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 POST MORTEM 
 OPINIONS 
 
 By 
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
 
 American Metaphysical Association 
 Sioux City, Iowa 
 
V J 
 
 Copyright, 1920 
 
 BY 
 
 American Metaphysical Association 
 
 HAMMOND PRESS 
 B. CONKEY COMPANY 
 CHICAQO 
 
 "^ 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Silence— My Funeral— To Friends— 
 
 God's Plan-My Son 1-7 
 
 II. Soldiers— Soldiers' Message to You 8-10 
 
 III. The Kaiser- Soldier Girls 12-13 
 
 IV. Monuments— Pensions 15-17 
 
 V. The Packers— Market G a m b 1 i n g— New 
 
 Ideals— Socialism— Government Reform — 
 The President— Third Term— President 
 
 Wilson 19-23 
 
 VI. Bolshevism— Organized Labor 24 
 
 VII. Returning Heroes— Justice— Service Flags — 
 
 Unredeemed Promises— The Sailor 28-31 
 
 VIII. The Red Cross 33 
 
 IX. Subscriptions— Quotas— Churches — God — 
 Judgment— Near Death — Universal 
 
 Brotherhood 38-42 
 
 X. Wage Earners— Higher Education— Idle- 
 ness— Ideals 43-45 
 
 XI. Suffragettes— In Washington, D. C— In 
 Paris-Equality— Wife in Office— The 
 
 Other Side 47-49 
 
 XII. Child Labor- Child Help- More Light- 
 Uniform Dress— Health— Comradeship— 
 
 Universal Training 51-56 
 
 XIII. Government Aid— Home— Migratory Amer- 
 icans—Birth Rate— Children— Eugenics- 
 War Saving Stamps— U. S. Bonds— The 
 Fleecer— The Cause of Anarchy— A Law 
 
 as a Soldier's Memorial 57-68 
 
 iii 
 
iv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIV. Loyalty— Party Issues— Party Issues in 
 1920— Dark Horse Most Powerful- 
 Politicians, Restore Illusions— The Plat- 
 form—Hectoring Policy— Planks— Thin 
 
 Ice 70-78 
 
 XV. Congress— Precedents— Law — Jury Serv- 
 ice—The Judge 79-82 
 
 XVI. Mistaken Views— Attacks on the Presi- 
 dent—Modern Conditions— The League 
 of Nations— America a League of States 84-87 
 XVII. The Budget System— Our System— Present 
 
 Needs— America a Mecca 89-92 
 
 XVIII. George Washington— His Customs— Presi- 
 dents in Europe— Died on the Job — 
 Memorial Orations 93-95 
 
 XIX. War— Belgium and France— England— 
 Militarism the Cause— The Excuse- 
 Germany— Home Life— King Albert- 
 France— Officers— P lunder— Son with 
 Me— G e r m a n Republic— Indemnity- 
 Germany and the League— Memory— War 
 Is Hell— Brotherhood— International Pol- 
 itics— War Gas— Military Police— Love, 
 Justice and Liberty— Flag of Glory— 
 
 America's Position— The Answer 97-115 
 
 XX. France and Belgium— England at War- 
 English Women— Italy— Russia 117-118 
 
 XXI. Taft and Wilson— The President's Critics— 
 
 A Spirit's Thoughts— Honor- Wilson. .121-124 
 XXII. W. W. and W. H. T.— Congress -Rail- 
 roads— Leasing the Roads 126-130 
 
 XXIII. Shipping— American Bottoms— Brutality — 
 Exporting— The Call of the Sea— Busy 
 Times— Foreign Markets— Big Questions 
 for the Voters— America for Amer- 
 icans 131-136 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXIV. Demobilization— The Solution— Positions 
 
 Filled- The Problem 137-140 
 
 XXV. Army Upkeep— Half Million— Universal 
 
 Training— Cantonments . . .143-146 
 
 XXVI. The Army, Navy and Marines— De- 
 stroy e r s— Hydroplanes— Over-Pre- 
 paredness— The National Guard 148-150 
 
 XXVII. Division of the Spoils— T. R. at the 
 Peace Conferenc e— Boundary of 
 
 France— Colonies 152-155 
 
 XXVIII. Wilson at Paris— Indemnity— Germany's 
 
 Moral Debt 157-160 
 
 XXIX. U. S. and the League of Nations— Monroe 
 Doctrine and Mexico— Mexico and the 
 
 League 162-165 
 
 XXX. The Ireland Question— In England- 
 Universal Peace— Cuba— Lost Hope .. 167-170 
 XXXI. Clear Vision— Rejoice with Me— Death's 
 
 Choosing— My Plea— In Closing 172-175 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTICE 
 
 npHE party who dictated the manuscript of 
 A this volume says he is the late Col. Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt. The contents of this volume 
 is the only proof we have to offer. 
 
