The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-06-08

son., nlQ VI liz -OetAo hCVoS@PSiS' -
caused this diatribe to be printed in the Con-
pressional Record and distributed broadcast
among orr people at the very moment when the
war is reaching It's most arduous and most
critical stage.
I very sincerely believe that Mr.. Roosevelt
is making a grave mistake in endeavoring to dis
tract our leaders, disturb the machinery OF our
Government, and of our military operations,
and spread doubt and distrust and dissenslon
among our people at this serious time.
This is the time above all times for the sac
rifce of our personal aspirations and antagon-
isms.
It is the time for the exercise OF our utmost
combined endeavor, for the %exertion OF our most
vigorous, united action.
It is not a time for discussion and dissension
and detraction.
ALI 1oval Americans, individuals and institu-
tions, should join together, regardless of per-
sonal or political prejudices, and work harmonl-
ously to help our President and our people to
win the war.
In1S Tile f1SdLSt puUliC11ioho A"'S
and consistently endeavored to do.
From the very first day of the war the
Hearst newspapers have believed that victory
would be won by the united effort and energy
of all our people, and not by the pickering and
fault-fnding of a few of our people.
The day before war was declared the Hearst
papers said that the MANAGEMENT of the
war should be confded to the Executive; that
while deliberation and many councillors were
good in peace, undivided authority and respon-
sibility were necessary in war.
The day after war was declared the Hearst
papers urged IAN army of a million men, the
largest increase that could possibly be made IN
the nayy'' and "innumerabl aeroplanes and
seaplanes."
The leaders of both parties in Congress op-
posed universal service, or any form OF "selec-
tive conscription.' But the Hearst papers cir
culated petitions from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, and collected more than 100000 sig
natures asking Congress to pass the selective
Consumption act.
"Only by using the full strength of the ma
ton. AND EVERY MANS STRENGTH
WHERE 1T is MOST NEEDED, can the full
power of the nation be exerted," was the
definite. verbatim expression of this petition.
I myself went personally to Washington to
urge my former associates in Congress to vote
for s~elective CONSUMPTION, and on April II pub
lished a four-column signed article in the Wash
ington Post advocating it.
After the fight for the ~selective draft was
won. the Hearst papers called for the conquest
of the air. More than twenty editorials, some
of them full pages, urged the appropriation OF
the $640, 000, 900 for aeroplanes and aviators
which was finally secured.
Another urgent need was merchant ships.
FOR TWO YEARS BEFORE THE WAR the
Hearst papers fought with vigor and persistency
for a Covernment-built merchant marine. But
the bill providing for it was killed by a filibus-
ter, in which Senators Penrose and Oliver,
Elihu Root and Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massa-
chusetts-all friends of Mr.. Roosevelt-joined
But for this flibuster we might have had at
least a year ago the ships required to defeat the
submarine.
The s~elective draft, ships and aeroplanes
having been provided, the Hearst newspapers
next petitioned Congress "for temperance dur
ing the war;; to stop the use of foodstuffs for
making whiskey. This legislation was accom-
plished in sixty days, but the Hearst papers
had been making a sustained fight against
whiskey for five years.
To aid the First Liberty Loan, 914 columns
of news, editorials and cartoons were published
in the Hearst papers alone.
Many thousands of posters on the Liberty
Loan, drawn by Hearst cartoonists, were posted
in all the great cities of the country. One of
them, published May "a, 1917, was so effective
that R. W.. Woolly, Director of Publicity of the
Treasury Department, Washington, requested
copies for every Federal Reserve Bank in the