New Britain herald., 1918-10-22
CHIDE THE GOVERNOR.
Republican Attacks On His Address
 tO the Students .tt Wesleyan.
Bridgeport POSt)

| When so strong republican organ ! as the New London Day is moved to
 1 assert that Governor HOlcOmb made a mistake and exaggerated in his re- l cent address to students at Wesleyan 1 University, it indicates something 1 which cannot be recorded indifferent 1 ly as a mere matter of fact destitute 1 of significance. It serves to empha- 1 size the question whether the chief l executive is familiar with the history 1 of his own country.
 1 Governor Holcomb told the Wes- 1 leyan students that the United States, l before it entered the war, had lost it's | soul the respect of every other na- 1 ton and almost it's own respect. 1 Whenever Governor Holcomb pub | Hcly speaks his mind about the war, 1 great import rightly attaches to his words because theoretically they voice the consensus of Connecticut. Constructively by virtue of his office, he is the spokesman for the state. It therefore is important that he should be quoted accurately. We had hoped he had been misquoted in his Wes- leyan speech rather than that he had misreprcsented the temper of Con necticut and the country.
 But the source of our information
 regarding his Wesleyan speech pre- cludes any possibility that the gov ernor was misquoted. We therefore quote the governor fully on the point in question from his own personal or gan the Hartford Courant, which is clam bring the loudest for his re-elec- ton. The Courant headed the ac- count of the Wesleyan re-opening with this key-line: 'U. 5. Had Lost It's Soul Before War, Says Holcomb".
 In the introduction to his excollency's remarks, the Courant correspondent said: 'Governor Holcomb delivered a chara ct eristic address" The entire para graph, which contains the mat ter the Courant failed to censor fol- lows:
 "GovcrnOr Holcomb then went on to say that the people of the United states were selfish before the war. The country was mak- ing money and was content. We had lost the respect Of all the other nations of the World, he said, and had pretty nearly lost our own respect. Since the dec laration of war we have regained 1 it however, and ever since that time we have had but one pur- pose and that is to win the war. On the result of the war depends whether you will be slaves or free men. We are fighting for freedom from slavery just as much now as were our fathers in 1 the Civil war. The kaiser has found that the United States has found it's soul The war he said, 1 would be the salvation of the United Statcs.'
 Did the Courant act adVisedly when ! it's copy-reader, who wrote that key ! line and whose blue pencil was in 1 bankruptcy while he scanned that paragraph. let characteristic" stand | and when the night desk possibly ig- | nored q query from the proof room? Every real American would hope it acted -advisCdly.
 No wonder that so seasoned q re- publican newspaper as the Day says, almost sobbingly, that great ships l sometimes run aground and our gov | ernor can make mistake and that he did so at Wesleyan and that he eX- aggerates.
 No wonder that the New Britain Herald bIazes with righteous wrath at what it describes as the governors
 Insulting remarks about the people of the United States and America in general" and flashes in his face an array Of evidence to refute the re- publican nomince's careless words. The Herald also chides the goVer- nor for his supertluous statement that we have had the one purpose of win ming the war only since we have been in the war. We have no quarrel with his cxcellcncy over his lapses from grammar or rhetoric or logic or be l cause his verbal battling with shad- l ows Of his own making may not be a masterpiece of arGumentatiVe req l soning We have no doubt that he means well.