St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 16

IS ST. LOlliS i'OST-DLSl'A Tt'U, KK1JIAV KVKNLWi, FEBKUAlfY 1US. NO MIDDLE GROUND POSSIBLE. The MIRROR oV OPINION was ruined the moment it trusted Germany's faith and Germany's pledges, and so will any other country be ruined that proceeds likewise. There is no peace for anybody while Germany is ST.

LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Founded bu JOSEPH PVLlTZEll Dec. 12, Published by the Pulitzer Publishing Co. Ttcelfth and Olive Streets dominated by its military autocracy, and no peace i This column is designed to reproduce tcithovt bias thfi latest comment bu the Morris Hillquit, who ran for Mayor of New York City on the Socialist ticket last November, with many expressions of discontent nd criticism touching the war, and who received only a hundred fewer votes than Mayor Mitchel, has offered his aid to the administration. He is prepared to assist in any form of propa leading publicists, newspapers and prri-tdi- can be negotiated. WASHINGTON'S WISE WARNING.

From Washington's Farewell Address. 1 few? Ivw POST-DISPATCH CIRCULATION Avtrai for entire year, 1917: Sunday, 301,203 Daily and Sunday, 194,593 WTHE POST-DISPATCH sells more paper In Kt. Ixiuis nd Huburl.n every day In the. Jcar than ther re homes tn the. clty.tj Member Audit Bureau of Circulations.

MEMBER OF" Til ASSOCIATED PRKSS. The. Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news oispatchea credited to It or not otherwise, credited in this I'aper. and also the local news published herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are a Leo reserved.

BtTBSCRIPTION RATE3 BT MAIL IN ADVANCE Tiaily and Sunday, one year without tjundav, one year $. 00 Sunday only, one year J2.S Remit either by postal order, express money order or St. I.ouls exchange. By 5 In Louis and Suburbs, per month.50c Carrier. Out of St.

Louis, per month 65c Entered at postofQce, St. Louis, as matter. Klnloch. Crntrnl 0 -v Bell, Olive 6MM Xo Patchwork Peaor. Prom the Philadelphia Krenln Public l.edfer.

YEAH ago men Mid that France was weak and her aagrlns-Some others tell ua now that the Hun can never be driven back, that it 1m wise to make a peace with htm while there is yet time. General Pershing ha answered the argument by stating that it Is hearesy to asiiume that the Hun Is immovable and invincible. Yet the Hun. perhaps, deserves to own the world If the protagonists of civilization are so weak and dubious of their own power as to accept defeat under another name. Our soldiers die In vain if they die merely to set up a new balance of power, with the base of it set In quicksand.

We want and we fight for nothing of that sort. It is true that few great issues ever come to an Appomattox, but this In one that must come there. The promise of the existing German Government, In present circumstances, to be good Is not worth a million lives; no. not one American life. If that Is what we fight for our armies might better never have crossed the seas.

We seek to buy no gold bricks with American blood. We view, therefore, with some alarm persistent efforts to coin a peace out of th base elements now at band. It could only counterfeit. Too much talk of such a possibility enfeebles war preparation. emboldens the enemy and gives him sustenance.

We have no indemnities to ask. no territory to annex, nothing to get from our titanic efforts except an assurance of future peace and security and guarantees that a German pistol will no longer be pointed at our heart. To talk of peace on other terms, a peace of shreds and patches, is to advocate as ruinous a betrayal of national interests as the world has ever known. THE POST-DISPATCH PLATFORM know that my retirement will make no difference in its cardinal principles, that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and pnblio plunderer, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty. PTTLITZEIi.

April lO, O07. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind It exists under different shapes in all Governments, more or less stifled, controlled or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities was itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.

The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be wholly out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are cient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the Government itself through the channels of party passions.

Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion the parties in countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true and in Governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of the party. But in those of the popular char LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE. Plight of Italian Prisoners.

roin the Rochester Democrat and Chronl a. I is the German theory of war that frightfulness is a profitable military policy because it has a terrorising effect on enemy nations. But If a lionw bill of damages is assessed on this account, the German theory of Mar may be modified. Sickening stories are Just now Reiner re- ganda against German aims, especially propaganda among Socialists in and out of Germany, a field in which he and his friends might have no small usefulness. "It is clearer now than he says, speaking of the fruitless Russian effort to arrange a tolerable peace, "that autocracy and militarism in Germany and Austria must be put down." From the first Prussianism has pursued a course leaving no middle ground for those of moderate view or those who opposed war because of war's evils.

The viewpoints of some were such that they were enabled to discern earlier than others the impossibility of compromise as long as Potsdam was permitted to retain any power to harm the world. Disinterested observers who still had any illusions after the provocative action toward Servia had their hallucinations dissipated by the case of Belgium. Submarine horrors, barbarities toward civilian population's, faithlessness in all obligations, whether of humanity or of international covenant, have compelled others, whose fatuous views were more persistent, to see the light. Those whose notions were derived from the past Germany of literary and musical achievement and from the later Germany of efficiency and commercial emulation and social and civic progress have been forced to go to a hard school of disillusionment. Acts speak so much louder than words as to neutralize at every stage of the long and bloody war the effect of Potsdam professions f-id lying pro-German propaganda.

ae curriculum is now complete. No post-graduate course is needed. The final object lesson was presented' on Russian soil. Impossible as were the Bolsheviki's conceptions, in the task of finding a way out, irrational and impractical as were the means through which they sought the salvation of a groat nation, menaced from within and without, their experience has taught something to pacifism and nonresistance everywhere. The Socialists and Internationals who are still unable to grasp the lesson are case3 for the alienists.

Retail dealers blame the tanners for the present high price of shoes. The skinners also may have something to do with it. "WAIVING" THE CONSTITUTION. Judge Henry S. Priest, who once contended in court that "bribery is a conventional offense," tried to convince the Missouri Public Service Commission that it has the power to grant an increase in the fare charged by the United Railways Co.

In his argument he disclosed his discovery of something quite as startling as the "conventionality" of bribery. Judge Priest did not deny that a State constitutional provision gave St. Louis the power to grant street car franchises and to fix the conditions under which these franchises should be used. "But," he said, "the city is the agent of the State and in passing the public service act and vesting power in the Public Service Commission the State has waived the constitutional provision." If the passage of a law which conflicts with the Constitution is to be regarded merely as "waiving the Constitution," the courts, which, in theory if not in practice, are the guardians of the Constitution, might as well shut up shop. But th coirrts did not sustain Judge Priest's contention that "bribery is a conventional offense." Perhaps Justice will be equally blind to his waving of the "waiver" as an excuse for" overriding a provision of the Constitution of Missouri.

William F. Woerner, counsel for the Civic League, in arguing against Priest's contention, stood squarely on the law as it has always been interpreted. He held that "no act of the Legislature and no ruling of the Public Service Commission can be enforced in conflict with a constitutional provision." i 1 1 1 I UL which Italian prisoners of war are being treated in German prison camps. Apparently one of the delusions which the average man finds it most difficult to conquer is that Germany in warfare atMl retains some of the finer attributes that rais mankind above the level of wild beasts. In Defense of the Closed Shop- Ta the Kditor of the Post-Dispatch.

In reply to your editorial on the open -shops, Feb. 19th I wish to make a few remarks. In the first place you are not very consistent in your argument, as only a lew- days previous you had endorsed the of the V. K. employes for a -losed shop and union conditions and now icndcmn the carpenters for the Name request.

If you had investigated the matter before making- these statements probably you would have taken a different view of the matter. You will understand this action was not taken against the Government, but private corporations who are squeezing all they can, not only out of the men but the Government also You say we cannot furnish the men. How do nu know? Secretary Williams of the Carpenters district Council of this city has filled every call for men where the conditions were any where near favorable. We also have 3. National Organization of members.

