New-York tribune., 1918-06-03
Loyalists, Expressing Sym
pathy for Prisoner, Uphold
Judge Van Valkenburgh
Should Apply to Others
Socialists, While Deeply In.
censed, Maintain Dis
Greet Silence

.onarplN dlVlded opinions were
vo1ced in this city yesterday concern
ing the ten year sentence of Mrs. Rose
Pastor Stokes in Kansas City Saturday
for her violation of the Federal espion-
age law.
On the one hand was the great pre-
pondcrancc Of loyal sentiment. which,
while expressing sympathy for Mrs.
Stokes personally, applaudcd the action
Judge Arba S. Van Valkcnburgh had
taken as representing the only method
whereby disloyalty and obstruction
generally can be effectively stamped
out. At the same time the hope was
widely expressed that the sentence
VIII pave the way for equally drastic
action against other offenders of this
stripe, no matter how high or inhuen-
tial their positions may be.
For Mrs. Stokes personally" said
the Rev. William 7. Manning, rector Of
Trinity Church, III have a high regard
and the deepest sympathy. To Mr..
Stokes, too, my sympathy goes out.
But that does not blind me to the fact
been passed upon Mrs. Stokes. Nor do
! feel that the term imposed, severe as
it may seem, is one whit too long.
Time for Stern Action
at is time that the American people
expressed themselves on this subject
1t is time that the quibbling attitude
we have so long maintained in the face
CT f1agrantly disloyal utterances gave
way to a regime Of stern, decisive ac-
tion. There can be no room for dis
loyalty nor for divided allegiance in
this country at this time. The task
ahead is too momentous, the issue too
clear-cut and unmstakable.
what it behooves us to do now is
to follow up this example in a sys-
tematic manner. Mrs. Stokes has been
adjudged guilty of a grave offence.
But there are others more culpable
and more dangerous than Mrs. Stokes
still at large. 1t is not necessary to
enough for all to recognize. To pro-
ceed against these persons is, though.
the next logical step.
eanwhile the larger lesson of Mrs
Stokes's conviction should be driven
home to all classes everywhere. That
lesson is that this country has no room
for Bolshevism."
Others, while holding that ten-year
sentence was none too long in any case
of disloyalty, were less willing to ac-
cept Judge Van Valkenburgh' iudg-
ment for it that Mrs. Stokes has been
guilty to this extent
Wants More Evidence
The Rev. William L. Sullivan. pastor
of All Souls Unitarian Church. dwelt
at length upon the inexpediencv of
basing definite opinion on so i'm
portant matter upon the sort of ev1-
dence concerning the case which has
been received in the East
"If, though" he said, "Mrs. Stokes
openly or covertly counselled resist
ance to the nation or evasion to the
supreme duty we owe to it in this
most critical hour, her sentence is not
too severe.
If, as part of a systematic pro-
gramme,' to cite the words attributed
TO the presiding judge, she attacked
the morale of the nation to bring about
such collapse, through cowardice and
general lnfamy, as we have seen in
Russia, again her sentence is not too
severe.
If. while acting as part of a sys
tematlc programme to corrupt the in
tegrity Of America, she still declared
that our government was CARRYING on
war under the dominance of profiteers,
she uttered disloyal slander that
should be punished, though not by so
harsh a sentence as ten years i'm
prlsonment, or even half that.
ut all depends, then," he concluded.
"on the nature of her statements, on
their intent and on the possibility of
their being part of a systematic pro-
gramme' to bring disaster or shame to
the United States. If consciously and
as part of general movement she
was furthering Bolshevism, the worst
degradation Of our times, she received
no more than her due But if, reciting
the usual litany of the Socialist dog
matlst, she simply made the slip of
charging the United States govern
ment with subservience to capitalists.
she has been punished with what | re-
gard as deplorable severity. Which
OF these alternatives we are to accent
depends upon the exact facts brought
out at the trial, facts which verv few
OF US here in the East have vet
learned"
Call Sentence Outrage
The third element of public opinion.
making up in vehemence for what it
may lack in numbers, was outspoken
in characterizing the sentence as an
outrage" Radicals, near radicals and
so-cailed liberals of all degrees Joined
in this chorus.
Mrs. Harriet Stanton Blatch. the
suHrage leader, was perhaps the most
moderate in the presentation of their
IN PAYING FOR HE