Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-07-18

scathing Arfaa8nment Of Those who
Sock Shelter Under this Ruse.
While thar are unsn Of : typ to whom
military participation In war n tanta-
mount to murder. and for thsss tho Nv
provides exemption q 'sconscIsntions OBJ
jsctors," il IL also true that many, Tor
baser reasons, rex cover under this sains
plea. England has bssn having troubis
with many Of this ciass; tho unitsd Bsates
will undoubtedly havs many 81 them.
II ID against ths typs that Arthur J..
Lovejoy, in the NsS RepxSsse, bytnss =
scathing arraignmsnt. II. may " applied
% well to many women. who, though not
expected to fight, still make their
influence felt through their public and
private utterances. MI. Lovstoy says In
part:
There II implicit In this doctrine general
nation which, 70 many Of rs, seems either very
strange ethics or else very strange history
the generalization, namely, that there never
has been 1t stake, and never will be, any
human good sufficiently important 10 be
worth fighting for. Your thesis means, for
example, that IL would have been better that
religious liberty should never have been
attained. For, ~ we very well know, n was
attained and Tin some countries) kept only
because, In the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. there were men In the Netherlands,
In England, in France and In Germany who
were ready 10 kill, and upon occasions did
kill, other men who sought to deprive them
! of that liberty. II the friends Of freedom Of
thought, In the circumstances OF that time,
had followed your principles. the history Of
| all Europe for the past three hundred years
| would In all probability have been much like
| the history OF Spain. For the enemies Of
freedom are seldom troubled by your
scruples.
Your thesis. again, means that II would
| have been better II the Ottoman Turks
whose record in the Balkan Peninsula we
know-had set up their empire over the
whole OF southeastern Europe. For they
were prevented from doing so only by that
long fight which was kept up with Auctuat-
| Ing fortunes for more than two centuries by
Hungary, Austria, Poland and Venice.
Your thesis means, finally, that It would
have been better II the American republic
had never been established. For it was es.
tablished and could have been established
| only at the coat OF what you are pleased to
Gall muruefs committeu oy tne 'emoattIed
farmers At Concord twhose praises were sung
| by that Ralph Emerson whom you so oddly
admit to your pantheon) and by Washington
and his followers on hundred battleA elds.
| To the rest OF US, then, as we consider your
position in the light OF history. you seem
| persons whose sense OF moral and social
values has been perverted by an obsession.
II upon other mems blood that yop live,
in so far as any OF those values which others
have fought for, or are now fighting for. are
| dear to you also. The freedom, the security,
perhaps even the lasting peace based upon q
reign OF Justice apd law. which your sons. as
we all hope, will enjoy, other mems sons
have died, or will yet die. to win. Can you,
after all, feel surprise when the fathers Of
those dead sons look upon you and your sons
with something less than admiration or
liking4