New-York tribune., 1918-02-16
Faith in Each Other

1t is much easier to believe evil than
good of ones neighbor. That is because
no man is himself so free of wrong i'm
pulses as to be entirely without suspicion
of others.
The President sends letter to the De-
partment of Justice asking it to investi-
gate "some very serious facts" reported
by the chairman of the Shipping Board
in connection with the shipbuilding pro-
gramme with the company operating at
Hog Island"
The company operating at Hog Island
is the American international Corpora
ton, and among the directors of that con-
Germ, as the newspapers Immediately re-
port. "are some of the country's most
powerful fnanciers, including Frank "A.
Vanderlip. Percy A. Rockefeller. j. Ogden
Armour. Robert Dollar, Robert S. Lovett,
William E. Cory, John d. Ryan, Theodore
n. Vail Otto H. Kahn, Pierre S. du Pont,
James Stllman and Beekman Winthrop.
Hog Island! The name is perfect for
the Bolshevist's purpose. Some very
serious facts" reported to the President
and by him referred to the Department of
Justice, A group of Wall Street men
With these materials the hearings can
weave a profiteering scandal SO large and
durable that no amount of official vlndlca~
ton can prevail against it. Moreover, it
is very easy for all casual-minded people
to believe that where the President smells
smoke there must be fire. Anyway, it IS
red and flaring news.
The effect upon the recalcitrant ship
yard worker is most unfortunate. With
already the will to believe that all capital
is predatory, this seems to his naive and
angry mind conclusive proof 1t is so
emphasized by an editorial in ''The Even
ing Call" last night:
"Thc trouble with the men is not disloy-
atty, or pro -Germanism, even indlfer-
ence What they object TO is proitcering.
They are obsessed with the idea that in
these critical days capitalists and groups Of
capitalists making profits large profits
from their labor. 1t makes them unrest
ful and dscontented, and they will not
stand for it; the idea that somebody is get
ting the best of them is ntolerable.
1t is not much an increase of wages
they desire as the abolition Of profit from
their labor. Cannot the Administration
that the prOit system is, and always
has been, the fruitful source of all their
troubles; that it is doomed, and that VIC
might as we'll get rid of it right now as
lar may be possible?
We do not know anything about what
has happened at Hog Island. But we dis
believe that men like these would swindc
their country in war time or allow it to be
swindled by corporation in which they
were share owners.
We disbeleve it not upon evidence, buc
upon faith.
We are not that kind of people.
For the same reason we disbelieve that
the shipyard carpenters are traitorous
war hogs because they double up their
fists. dstort their faces with rage and
shrek that they have been i'll treated, i'll
paid and misunderstood.
1t does no good for the chairman Of the
Shipping Board to Shrek back at them.
BY all this caterwauling lot of precious
time is wasting.
For democracys sake, let us believe in
each other. And by the same emotion, il
we find that one has betrayed our faith be
he capitalist ship carpenter or statesman
let us at our leisure hang him. But let us
not lynch his person or his name or
suspicion.