New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-02
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: /. is no longer question Of the cleo
ton of any particular candidate-it is
question whether the people OF TINS CITY,
the first in America, are for or against It's
national government. This is not campaign
talk. but the plain truth, drawn from the
logic of the situation.
One candidate, who is making whiriwind
campaign on the East Side and among 'ne
foreign speaking people Of the city, is frank,
IL. confessedly, and without shame, committed
to doing all he can, II the powers OF Mayor
are conferred upor him, TO end the war ms
is Hillquit.
Another is not so frank, because ne dare
not be. But while many loyal voters may
cast their votes for him, he has behind hlm'
in a more sinister way, the forces OF seditlon
and treason, which in the past did everything
thev could to aid the cause of Germany, ana
are now, sometimes secretly, sometimes open
Is. aiding in creating a sentiment against
their own nation. This is Hylan.
In the face Of these facts-and they are
fact. which no one can deny-how Is the
man who believes in the business OF the
American cause, who believes that 1t is time
TO write the death knell Of autocracy, gong
to vote?
Tbere il only one man for whom he can
vote with any hope Of seeing the un-Ameri-
can forces defeated.
That man Is Mitchell.
Let no man be deceived into a sense OF
security By saying that it cannot be possible
that treason can win in our city. IL is not
only possible, but it is probable, unless the
real American-native or foreign porn
wakes up to the situation and decides that ne
will support the candidate who stands square
~ behind the President, and has always stood
behind him on the question of America
against the Kaiser.
I know that it is possible. | have seen on
the East Side and in Harlem tremendous
crowds shouting and cheering for Hlllqult,
wild almost TO the point OF frenzy. | have
seen n hall packed with seething, restless
humanity. cheering the utterances OF man
when he declared that he was against THIS
var and for peace, when he declared the
American government WAS aligned with the
forces of the Allies, who were seeking I'M
perialism | have listened TO more treasona-
bic talk, more anti-American utterances from
the lips of man who owes all ne mas 70 the
opportunity which America gave 10 MIN
than | ever expected to hear even from the
most pronounced pro-German. And the pity
of it was that there was no one there TO
make an effective protest-that the people
who listened 20 him were so carried away by
his peculiar eloquence, carried away py ma
tired for England TO such an extent that
fully believe they would have cheered hlm
if he had deliberately declared that he hoped
Germany would win and that this country
would be reduced to a condition OF vassalage'
Un-American Crowds
7 have seen crowds sit in moody, sulien
silence when the name of President wilson
WAS mentioned. and | have seen these same
crowds deafen the ears with cheers when the
name of Morris Hillquit was even inadver-
tentlv spoken ! have seen an audience OF
HilIouit admirers, stepped IN un-Americah-
ism. refuse to pay tribute to the American
flag. and most OF them stay rooted to their
ssats while the "Star-Spangled Banner was
being played. ..
And these men, or the great majority OF
,hcn, were those who fed TO this country 10
ESCAPE the awful prosecutions IN their own
lard fed 20 a free America where they might
pursue their lawful occupations, where they
might rear their children, where the awiui
fear of the spy might be lifted from them
and where they might be permitted the priv
lege of worshipping their God in their own
way.
Before this war is over the name OF behe-
dict Arnold will have been displaced by some
other name or by a number of names OF men
whose acts will have made those OF ArnoId
seem patriotic BY comparison.
Nor does the trail OF scdition end with the
dividing line between the East and the west
side. It does not end with the foreign porn
citizen. Il reaches clear over to the huo-