davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12

agreements with Great Britain and Can
ada for interchangcs Of citizens or sub
jects eligible to military service. If a
age, as determined by the laws of his
country, does not wish to serve in the
United States army, he is to be sent home
to serve. Conversely, Americans in Cam
ada and Great Britain must serve there or
come back to the United States. This is
a fair arrangement. 1t establishes rule
of reciprocity.
The same sort of rule should be estab
lished in the case of France, Italy, Bel
GUM, Portugal, Runfania, Serbia and the
other Allied powers which have armies at
the front. If any Allied government
doesn't want to enter into an agreement,
our policy should be to preserve the status
quo as to enforced service What would
it profit u.s. for instance, to deport tens of
thousands of Italians simply because they
objected to being drafted? We need labor.
Every man who works in a war industry
helps to win the war. We should only in
jure ourselves economically by deporting
able-boded aliens who are willing to work.
although they may not be willing to fight
The House bill rests on false premise.
That is, that if an alien of fighting age
doesn't enlist it is worth while to go to
the expense of sending him back to his
own country, even though the government
to which he owes allegiance is only Ian
guidly interested in getting him back
Under such circumstances he would much
better stay here and exc out our labor sup
ply, which we are already finding made
quate to war needs.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
Russia Submits

The curtain is being rung down at
Brest-Litovsk In the production staged
there the tragic mingled with the gro
tesque
The collapse of the structure of Rus
sian nationalism is nearly complete. The
old empire Of the Romanoffs is falling to
pieces. The dreamers who engineered the
Russian revolution drove out Gar.
They wanted to make Russia free. But
in the mix-up of freeing themselves they
are already paving the way for the rule
of an alien Kaiser. For if the German
treaty with the Ukraine holds, if Lenne
and Trotzky go back to Petrograd empty
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
Where Nearing Belongs

The immunity which Professor Scott
Nearing has been enjoying is astounding
and scandalous. He is doing and saving
things for doing and saying which enemy
aliens have been arrested and imprisoned
He is preaching the same sort of sedition
for preaching which newspapers have been
barred from the mails and their editors
indicted under the espionage and inter-
course with the enemy acts. He is work
ing to "obstruct the recruiting and enlist
fnent service of the United States" And
this has been made crime punishable by
fine Of not more than $4,000 or i'm
prisonment for not more than twenty
years, or both.
Yet Nearing is still at large. In the
pamphlet extracts from which were pub
lished in The Tribune yesterday he says:
The conscription bill paved the way
for military system exactly like that
which has been so savagely denounced
in Germany. 1t gave the American plu-
tocracy the beginnings of big, cheap
army. Why did the American
plutocracy desire to crush Germany?
Was it to destroy despotism there? The
idea is preposterous. The despotism in
any bank, factory or railroad of the
United States is more complete than
that of the Kaiser. The American plu-
tocracy has fattened on despotism for
generations.
Here is an appeal to the l. w. w. and
similar elements in our population to con-
tlnue to oppose measures for the prosecu-
ton of the war; and especially to withhold
support from the recruitment of big,
cheap army" The intent to obstruct en-
listment is manifest. - For similar offences,
though much less fragrant ones, the editors
Of "The Masses" were recently brought to
book
Nearing does another thing in his
pamphlet. He venomously asperses the
motives with which the United States en-
tered the war, He says that the govern
ment went to the rescue of Wall Street
capitalists, who had loaned their money to
the Allies. "a hundred millions of peo-
pie counted as nothing against the menace
of commercial losses"
This is slander which no American
newspaper may with impunity repeat.
When the intercourse with the enemy act
was signed Postmaster General Burleson
announced that thereafter no publication
would be permitted to circulate which in
timated that the United States had "got
into the war wrong" Nearing's stuff may
not circulate through the mails. but since
it is clearly non-mailable the government
can proceed against anybody who pub
fishes, transports, delivers or otherwise
helps to circulate it. What is the Depart
ment of Justice doing to enforce the law
against Nearing?
Emma Goldman and Alexander Berk-
man are in Jail. They are less dangerous
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
Ships and Forts

To the Editor of The Tribune
Sir: In the interesting article in this
mornings Tribune as to the suggested attack
of dreadnoughts upon the forts guarding the
German submarine bases it is stated that
any such attempt would probably be sui
cidal. The reason given for this CONCLUSION
s that the cannon of the forts would de-
stroy the ships without much harm being
done by them in return. But how so! Ae'
cording to the article. the forts are armed
with 11-inch guns, while those of the dreso'
noughts are of -, Is and Is inch calibre
II, have often been informed. the
greater guns would outrange the smaller
ones Of the shore batteries by several miles
directly opposite result would occur, VIZ.
the shore batteries would be destroyed while
The ships would remain unharmed T. G.
New York, Feb. O. 1918
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
Nothing but the Habit!

