Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1919 — AGAINST PEACE [ARTICLE]

AGAINST PEACE

Indiana Republican leaders Stand For Jingoism. Senators New and Watson, and Governor Goodrich, Join With Cot Harvey in Opposing League of Nations. It has become evident that, while a large portion of the Republican party in Indiana is protesting against the persistent assaults on the league of nations, the party leaders in Indiana are determined to fight it, and to force it as a political issue. For months past Senators New and Watson, and Governor Goodrich, have indicated this purpose of denunciations of every step taken by President Wilson in the direction of a peace agreement; but the direct avowal of Republican policy came in connection with the address of Col. Harvey to the Columbia, club on March 17. Col. Harvey’s views were well known, having been published and widely circulated, and he was deliberately chosen by the managers of the leading Republican club of Indiana to voice their sentiments. And Col. Harvey did so, in a way that brought the hearty applause of the audience, by these statements: I■■1 ■■ »m jfejfposed to the covenant as it stands. I am opposed to it as it may be amendea. I am opposed to it in principle. lam opposed to it in theory. I am opposed to it in practice. "I regard it IB the most unAmerican proposal ever submitted to the . American people by an American president. "I am opposed to this country

entering into any perpetual or permanent alliance with any power for any purpose—for war, for peace, or for anything else.’’ It was important that Harvey should have sympathetic indorsement and therefore Governor Goodrich was chosen to introduce him. After warm praise of Harvey's Jingo demands for war before Germany’s aggressions on our rights gave cause for it —his demands that "we cease to stand idly and see the free nations of the earth crushed beneath the iron heel of the oppressor,” the Governor continued:

“The same clear vision that saw the danger in 1914 and 1915 from the aggressions of Prussian autocracy now sees the more subtle danger that lurks behind the insidious propaganda of those who would have us depart from the settled principles that have guided us for nearly 150 years, surrender our national sovereignty and embark on the uncertain sea of European politics; sees the danger to our institutions from the deadening Influetnces of government ownership of our means of transportation and communication; sees the danger to our free institutions from the propaganda of the socialist and. the Bolshevist, and-, seeing all this, is giving to the service of the nation all the great power and influence he (possesses.

“Because of the sincerity of his purpose, the intensity of his patriotism, the courage of his conviction and the integrity of his ways, we are to have 'him with us this evening. “Knowing that as we honor 'him we reflect credit on ourselves, it is with pleasure that I introduce to you the speaker of the evening, that American of Americans, Col. George Harvey of New York.’’ Governor Goodrich has not withdrawn a word of his indorsement since Harvey’s speech to the Columbia club was made and published; and Senators New and Watson have taken the stump advocating Harvey’s principles. In his speech at Martinsville on March 28, Senator New summarized his position as follows: “First, that he will not vote for a league that permits the slightest surrender of the right of this

country to decide when and how It shall go to war. •'Second, he will not vote to surrender the right of this country to regulate Immigration to its chores. "Third, he will not vote to .surrender any authority of this country to regulate and control its commerce. "Fourth, he will not vote to surrender this government’s control over Its own expenditures, “Fifth, he will not vote to surrender this country’s right to regulate the size and character of its force for national defense.” On March 27, at Boston, Mass., Senator Watson stated his position more fully, as follows; “I am against this constitution because, while ostensibly formulated to preserve peace, eight ot Its articles legalize war and four of them compel it; because It confers upon an executive council the literal domination of the world and gives England control of that council; because it makes no provision for the election by the people or by the people’s congress for the selection of our one representative in that council, but leaves him to executive choice only. "Because it permits a foreign body to suggest the size of our army, and if- that suggestion be adopted, to prevent the increase of our military force no matter how great the exigency that confronts us. . I it enables the executive council arbitrarily to fix the number of troops we shall furnish In any difficulty that may occur anywhere on earth, place them where ever it pleases, keep them there as long as It likes and compel us to pay all the expense incident to the enterprise. “Because it places our troops under the command of any person it sees fit to elect.

