The Washington herald., 1921-11-06
Resents Criticism of Swiss.

Resents Criticism of Swiss.
To the Editor. The Warrington Herald:
Your editorial column q few
mornings ago contained q para
graph whose opening lines read
thus: 'If war flames again In the
Balkans the responsibility will bs
Switzerland's." This 10 q very grave
accusation, and second thought will
no doubt urge the writer to retract
1t as one Of the grosssst insults
ever offered In the American press
to the Swiss nation.
The statement Is as scandalous q
Misrepresentation of facts as IL
Swiss paper were to say. "The war
between England and Ireland 10
Americas fault because Eamonn de
Valera was not interned In the
United States"
The editorial further said that it
pays the Swiss to have this hetero-
geneous mass Of the off.scourings
from other countries, and that
Switzerland Is getting rich batten.
ing of them. This Is q harsh judg-
ment In the face of the fact that
hardly one OF these royal refugees
has ever paid the debts he has in
CURED in Switzerland.
Switzerland IL the slave Of her
ancient tradition Of hospitality.
Napoleon the Third spent so many
years in Thurgau that he was con-
sidered a citizen Of that Canton. and
went from there to his destiny In
France.
King Peter Of Serbia lived for
many years In Geneva and went
from there to the throne in Bel
grade.
This tradition OF hospitality, ex-
tended not alone to kings ana
ruined nobility, has been one of the
most luminous points in Switzer-
lands conduct during the war.
Hundreds Of thousands of other
humber refugees were hospitalized
on her territory. fed. clothed and
otherwise taken care of. The ira
dition hospitality persists, and
Will persist as long az that bit OF
country. known as the Helyetfan
Republic continues to exist. Switz.
erland's hospitality has been used
by thousands and abused by hum
dreds. I have lived there for twen-
ty years and have seen as fiagrant
examples of abuse as this latest one
of Charles. Do you think that the
Swiss, the very drst people In the
world to throw of the yoke of
monarchy. particularly like to have
all the remnants Of the old system,
within her borders? But never,
even in tho face of direct provoca-
tion have I known the Swiss press
to descend to Billingsgate and re-
fer to any nation, much less a gen
orally respected sister republic, as
the garbage can Of any continent.
We Americans who know and
love Switzerland. we who have seen
from very near the mastery way In
which she has met and solved her
almost overwhelming difiicuities, we
are amazed and distressed that a
paper Of your poise can give way
to such a dangerous burst Of petu.
lance.
When Napoleon's presence In
Switzerland became . menace to
peace he was told that he must find
another asylum. There followed
his coup d'etat and his return to
France. Switzerland had given
former Emperor Charles q certain
limit within which he was to fnd
another refuge. The date having
expired and Charles having found
no other country where he could
stay, flies to Hungary. How can
this be called Switserland's fault?
At q Save the Russian Children"
meeting In New York a few weeks
ago. a noted American Bolshevik
spoke and was applauded to the
echo by Americans. Shall II there
fore be said that the American gov
eminent upholds the Red Soviet OF
Russia? ! think not.
For the sake Of the Swiss In this
country as we'll as for the sake Of
the whole Swiss nation Gan ardent
admirer of America and everything
American) retract your editorial
publicly and acknowledge that a
sudden access Of war psychosis had
clouded your ink.
ETHEI, HJyGII