-Caveat Lector-
The Great Madness
http://www.afn.org/~vetpeace/madness.html
Excerpts from THE GREAT MADNESS:
Scott Nearing's 1917 review of the ominous events from 1914 to 1917 that
enabled the private interests of large corporations ("plutocracy") to propel
the U.S. into World War I for their material profit, thereby permanently
degrading and perverting U.S. democracy for the 20th century.
THE GREAT MADNESS: A Victory for the American Plutocracy
The entrance of the United States into the world war on April 6, 1917, was
the greatest victory that the American plutocracy has won over the
American democracy since the declaration of war with Spain in 1898. The
American plutocracy urged the war; shouted for it; demanded it; insisted
upon it, and finally got it.
The plutocracy welcomed the war not because it was a war, but because
it meant a chance to get a stronger grip on the United States.
[The plutocrats believe there are some things worse than war]: the
confiscation of special privileges; the abolition of unearned income; the
overthrow of the economic parasitism; the establishment of industrial
democracy. The plutocrats would welcome a war that promised salvation
from any such calamities; they would also welcome a war that promised
greater foreign markets, the destruction of foreign competition, more
security for property rights and a longer lease on life for plutocratic
despotism.
The plutocrats, or wealth lords, ... were for the war from the beginning.
They urged preparedness; they demanded national defense; they cried
aloud for reprisals upon Germany because ... it gave them a chance to
deliver a knock-out blow to the American democracy.
Big business was in public disfavor. Advertisements, "boiler-plate," news
stories, press agents and blatant philanthropies had little effect. The
people would not forget the "public be damned" days of the business
buccaneers. They had learned about the rebates, the unfair rates, the
debauchery of public officials and the criminal practices by which many of
the most successful of the big business men had climbed into power. The
people were "wise" to big business, and they were getting wiser every day.
The immense success of the parcels post sounded an ominous warning to
special privilege. There was general talk that the telephone and telegraph
industry would be nationalized next, and that the railroads would follow
suit at an early date. If this socializing of industry was once begun, where
was it to end?
The public had been educated, through many years, by progressive and
radical political leaders, newspaper men, and social workers. There was
the labor movement in its various phases - unions, socialism, I. W. W. The
people were learning the lesson rapidly. Laws were passed; commissions
were appointed; regulations were imposed. Most of the laws were
violated; most of the commissions were captured by the plutocrats and
most of the regulations were evaded. Still public opposition rose
stubbornly and surely.
The plutocracy wanted a free hand. Since the Spanish War the United
States had been a lending nation. The wealth of the country in 1900 was
87 billions; in 1912, 187 billions; in 1917, 250 billions. There were 120
persons, who admitted, in 1916, that they had incomes of over a million
dollars a year. The wealth of the country was vast enough to feed, clothe,
house and educate every boy and girl; enough to give all of the
necessaries and most of the simple comforts of life to every family. The
plutocrats were not interested in these matters, however. They wanted
security for investments at home and abroad.
Things at home were in bad shape and promising to get worse. Millions of
people were sore on the system which fed the owner and starved the
worker; millions of casual laborers - men and women wandered from job to
job; from city to city, discouraged, homeless, indifferent. The
revolutionary fury that was passing through the country broke out
menacingly in Colorado, West Virginia, Lawrence, Paterson, Bayonne and
New York. People no longer asked, "Will there be a revolution?" but, "When
will the revolution come?"
The plutocrats had lost public confidence. They realized that if they were
to hold their position - public confidence must be regained.
The control by the vested interests of natural resources, banks, railroads,
mines, factories, political parties, public offices, courts and court
decisions, the school system, the press, the pulpit, the movie business,
the magazines - all of this power amounted to nothing in a community that
believed itself a democracy, unless public opinion was behind it.
How could the plutocracy - the discredited, vilified plutocracy - get public
opinion? There was only one way: it must line up with some cause that
would command public confidence. The cause that it chose was the
"defense of the United States."
THE "DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES"
With the immense power of the public press at their disposal; possessing
unlimited means; united on a common policy, the plutocracy spread terror
over the land.
The campaign was intense and dramatic. Japanese invasions, Mexican
inroads, and a world conquest by Germany were featured in the daily
press, in the magazines, on the movie screens and in public addresses.
Depredations, murder and rapine were to be the lot of the American
people unless they built battleships and organized armies.
The campaign to arouse the American people against the Mexicans was so
raw that President Wilson felt called upon to make a public statement
(March 26, 1916), in which he charged that "there are persons all along the
border who are actively engaged in originating and giving as wide currency
as they can to rumors of the most sensational and disturbing sort which
are wholly unjustified by the facts. The object of this traffic in falsehood
is obvious. It is to create intolerable friction between the government of
the United States and the de facto government of Mexico for the purpose
of bringing about intervention in the interests of certain American owners
of Mexican properties."
Still the campaign was continued and when the unwillingness of the
Mexicans to fight made the manufacture of jingoistic propaganda
impossible in that quarter, the advocates of "national defense'' turned to
Germany as offering the greatest opportunities.
