The Chattanooga News from Chattanooga, Tennessee • 4

the Chattanooga: news FRIDAY MARCH 3 1916 TO THE EDITOR SPECIAL FOR SATURDAY CHATTANOOGA NEWS PUBLISHED 8V THE CHATTANOOGA NEWS CO Entered At the Chattaiwmg Postofflce aa Second-Class Matter HENRY WATTERSON RIDICULES JINGOES 1 (Louisville Courier-Journal) i -dn spite of the -very-large will -end MAKING THE WAR UNIVERSAL According to Mr Hearst the president to right in refusing to consent to any abridgement of the rights of American citizens in any respect but the ew York editor accuse: Consistency in support qf hi policies Mr Ilearst apparently would have us make war on Germany and Great Britain and Intervene In Mexico at the same time Mr Hearst quotes Mr Wilson's letter "to Senator Stone ss follows in any event our duty is clear No nation or group of nations has the (CwmauleattaM la tto dpertmeet tS-riwt tha Um at ihe writers All pubUe Intern nyto dlacuwd briritJ ibertyof the Press Editor The News: I have Just reafl your Bass libel suit editorial in The News ot March Am heartily with you I am classed as a republican but I vote for men and principles rather that party can In some measure appreciate the need for freedom of even the religious press 1 have a few well-defined convictions that things are not soing Just right and I havo learned te be very careful not to critietM church polity if I expect to see my article in print it seems that both the secular and re- to such a thing as economy as well as llgj-m ere already laboring under timeliness in national expenditure a censorship Of some kind that prevents The military experts wonld put the the people from getting the truth vis- rt before the horse That to thetr orously and fearlessly expressed and Profession The mercenary arjnorplate applied to persons and conditions as it would get up a hysteria of pa-should be trtotlc fervor xThat 1s their trade But I shall certainly bo glad to sea yon ck of these stands the mass and body geln a signal victory in your libel suit voters the men who hew the wood in a certain needful enlargement of the army and progeaslve expansion of the navy leaving tho big talk of tho demagogues and mercenaries to evaporate with tho fall lest Ions This to as it should be Out military establishment needs to be reconstructed and our marina establishment to be overhauled We should keep behind not ahead of tho new Inventions in arma-menL Military training ought to become a part of our educational system Good for sanitation Good tor patriotism Good to make manly men even out of sissy boya After this world conflict with its appalling revelations mankind will begin to revise its judgment as to the efficacy of war In tho settlement of international disputea Th leading nations may reach the point of agreeing to arbitration and disarmament especially if tho United States equipped for battle heeled for action equally ready for a fight or a footrace takes the lead as the greatest ot tho neutral powers it must eventually do In that event there may never be another war But we shall have to posses the means of backing our word with tho compelling wherewithal To attain such a position of Influence will take time It the emergency whooped up by the political agitators bad any actual existence we should be lost indeed 'Like a duck upon a June bug the foe would be upon us hell to pay as the saying hath it and no pitch hot! The presidential election of 1914 will not bp decided in congress It will not be determined at Washington The conditions prevailing as the country slopes down to the day of to bo i largely influenced by tho European situation-will tell the Anal tale As matters stand the democrats hold tho Inner lines both of aggression and defense-possession still nine points of the tho republicans on the outside sparring for position and thus far all fingers and thumbs with the menaca of a rip I down the back it not a stab in more i vital parts We shall see what we shall see A deal depends upon Woodrow Wilson Anyhow "watchful Waiting" rather than cocksure prediction were wisdom in the political speculators -tL NO RENT bargain Department 808 Broad St ATTENTION OTHERS 500 pairs of misses and Gun Metal and Vici button shoes sizes up to 2 Formerly $175 and $150 Special in Our NO RENT BARGAIN DEPT Come Early ECONOMY SHOE STORE 807 Market Si There are wheels inside of wheels All that 'glitters Is not gold If congress should proceed headlong to ptaco the country on a war footing with no enemy in sight tbe plain common sense of tho people stimulated by needless and vexatious taxation would not be long to convincing Its members that they were not sent to Washington personally to exploit themselves at the public charge They would be given te learn to know and to realize that there and haul the water and incidentally pay tha sober and sensible not always dull ot who take no curbstone stork in Japan scares and no insurance risks against submarina hob-gobllna They would havo the country protected against all comers But they do not believe tho mikado having gobbled China Is going to be In a hurry to swim tho Pacific nor that tho kaiser after ho has licked the British and mad monkeys ot the dagoes and tha frogeat-er means without to annex Canada to Prussia and thence to descend upon Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts and Hole In Kentucky! Thoughtful people need never bo told that presidential years do not propitiate wise legislation t'auailr those of (he