THE STRONG HAND WITH PACIFISTS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 203, 16 May 1918, Page 5

THE STRONG HAND WITH PACIFISTS

AMERICA'S WAY

TREATMENT DRASTIC AND

SALUTARY

■. '{By Irvin Cobb, by arrangement, in the j Sydney "Suu.") ~ As I understand it, the British ..Delonoo ol (he Eoalm Act provides ratfter . fully, explicitly, and, I think, too moreiiuliy for thoso persons -.tho. while claiming to be-inspired by artruistio motives ■ are roally doing harm by casting distrust and suspicion on the oauso of tho lAlhes.

Wo. in America are we 60 lawless a raco as somo of uur European cousins think we are. ISuit only a generation or two eoparates ns from the? pioneer Bettlers—men who had to fashion lave of thou- own. ■ That inatinot is still Btrong which wo inherited from our fathors—the passion for ,uick eradication of the current evil, in order to secure the peace and good order of tho community. This may explain why our Biethodeseem sc drastic bnd lawless. We still find ouTselves rather oircuniBeribod in. so far as th* law is concerned, in dealing with tho pacifists. Primarily, it. is becauso wo have two sets of Govannmonts, the State dover'nmont end the Federal Govcrumnnt, and, fiouDnly, becauso >ve went into the war without .having provided by legislation how we might cop* with thoso malignant and [discontented elements.

That whioh f-ome of 'rat European cousina oall lawlessness has in a great emergency proved to be of very great lvalue. Wo were at war, understand you, and we found bobbing up in our midst various .sinister elements—malingerers, malcontents, so-called labour agitators, most of whom wers provided with propaganda corresponding with a certain number in tho Wilhelmstrisse. We might have arrested them for seditious language and disorderly condftel, and they would liave been glorified it' they went to gaol, by their own followers and co-3che'ner.3.

As in the Bad Old Days. Instead of doing this the Americans, with' the'abrupt and forcible. directness which they love, tnadfr their own rough laws, and proceeded, to' execute them after the fashion of the Vigilantes of the old days. Our people have just taken the law into their own hands, and the result has been a purifying rf the political and moral atmosphere, a quiokening of the national patriotism, and the curbing of the activities t£ dangerous and misguided malcontents. For instance, in Butte, in tte State of Montana, where it is said every man could mobilise inerely by reaching for his hip-pocket, an 1.W.W.. of ' considerable standing, land playing up German propaganda, incautiously'made some speeches reflecting upon the attitude of our President, and urging "the 'workere not to,go into the (war. He was putting it about that tho war was made by Wall Street in order that the loons made by the 'rioh men to England and France should not be imperilled. One night a number, of mysterious gentlemen with low . voices called upon him, and after some argument he was persuaded to leave with his hands, tied behind his back.' The next morning he was found dangling from a telegraph pole with this notice tied to his feet: "I.W.W.'e take wa'raing."

After this the "1.W.W." went out of (rogue immediately in Butte, Montana.

The State of Kentucky, from which I come, was a border State in the Civil War, and sent men to fight for both armies. It sent more volunteers to the armies-of the North and the South "than it had votes, so we have always been very proud of Kentucky partiotism. When this war began there were no pacifists in Kentucky, but in Cincinnati there was 'a clergyman who made a prayer for the Kaiser. He was invited to como-across to Kentucky to deliver the same address. He came. They did pot kill him,' but tied him to a tree, gave him fifty lashes, tarred and feathered him, and told him that the next time he indulged in prayers for the Kaieer's sucoess, they would hang him. Hβ lhas seen the error of his ways, and has lost all hie conscientious objection to war.

In another State a pacifist brother who bobbed up his head disappeared mysteriously. It was ascertained that he died of natural causes, but there was no doubt about it that his end was fatal.

Our people aro quite patient, and their feeling is that the war should' be fought out on the present basis, and that we should do our bit by following our President's lead, and the man or woman who opposes it for. sinister motives will have short shrift at the hands of the Courts or the populace.

The Soap-Box Pest.

In New York, where we have an enormous foreign population, wo had a great jiumber of soap-box orators, who preached opposition to everything our country was for. Protests were made that these men were violating the right of" free Bpeech. They had a perfect light before the war, but once our country was tot wai-j they were un-American and unpatriotic. There did not seem to bo any law which could reach them, but they finished. .The reason given, was that .the 1 police in breaking up their meetings were 60 rough that some rf (he orators .had to go to hospital'. Apparently the pacifists objected to being ciubbed. No , doubt clubbing was reprehensive and i wrong, but so was the Map-box oratory. l We had reason to suspect that some of thorn were being paid by German money, ,and there seemed to be so many loopholea in our law on this question that the people decided quickly, (silently, and solemnly to. take it into their own , . hands. The idea was not to inculcnto lynch law, for that is dying out, but to discourage anything disloyal to our Country and its ideals. I nnght multiply the instances where citizena have done this. My wife was on a visit to the home of a personal friond of mine, a newspaper editor, in a Biiburb of New York, named Yonkers, whero there is a big foreign population. The little boy in the home was ill, and as thero was no servant handy tho husband went out to get some medicine. Hβ was gone some time, and when he returned his collar was torn, and his eye blackened. Ho said that ho had been in a street car which contained only two other passengeri, f.nd they wem> of Teutonic aspect. The conductor of the car also spokon German. The passengers wore siaging German Bongs, and my friend, whose i.ame is Burke, enggestod .to the conductor that if they wanted tojsing at all they might try patriotic American airs. They did not agree .with him, and fold him to mind his own business, eo he throvr both ■passengers off the car and tho conductor also. He asked tho motorman if he wished to go too, but he seemed to be a pretty good .American. You can read about these kind of incidents cvory day in the papore. The spirit of the people will not submit to any suggestion of German influence. Wo regard pacifism as eo much subtle, sinister Gorman propaganda, which must not show ite head in public.