To the Editor of The Tribune
Sir: They tell the story OF commercial
traveller who arrived at a town in the gray
dawn cold and hungry, but particularly in
want of a smoke. No stores were open, and
the only sign CT life in the street was
shivering newsboy the crossing Got
the makin's?" inquired the traveller "Sure,
replied the boy, producing paper and tobacco.
Seeing the traveller make poor progress with
his cigarette, the boy took back paper and
tobacco and rolled it for him Fishing
through his pockets without success, the trav-
eller again asked "Got match ?" Sure
said the boy, and dug up one, which he lighted
and held to the travellers cigarette.
AS the boy picked up his papers again he
commented: "Gce. You amt got nothin but
the habit, have you?"
We borrow transports, borrow protection
for them borrow clothing, rifles, guns, am
munition and heaven only knows what be-
sides.
We have nothing but the habit.
NJ R. W.
New Rochelle, ~ Y, Feb 8. 1918.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
What They Sang

When the Titanic sank there was a long
dispute over the music that helped pass
the last tragic hours. Different witnesses
heard different songs Something of the
same discrepancy appears in the detailed
stories from the slanting deck of the Tus-
cania. Our soldiers sang "The Star Span
gled Banner" according to the first
cables. That was appropriate and likely
on the face of things. Now comes re-
vsed version which pictures our men
singing nothing less than "Where Do We
Go From Here?" Shall we be shocked
or pleased-or doubt both tales, alto
gether
1t is only guess, but guess is almost
as good as the best testimony of eye
witnesses in such long drawn, heart
breaking mess as the laundering of a
great ship. And our feeling would be
that American soldiers, while all of them,
or at any rate some of them, would be
very likely to start their singing with
"The Star-Spangled Banner" when the
first shock was past and the long busi-
ness of waiting turn in the boat was
reached would open their mouths quite
naturally in "Where Do We Go From
Here?"
1t was poignantly and delightfully."- up
propriate to the moment. 1t was cheer
ing and husky and. nformal--combinng
all the American points. We may not be as
afraid of showing solemn emotion as the
British. But we are by nature happy-go-
lucky and informal. We do not hold our
tragic postures long. The utmost of our
solemnity is apt to end in a laugh or a
chuckle The particular kind of self-con-
sciousness that we possess with respect to
our emotions results not SO much in
stern repression Gas in the case of the
British) as in an explosion in another
direction--in laughter in place of tears
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
The Wrong Way to Do 1t

The House of Representatives will take
up again tomorrow the alien slackers'
bill, which it put over from last week
There is a strong disposition to pass this
bill as a protest against the srowness Of
the methods by which the State Depart
ment has been seeking to work out an
other solution of the same problem. But
it would be mistake to rush the House
bill through. The State Department s
plan is more reasonable and promises bet
ter results.
The House bill is summary in character.
1t alters radically the status here of citi-
zens and subjects Of the powers in con-
junction with which we are making war
against Germany and Austria Hungary.
We have undoubtedly a right to alter that
status; but we ought to recognize the
comfy supposed to prevail among friendly
nations-especially among Allied nations
to the extent Of consulting the countries
whose nationals we are dealing with and
seeing whether it is not possible to ac-
compEsh what we want to accomplish
through diplomatic agreements.
aliens and subjects and citizens of the AL
lied powers who have residence here
have been required TO register and are
counted as part of our military popula-
ton. Those Of them who have claimed
exemption as aliens have obtained ex-
emption. Our government has now ac-
copied the principle that neutral aliens
are under no compulsion to serve The
House bill lets them alone; but it seeks to
recall the right of exemption tacitly
granted to Allied aliens. 1t provides that
if they do not withdraw their claims to
exemption or to deferred classification
they shall be deported, and be thereafter
barred from becoming citizens of the
United States.
This goes much too far. We have made
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12

