Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1916 — A SAMPLE OF PREPAREDNESS HYSTERIA. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A SAMPLE OF PREPAREDNESS HYSTERIA.

We are for preparedness with both feet, but we question the sincerity of some of the Chicago patriots, especially those who took part in the banquet at the Congress and recorded in the Examiner in part as follows: " ■ : -1 Chairs and tables were smashed, glassware and dishes went crashing to the floor, and three hundred voices roared approval in a preparedness demonstration at the Congress hotel last night. Men foremost in the political councils of the country shouted approval of statements deriding, the pacifist attitude and lauding the theory of preparedness as represented in Chicago’s great parade. • ♦ * ♦ ♦ Within a few feet of where a short time before the tramp of tens of thousands of marchers had sounded, the vociferous diners echoed the spirit of the day. Some seized chairs and smashed them over tables. Tablecloths were dragged off to serve as banners and the dishes were swept to the floor. An orchestra joined in the wild demonstration with “Dixie.’’ Waving cloths and napkins, the guests turned the outburst into another preparedness parade and marched around and around the hall cheering. Scores of guests at the hotel and many in Peacock alley and • even from Michigan avenue were drawn to the banquet hall by the shouts of the men who were endeavoring to voice their demand for fit preparedness against the horrors of the war in Europe. When order finally was restored every chair and

many of the tables had been overturned. Like wine, preparedness should be avoided by those who find it goes to their heads. It is enough that sincere people attend to the subject; the assistance of howling dervishes will do no good.—Lake County Times. (Rep.)