New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-13

clned TO do so because Of the bars put in the
way Of their meeting ! can quite spec'Hcaly
cite you one person. my father, dues-pay'
ing member OF the Socialist party for many
years, and as loyal an American by ancestry
and deeds as any one living. ] wrote MN re-
Gently, asking how people in Kansas and inc
Middle West were taking the war, the draft
the peace agitation, Congress, and what-not'
He replied I confess I thrilled at his
opening sentence: ,
81 feel that we must fight the war to the
bitter end. But the attempt to stihe an
peace talk is a serious mistake, and IL max
inc anarchists. The average farmer
out here Is mad as hell because Congress
refuses 10 conscript wealth. He IS called
upon to give up his son, who has been trainea
on the farm and who is necessity TO get
crops. and then the cu5sed Congress proposes
to make the worker pay all the bills Eng
land has done much better in the way Of a
war tax on profits and by so doing has helped
get the average citizen to go to war cheerfui-
w and give UP his life. These are some facts
which the government will have 20 take into
consideration or get hell in this country.
The Kansas View
"This wild talk in the West is mostly
ample. Any fool knows Of the millonaires
made in the copper mines, but the average
man who digs doesn't get rich. True, nc
gets So a day, but eggs in the camp are 10
cents dozen and meat the same per pounc.
Again. section hands are told 20 be loyal on
sl.55 day and raise more kids for the army.
Railroad presidents give US dope on patriot
ism and then hire Mexicans at around 81 ?
day TO take the place of Americans. These
arc the ideas expressed b. the workers out
here. Moreover, Kansas farmers have no
use for the war, even If wheat is bringing
good prices. They don't like to make money
that way
You will note that even in this letter, while
there is a determination 10 see the wa;
through there is an undercurrent Of feeling
against that strange. intangible thing, the
government" If that is true, how much more
so must it be with persons less pa
triotic, more susceptible to sinister IN
auence, than my father? With persons
like him this indscriminate thrott!na
of all peace talk will only reopen all
the old wounds caused by our sudden en-
try into the war after electing peace Presi-
dent, and the swift descent Of the conscrip-
ton act before the country had been edu-
Gated to its necessity and its democracy. For
is il not true that referendum in this coun-
try would never have resulted in vote for
a declaration of war at the time il was made !?
Is there not yet feeling that the intel
lectuals" Of this country really got US INFO
the war somewhat against popular desire :
know felt so at the time of the war decla-
ration. ! happened to be ignorant enough OF
world affairs. a. VIC all we're, 70 feel that
something was being put over on me against
NY will Now that know more Of Germany
see that We are right in going into the war;
bu. | shall never forget that we went into
it not because we willed il popularity but
because a few men controlling our govern
ment and beyond the control of the people
wlled it.
And our people cannot yet forget that fact
With those events so freshly in mind, do you
think it peases them further TO find that
they are forbidden the right TO assemble ana
discuss peace? Yet how absurd it is TO be
scared OF one small Peoples Council. Does
any one imagine for moment that the goT-
eminent could be swerved from its present
policy, now generally approved By most o.
the country by dozen meetings Of peoples
councils? When peace meetings are beins
held in one form or another the world over,
would it further help the German Junkers
to be able TO say that few thousands o.
people in this country are also dlscusslnG
peace? The whole blind cry against ''paci-
fists" is stupid so long as it is indiscrimnate.
Prohibition of such meetings as that of the
Peoples Council, without better cause than
given. is only going to increase the demand
for free assembly and give such men as La
Toilette just the opportunity they want For
it is one thing to put down disloyal speakers.
who are evidently traitors, and decidedly an
other TO tell a manifestly loyal and peace
loving nation that just because We are at war
all peace meetings are reasonable. Common
sense alone says that :uch is not the case.
Damage Is Done
No, | think you are wrong in failing TO
draw clearer line between what is a trea-
sonable meeting or utterance and what is only
a natural expression of this nations essen
TALLY peace loving nature II is terribly un
fortunate that at this time the Peoples Coun-
Gil is to be allowed to gather TO itself the
moral support of many thousands of Amer
cans who believe in free speech and free
semby The damage is done, however. Now
if the Peoples Council is ever allowed 20 ey-
press itself it won't say what it would have
SAID a week ago, because It is strengthened IL
a moral way a thousand times by this sense
less opposition to its meeting. IL may have
originally been a disloyal organization; il
may continue to be; but, in my estimation,
the treatment il has received will certainly
create a lot of sentiment which our govern.
ment will have to work against in the future
"a feeling of free thinking, loyal Ameri-
cans that all is not well with our programme
Of world democracy, because there is not true
democracy at home. And, after all, thats
going to be our greatest concern, now that
Germany is on the down grade
Yours for free speech, but down with
IvERREPT