Our organization has worked under open shop conditions on all the army cinton- A Farmer's Coiiiiiilslon. P'-fiii the Buffalo Commercial. I'llEHK are no teal arguments against, but many for. the creation of a farmers' commission, as suggested to the President. If the Government will treat the farmer as it has treated other economic elements of the nation call him into consultation, get his advice and bring about co-operation along the line of food production, the farms will make a vastly better showing this year than if the matter Is allowed to rest simply on an appeal to the farmer's patriotism.

The agriculturist, like Borne others, may do some work for love, but much more for money. Written for the POST-DISPATCH by Clark McAdams JUST A MINUTE Luella, Brother Trotzky Does not play Washington Gubble. From the New Tork Kvenlnc Poat. CliOM secrecy at Washington there acter, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose and there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to he, hy force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it.

A fire not to be quenched; it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. THE MEANEST THIEVES. It is to be hoped that the Government will prosecute vigorously the case against every man arrested in the army uniform fraud Investigation, so that the innocent may be freed as soon as possible and the guilty may receive the severest punishment the law permits. Any man who makes a dollar by willful fraud out of an army contract at this time is a bloodsucker, fattening himself out of the public's most urgent necessities. It is not enough to pillory such a man, to hold him up to the contempt of all right-thinking people.

He must be made to bear in his own person Tnr.nta aim wna-t a ine result: worked along side of men who had never handled tols on a building before and 'Tho spoiled more material than their wages amounted to, yet they received the same compensation that the. union men did who had made the conditions and wages by hard and bitter struggle for ears. If that is your idea of patriotism it is not mine. When we receive a day's wages we expect to do a fair day's work in return. President Hutcheson is one of the most conservative labor officials we have in the country, and will not sanction a strike until he has exhausted all other means to fidjust the matter.

He has had a call in the January and Feburary "Carpenter" for all our members to sign up for ship building. I maintain the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, notwithstanding your editorial ii just as patriotic as any organization In the country and have proved it. The last report from our head office states we have 9000 men enlisted in the service, not counting the civilian employes now In France, doing their bit. T. E.

DeLILLE. Recording Secretary, Local No. 73, United Brotherhood of Carpenters. i Is a mad rush to blab every-! thing. Senator Weeks quotes in a 'speech a conversation which lie had In confidence with Secretary Hake.

October. Even the guarded official cor-' respondence In the State Department Is i made the subject of Senatorial gossln and innuendo. Everybody seems anxious to i break the seals. The general lid la lifl-j ed. Statesmen go about the streets of 'the capital like men nimply bursting with suppressed Information.

One afttr an-other proves unable to endure the press-lure and blows off the perilous stuff. In this characteristic passing from one extreme to the other, a new duty Is laid upon the public. When told nothing. It Is left to guessing; but told everything Including much that Is not so It has r.ot to do a great deal of weighing and sifting and rejecting. Full publicity requires a sensible public to make it safe.

such penalties as will frighten other potential scoundrels so that they will, ot their own accord, flee from temptation. A pleasant part; All the same, His monkey business Serves to give The allies heart. There are weapons Far more potent Than the guns Of Mr. Krupp, And the Russians Have employed them Showing Jnnkerism up. Psi To Just a Minute from Waco, "Until Just recently, eggs have been very scarce here, especially good eggs.

The writer was in a local cafe, and a party across the table from me ordered some breakfast bacon and a couple of eggs straight up; whereupon the waiter informed him that they only served eggs scrambled or turned over. The man didn't buy any eggs." 11 One of our readers saw this line in the advertisement of a department store a few days ago: 150 Odd Boys' Wash Suits at $1.85 He says: "I have a little boy, but did not participate in the sale. I did not know whether he was odd or not." Pst. fci A sign on Wash street in which the sign painter, so far from being wrong, serves to remind ns that this word is an abbreviation of automobiles: Auto's rS From a merchant's advertisement at Waco, Tex. probably the truth about it, in our sign hunter's opinion: 12-yard bolts, heavy closely woven long cloth, 36-inch materials, very durable; worth $3.50 per bolt.

