Scranton Wochenblatt. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1865-1918, 1917-11-22

they are the Presidents bitter
and irreconcilable personal enc
mics. They are only waiting
for good opportunity to turn
on him and rend him once again
as they did during the last cam
paign,
The government cannot es-
cape some measure of responsi-
bility for the ugly and sinister
mask which is being fastened
on the face of American patri-
otism. 1t could not have wholly
prevented this perverslon Of the
spirit, which, according to the.
President, would be punctilious-
ly observed by the nation in its
conduct of the war, but it could
have done much to counteract
the process of Generalization.
The great failure in the domes-
tic policy of the government has
consisted in its management OF
public opinion. 1t has depended
too much upon the repetition of
the President originally embod-
led his policy and has neglected
the task of applying them to the
concrete problems of domestic
and foreign policy in way
which would increase their vital
ity. The official press bureau
has done nothing to assist the
Presidents diplomacy by disse-
minating its spirit, and by ex-
planning its purposes and its con-
sequences. 1t has done, abso-
lutely nothing to arouse the
interest of public opinion in the
constructive problems of the
settlement. Its notion of infor-
nation and propaganda has been
a poor survival Of the muckrak-
ing magazine. The result is
that when two different kinds Of
agitation inimical to the success
of its own policy started up, the
government was placed at a
grave disadvantage. 1t was not
prepared to resist militarist
agitation which was dangerous
to its work on behalf of endur-
ing peace, and it could think of
no answer to an agitation in fa-
vor of immediate peace except
violent suppression. Of course
the effect of suppressing the
agitation for peace at any price
and conniving at the agitation
for war at any price has been
to strengthen both extremists
and weaken the supporters of its
own intermediate policy. The
peace propagandists rejoice in
suppression because it drives
agitation underground where it
will become much more ire
sponsible, insidious and menac-
ing. The militarist agitators are
permitted without protest to i'm
pose themselves on the public
as the only unadulterated
American patriots.
A sufficient, although not the
only, objection to such a method
of managing public opinion is its
tendency to impair the ultimate
efficiency of our American con-
tribution to the war. Not only
does it increase the resistance,
which the American military
and politial power will have to
overcome both at home and
abroad, but it will inevitably
tend to dry up the fountain of
American moral endurance. The
American people will eventually
react against war which they
were induced to enter because
it was intended to safeguard de-
mocracy and to promote organ
lied peace, but which is being
too much managed by people
who are opposed to organized
peace, who expressly repudiate
the idea that it was intended to
safeguard democracy and who
by all their words and acts prove
an utter lack of faith in any
method of dealing with enemies
and opponents except that of
violence. No matter how dras.-
tic the measures adopted to sup
press opposition to a war con-
Quoted in a spirit of vindictive
and savage hatred, that opposi-
ton will grow. Such a war
would be too offensive to Amer
lean national conscience. 1t
would be too injurious to Amer
lean national interest. The Pre-
sident, by every promise which
he made to the American people
in leading them into war, is
committed to evoking for its
support a different kind of pro-
paganda. Otherwise he will fail
in his campaign to divide the