Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-03

* PEAKING at the banquet of the
- New York City Editors conven-
ton at the Majestic Hotel in
New York, Henry Irving Dodge,
founder of the national movement to
suppress the yellow dogs" who dis
courage and demoralfze by repeating
German propaganda lies, told how
he built" the idea that has aroused
a tidal wave of patriotic activity all
over the United States that is eftec-
lively stamping out the last traces of
Prussian influence.
Mr.. Dodge in telling of the birth
of the yellow Dog" campaign said
in part: The matter simply shows
how from a mere idea concrete re-
suits may be got. But what made the
idea effective was the fact that 1t
was applied at the psychological
moment. The country was ripe for
it, and the fact that the Yellow Dog
Drive has become so great shows
not only that there was a very large
number of yellow dogs in the land.
but it also shows the determination
of the American people to suppress
them. It's a movement that has,
since the 18th of May, spread from
Portland Oregon, to Portland,
Maine, and from Canada to Mexico.
In fact, it includes a considerable
portion of Canada, judging from the
letters received.
Yellow Dog Defined
When l speak of the two-legged
yellow dog l don't mean the German
remember that. My yellow dog is
worse than that. He's the weak
l. WI tn
/ hate to call him an American
that's always knocking the govern
ment, always ready to pass along
scandal, groundless scandal, little,
petty, pin-pricking, discouraglng
talk, always-criticislng in destruc-
tive way.
I'm not speaking of the big men,
who know enough to criticise con-
structively, men who have The
courage to risk the public obloquy
for their country's sake-I'm talking
| about dogs not lions
For a long time 1 tried to figure
cut why so many good Americans
were acting like yellow dogs Surely
1 thought, they're doing it unwit-
| tingly. That being the case, they
, muslin a large number of cases
be ignorantly the agent or mouth
pieces of the German propagandist-
doing his work without realizing it.
for they never in Gods world would
do it if they did realize what they
were doing.
Seeking a Cure
Il was much cast down by the ap-
parently unrestricted yellow dogisnl,
and l spent my time hating the yell
low dog and scheming out way TO
| suppress him.
livered orations against the danger
of German propaganda. Able writers
had exposed it. But you can't cure
1t that way any more than you can
cure yellow fever by talking about it,
any more than you can cure cholera
by describing it. You only scare
folks that way. You've got to treat
the patients individually. You've got
to make them realize, see the light.
Make them stand UP and be counted.
Make them personally responsible.
Il reckoned that the yellow dog
was the connecting link, the line of
communication, the disease carrier
between the Hun spy and the
American public, that furnishes the
sinews of war.
II realized that since one couldn't
locate the spy propagandist, who is
as ubiquitous as the house fly it was
necessary to destroyer at least, 20
sterilize-the connecting link so he
couldn't communicate the Prussian
plague.
Whether the yellow dog did it
consciously OF not, the effect of his
whining was vicious, and it was
necessary then to make him realize
that his irresponsible words were
fraught with danger to our country
ITO do that, it was necessary to
get an agent as ubiquitous as the
yellow dog himself. What l did after
that is what Walker did in the
story, The Yellow Dog He pom
dered the matter and finally hit upon
the small boy force of the country.
The small boy, Walker knew,
was the human question mark. He
loves to express himself along the
lines of adventure. So he called the
boys of 'Danforth' together. cx-
planned to them how the yellow dog
by circulating evil rumors and dis
couraging the buying of bonds and
causing men to evade the draft act,
were virtually sending bullets to the
Kaiser and killing their brothers who
were in the trenches.
The Staggering Question
"He organized the Boy Detectives
of America, right then and there.
He told the boys if they heard any,