politicians who era honeat are in a fever of excitement Those who In" professionally are on tbe alert for the best of it Each party seeks more or less of unfair advantage Few candidates are uversqueamtoh either ae to campaign methods or electioneering expedients It la a game of draw poker where they play the wild with the on the side for emergencies and even as poker money to said to have no home poker politics and poker principles have no fixed abode The single aim to to win Hence the Courier-Journal has said that tha rowdy-dow over Preparedness partially with all nations involved in the war This government may be forced to recognize the old tow under which Great Britain arm her merchant ships but this government must also recognize the injustice and unfairness of that law as applied to present conditions At anv rate it does not devolve upon the United States to enforce this tow This government may save itself and the country from embarrassment and possible injury by warning American citisens not to travel on armed ships thus leaving the belligerents to settle tho dispute among themsetvea Those who argue that It would be an unneutral act to warn Americana off armed ships are themselves unneutral And the further contention that such a warning would be an abridgment of the rights ot American citisens to an inflated theory that bursts when pricked with a pin There are many unarmed steamers on which Americans may tratei if they must travel A warning to Americans to keep off armed ships would not interfere with the right of any citizens to sail the seas to his content Advice (Nashville Banner) The Iton William Jennings Bryan while not fighting the administration to giving some mighty wholesome advice In his telegram of Feb S3 to Congressman Bailey ot Pennsylvania Mr B(yan said: "I honestly hope that congress will speedily announce legislation refusing passports to Americana traveling on belligerent ships or stilt better refusing clearance to belligerent ships carrying American passengers "No owner of belligerent ships will etaim that he has the right to safeguard a contraband cargo with American lives and no citlsen should be permitted to endanger tho peace of the nation at a time like this Ours la the greatest of the neutral nations and will probably be the mediator when the time for mediation comes It would he crime against civilization as well as against our own people to become In this war and thus loan our army and navv to a European monarch to use In settling hi quarrels "If congress has tho right to declare war it certainly has the right to promote peace by restraining citizen from taking unnecessary risks A mayor keeps the people of his city out of the danger zone during a riot Can our government affotd to do less when tho world Is in riot?" That Verdict (Columbia HeraldA A few days ago a jury at Chattanooga returned a verdict for $3000 against The News of that city for alleged libel The suit was the outcome of the bitter municipal contests that have occurred in the city in recent years Tfle News opposed one of the machine candidates for office in the course e( an editorial' it made a statement that might be distorted into the insinuation that it accused tho candidate of great moral tur-pltude although the editor disclaimed any such intention Suit was filed and the Jury brought in a verdict for $5000 Probably the plaintiff suffered no actual damage From this distance It looks like the zult was prosecuted against The News more to punish it for the bold stand which has taken In previous campaigns for clean XB'emment and civic righteousness than for the purpose of righting any wrong It to said that tha enemies the political enemies ot EPWARPSanpLeBRQN JEWELERS i Subscription Rates: Bjr malL per itum at months S' months cents per month- by carrier 10 cents per oeeki single copy cents 1- If you hare any trouble getting Nears telephone the Circulation Popart moot and hare It promptly remedied Special Advertlring A rent a John Branham Ov Bninswicfc bulldina Near York 1 Mailers building Chidk Chemical building EL Louis Americas sympathies more than American apparently are In-Tolved In tha contest on In congress today The Boston agitators are trank They ay Unde Sam should Join In the war it the aide of the allies Let those Who secretly favor an abandonment of neutrality come out in the open and advocate it Then the atmosphere will he cleared To pretend however that are neutral and yet urge a course bn neutral to un-American GASOLINE PRICES Congress has decided td Investigate the high price of gasoline Gasoline as Is well known hy our readers has been doing a correct imitation of a war necessity That Is while not A war commodity gasoline haa been acting like one insofar as soaring in price Is con termed As a matter of fact there has been much gasoline shipped to the war-ting countries exported In 1914 over 6000000 barrels and In 1916 over 600000 and alnca we never shipped much of It before lbs war these sums amounted to nearly five times and hearly six Umea as muchj' respectively OS was exported five years ago profits of some of the thirty-si oil Companies hare increased aa much as 100 per cent in th paaf year The Stock has soared The 600000 barrels -Isn't a large part of the Americas supply One outstanding fact is that 4S600000 barrel of crude oil in went into storage and there are now about £00000000 barrels of crude oil In storage About il per cent of this is gasoline In