The preparedness campaign was a marvel of efficient business organization.
Its promoters made use of every device known to the advertising
profession. The best brains were employed and the country was literally
blanketed with preparedness propaganda.
[In opposition to this campaign] Officers of the army and navy were frank
in insisting that the defense of the United States was adequately provided
for. General Miles said: "Having had much to do with the placing and
construction of our fortifications and inspecting every one along the
Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts, as well as having had an opportunity to
see all the great armies of the world and many of their coast fortifications,
including the Dardanelles, I am prepared to say that our coasts are as well
defended as the coast of any country with the same class of guns, and
heavy projectiles, and I have no sympathy with the misrepresentations that
have been made in the attempt to mislead the public." (Congressional
Record, 2/3/16, #2265)
Still the preparedness campaign continued with redoubled vigor.
Congressman Clyde H. Tavenner stated (Congressional Record, February 3,
1916, page 2265.) that four firms "constituting the war trust have received
army and navy contracts aggregating 175 million dollars." He contended
that "army and navy officials have generously paid the war trust from 20 to
60 per cent more than the same supplies could have been manufactured
for in government arsenals." He showed that the present "Chief of
Ordnance was formerly in partnership with the Bethlehem Company, one
of the war trust firms," and that the "powder trust was represented in
Washington by an ex-army official and an ex-member of Congress." He then
showed the connection that existed between the preparedness campaign
and those who were making profits out of the war business, the nickel
business, the copper business, and the steel business, interlocked through
interlocking directorates ; then he established the connection between
the Navy League and the firm of J. P. Morgan & Company, 23 Wall Street,
New York. Regarding this connection, Congressman Tavenner says: "The
Navy League upon close examination would appear to be little more than a
branch office of the house of J. P. Morgan & Company, and a general sales
promotion bureau for the various armor and munition makers and the
steel, nickel, copper and zinc interests. At least, they are all represented
among the directors, officers, founders or life members of or contributors
to the Navy League. Especially are all firms of big business represented,
and big business invariably heads in at 23 Wall Street, New York."1
Tavenner concludes: "...the munition patriots founded the Navy League. * *
* The armor plate makers are the most patriotic patriots on earth." "There
are but three firms in the United States who manufacture armor plate -
Midvale, Bethlehem and Carnegie companies - each of them is represented
in the list of 19 men who, according to the official journal of the Navy
League, were founders of the organization. * * * Is it not a rather peculiar
coincidence that among these 19 directors who stepped forth from all the
millions of the American citizens to save the Republic by advocating larger
appropriations for battleships every armor making concern in the United
States should be represented ?"
"Defenseless America" the refrain. "Preparedness" was an argument in itself
and every channel of publicity in the United States devoted a major share
of attention to this argument.
Aggressive Germany was the danger mark. It was against her infamous
desire to impose Kultur upon the world that America was urged to prepare
herself. It was for this purpose that the President signed a bill during the
summer of 1916 appropriating 662 million dollars for the army and navy, a
sum larger than had ever before been appropriated for war purposes by
any nation in times of peace. Well might LaFollette exclaim, in his speech
(July 19-20, 1916) opposing this appropriation, -- "I object, Mr. President,
to a game, a plan, a conspiracy to force upon this country a big army and
a big navy, to use the Treasury of the country, and if need be the lives of
its people, to make good the foreign speculation of a few unscrupulous
masters of finance."
The preparedness movement came from the business interests. It was
fostered and financed by the plutocracy. It was their first successful
effort at winning public confidence, and so well was it managed that
millions of Americans fell into line, fired by the love of the flag and the
world-old devotion to family and fireside; millions more trembled with the
fear of the frightful war that was coming, and other millions were gripped
by the hate and the war lust that inspire war madness.
THE "PATRIOTS"
>From preparedness to patriotism was a short step. The preparedness
advocates had used the flag freely. They had played national airs, evoked
the spirit of the founders of American democracy and worked upon the
emotions of the people until it was generally understood that those who
favored preparedness were patriots.
Patriotism ran high. Enthusiasm for the flag increased. Patriotic committees
were organized, but when the names of the patriots appeared in the
newspapers they were distinguished by one outstanding fact, the vast
majority of them were the successful business and professional men who
were the center and forefront of the patriotic movement just as they had
been the center and forefront of the preparedness movement.
The price of flags rose rapidly - the flag manufacturers took this
opportunity to get their share of the good things that were "going round" -
nevertheless, the workers by the hundreds of thousands "contributed" to
provide flags for the establishments in which they were employed. Men
were discharged when they refused to make such "contributions."
The business interests were "in clover." After years of unpopularity, after
being forced to endure investigation, criticism, and antagonistic
legislation, after being condemned by even the conservative element in
public life as a menace to American progress and well-being, the business
interests suddenly found themselves in a movement that was carrying the
people, and they worked it for all it was worth.
"Patriotism" was the refrain of every speech and every article - a patriotism
of their own particular brand.