handeo, X Poland, Lithuanla and the Bal
tic lands come under a German protecto-
rate, if Finland makes good her secession
and the rest of Russia is split up into
feeble proletariat republics, German polit-
ical and economic control will before long
be extended as far as the Siberian border
Russia is now impotent to resist the Ger
man invader, in whatever r',ise he con-
ducts his campaign of penet, alton
Russia was a greedy beneficiary of tho
various partitions of Poland. That was
when her rulers thought in terms of ma
tionalism instead Of in terms of interna-
tlonallsm, Now she is, in turn, becoming
a Poland, torn by civil strife and ready to
tall prey to her former accomplices in
the Polish spolations,
Whoever sups with German militarism
must have long spoon. Lenine and
Trotzky went to Brest-Litovsk without any
spoon They were armed with nothing but
phrases. While they were seeking an op-
portunity to get into Germany with their
gospel of proletariat revolution, and were
insisting on "self-determination" for the
peoples of Poland and Lithuana, the Ger
mans craftily turned the self determination
theory against them by recognizing the re-
public of Ukrainia and initiating a policy
of penetration into Russia itself which
aims at dividing the former Romanoff en-
pire into as many petty, jealous and war
ring states as there used to be in Germany
before Sadowa
Divide and rule was Won Kuhlmann's
motto at Brest-Litovsk Divide and lose
has been the motto of the Bolshevik, who
have made Russia pay for the transient
satisfactions of the social revolution by ter
ritorial dissolution and the practical ac-
ceptance of Teutonic over-lordship
If Germany can set up dependent state
in the Ukraine, she can set up other de-
pendent Russian states, and she can coerce
Rumania into peace of submission. Then
to the east and the southeast of her there
will be nothing but vassal kingdoms or re-
publics-Austria-H Hungary, Bulgaria, Ru-
mania, Turkey, the Ukraine, Poland and
Lithuania, differing only in their degree
Of vassaldom. For the dream of German
empire extending from Bremen to Bagdad
may be substituted the dream of German
empire extending from Strasburg to Vlad-
ivostok. Truly at Brest- Litovsk new and
mighty vista of world dominion was opened
to the eager eyes of the pan-Germanists.
What is to block Germany's march to the
East-with the Pacific instead of the Gulf
of Persia as the ultimate goal? Nothing
that Russia can do for the present, or is
likely to do in the near future. The bal
ance of power in the East of Europe can
be restored now only through the victory
of the Western Powers. When that comes
the map of the old Russian Empire may be
redrawn. And it will be redrawn not so
much in the interest of Russia as in the
interest of a lasting world peace, which
will put an end to all grandiose dreams of
empire building by conquest.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
enemies of this country and less a stencil
in the nostrils Of Americans than Scott
Nearing is He ought to he sent to join
them.
Exit the Hon. Bertrand Russell

1t is a long jump from the pleasing,
equable Bertrand Russell of the early
period of the war to the present ill-tem-
pered sneerer at American soldiers.
Martyrdom of the limited kind imposed
on pacifist in England to-day has not
sat we'll on the temper or disposition of
the author of "Why Men Fight"
The change has been progressive. The
Hon. Bertrand Russell, late lecturer and
Fellow of Trinity College, pleased a wide
circle Of American readers with his first
book of the war. 1t was not an original
work in substance. 1t ranged the whole
field of social reform and took and
adapted and rephrascd in clear, graceful
language much that had been said before
by minds more original if less facle. 1t
was fair, temperate and reasoned, and
contained statement Of the intelectual's
detached view of war we'll worth the
making.
There followed various articles which
were finally assembled in book under
the title "Justicc in War Time" and pub
lished by that purveyor of much pro-Ger-
man matter, the Open Court Publishing
Company. The progress away from rea-
soning to fanaticism was marked 1t
seemed almost inconceivable, for instance,
that Bertrand Russell, of a once logical
pen, could write chapter to prove that
England conquered and overrun by Ger
mans would be the same old England
still-as if the whole long fight for free
dom was a negligible factor in the develop
ment Of self-reliant, worthwhile human
beings and slaves had the same chance to
advance as frcemen.
The present sneer at American soldiers
who whether they prove efficient against
the Germans" will "no doubt be capable of
intimldating strikers, an occupation to
which the American army is accustomed
at home," marks a final collapse. The
Hon. Bertrand Russels sentence to six
months Imprisonment was hardly needed
Not even a brilliant aristocrat turned
radical can count in controversy when
he descends to cheap insults based on a
crude misrepresentation of facts.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
The Stricken Patriots