other words there to about nine or ten times ss much gasoline ia storage as our total shipments to Europe In 1915 the greatest year With all of this Amount going Into storage it Is evident the supply ton Smaller than the demand That is the only legitimate excuse for heavy rise in prices The congressional Investigators ought to be able to find out some Interesting things about the gasoline prices MARK PRAYER The Grand Duke Nicholas said that with the aid he was able to capture Erzerum German Russia Englishman Frenchman Belgian Serbian and the other believe that the Creator Is on their side They pray for strength with which to blust their enemies When a victory to won they are unselfish and share credit with the Lord It brings back the grim irony of Hark prayer" published laiiPaine's biography of the great bmrmriaL The scene was In the church where the minister uttered the long prayer for victory to the nation's armies be-tpnnlng "GoJth terrible Tliou who ordalnet thunder Tby and igbtnlng Thy sword" At the end Of the prayer a white-robed stranger en- tors moves up the- aisle takes the preacher's place and says that he has been sent from high" with a message that the petition will be answered If the men care to repeat It after understanding Its full import Their prayer he tells them asks for mors thin they seem to realize Hence he blda them listen while he repeats aloud these unspoken implications of theli desires: Lord our God help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead help us to drown the thunder of the ghns with the woundcd writhing In pain help na to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire help us to wring the hearts of Uteir unoffending widows with unavailing grief help ua to turn them out roofless -with their little children to wandcrf unbefriended through wastes of their desolated land In the Icy winds of winter broken tn spirit worn with travail imploring Thee for refuge of the grave and denied for our sake who' adore Thee Lord blast their hopes blight their lives protract their bitter pilgrimage make heavy their steps writer their way with their tears stain the white snow with the blood of their wound id feot We ask of One who to the spirit of love and who to the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek Ilia aid with humble and contrite hearts Grant our prayer Lord and Thlna ahail be the praise and honor and glory now and ever omen" After a pause the white-robed stranger says: have prayed It If ye still desire IL the messenger of tbe Most liU waits 'I I are cordially invited to see the most -wonderful exhibit of 5 1 ROYAL BOULTON ENGLISH BONE CHINA ever shown in the South on Friday and Saturday the third and fourth of March Mr Henning representing the Doulton Company will be in charge of the exhibit which 'will be held in our China Department EDWARDS LeBRON while war is in progress to alter or disregard the principles which all nations have agreed upon In mitigation of the horrors and sufferings of war and If the clear rights of American clt-tsens should ever unhappily be abridged or dented by any such action we should it seems to me have In honor no choice as to what our own counts should be" Mr Hearst then cites our experience with England saying: "While this war has been In progress England has and disregarded tha express provisions of International law forbidding food intended only tor noneombatants to declared contraband baa end disregarded' the recognised principles A international law in regard to commerce between neutrals has and disregarded' the express declaration of International law which guarantees the inviolability of malls between neutral countries has and disregarded every Important rule of maritime International law laid down by the three Hague conferences and the Declaration of London and Has for now more than a whole year and denied the clear rights of American citizens' upon the high seas to not England as well as Germany1 peremptorily told that these aggressions Upon the clear rights of American citizens must be stopped If udder such circumstances we have tn honor bo choice as to what our own course should be" Wilson in his Tetter to Senator Stone declares my own part I cannot consent to any abridgment of the rights of America ncitixens in any respec The honor and self-respect of the na tion is Involved of the important articles ot commerce expressly exempted by in terns tlonal law from being declared absolute contraband to rubber Today no American citizen Can all ip rubber to a neutral country or to gjly of the allied countries except Great Britain or can even buy and import for his own use in his own country any quantity at all of rubber without the permission of a resident British agent This happens In New York every day It Is a gross Infringement ot international law and a harsh aggression upon The clear righto of American He also cites the fact that we cannot Import rubber from a neutral Country without the consent ot a resident British agent He relates that neutral ships bound for unblockaded neutral ports have been repeatedly seised and confiscated with a loss of millions of dollars and restriction of our Mr Hearst thinks the president has not a uniform rule to the belligerents He tells of tbe murder ot Americans In Mexico and seems to think that we ought to have intervened to stop it Mr It article indicates that there are varying opinions In the United States The neutral is conspicuously