The plutocratic brand of patriotism won the endorsement of the press,
the pulpit, the college, and every other important channel of public
information in the United States. The "educated," "cultured," "refined,"
"high-principled" editors, ministers, professors and lawyers accepted it and
proclaimed it as though it were their own. Turning their backs upon
principle, throwing morals and ideals to the winds, they tumbled over one
another in a wild scramble to be the first to join the chorus of plutocratic
patriotism.
The American plutocracy was magnified, deified, and consecrated to the
task of making the world safe for democracy. The brigands had turned
saints and were conducting a campaign to raise $100,000,000 for the Red
Cross. The malefactors of great wealth, the predatory business forces, the
special privileged few who had milked the American people for generations
became the prophets and the crusaders, the keepers of the ark of the
covenant of American democracy.
This campaign was directed by H. P. Davison, one of the leading members
of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co.
ARMED NEUTRALITY
Throughout the war, the United States had been referred to as the "great
neutral." At the very beginning of the contest President Wilson had urged
the people to be neutral in thought as well as in act. Meanwhile, the
British fleet blockaded Germany, closed the North Sea, sowed it with
mines, and refused to permit American manufacturers to sell goods to the
Central Powers. This constituted a brazen violation of international law. By
accepting this blockade the United States became the armorer and the
provisioner of the Allied countries. Whatever the Allies wanted was
manufactured by the United States and shipped to them, contraband and
non-contraband alike. The statement was repeatedly made that we were
willing to sell to the Central Powers on the same terms, but the fact that
the Central Powers could not possibly buy from us rendered any talk of
neutrality the thinnest kind of a sham.
England confiscated cargoes in violation of international law. Her mines
sunk American ships and destroyed American lives. Being mistress of the
sea she held up mails, despite American protests.
The German submarines sank American boats also in violation of
international law. The protests against England's depredations were feeble,
those against Germany were uproarious. American sentiment was being
shaped deliberately in favor of the Allies from whom American bankers,
manufacturers and traders were making a billion dollars a year of war
profits. Driven by this economic pressure, the country ceased to talk of
neutrality, and became frankly pro-Ally, in utterances as well as in business
transactions.
American business interests put up a bitter cry of protest when Germany
announced a blockade of England by her submarines (as complete as the
blockade which England has established over Germany) and [When
Germany] warned American shipping away from the waters surrounding the
British Isles (in the same way that England has warned American shipping
away from the waters surrounding Germany).
The situation was critical. American business stood to lose billions.
The President hurried to the rescue with his preposterous phrase "armed
neutrality," and asked Congress for permission to place guns and gunners
on American merchantmen. While the President asked for this authority as
a peace measure, it was pretty clear that armed neutrality would mean
war the first time that an armed merchantman met a submarine.
The President's request for authority to arm American merchant vessels
was made in an address to Congress, February 26, 1917, in which he said, -
"I am not now proposing or contemplating war or any steps that need lead
to it. I request that you authorize me to supply our merchant ships with
defensive arms, should that become necessary, and with the means of
using them."
"The Armed Ship Bill", authorizing the President to arm merchant vessels
was introduced. The newspapers of the country backed it eagerly. The
administration pushed it vigorously, but the bill went down to defeat
because of a filibuster by a little group of senators of whom LaFollette was
the leading figure. Senator LaFollette (4/4/1917) "The demand [to arm
merchant ships] came chiefly from the American Line, whose tonnage is
less than five per cent of the total tonnage of the United States engaged
in foreign trade. The American Line is a subsidiary of the International
Mercantile Marine Company, which in December, 1916, had 102 vessels
flying the British flag, two flying the Belgian flag and eight flying the United
States flag. The control of the International Mercantile Marine Company,
prior to the war, was in England. ...When one of the American Line ships,
armed with United States guns, sails out to sea the orders to fire will be
given by Mr. Franklin's master of the ship, not by the United States gunner.
The English owners give orders to Franklin. The English owners take their
orders from the British Admiralty. Hence we, professing to be a neutral
nation. are placing American guns and American gunners practically under
the orders of the British Admiralty.
"The armed ship bill commanded Overwhelming support, not only of the
party in power, whipped into line to railroad through the Senate an
Administration measure, but also of all - those sinister influences which
have been clamoring for war: the munition makers, the gamblers in war
stocks and war contracts and the financial interests who have loaned vast
sums to one set of belligerents...plotters, enemies of our democracy."
THE "TRAITORS"
The armed ship bill failed to pass because a handful of senators refused to
have it rushed through during the closing hours of the session. The result
was electric. The President denounced them as "a little group of willful
men." The papers cartooned them and vilified them in the most shameless
manner. They were called "German agents" and scores of newspapers
presented them with the Iron Cross. Among those senatorial "traitors"
were the few senators who had stood for the common people against the
vested interests.
The patriots of plutocracy did not confine their attention to Congressmen.
