The Washington herald., 1917-10-08

Treason must be made odious. !"
What. then. 10 the thing against
which this righteous snathema is d.
rectedf Says the Constitution Of the
United States, article .. section O.
clause /: Treason against the United
States shall consist only In ievying
war against them or In adhering 70
their enemies. giving them. aid and
The clause was purposely bdrafted TO
permit the largest possible measure OF
political freedom. and to avoid the
gross abuses under which, IN some
countries, men were convicted Of trea-
son on the filmsiest Of pretexts and
doomed to the severest of punish
ments. But the fact that II was in
tended to confine convictions Of trea-
son to certain specified offenses does
not In the slightest degree suggest
that we are to be lenient with these
offenses. On the contrary. the more
restricted the grounds are on which
a man may be convicted Of treason.
the more rigorous and inexorable.
logically, must be the enforcement of
the law and the exaction OF its penal
ties upon all within those bounds.
Treason must be made odious."
Note, then, that treason constitution
ally does not consist alone In waging
war against the United States. The
offense Is equally great IL one simply
sdheres to the enemies Of this coun-
try. Moreover. that adherence need
not mean joining their army or their
navy. II is made perfectly clear what
"adhering" TO the enemies OF the
United States means or may mean 1t
means giving them aid and comfort"
A man who does that IL a traitor. by
constitutional prescription, and he is
lust as much a traitor as though he
waged open war against this country.
Treason must be made odious."
Let US see to what extent the Il
Won't Work" organisation. or what
ever 1T. w. W." may be interpreted
to mean. measures UP to the con-
stitutionaI standard of treason We
need not concern ourselves at pres
ent with the conspirscies with Ger
man agents of which some Of its
members are plausibly suspected.
Those things are being investigated.
and before these lines are printed we
shall not be surprised TO see the
suspicious verified. with ''confrma-
ton strong as proofs Of Holy Writ. "
II is sufficient for the present pur-
pose to consider the acts and pur-
poses Of the ]. W. W. which are
known, which are not concealed or
denied, which are not only confessed
but even boasted. Those acts
covert acts" in constitutional phrase
comprise the destruction of ma
terial necessary to the government
in the waging of the war: the forci-
BILE interference with and hindering
OF works and processes similarly
necessary to the government for the
conduct Of the war and the more or
less forcible obstruction Of the enlist
ment or conscription OF the soldiers
necessary to the government for the
waging Of the war. II such perform
ances do not give aid and comfort TO
the enemies Of the United States,
then words have lost their meaning.
And to give such aid and comfort is
treason
Treason mpst be made odious." Let
us consider the case OF those several
times multiplied Tsilors Of Tooley
street who impudently call themselves
the Peoples Council Of America" and
affect to represent the American ma
ton. Some Of their proposals are
sufficiently platitudinous-and hebetu-
dinous-to convey antidote with their
bane. Others, however. cannot thus
be dismissed. They provide for pub
lie agitation against the military sys-
tenn which the government has adopt
ed and which is absolutely necessary
for its successful conduct Of the war;
and for the general dissemination
throughout the country of the pro-
posals of a foreign cabal OF a char
acter so pernicious and inimical that
our government very properly refused
to give passports to Americans who
wished to participate in fits German
directed transactions. II public egfts-
ton against the development of an
adequate military force to prosecute
the war, and in favor Of yielding TO
the German proposals OF peace, is not
calculated TO give aid and comfort
TO our enemies. then again words
have lost their meaning. And again.
thus to give aid and comfort is tres-
son.
Treason must be made odious."
But then, some will ask. either su-
perficislly or disingenuously. Il every
man who goes on strike against gov
ernment works, or who seeks to OBJ
struct the execution OF q national
law or the carrying out OF a ma