The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-08-15
"rhe Peoples Council Of America"


1.-THE Peoples Council Of America"
Editor Missoulian:
1t being the time honorcd custom OF
women to claim the last word in
controversy, l feel assured that YOU
VIII grant me space in your columns
tor a brief reply to the recen! cdi
torial which deplored my connection
with the Peoples Council of America.
stating that such peace talk was i'm
sidious and dangerous while the
hordes OF the tyrannical kaiser are
scheming to make a shambles OF free
United States" Your objection to the
council must arise from u misappre-
hensiOn OF what it seeks to accom-
plish. Its first object is ITO secure an
early, democratic and general peace
in harmony with the principles out
lined by New Russia, namely:
No forcible annexations.
No punitive indemnities,
Free development for all national
tiles"
Russia with the enemy in her ter
ritory, is satisfied with the above de-
mands. What more do we ask who
have the wide Atlantic between us
and Germany? Surely it Is hut just
that our people should know. And this
is the third aim stated by the coun-
CHS program. To induce our govern
men to state concretely the terms up
on which it is willing to make peace"
Is there anything reprehensible about
this, or the further purpose Of the
council TO urge International organ
ization for the maintenance of world
DGnnn?'' With Sllch Orp1niZ9tiOn
effected how can Germany make a
shambles of America, or we assist in
making a shambles of Germany or of
any other country?
ITO work for the repeal Of the con-
scription laws" is the constitutional
right of every American citizen, and
is the fourth clause of the councils
program. Its fifth is ITO safeguard Ia
Dor standards" which are always
menaced in times OF war.
Lastly. the council purposes-what
is sadly needed--"to preserve and ex-
tend democracy and liberty within
the United States" AS DR.. Frank Bohn
tersely expressed it at Thursdays
chautauqua: "Militarism and freedom
cannot live in the same country at the
same time. One will eat out the heart
of the other. We must choose which
one we shall have" 1t is this liberty
of choice for which the Peoples Coun-
Gil of America contends. Consumption
is sufficient proof that it has not been
accorded us. Yet, as Norman NJ.
Thomas says in the August 4 Survey:
IF this is indeed q peoples war for
freedom the people can be trusted to
see it through, without and coercion of
concience. To deny this is either to
distrust democracy or to doubt the
validity of war as its instrument"
The yelled threat" of which 1
stand charged, is an open statement
of fact, to which candidates for Of
flee will soon respond. Already they
are conscious of the handwriting on
| the wall, which the Peoples Council
will gladly interpret for them.
Finally. may ! ask, should the ac-
cident of birth render impossible in
dependence of thought or action? The
great Montanan" to whom you re-
fer. was as much of radical in his
day as l in mine. He was neither a
sycophant nor a coward, and held both
in supreme contempt. Were l false
| to my convictions through policy or
fear, he would have justly condemned
me. 1t is because I am the daughter
| of my father that am what am.
| Noblesse Oblige still maintains. The
| nobility of Russia recognized it and
| many of them renowned all that be-
| longed to their rank, went to the
people," as they termed it. and made
| possible the recent revolution. In this
country where there is no nobility, no
one goes to the people, for we are one
| with them. although many do not ac-
knowledge their kinship. but more and
| more it is understood that where So
| ciety confers benefits on an individual
| it also imposes the return obligation
| that they are to be used for the COM
mon good. They are not gifts, but
| loans for which must come a. day of
reckoning.
! MARTHA EDGERTON PLASSMAN.
Worlds Course Of Sin Nearly Ended.
Editor Missoulian:
In language too clear and sublime
to suggest either comment or inter-
probation. the prophet joel exclaims:
BLOW We the trumpet Of Zion, and
| sound an alarm in My holy mountain;
let all the inhabitants Of the land
| tremble: for the day OF the Lord
cometh. for it is nigh at hand; a day
| OF darkness and of eloominess, a day
| of clouds and Of thick darkness, as
the morning spread upon the noun
| tains; a great people and a strong;
| there hath not been ever the like,
| neither shall be any more after it,
even to the years Of many genera
tons" Joel 81, ..
The Savior also forewarns Of the
trembling caused by the fear that
would take possession of the hearts
of men when the day of God is at
hand. in these words:
And there shall be signs in the
sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars; and upon the earth distress of