“Because it empowers the council to levy an assessment upon us for any sum it may deem necessary to exact to defray the expense of any military expedition upon v hich it may determine to embark. • Because it makes imigration, taxation and tariff international a?.d domestic questions. •■Because It transfers at least a portion of our sovereignty to foreign control, strikes down a number of the provisions of our constitution, abrogates the Monroe doctrine and undermines to that extent the independence of the government of the United States. “Because it immediately thrusts us Into all the quarrels of all the nations of the earth and invites them to participate in settling all our difficulties; It means that the wages of our laboring people shall be reduced in order to ‘equalize’ them with the wages paid our com 7 petitors abroad. “I am opposed to it because under two of its sections Japan would be enabled to force her people upon •is or else compel us to go to war with all the other members of the league.”

Meanwhile the smaller Republicans are actively engaged in the like. propaganda, and, indeed, as shown by their newspaper conajnunications and daily talks, are “seeing things’’ worse than their leaders. Human views of anything are largely controlled by Individual characteristics. An extreme optimist has been defined as “A man who would build an addition to a distillery, under present ■ anti-li-quor sentiments”; and an extreme pessimist as “A man who would refuse a gift of a farm, for fear he would be taxed into bankruptcy under the new Republican tax law.’’ If the four Republican leaders above quoted do not belong in the latter class, they at least have undertaken the task of making the United States safe for dyspepsia. Under these circumstances, Chairman Van Nuys has taken steps to counteract this insane propaganda of jingoism, which has already re} bed the stage of advocating the th, yof the German evolutionists, that war is desirable to prevent human stagnation. The .first move is one of party organization in connection with the visit of National Chairman Homer S. Cummings on April 8. He will arrive at Indianapolis at noon, and at once go into executive session with the Democratic state committee. Between 5 and 6 o’clock a public reception will be held at the rooms of the Democratic state committee at the Denison/ hotel, to which Democrats who wish to meet the national chairman are invited.

At 7 p. m. a banquet for men and women will be held ip the Riley room of the Claypool hotel, at which Chairman Cummings will speak on national Issues. Accompanying his party will be Mrs. George Bass of Chicago, .head of the women’s bureau of the Democratic national committee, who will also speak at the banquet. On the- afternoon of the Bth she wall address a meeting of Democratic women, and submit plans for their

organization. Tickets for the ban(quet, at $2 each, are for sale at the rooms of the Democratic state committee, and the reservations indicate an appreciation of the high compliment to Indiana of this visit, and a roustog reception to the national chairman. Mr. Cunrtnings will remain in the city until 3 p. m. of the 9th and on that day will attend a luncheon at the Indiana Democratic club. The inext event will be a Jefferson day mass meeting at Tomlinson hall, on the night of April 12, under the auspices of the Indiana Democratic club. The principal speakers will be J. W. Gerard, our late ambassador to Germany, who defied the kaiser, and Judge S. Harrison White, late chief justice of Colorado, who is reputed to be a brilliant speaker, amid one of the best-posted men on the league ot nations in the United States. This, also, will be a state affair, and delegates from various points in the state are already making preparations to attend.

PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON In the winter, when the tempests rage, I sit in my upholstered cage, before a cheery blaze, and think about the postmen bold who, in the blizzard raw and cold, undaunted go their ways. I see them as from town they go, to journey thirty miles or so, o’er beastly country roads, and wish I had J. Milton’s lyre, that I might sing, with proper fire, some eulogistic odes. When wintry tempest rips and tears, we snuggle down in easy chairs, and| read detectivp tales; but, on his route the postman goes, and faces every wind that blows, and all the tinhorn gales. Through every kind of misfit storm, while others bask in houses warm,, the postman has to chase; the sleet is made of frozen rain, and where it hits it reaves a pain—all day it swats his face. The snow lands on him by the peck, the rain is running down his neck, Dame Nature’s maudlin tears; still, still ihe drives through mud and sleet; his shoes are full of frozen feet, and slush is in his ears. He earns a hundred bones a day; alas, alas, his meager pay deserves the country’s scorn; his children cry in vain for pie for he has just enough to buy his pony hay and corn.