10 the Editor of The Tribune
Sir: Is it not singular thing that the
two most fitted for helping our "Southern"
Washington outfit-Wood and Roosevelt
should both be stricken down and seriously
i'll at this crisis?
Verify the German war god is fghtIae
hard! But, thanks be, he is fighting in MI
last ditch, -
what would please all the American 2eopi.
most would be the Immediate selection o.
these two patriots for important posts ~
soon as they are again physically mt.
JOHN SEYMOUR WOOD.
New York, Feb g. 1918.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12

violence which both in St. Louis and Alton
confronted or pursued Lovejoy and finally
doomed him to a felon's death and a
martyrs crown. Perhaps the two cases are
little parallel with those of John and
Peter. John was bold and fearless at the
scene of the crucifxion, standing near the
cross and receiving the Saviours request to
care for his mother, but was not annoyed,
while Peter, whose disposition was to shrink
from public view, seemed to catch the
attention of members of the mob on every
hand, until finally, to throw public atten-
ton off, he denied his Master with an oath,
though later the grand old apostle re-
deemed himself grandly, and like Lovejoy,
died martyr 20 his faith. Of course,
there was similarity between Peters
treachery at the temple and Lovejoy' $
splendid courage when the pitiless mob
was closing around him. But in the cases
OF the two apostles at the scene mentioned,
John was more prominent or loyal in his
presence and attention to the great Master
than Peter was, but the latter seemed to
catch the attention Of the mob; and, as
Lovejoy, one of the most inoffensve of
men, for merely printing small paper
devoted to the freedom of the body and
mind of man, was pursued to his death;
while his older comrade in the cause of free
dom, the Rev. James Lemen ST., who bold
ly and aggressively proclaimed his pur-
pose to make both the territory and the
state free, was never molested a moment
by the minions of violence. The madness
and pitiless determination with which the
mob steadily pursued Lovejoy to his doom
mark it as one of the most unreasoning
and unreasonable in all time, except that
which doomed the Saviour to the cross.
"If ever you should come to Springfield
again, do not fail to call. The memory of
our many evening sittings' here and else
where, we called them, suggests many
pleasant hour both pleasant and helpful.
Truly yours, A. LINCOLN"
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12

w E ARE indebted to Lewis Carro,
wv and Robert Housum for -
classification of the hu man -.
and new searchight on the problem :
marriage itself. "
All people, the playwright suggests -.
other Walruses or Carpenters. peon,s
who have the gift of gab--who know :.
delightful trick of rafting along. on sh:.
and shoes and sealing way; who can d;,..ps
the guests attention when the so,,n ::
burned by precipitating debate on xh..
the sea is boiling hot and whether ~.
have wings - these are Walruses
Tome should be without one They aro -.
favored souls who walk in the glow =
their own rosy imaginations. They g.
fairies and the girls they left behind ther
in the Pickering camp fire, and thev now,
feel she mosquitoes. Following the gynsv
trail they tramp through the March woods
to find the first trailing arbutus. hid N,
der the sunny side of dead log and
never get their feet wet or tear their hos.
broadcloth skirts
thn
dull, practical folk. The female of II.
species. is the kind of housekeeper who
would be sure to have plenty of canned
soup on hand, even if the cook did sno;,
the first kettleful, but she would want n
tell all about it at the dinner table.
On that immortal picnic, when the Wal
rus and the Carpenter first SAT onnos;+a
each other, on the crock conveniently low.
it was the Walrus who covered IN thu
faux pas made by the silly little oysters
by chattering delightfully."- about sbips and
shoes and sealing wax, while the Carmen
ter said nothing, but
"Cut us another slice.
wish you were not quite so deaf
I've had to ask twice"
This classification would be interesting
only to philosophical Walruses themselves
were it not for the corollary which the
playwright appends- -"all Walruses marry
Carpenters"
The buoyant soul who wakes each morn
ing in fine frenzy over the joys of exist
ence, plunging into the subway with ALL
the zest Of a New Adventure, why does hisI
wife always prick his enthusiasm by ask.
ing if he has on his rubbers?
Because she is Carpenter, and Wall
ruses always marry Carpenters. Why
does Hermione, trembling on the brink of
new inspiration, have to be dragged back
by the stern voice OF Friend Husband, re-
minding her that the Swami looks l,stl
like the guy who was arrested at Bar
lIarbor last summer? Because she is a
Walrus and she had to marry a Carpenter
The value of this discovery is tremen.
dous. People have but to measure them.
selves according to their capacity for ships
and shoes and sealing wax, versus their
interest in rubbers, and then place them.
selves in the one or the other category
The rest is easy. If you find yourself a
Walrus, pick out good, stupid old Car
penter and marry him. All your life YOU
can count on an interesting companion
who will buy hyacinths for your SOUL and
will be delciously Indifferent to rubbers
thereby rendering himself a perfectly pli-
able object for the exercise of the mater.
nal instinct, or, what is the same thing in
Laser form, the feminine desire to run the
whole family.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
Lincoll, Weighed
His Words