The term "traitor" was flung in the teeth of anyone who opposed the
seven league steps that the administration was taking toward war. Radicals
who had always opposed war; ministers who had spent their lives in
preaching Peace on earth ; scientists whose work had brought them into
contact with the peoples of the whole world; public men who believed
that the United States could do greater and better work for democracy by
staying out of the war were persecuted as zealously as though they had
sided with Protestantism in Catholic Spain under the Inquisition. The
plutocracy had declared for war, and woe betide the heedless or willful
one who still insisted upon urging the gospel of peace.
The liberal and radical forces of American life - the men and women who
had sacrificed, suffered, labored and struggled to make America safe for
democracy, were brushed aside by the triumphant Patriotic plutocracy:
Morgan, Rockefeller, Guggenheim, Willard, Gary, Schwab, Stotesbury, -
were the great patriots. All who opposed them were traitors. The
plutocracy had always stood and still stands for special privilege in its most
vicious form. By a clever move, the plutocrats, wrapped in the flag and
proclaiming a crusade to inaugurate democracy in Germany, rallied to their
support the professional classes of the United States and millions of the
common people.
THE SECOND OF APRIL
The "patriots" wanted to ship goods to the Allied governments. Armed
neutrality for them meant business opportunity. The "traitors" were those
who opposed foreign entanglements and alliances and who used every
effort to keep the United States out of the war.
No one knows just how serious was the predicament of the Allies in the
spring of 1917. After three years of war, during which they had made the
most stupendous preparations and spent unheard of wealth and energy
they had proved themselves incapable of driving the Germans out of
France and Belgium, and were, in reality, still fighting a defensive war.
Their credit was strained to the breaking point, and their resources were
at a very low ebb. The food situation in the British Isles was serious. The
Russians were temporarily out of the fight. Meanwhile, the submarines
were playing havoc with Allied shipping.
The economic position of the United States was also serious. Our export
trade which had jumped from two billions in 1913 to seven billions in 1917
was threatened with demolition. The large manufacturing establishments
which had been erected for the purpose of supplying munitions to the
Allied governments had delivered most of their contracts and were waiting
for additional war orders. The banking interests, led by the Morgan firm,
had backed the Allies financially. Allied failure, therefore, meant disaster
to American finance. For three years the American plutocracy had
enjoyed the benefits of war business, without paying any of the penalties
which war entails. These vast profits would cease if the submarine
blockade succeeded.
The "great neutral" faced the test of possible commercial disaster. A
hundred millions of people in the balance counted as nothing against the
menace of economic losses. The President without any authority from
Congress armed the merchant ships' and gave Bernstorf his papers. The
business interests went wild with joy. When the news of the break with
Germany was flashed to Wall Street every banking house hung out its flag
and "in twenty minutes Wall Street from Trinity Church to South Street
was bedecked like on a holiday." - Finance and Commerce, February 7,
1917.
On 4/2/17 the President insisted that Congress follow him still further and
declare the existence of a state of war with Germany.
The Administration, backed almost solidly by the press (which saw within
easy reach the war for which it had labored so faithfully) demanded that
all members of Congress. "stand behind the President."
General Isaac R. Sherwood, a veteran of the Civil War, made a final appeal
to Congress on the 5th of April in which he reviewed the history of
England's attack upon the United States during the Civil War, warned the
American people that they were going to war "as an Ally of the only nation
in Europe that has always been our enemy and against the nation that has
always been our friend." The President "in the presence of both Houses of
Congress, and the Cabinet, and the Supreme Court, and the bespangled
Diplomatic Corps, in a spectacular and elaborately staged event wrote a
message to Congress and the country, declaring his purpose to enter the
world wide conflict in the interests of a world wide democracy. * * * At the
distance of 3,500 miles the undesirable and dangerous German Kaiser looks
the same to me as the great- grandson of George Third; in fact, all kings
look alike to me. I am not willing to vote to send the gallant young
manhood of America across the Atlantic Ocean to fight for either. * * * I
regard war as the greatest crime of the human race. * * * My experience in
the Civil War has saddened all my life. * * * As I love my country, I feel it my
sacred duty to keep the stalwart young men of today out of a barbarous
war 3,500 miles away, in which we have no vital interest."
There was other opposition equally vigorous and equally well spoken which
called down upon the heads of those who uttered it a torrent of the most
barbarous abuse from the press, the pulpit, and public men in every walk
of life.
On April 6th, with the passage of the resolution declaring the existence of
a state of war, the American people found themselves in war, after
returning a party to power only five months before because it had "kept us
out of war."
The people were not consulted, their wishes were not considered.
No popular referendum on the war was even proposed by the
administration. Like the people in the king ridden countries of Europe, the
American people, without any say in the matter were plunged into the
conflict.
The make-up of some of the [war-expenditures] sub-committees [is
revealing]: Mr. Willard's sub-committee on "Express" consists of four vice-
presidents, one from the American, one from the Wells Fargo, one from
the Southern and one from the Adams Express Company. His committee on
"Locomotives" consists of the vice-president of the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, a vice-president of the Porter Locomotive Company, the president
of the American Locomotive Company, and the Chairman of the Lima
Locomotive Corporation.
