Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-11
THE AVERAGE NET PAID CIRCuLAA;,
ton OF THE EyEMINg LEDGER roH
SLACKERS AND OTHER
BACKSLIDERS

MO CoPPERHEADs boasted of their
= pacifism in the years following
Appomattox Men who In tho sixties
fought against the draft and rioted to
avoid service spent the rest of their lives
concealing the fact They were vociferous
Z "A defense of their cowardice while the
issue remained in doubt, and that same
cowardice guided them until they died.
for they had no heart to stand on the
record and let their children know what
they had done in the bloody days that
tried mems souls. There are individuals
now who lie awake nights thinking not
how they may serve their country but
how they can avoid serving 1t. We call
them sackers for want Of better name,
but the white blood in their veins and
the chills in their feet stump the diction-
ary. The lexicon has terms Of ignominy'
but none strong enough to describe the
recreant citizen who seizes on any phil
the performance of his duty.
That intolerable proletarian, Blease, who
was driven into obscurity by the voters OF
South Carolina, has emerged as a spokes-
man for paclhsm. What do we care
what happens to those who come after
us7" he is reported to have argued. in
effect. "All we care about Is ourselves
and how things 20 for us. What hap
pens to the country after we are gone
does not matter" That is frank talk.
Most pacifists are more subtle. They con.
coct plausible arguments with which to
deceive the ignorant. They are not
brazen In their cowardIce. Some, indeed,
are honest, but outside OF the Quakers
they are SO few in number that they could
be paraded in twelve-foot lot. And the
Quakers, true to their teachings. IL they
refuse to engage in killing, are neverthe.
less foremost In rescue work, and they do
the kind Of rescue work that leaves no
doubt of their bravery or their integrity.
We are printing day by day pictures Of
the men who will be Philadelpha's repre-
sentatives in the new national army
They will fight by the side of those other
Pennsylvanians who have put this Com.
monwsalth at the head of all the States
IN the number Of voluntary enlistments
Tor service with the regular forces. No
one of their descendants will blush to re-
count his ancestry. Each will, instead
thank God that his forebears were men,
rsd-blooded men. ready to share not only
in the benefits Of democracy, but to fight
In its defense. Character cannot be In.
hsrited. but the elements of which 1t is
made pass from father TO son.
\ II is not surprising that in the ranks
Of slackers there can be found scarcely
one successful man. The fellow who is
anchored to a fxed spot in his life work,
who has never, shown the courage to be
mp and doing, to fight for success and get
It. Ii the howler now. He has been peeved
anyhow because Of his own incapacity,
and he sees a chance to cry that this is
. rich mans war. that his own honor
able blood must not be risked because,
after all, he never made million under
Democratic institutions. He might make
Il yet. after experience in the army and
oontact with men worth while. but he
prefers to stick to his laziness and bark
~ the moon. He is of the type of citizens
who make up lynching bees. but have no
stomach for real fighting.
We do not want to be thanking God
that we are not as other men are, but
the evidence indicates that slackers find
The climate less congenial in Pennsyl-
wanna than In any other State. Possibly
most Of the breed emigrated to Oklahoma
- search Of easy money. In any event,
there are few Of them here For that we
can be duly grateful. But the time is
~ for national movement looking
ward ths suppression of the whole tribe
trouble s-makers, beginning with dozen
3 - who infest the Capitol Of the United
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