When he wrote this letter Lincoln was
as l sad before, mature in his thinking and
precise in the use OF his words He knew
perfectly we'll what, commonly accepted, were
the great single events in the history Of the
new world. Eliminating, as doubtless should
be done, those events of composite his
torlcal prominence, still have the killing
of Hamilton by Burr, which in the Judgment
of many marked the beginning of the end Of
duelling in this country. Turning to the field
of material accomplishment, we have in the
historical panorama the invention of the
Whitney cotton gin, which indirectly COM
plicated the slavery question; Morse's tele-
graph and Robert Fultons steamboat The
development and utility of these three
inventions were recurring things of which
thinkers like Lincoln were constantly being
reminded. Yet of these, as "single
events weighed heavily in his mind com
pared with the memory of the pale-faced
Congregational preacher, dying for an ideal
the freedom of the press and the freedom
of the slave-at the hands of the pro-slavery
drunken mob in the little city of Alton in
November, 1887 That to Lincoln was "the
most important single event that ever hap
pened in the New World"
Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary Of
War In Lncoln's Administration, in his ad-
mrable address Lincoln before the New
Haven Colony Historical Society in 1896. said
that Lincolns predominating trait was his
wisdom.
He never took an unimportant point and
went off upon that" said the great journal
lst, but he always laid hold of the real
thing, of the real question, and attended to
that without attending to the others anv
more than was indispensably necessary
he seemed to have no illusions.
he had no freakish notions that things were
so, or might be so, when they were not so
All his thinking and all his reasoning. all
his mind, in short, was based continually
upon actual facts and upon facts of which.
as said, he saw the essence I never heard
MN toretell things; he told what thew were.
but | never heard him intimate that such
and such consequences were likely to happen
without the consequence following"
AS nation we are taking part in q strue-
gle for the freedom Of the press and the
freedom OF the Teutonic peoples. Whether
ehose people realize it or not, they do not
ENJOY freedom, and whether we as A neonle
iully realize 1T or not, the abridgement of the
freedom OF the press and the freedom of
ehe peoples of the Central Powers affects ad
versely the freedom of the people of the
united States. We are more and more a
brotherhood. If the striking down of Love
JOY standing as he did for the freedom of
the press and the freedom of the slave. was
to the wise and cear-sighted Lincoln the
most important single event that had ever
happened up TO 1857 in the history of the
New World. should We not be steadied and
heartened for the mighty task in hand across
the sea?
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12

10 the Editor of The Tribune.
Or: May not be permitted to express to
you my very deep admiration for the senti-
'en'S expressed IN your cryptographic
eo''ofiai on Getting 1t Over to the Kaiserv?
NeVer mas the picturesque personality of my
] 'u 'im nam been more potently pre-
se,'eo' EDGAR A. P. LECOQ-HOLMES.
New York Feb. H. 1913.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-12
What We All Feel

10 the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: We want to thank you for your beau
ttul tribute to wonderful Theodore
Roosevelt-that lovely paragraph above YOUR
leading editoral-n Fridays Tribune. 1t
expressed exactly what we all felt and feel.
We cannot do without our "Teddy." We can
not think of this world without him.
CLARA STYLES.
New York. Feb g. 1918