Mr. Rosenwald's committee on "Shoe and Leather Industries" consists of
eight persons, all of them representing shoe or leather companies. His
committee on "Woolen Manufactures" consists of eight representatives of
the woolen industry, and his committee on "Supplies" consists of a retired
business man, and one representative each from Sears, Roebuck &
Company, the Quaker Oats Company and Libby, McNeil & Libby (meat
packers).
The same business control appears in Mr. Baruch's committees. His
committee on "Cement" consists of the presidents of four of the leading
cement companies, the vice-president of a fifth cement company, and a
representative of the Bureau of Standards of Washington. His committee
on "Copper" has the names of the presidents of the Anaconda Copper
Company, the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, the United Verde Copper
Company and the Utah Copper Company. Mr. Murray M. Guggenheim is a
member of the same committee. His committee on "Steel and Steel
Products" consists of Elbert H. Gary, chairman of the United States Steel
Corporation, Charles M. Schwab, of the Bethlehem Steel Company, A. C.
Dinkey, vice-president of the Midvale Steel Company, W. L. King, vice-
president of Jones & Loughlin Steel Company and J. A. Burden, president
of the Burden Iron Company. The other four members of the committee
represent the Republic Iron & Steel Company, the Lackawanna Steel
Company, the American Iron & Steel Institute and the Picklands, Mather
Company, of Cleveland. Perhaps the most astounding of all the committees
is that on "Oil." The Chairman is the President of the Standard Oil
Company, and the Secretary of the Committee gives his address as "26-
Broadway," the address of the Standard Oil Company. The other nine
members of the committee are oil men from various parts of the country.
What thinking American would have even suggested, three years ago, that
the Standard Oil Company would be officially directing a part of the work
of the Federal Government?
Comment is superfluous. Every great industrial enterprise of the United
States has secured representation on the committees of business men that
have openly taken charge of the United States.
The business interests had played for a great stake. They had played
against the well being of the American democracy. The prize they sought
was a billion dollars a year in profits. Wrapped in the folds of the flag and
uttering resounding declarations of patriotism, on April sixth the business
interests won a victory of terrible import to the American democracy.
THE LIBERTY LOAN
As soon as war was declared, the administration undertook to secure, --
money, conscription, and censorship. The first and most important of
these was money. Congress passed almost immediately the bill authorizing a
bond issue of seven billions of dollars.
The Liberty Loan was important to the American bankers who had financed
the Allies, because it guaranteed Allied credit. There were other things
about it, however, that were even more significant than its assistance in
international business. It gave the local business men a chance to do a
piece of work of the utmost importance to their own security.
[In the face of a public apathetic, indifferent or hostile to war] the Liberty
Loan gave plutocracy a chance to put in every American home an
economic argument (a bond paying 3 per cent) in favor of standing behind
the government.
There was another argument in favor of selling the bonds to the people.
Now that the plutocracy were the messengers of democracy in Germany
and the incarnation of patriotism in the United States, to gainsay or to
question their position was to be a traitor to the Stars and Stripes, which
they had taken over as completely as they had previously taken over the
steel, coal, iron, wheat, cotton, water power, franchises, banks, railroads
and the like. Hence, any employee could be asked by an employer in the
name of liberty and democracy to buy a bond.
A girl who was working in a department store for $7 a week "arranged" with
her manager to contribute $2 a week for 25 weeks in order to purchase a
Liberty Bond. When the Red Cross campaign was on, a friend found this girl
crying and upon inquiring was informed that week the $5 which remained
of her wage had been "contributed" to the Red Cross fund. She was
wondering how she could get to the next week and pay her board and
food bills.
A man with a family, sick for three months, had contracted several doctor's
bills and was in financial straits. He was advised that it would be wise for
him to buy a Liberty Bond. Like the cash girl, he was not in a position
where he could talk back. He therefore went farther into debt in order to
comply with the "suggestion" of his superior.
The Liberty Loan was probably more effective than any other single
weapon in the hands of the business world as a club with which to coerce
the workers. Heretofore the employer had run his own business as he
pleased. Now he was able to go further and tell his workers how they
might spend their income.
The plutocracy saw the advantage which would accrue to them from the
Liberty Loan. They did not subscribe themselves in any large degree, but
they did use every effort to cajole and coerce the common people of the
United States into subscribing. The business interests of the United States
stood together and worked together more solidly on the Liberty Loan than
on any other measure within the memory of the present generation. It was
a business proposition and the business crowd put it over.
The Liberty Loan was a signal victory for the plutocracy, and an equally
signal defeat for the democracy. It did more to bulwark the position of the
plutocratic despots of the United States than it will ever do for liberty in
Europe.
The President's speech on April 2nd, and the "war-vote" of Congress on
April 6th, plunged the American people into the war. The Liberty Loan
saddled the immediate payment for the war upon millions of unwilling
common people and yoked up the next generation to a war debt over
which they had no control. The war-madness was beginning to yield its
bitter fruit.