Special per holt $3.95 i Profiteering of all kinds is despicable, but there is a difference between the profiteering which maliciously violates the law in letter as well as in spirit. The property which these thieves take is paid for by the money that self-sacrificing people have given for what they consider a holy cause. To steal it is more than theft; it is almost sacrilege. If it is ever possible for a man Afruitl of It. the l.nn Anirelea Times, I HE leaven of democracy Is begin- nlng to work In new places.

The German Government has ssued orders to its commanders in the field to "treat as violators of the law of nations" any aviator who is caught In the act of dropping copies of President WUson'a war messages on German territory. If Germany were convinced that her cause Is Just she would evince no concern over screeds that an enemy might drop from the clouda. Mortality IMgnre for Camp Doniphan. To tha Editor of the Post-DiSDatch. wish to call to your attention a news item in your Monday eveninig paper written by one of your special correspondents, tomparing the mortality at Camp Doniphan with the mortality in the cities.

It is undoubtedly a fact that the mortality showing at Camp Doniphan is very favorable, but his comparison with that of different cities is extremely misleading. The mortality at Camp Doniphan is necessarily confined to men between the siges of 18 and 45, which should be the most favorable. If the average of those at Camp Doniphan is 35, the mortality not be in excess of nine per 1000. I think the records will show that the nVArUffA OVA t.nn... 1 with a petty larceny soul to commit a great crime it is in such cases as this.

A pleasant role; All the same. He has the Germans Rather nicely In the hole. They will readily Remember That they met Mm In debate, And their poets Shall reward him With another Hymn of hate. Let ns realize, Luella, Kaiser Wilh elm's Present plight, Now that unresisting Russia Has decided Not to fight. Needing conquest On the one hand, Thus to soothe The malcontents, How is he to get it, Dearie, Meanwhile claiming Self-defense? There is where The Bolsheviki Smiles a very Cunning smile; Knowing well The consequences Unto Wilhelm After while.

What they promise One can fancy From our own Blithe state of mind When the Huns Resumed with fighting, Leaving Germany Behind, Were we disappointed, Dearie? Not that anybody Said; That is what, In our opinion, Brings the ruction To a head. When the Germans See the Kaiser As the villain That he is, They will simply Rise and can him, BUI urn Promptly getting his. No, Lnella, Brother Trotzky Dees not plaj -this mortality with that of some of our southern cities, the comparison is made T-ilh the population as a whole. It is Self-evident that the greatest mortality is "that of Infants and men over 4 5 years of "Sf, both of which are excluded in the mortality figures from Camp Doniphan STRATFORD MORTON. Spain Strike ller 'oIotm.

Tm Transcript. TTHE report comes from Madrid that a ministerial council, met to discuss the latest sinking of a Spanish merchantman by a German submarine, has postponed any protest and ha, on tha contrary, issued orders that hereafter all vessels flying the Spanish flag shtll re. Htrlct themselves to coastwise trade only. The incident seems so incompatible with what we had been taught to believe of th Spaniard's personal dignity and pride, that we may do well to postpone final Judgment. What promises must have been made by the Kaiser upon the assumption a Teutonic victory! TODAY'S I1F.ST CAItTOOV.

Autocracy's idea of a "negotiated" peace is still the idea of Lonis XI. In a drama lately performed here, this fifteenth century monarch, instructing his Minister as to dealings with a rival, is made to say: "Treat with him. Give him what you must; promise the rest." THE RUSSIAN TRAGEDY, Germany's excuse now for invading Russia is the putting down of anarchy. But Germany caused the anarchy, it was through German agents that Lenine and Trotzky returned to Russia and through German propaganda that Keren-sky, the supporter of law, order and good faith, was overthrown and Lenine and Trotzky rose to power. Anarchy served Germany by demoralizing Russian armies, stopping ammunition making and disorganizing railroads as a preliminary to farcical peace negotiations.