in the minority There is the pro-ally force in strong numbers the hyphenated citizens who are for the kaiser and here comes Mr Hearst Who has leen advocating billion dollar navy and a great standing army who would have us make war on nil the contending powers of Europe at once and In 'order to keep Uncle Sam really busy take on a side ahow down in Mexico The long-standing controversy over the Devil's Lake postofflce in North Dakota was finely settled by the sen- ate last month when Davies was appointed Aside from tills notable service to the people the senate did not do much in the month of February Compared however to what was accomplished by the house the senators were as little busy tecs improving each shining Lour The senate 're tilled a treaty with Haiti arid also one with Nicaragua It passed the Philippines bill Otherwise the business of the senate was mostly of the committee sort 1 In the house the Keating phild labor bill was passed and sent to the senate The rest was mainly committee reports Rack of all the work in the senate and touse was the discussion of preparedness yet this question not as near solution as it was two months ago Far be It from ua however to Jump on these members of congress Theirs Is a thankless Job If they disagree with the president they are called in-grate "men of that stripe" or heads" and If they wont to help their districts in needed Improvements they are called barrel" congressmen The very word is coming to be an espresslon of contempt If congressmen talk about doing anything which hasnY a bearing on war or preparedness there to a certain element of the press which yells loudly Yet to talk about war to one of the moot remote reasons for people electing congressmen Tha News among whom are numbered all of the survivdrs of the old discredited liquor power have used this libel suit as a means to throttle the paper In other words It has been so it is said boasted by the machine puppets who fear the paper and who cannot control its policy that It will be so crippled that It will be forced to change its position upon tho liquor question and law enforcement Let us hope that this will not be the case It would be a public misfortune If the enemies at The News should succeed in this purpose Under the editorship of George Mil-ton The News has been one of the most powerful exponents of temperance and good government tn Tennessee It has naturally incurred enmity of the liquor Interests and those who believe In the special immunity for tho liquor dealers just as the Herald waa URGED TO STAND BY PRESIDENT -1 (Special to The News) Knoxville March The following message urging Congressman Mc-kellar to stand by the president in upholding American rights has been sent to the Tenth district representative at Washington: "We earnestly petition you te use your best efforts and exert your influence to preserve to tins country their unalterable rights and interests which are now Jeopardized and to uphold the position taken bv our president which to to prevent the abandonment of the honor and prestige of the United States and to sacrifice forever the rights for which our resident to now so ably and strongly The message waw'Slgned hy Shields Col Cary Spence 11 Arnold A A Blow rL Johnston David Chapman Alliih Smith and Briscoe NEGROES CHARGED WITH MAIL ROBBERY (Special to The News) Nashville March 3 Deputy United States Marshal A Kilgore he raptured teo negroes who are charged with robbing the United States mail One of tho negroes Tom Peppers has confessed that he and the other negro Joe Turner took a parcel post bag from a pile Ring on the station platform at Tulla-horna tost Sunday night Just before boarding the train and that they took it into the waiting room and rifled tt of Its contents consisting of corsets dress patterns caps suspenders lace curtains a watch and other merchandise Peppers claims tVartrace as his home snd saw that he came from New York He declare he is guilty and to realty to go to the federal prison at Atlanta and begin his term as soon a possible Turner runs a tailoring shop In Nashville He has made a partial confession RHEA REPUBLICANS FOR SANDERS AND HOOPER (Special to The News Davton March 3 Resolutions Indorsing Gov Ben TV Hooper and Senator Newell Sanders were adopted by the Rhea county republicans In mass conven- tlon here veJterday afternoon Ex-Ren-ntoor Walter White was elected chairmen and Creed Parham secretary John A Denton was Indorsed as delegate from the Fourth congressional dls-! trtet but the convention was allent as to nations! delegate from the state-st-large Delegate were selected to the state conventlqn It la said eighteen of the twenty-seven chosen ar for Sanders snd Hooper and nine for Sanders Sells Hooper and Austin not for your own sake alone but for the liberty of the press In general iM STANFIELD Cleveland Tenn Dayton Approves Editor The News: I have been a reader of your paper for a number of years Tour editorials on cleanlcgls)atlon have been read with pleasure The editorials on temperance are sound common sense Your editorials on city government are sound When rings and cheques are touched you tell many truth In 19 the writer was elected trustee Of Phea county 1 did not spend a dollar It was whig and democrat No vote buying or selling I was a democrat I have voted for every democratic nominee from Buchanan to Wilson even Jeff Davis I have always been a teetotaler 1 voted for Hooper twice on temperance