CONSCRIPTION
The second measure of importance to the business world was
conscription. The labor problem in America was giving the plutocracy a
great deal of trouble, The shortage of workers during the years of war-
contract activity had put the laboring people in a position of great
strategic advantage which they had used on many occasions to advance
wages and shorten hours. The workers were relatively prosperous and
unusually confident. ...labor solidarity [is] dangerous to plutocracy.
Conscription would do much to hamper or destroy it.
Conscription possessed another advantage of supreme importance.
Experience had shown that great armies and navies could not be raised by
the volunteer system in a democracy. If the plutocracy was to put over its
plan for a great army and navy behind its aggressive economic campaign
into Mexico, Central America and South America, it must have conscription
in order to provide the men for the military and naval forces.
When the Conscription Bill was introduced into Congress there was a
general feeling through the country that it could not pass, Even the press
hesitated, so un-American was this Bill, which clearly violated the spirit of
the constitution and the traditions of American life. 2
Then courage was supplied to the press from somewhere, and the
newspapers and magazines of the country went to work with a will. They
apologized, explained and insisted. Six weeks after war was declared the
bill had passed Congress. Within two months, more than nine million young
men had been "selected for service."
The Conscription Bill paved the way for a military system exactly like that
which had been so savagely denounced in Germany. It gave the American
plutocracy the beginnings of a big, cheap army. It disposed of the
uncertainties of volunteering and provided the possibility of military
education for every young American. At the same time the way was
opened for the imposition of universal service, which was all that Prussia
has ever demanded in the balmiest days of her militarism, Then, too, a
beginning was made toward industrial conscription, and the possibility was
opened for the importation of coolie and peon labor, things which were
not even thinkable in peace days. America, after two months of war, had
... the rudiments of European militarism in its most barbarous aspects.
Business rejoiced again. The Chicago Tribune on June 6th (the day
following registration), headed one of its market reports , - "Draft Success
Puts New Life in New York Market. Industrials Leaders in Upward Trend.
Year's Best Prices Reached." The plutocracy had scored another victory
which was immediately recorded in the climbing prices of stocks and
bonds - and ten million young men were in the grip of American militarism.
CENSORSHIP
"The United States has been suffering from an over-dose of democracy"
insists one ardent supporter of the plutocracy.
The censorship bill was designed to remedy this deplorable situation by
sweeping aside personal liberty. The declaration of war was a slap in the
face of democracy. The censorship bill bandaged its eyes, plugged its ears
and gagged its mouth.
The censorship bill, in its original form, was so drastic and far-reaching
that even the newspapers denounced it. So general was the opposition
that after weeks of fighting, the bill was approved by the President on
June 15th in such a modified form that there was no direct reference to
freedom of speech and of the press. But tucked away in an obscure
corner of Section 481 was an amendment to the Postal Laws which reads, -
"Every letter, writing, circular, postal card, picture, print, engraving,
photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter or
thing of any kind containing any matter which is intended to obstruct the
recruiting or enlistment service of the United States is hereby declared to
be non-mailable."
Under this section each one of the 123,387 United States postmasters is
made a censor with authority (subject to the reversal of his superiors) to
exclude from the mails anything that in his judgment will "obstruct the
recruiting or enlistment service." The Federal authorities were not slow in
availing themselves of this immense power. The Cleveland (Ohio) Socialist,
the Detroit (Mich.) Socialist, the Rebel of Texas, the International Socialist
Review, the American Socialist, the Masses and other radical publications
were promptly denied the use of the mails. The American Socialist
(Chicago) had planned a "Liberty Edition" for June 30th. The entire edition
and two other editions were held up by the Chicago postmaster acting
under instructions from Washington. Other papers were temporarily
suspended.
A storm of protest broke over the country, Within the memory of the
oldest inhabitant there had been no such deliberate violation of the
freedom of the press which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the
Constitution.
The Texas Rebel, an organ of the Farmers and Laborers Protective
Association, was held up by the following order to the local postmaster,
from W. H. Lamar, Solicitor General of the Postal Department at
Washington, "submit to this office further copies of The Rebel, published
at your place, for instructions, before accepting for mailing."
The Public (New York) remarked in this connection,"This is even worse
than the late Russian Censorship. The Russian Censor would but black out
the passage in the paper to which he took exception and let the rest go.
But the postal censorship would hold up a whole issue."
While the Federal authorities were engaged in this vigorous campaign to
throttle American liberty, local and state officials were equally busy
denying the right of free speech and free assemblage. Halls were closed,
street speaking was prohibited, the headquarters of socialist and I. W. W.
locals were raided by the soldiers and police. Those who criticized the
authorities were denounced as traitors. The mere mention of "peace" was
infamous.