While Trotzky and Lenine were declaring to their deluded followers that a revolution among the workers of Germany and Austria-Hungary was inevitable, German autocracy was preparing to reap the reward of cunning and corruption. The doctrine of peace without annexations and indemnities was abruptly repudiated. The German Government announced its intention of "rectifying the frontiers" and holding four Russian provinces. The Bolshevik leaders proclaimed the end of the war and finished the demobilization of the Russian armies of the eastern front. Then Germany resumed its active military operations, and its commanding officer now proclaims a new mission that of destroying anarchy in Russia, the anarchy that Germany bought and paid for.

Thanks to the Bolsheviki, Russia is now helpless before the German military forces, and there are no obstacles to any campaign of conquest that Germany may undertake. Berlin is restrained only by its own sense of moderation and the military necessity of not weakening the western front by the withdrawal of troops to hold Russian territory. Trusting to negotiation with Prussianism, the Russian people have lost evcrj thing, including honor. The fact that they were betrayed hy their own leaders is only incidental. Even had the Lenine- and Trotzkys been sincere, Russia UNIFIED GRAND ARMY OF THE ALLIES.

Premier Lloyd George, in this week's speech on the Versailles conference, avoided the guarded expressions and mysterious references of his speech of last week on the same subject. However, he revealed nothing in the latest address that the Germans "would give a great deal to know," and nothing that he might not with equal propriety have revealed last week, thus removing the cause of much of the political discussion and newspaper conjecture that has since been in progress. No reverse the allied armies, made up of many nationalities, can encounter will be as great under capable unified control as under the former exclusively nationalistic control. No successes they may gain can be made as decisive and far-reaching under separate nationalistic control as under centralized control. The Premier attributed to American influence the predominating considerations that led to the Versailles decision for central control.

He regretted that he could not give the House and the public the benefit of the powerful document in which the American proposal had been set forth, "one ot the ablest documents ever submitted to a military conference." However, it was so intimately associated with a plan of operations that re- Barbarous Hours of Barber. the Editor of tho Post-Dispatch. Is there no way to humanize" barbers' hours of work? Just at present it is out of all reason to work or sit around In a Varber shop waiting for somebody to come in (which is worse) from 7 in the morning until 9 o'clock at night, and Saturdays from until 11 and often 12 o'clock, and they call this 16 hours a day. The barber-shop owners themselves don't like it. but there eems no leadership or organization to change auch slavery among barbers.

The barber trade, at best, is like most labor, not one to amass enough to retire -with it after a certain time. Why, therefore, their long hours indoors with a worn-town body at the finish? This barber business can be and is done in many states West) from 7 in the morning until 7 in 1ho evenings, and Saturdays o'clock, and vo later. This gives the barber a chance to breathe and enjoy himself a little like -thr human being. The closing hour tiot long aa enforced has proved it to w.iv' barber. The following poem, received on yesterday from one of our readers, probably refers to Luella: TO LOU! The skies are brighter, a brighter bine, My heart is lighter, my footsteps, too, My brain's awhirl, my hair's in curl, I'm a different girl Since knowing you! There's a permanent smile all over my face, (I hope McAdams will give this space), 'Cause I find the world a grand old place Since knowing Lou! Some of the boys on the Missouri Pacific have sent Just a Minute a very laughable bill of lading, all duly made ont, and we regret the incapacity of our composing room, which is not just the sort of printing shop that turns out work of this kind.

However, we learn from the bill that one Kaiser is to be billed by General Pershing, the snipper, to President Wilson, the consignee, and that the shipment is coming from Berlin to Washington as deadhead freight. That's the spirit boys. There Is nothing the matter with our morale around railroad freight offices, apparently. he could not read it, though to do so would ren- der it "unnecessary to make a speech," the "case was presented ilh such irresistible power and logic." It is pleasant lo be assured that thus early in tho course of our participation we are proving as helpful In counsel and leadership as we hope to 1 prove in actual fishiinc CATIP.F.R OF 30 TKAHS' FX PICK I. whom iii.ni:! NCK.

'Casael in the New York Evening WorlJ..