The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-01

SASA AoNpVN, VIM oSniou tnis Cnuhro
broadcast. give my enclosure some pub
llcity7 You will notice that the folder
is used by the navy recruiting stations
"CHAnMroN X. LONDON
"tMrs. JACK LoNpoN).
GLEN ELLEN. Cal, juno 90"
On the cover of the navy recruit
ing station folder Is an announcement
to the effect that the letter used by
the Brooklyn conspirators has been
falsely attributed to JACK LONDON for
years; land widespread publicity has
been given to the letter by many So
called Socialist publications and by
others whose practice 1t is to mlsrep-
resent the army and navy Of the
United States" The counterfeit let
ter Itself. as It appears in the folder,
IL as follows:
YOUNG MEN: The lowest aim in
your life Is to become a soldier. The
good soldier never tries to. distinguish
right from wrong. He never thinks !:
never reasons; he only obeys. II he
is ordered to fire on his fellow citizens
on his friends. on his neishbors. on his
relatives, he obeys without hesitation.
II he is ordered to fire down a crowded
street when the poor are clamoring for
bread he obeys. and sees the gray hairs
OF age stained with red and the life
tide gushing from the breasts OF women.
feeling neither remorse nor sympathy.
II he Is ordered of as a firing squad
to execute a hero or benefactor he fires
without hesitation. though he knows the
bullet will pierce the noblest heart that
ever beat In human breast.
"A good soldier is a blind. heartless,
soulless, murderous machine. He Is not
man. He Is not a brute. for brutes
only kill In self-defence. All that is
human in him. all that Is divine in him,
all that constitutes the man has been
sworn away when he took the enlist
ment roll. His mind, his conscience. aye.
his very soul. are in the keeping Of his
oficer.
mo man can fall lower than a SOL
dier--it Is a depth beneath which we
cannot 90. Keep the boys out Of the
army. 1t is he'll.
Down with the army and navy. We
don't need killing institutions. We need
life giving institutions.
JACK LONDON"
Unluckily for the creatures who
tried to make capital for sedition by
forging the name Of the robust novel;
LIST. JACK LONDON heard Of the trick
and denounced 1t in a letter to a
friend In the navy:
GLEN ELLEN. Cal. August S, 1915.
Lieutenant JAMES d. WILSON.
Navy Recruiting Station.
Minneapolis. MINI.
DEAR Mr.. WILSON In reply to yours
Of June 20. 1916: l have Just returned
from Hawaii. last night, hence you will
understand my delay in replying.
an reply to your inquiry I will state
that I never wrote line of this Good
Soldier canard. For years and years
I have been denying the authorship OF
1t. in England. in the United States.
everywhere. by personal letter. by inter-
view. by telegraph and by cable. There
Is scarcely a mail that comes to me
which does not bring me a letter like
yours. wanting to know whether or not
wrote the canard. AS far as I can
trace the history OF this it was orig
inally published and circulated in Ger
many. and later on was brought over
to tho United States. translated and
circulated with my name attached. And
from there it has spread over the rest
of the world. All you have to do is
to read my books and newspaper work
to and that for the newspapers I have
done only war correspondence and prize
fighting and that in my books I am
hailed by the critics as the father OF
red blood fiction.
My opinion 10 that II behooves a
country or nation like the United States
to maintain a reasonable preparedness
for defence against any country or ma
ton that at any time may 60 out upon
The way Of war to carve earth space for
itself out Of weaker and unprepar red
nations
THE dressed feas which you gave
Mrs. LONDON in Vera Cruz are . source
Of wonder and amusement to our friends
to whom We show them.
Remember me to Captain BEACH and
Or. DEssEz when you see them.
Sincerely yours,
JACK LONDON"
The man who used to sign himself
yours for the revolution" was quick
to deny sympathy with false creed
and to align himself with the cause
of right. He was q Socialist, but not
of the breed that Germany uses for
her own autocratic purposes. TIE
SUN Is glad to assist Mrs. LONDON in
her effort to counteract whatever evil
may have been done by a SANDER
made In Germany.
1t Is High Time to Revise Our
Patent System.
TTnaor tbo ,onJIt;o.o A.. -. -.