[Throughout May, 1917] and through the succeeding months the denial of
free speech and free assemblage continued; the postal censorship laid its
heavy fist on the free press; and sailors and soldiers wearing the uniform of
the United States were permitted and in some cases encouraged to
disturb and break up meetings of a radical character. During all of that
time there was no official utterance from the President on the subject.
The most flagrant invasion of civil liberty was staged in Boston on Sunday,
July 1st. The workers had decided to hold a parade. followed by a mass-
meeting on Boston Common. Permits were secured for both events. The
incidents of the afternoon are thus described by the New York Times (July
2nd) :
"Half a hundred men in the uniform of Naval Reservists, National
Guardsmen, Marines and Canadian 'Kilties' who had watched the formation
of the parade, marched across the common in a double column and
intercepted the procession at the corner of West and Tremont Streets,
and again at the corner of Winter and Tremont Street. In both instances
the contact resulted in a street fight. Blows were exchanged, and flags
were snatched from the hands of the marchers, while women in the line
screamed in fright."
"At Scolley Square there was a similar scene. The American flag at the
head of the line was seized by the attacking party, and the band, which
had been playing "The Marseillaise" with some interruption, was forced to
play "The Star Spangled Banner," while cheers were given for the flag.
"The police had just succeeded in quieting this disturbance when the
reserves were called out to quell a near riot at the meeting place on the
Common. The first of the peace speakers had barely begun his remarks
when the reserves arrived . They formed a circle in the crowd, with the
police wagon as a center, in front of the speakers' stand, but in spite of
their presence there were scores of individual fights in the big gathering.
To restore quiet Supt. Crowley, as Acting Police Commissioner, revoked
the permit for the speaking and the meeting was called off.
The plutocracy had been trying, for years to hush up agitation and to
suppress radicals. Muckrakers, the "labor agitator", socialists, the I. W.
W.'s, "anarchists," and other opponents of things as they are were
denounced, clubbed, jailed and shot, but the agitation grew through
persecution. Despite the ownership of the jobs and the control of the
government, despite company stores and company guards, despite its grip
on the press, the pulpit and the school, the plutocracy was unable to
prevent this agitation. There were Colorado and Paterson, speaking the
unmistakable language of a coming revolution.
The war brought the harvest time. Radicals of every stamp who opposed it
- and practically all radicals did oppose and denounce it - were "traitors"
against whom the fury of the war- madness might legitimately be directed.
SPREADING AMERICANISM WITH THE SWORD
A short two years sufficed to enable the business interests of the United
States to take charge of the country. They had previously secured the
natural resources, the manufacturing industries, the credit machinery, the
public utilities and the merchandising establishments. This economic
power, together with the control of the channels of public opinion and of
the machinery of politics enabled them over night, in the history of
American affairs, to put across their program and prepare to "crush
Germany."
President Wilson said very frankly that it was not the German people
against whom we were making war. He insisted that our purpose was to
overthrow the German autocracy.
The British capitalists had been franker. They had talked openly about the
"war after the war." They had even gone so far as to hold a conference at
Paris, in which they had discussed the best methods of overthrowing
German industry. As Frank Harris puts it in ' his book, "England or
Germany" (page 21), "Great Britain had taken up arms to crush a successful
trade rival, and for no other reason. As soon as war was declared, The
Times and Daily Mail and many other London papers threw off the mask and
published column after column showing how this, that and the other
department of trade could now be taken from the Germans."
Why did the American plutocracy desire to crush Germany? Was it to
destroy despotism there ? The idea is preposterous. The despotism in any
bank, factory or railroad of the United States is more complete than that
of the Kaiser. The American plutocracy has fattened on despotism for
generations.
The American plutocracy was no more interested in establishing
democracy in Germany than they were in establishing democracy in the
United States. They did want to see German industry crushed, however,
and since the Kaiser and his group represented German business in its
most highly developed form, the Kaiser was the object of their wrath.
The President stated the issue in quite another form, but no matter what
he may say, he cannot escape the fact that the plutocracy of the United
States was behind him in a body. The plutocrats are no man's fools. They
know what they want and they are after it, hot-foot.
The President decided that the best way to "make the world safe for
democracy" was to abandon America's traditional policy of isolation; to
form an alliance with six democracies and seven monarchies ; to mobilize
the resources of the country, and to enter the world war as an active
belligerent. ..."The world must be made safe for democracy," said
President Wilson to Congress on April 2, 1917. Thereupon, without
consulting the American people, or Congress either, the President pushed
the United States into war in an alliance with three of the leading
monarchies, including one of the most complete autocracies (Japan) of
the world.
"We now chart a new national course," said Congressman Ernest Lundeen
(April 5, 1917). "In terms of autocracy we declare our intention to bestride
the world with democracy. Our fixed determination is to thrust democracy
with loving bayonets down the throats of unwilling peoples.
"Let us look at the company we will keep in performing this benevolent
function. We will be marching side by side with the King of Serbia; the King
of Italy is our boon companion; the King of Belgium is there; so also the
King of Roumania; the Emperor of India and the King of England, our
stalwart brother; not to mention the King of Montenegro and various
other principalities and rulers, as well as chaotic Russia - only France is a
Republic - and last but not least we are to be brothers in blood with our
dear friend the Emperor of Japan. And this our Chief Executive proposes as
our 'league of honor.'"
