The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-03
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

l am not going into the Quakers peace views, but 1 am going to have something to say about one of the sect, who when Germany trifled with the good name O. America and sacrificed the lives of her 1 citizens got mad and became an advo- cate of war.
 It is not always safe to push a meek man too far, or to bank on the non-resist- ance of a Quaker, for when the one gets his meekness ruffled, and the other his back to the wall things are apt to hap pen lively and somebody is liable to get hurt.
 Senator Underwood is authority for say ing that A. Mitchell Palmer, was off, fered the portfolio of war some six years ago before there was cloud of war on the horizon, but that he turned it down on account of conscientious scruples; but 1 am sure that those who heard him before the Allied army dinner attribute it rather to the fact that he did not 9meI the scrap ahead.
 He confesses himself that two years before the war he was entirely fooled as to the German character and that it look strong evidence to change his view. point, but after having acted us GUS. todian of alien property he is inclined to think that for ways there are dark and for tricks that are vain'' even Bret Eurte's ha eentury Prussian. If any one in this country ought to know what he IS talking about it seems to me thnt A. M. P. is that individual
 NOW, l set out recently few of his experiences with German deceit and treachery in high places and my heart elo"ed With pleasure as he came out boldly and without equivocaton and pro- nounced former Ambassador Von Bern- stoff as the head of the spy system in America Somehow I have never been reconciled to the courteous treatment he received at the hands of our government when his passports were handed to him, for he had violated every law of hos- pitality, and trampled underfoot inter- national courtesy. History may vindicata The gentleman treatment accorded him as the representative of a great power, but homehow I wish he had at least been booted out of the United States
 The Attorney General looks the part You would pick him out in any crowd as a somebody. He has the face, the figure and the bearing of a notability He has the smooth countenance of the actor the mobile mouth of the orator. the gestures of the tnined speaker. and the voice of one accustomed to hold great crowds at his command. Say wha: you please, but stage presence goes long way in establishing the proper nexus between the speaker and his audience.
 Mir Palmer is a handsome man, but not of the type of the matinee idol in spite of his clear complexion which any debuhnte might well envy, for it has the pink ruddiness of health and evidences the fact that he is an out door lover
 
 Unity and strength. His square set jaw is indicative of the fact that when he gets his grip on thing he never lets go Even the Kaiser knows this much and it was matter of diplomatic corre- spendence between Amerioa and Ger many.
 Ona Df ,;.I1r, in his address was the fact that tho morale of the German people broke when tt dawned on the financial and indus trial leaders that in the taking over oy the United States of the Hamburg American line tEnt the door of commerce in the western world had been shut in her face, and that military defeat also spelled commercial bankruptcy for years to come. and that she had brought it all upon herself, and bad no one else to blame for attempting to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
 This and his remarkable exposition of American preparedness which had so often been called in question by the un- thinking gave food for thought. It was true said he, that America was not pre- pared in a technical sense for war by having military machine like Germany, but on the other hand she was a match for her because men like Senator Oscar Underwood had laid deep and broad foundations of national prosperity when he was the leader of the House." All through his speech be gave our towns man high praise, and all enjoyed it when he told how it was through his help that he slipped into the appropriation bill an amendment which gave him the right to take over the hundreds of patents which Germany had taken out after having bought them from Americans to lie idle. | think those who heard his address at the Tutwiler will bear me out that it was bi-furcated speech. For the first 30 minutes he paid attention to ordelness and developed his subject logically. IL was a strong and vigorous presentation sf the great part which America has played and will play in the future. It was the reasoned statement of states man and received the closest attention of his auditors
 But it was only after he asked tho chairman, How much time have I got" and the crowd thundered back "Go on,"