platforms Now Mr Editor I am with you In your fight for law enforcement and clean government Honeat men for office! Hit Crump Howse and Baa company for they are trying to bring whisky back Into politics The fathers mothers and good men of the country are with you They want to make men snd women that have clean characters out of their children ALLEN Dayton Tenn i What Is Pulpit For? 7 Editor The News: The following Is a clipping from the Atlanta Georgian of Tuesday Feb 29: PASTORS PLAN WAR TRAINING "The Baptist Ministers' association Monday appointed a special committee to consider the proposal for military training tn Atlanta high schools and report Us findings td the weekly meeting of the ministers next Monday Those named on the committee were Tj Barton 8 Jameson and HalL" What this committee of ministers say? Surely the Master they follow never had anvthlng to say about preparedness There is no getting sway from this During this war agitation the pulpit has had Its great opportunity failed It to even amusing to hear them talk of the horrors of war and hever a word as to cultivating only the spirit of peace! If the pulpit to not to speak of the living practical issues ot the day what to ft for? ANTIPREPAREDNESS MORE ABOUT ARMED SHIPS (Bristol Herald-Courier) will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without safety of the lives of the passengers provided the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance This was the pledge given bv Germany to the state department at Washington after the sinking ot the British steamer Arabic Germany now reiterates the assurances have not been modified by the memorandum setting forth her Intention to treat armed merchantmen of the entente allies aa auxiliary cruisera But the pro-British element in this country contend that Germany's latest order nullifies her pledge the contention being based on the theory that the pledge Included armed ships says a contemporary excepts this class on tha ground that they propose to qse their armament for attack upon her submarines and therefore are not cntitTed To warning before they-are sunk In other continues this contemporary "Germany proposes to sink all armed liners on suspicion How could she know that they intended to attack her submarines (t she proceeds to sink them before they are even aware of the submarines' That's question Great Britain claims the right under an old law to arm her merchant ship for defensive purposes but since the necessity for arming merchantmen for defensive purposes long since disappeared and such ship? had practically ceased to carrv mounted guns Germsnv suspects that Great Britain has armed her merchantmen for offensive purposes Of course Germany know this When the commander of a German submarine sights an armed merchantman he doesn't know that tha merchantman would attack the submarine lie can only learn the intention of the merchantman by coming to the surface and commanding It to heave-to If the merchantman -then tomi its guns upon the eubmartne be it remembered that those guns are effective against the undersea craft submarine commander would know that the merchantman Intended to attack his and the laugh would be on him! i It to a great for Great Britain and there are thoae who insist that the United States by extending protection to American citizens so foolhardy as to travel on armed ships should require Germsnv to play the game according to tWae rules Yet no one doubt that the old law under which Great Britain seeks to Justify the arming of her merchantmen will be abolished as soon as this war ends Every one know's that it must be abolished Otherwise the submarine win be worse than useless as a war and 'the United States is' building submarines to be used in the event of ar Neither the United States nor any other nation placed In Germany's position would take any other than the German view regarding armed merchantmen The submarine to a war vessel armed merchantmen can destroy submarines and there to no reason why merchantmen should now be armed except for offensive purposes If those who support Great Britain's contention that she has a right to arm and should arm her merchantmen for defensive purposes will point opt the defensive purposes for which a merchantman should be armed the discussion will be ended snd the issue will be decided In favor of Great Britain although there still would be some curiosity to know whv neutral merchantmen do not consider it necessary to arm for defensive purposes From the standpoint -of a neutral country the merchantman armed for "defensive to a palpable fraud and a' criminal absurdity No matt how Strongly the pre British element over here may espouse the British cause and urge the British view this government has declared the neutrality of the United at "An onto mtintain -iihw saihv im znainLaia its neutrality by dealing tm- il 805TKRKET-ST TKe HALLMARK 'Store The Greatest Violinist of "Modern Time- Tickets on sale now at RHODES-MAHONEY 715 Market Bt PRICES: $2 $150 $1 and 75c CLEAN YOUR FLOORS We have a force organized to clean was and repair all kinds of finished floors Place your order early so as to avoid the rush season I Chattanooga Floor Laying and Sales Company 000 CHERRY Established 1010 MAIN 780 A- Genung Mge Smith 8upt telufelyPnra Avoid All GuhatilzkQi Hotel Dayton DAYTON TENN Under new management" Steam heat electric lights all modem conveniences Steam heated sample room free Mfs Ballou Prop.