The forefront of this alliance to make the world safe for democracy is
England - "a hereditary monarchy, with a hereditary ruler, with a
hereditary House of Lords, with a hereditary landed system, with a limited
and restricted suffrage for one class and a multiple suffrage power for
another, and with grinding industrial conditions for all the wage earners."
(LaFollette 4/4/17) England, in which "there will never be the ghost of
freedom till there is a social revolution," England, "the real enemy of
civilization, for more than a hundred years now the chief obstacle to the
humanization of man."3
Remember the words of David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of
England,"Peace before victory would be the greatest disaster in the
history of mankind...Britannia will rule the waves after the war." ...America
will fight for liberty and when the right is won, - "Britannia will rule!"
(Glasgow speech, June 29,1917).
The tradition of American statesmanship had been a mind your-own-
business policy. ...[But] by July, 1917, the billboard enlistment campaign
was couched in such words as "The regulars are in France, join them
now!' "Enlist immediately so as to fight on German and not on United States
soil." The German autocracy was on the defensive; the American
plutocracy had become the aggressor. The regular army had already been
transported four thousand miles and a conscript army of a million men was
in process of formation to wage an aggressive war in the interests of the
British ruling classes.
Step by step the plutocracy advanced. Point by point they established
their position: war bonds, conscription, censorship and a war to crush
German industry. Meanwhile they were able to come out into the open
and take possession of the government through the subcommittees of the
Council of National Defense.
And the American people stood for it. Emotionalized, dazed, stupefied, and
blinded by the great madness that possessed their souls, nearly a hundred
million people cast aside their most cherished principles, sacrificed their
hard-won liberties, and began spreading brotherhood and democracy by
the sword. The plutocracy had won everything for which it had been
fighting - immunity, power, wealth. The people were war-mad, - at least,
there was enough of the war madness in the country to enable the vested
interests to put across anything that they wanted.
Three years of ceaseless effort on the part of the press, the pulpit, the
school, the screen and the stage had sufficed to infuse millions of
Americans with the mob fear and mob hate that are the warp and woof of
war-madness. The carefully planned, brilliantly executed scheme of
advertising preparedness, patriotism and war, had left a great section of
the American people incapable of reasoning or understanding. On April
2nd there were millions who had been worried, harried, and emotionalized
through the successive stages of fear, resentfulness, bitterness, hatred
and frenzy until they were sufficiently ferocious to be willing to use the
knife.
The plutocrats won immunity, power and wealth, measured in seven
figures. They won more. First, they secured the big navy and army for
which they had worked so faithfully, - an army to menace neighbors and to
preserve peace at home during the deluge of misery that will follow the
bursting cloud of war-values and war-prices; a navy to guard the hundreds
of millions that they have invested in "undeveloped" countries; and seven
billions of dollars to be spent at once - much of it on war contracts, which
afford proverbially fat pickings.
Again they had won conscription - the right to send a million Americans
into the trenches of France to fight for the poor Belgians, for Lombard
Street, Wall Street and King George of England.
They had established a spirit that permitted children to go back into
factories from which [they had just been rescued]; women to take men's
jobs at a fraction of the wage, and the standards surrounding the labor of
men to be lowered.
The plutocrats won another point - a point desired by every despot. They
won the right to impose restrictions upon the freedom of speech, of press
and assemblage, which are the foundation of democracy. The plutocracy
bought the press, subsidized the pulpit, placed their representatives in
control of the schools, and by the use of the police and postal censorship
they restricted individual liberty.
Beside and beyond this economic, political and social power the
Plutocracy had millions of deluded people in its grip incapable of thinking
because of the fearful war madness that possessed their souls.
They aroused the people, agitating and irritating them, until they were
frantically repeating the blatant lie that the real enemy of American liberty
lived in Berlin. Then they stung them with high prices, filched their liberty,
plunged them into war, took a million of their brothers and husbands and
sons to wage a war of aggression on the battlefields of king-ridden Europe,
and because nothing happened at once, they believe that they had won.
They had won victory and death.
The plutocracy and the democracy cannot exist side by side. If the
plutocracy wins, dollars rule; if the democracy wins, people rule. There
can be no alternative and no compromise. During the past three years of
struggle, the democracy has lost every move. The power of the plutocracy
has been strengthened immeasurably.
Footnotes
1."The Navy League Unmasked" speech of 12/15/15, #13
2. Daniel Webster said in the House of Representatives, December 9, 1814,
- "If the Secretary of War has proved the right of Congress to enact a law
enforcing a draft of men out of the militia into the regular army, he will at
the same time be able to prove quite as clearly that Congress has power to
create a dictator. The arguments which have helped him in one case will
equally help him in the other."
3. "England or Germany," Frank Harris, #398
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from the Kalama Sut
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