercession OF Ben
iamin Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI
which procured for US the assistance OF
French troops and ships
My Yankee friend is wrong in saying that
our debt OF gratitude is TO the ancien regime
rather than to republican France. When
Franklin went to France to plead the Ameri-
can cause he at once became the most courted
man in Paris, the idol Of all Frenchmen OF
republican sympathies, both among the no.
biity and the tiers 6tat, and there were many
among the higher orders who held republican
views and assisted in bringing on the French
Revolution which resulted in the first repub-
lie. These men often had the ear Of Louis
XVI, who was a we'll meaning monarch and
frequently gave countenance TO liberal move
rnents II is TO these friends of democracy
that we are indebted for the timely assistance
from France, without which our freedom
could hardly have been won in the eighteenth
century, II at all. Our Yankee friend should
not make so much of the fact that France
and America had a common enemy in Eng
and We should mot look a gift horse in
the mouth" especially when We have solicited
-he gift
Like my fellow New Highlander, can boast
Of forebears who took part in the American
Revolution, and l can say further that it is
a matter of record that many of them fought
in the wars against the French and Indians