The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-04-14
MORE THAN PACIFISM.


When you are at n disadvantage in arguing the
merits Of question: the easiest retort is, of course,
to impugn the motives of your opponent. This is
now the procedure in much Of discussion:
hYstorical patriots accuse all pacifists of having
German connections. and hysterical pacfists
tect American loans and credit to the entente pow
ers Reformation Of this sort naturally will have
little effect in the long run, but it is not wise
that account to overlook certain real connections
between tho and domestic issues which
profoundly rooted in the public mind, and must
| sooner or later be rcckoncd with
Any visitor to the recent crowded pacifst mass
meeting in New York at Madison Square Garden
must have been impressed by it's complexion
There were in it a large number Of Germans, but
they did not rrepondcrato. and the meeting was far
from being pro- German demonstration. There
were citizens of all conditions and faiths. There
were women from the East Side with shaw Gov
cred heads. with flat chests and pinched faces
whose lives had been spent over stitching machines
street conductors. dock aborers. young excited
men and women such as can be seen during any
political camnaign at street corner gatherings or
during any garment strike at union locals. These
people were not thinking mainly either Of internal
ional affairs or of unaduterated pacifis philoso-
ply. But there were certain details of social
organism that had como close to them. Steadily
rising prices of all lfe's necessities had eaten into
their wages. Food scarcity which they believed
was a'tificially promoted for profit, had impov-
ershed their tables. They had heard much OF
prosperity, but their wages had not risen in any
fair proportion to the prices they had to pay
They had read of the vast profits the 100 cent
and zoo per cent dividends of great industrial
companos--as a result the war. The rising
cost of living, it had been drummed into them,
result of the They remembered the street
car and subway strike, in which even an attempt
to organize on the part of the men had been
crushed by prosperous corporations whose history
is notorious for financial and political corruption
They remembered the long struggles in the gar
ment trades. among the longshoremen-n this, that
and the other industry--in which the financial
powers had almost invariably been against them
Now the cry that Wall street wanted war
| and in fact, nothing could be more obvious. The
snokesmcn of the money power, the men who had
consistently opposed unionsm and all extensions of
democracy. had been in vociferous evidence for
long time asking the United States to fight in
behalf of liberalism and democracy abroad. To
the people in Madison Square Garden this had
grown TO be more than grim jokc--it an in
suit, an outrage. The angry grOwls and boots
which greeted the names of Elihu Root and Thco-
dor' Roosevelt represented no sentimental attach
m"nt to slothful Tcacc; they genuine proleta-
rian protest. the ariculatc revolt of oppressed
| class.
After the large meeting smaller groups gathered
| IN sn'lGhhoring streets to listen to the outdoor
| speakers. ON one corner automobile tried to
| break through tn" crowd footing its horn inces-
| sanity and drowning out the the box
| When the people young man and girl in the
| car they separated and let it by. Soon another
moro luxurious motor, with a sedan body drove IN
| In it were two stout, well dressed men who might
| have posed trusts for any cartoonist The
crowd would not separate. Never mind go
| ahead" snapped out of the occupants The
car started, knocking people over. Instantly the
| running boards swarmcd with angry men, glass
was broken. fists cracked. and the car was about
| to be overturned bodily when squad OF police re-
serves rushed up. brandshinE heavy night sticks
The crowd retrcated before the majesty of the law
|
How liberal justify to these fellow citizens
of his responsibility to fight for international
| order? This, have said and believed is war