 We do not claim nor pretend that he wrote 
 it. It was written down by Augusta Erwin at 
 the dictation of someone who she could not see, 
 but who said he is the party to whom we have 
 given the credit. 
 
 The large number of subjects dealt with and 
 the unique manner in which they are handled 
 is the best proof. 
 
 Vll 
 
PREFACE 
 
 npHIS book will be composed entirely of mes- 
 A sages from the spirit of Col. Theodore 
 Eoosevelt. This preface is being dictated by 
 Chas. G. Kuhlman, spiritual guide of Augusta 
 Erwin, through whose spiritual power this 
 volume is compiled. 
 
 It is the greatest gift that can be bestowed 
 on mortal — that of actually conversing with 
 the living dead — and I from spirit land will say 
 that that gift in its highest sense and power 
 has been bestowed on my daughter Augusta, 
 through whose physical hand we spirits can 
 write, she recording as we give, respecting our 
 judgment as to proper wording, etc. 
 
 This volume will be typed as a manuscript 
 just as received, beginning this third day of 
 February, 1919. 
 
 I, from spirit land, have dictated this preface 
 to my daughter. The rest of the volume I will 
 leave to the discretion of the Colonel. 
 
 In making this assertion before receiving 
 even so much as one word of a message from 
 him, I am not taking haphazard chance on his 
 
x PREFACE 
 
 acquiescence, as I have already talked over with 
 him the advisability of this work being written. 
 It not only met with his entire approval, but 
 with enthusiasm on his part as well. 
 
 Nothing more that I can add will tend to 
 make this work clearer to your mind, so I bid 
 you all good evening. 
 
 Yours in spirit since 1914, 
 
 Chas. G. Kuhlman, M. D. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SILENCE 
 
 BACK from the great silence I come in a way 
 that will prove to be a surprise to all, and 
 to all I wish to convey my heartiest regards. 
 I am not dead, I was but resting for a brief 
 period. 
 
 Death, the very word conjures up terrors for 
 the uninitiated, but death is but a transition 
 from one state into another, and the words that 
 are uttered at almost every funeral have a far 
 deeper meaning than the average mind can 
 grasp. 
 
 grave, where is thy victory! death, 
 where is thy sting! The victory is all on the 
 side of the one dying, he or she gaining every- 
 thing through the simple act of dying. 
 
 Some fight death for a long period, as did I, 
 but could they but realize what death really 
 means, it would have no terror for them. I 
 fought it off with strength and vigor of will 
 mostly, but when I finally saw that Gabriel was 
 the stronger of the two, I acquiesced and went 
 with him without a struggle. 
 
2 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 I'll fight as long as I think I am right in 
 fighting against a thing, or person, hut when I 
 see that I am on the wrong side of the fence 
 I try to give np as hest and easiest I can. I 
 lived and I died following this same principle. 
 Now I will try to re-live again and I feel sure 
 that my policy will prove as well here as it did 
 there on earth. 
 
 MY FUNERAL 
 
 My funeral was simple as I wished no dis- 
 play, and I want to thank the sincere friends 
 who wept for my departure from amongst their 
 midst that day. When strong men can be 
 brought to shed tears over the exit of another 
 it shows that friendship was not but an out- 
 ward symbol, but that it must have been en- 
 grained in their hearts. I expected no such 
 deep feeling on the part of those to whom I 
 especially wish to convey these felicitations, al- 
 though the expressions of the countless admirers 
 of my policies and of my so-called virility was 
 not more than I would expect upon the news 
 of my death, as would it be on the death of 
 any man of prominence before public eye, and 
 to say that I was prominent always before the 
 public is but stating a fact, not trying to make 
 an assertion. 
 
 TO FRIENDS 
 
 To my family and to my friends I wish to 
 send my greetings from this great spirit land, 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 3 
 
 unknown to them in flesh but inhabited by a 
 far greater majority of souls than is the mortal 
 earth today. They will, no doubt, be skeptical 
 at first of the authenticity of these words as 
 being sent by me from spirit land, but I am sure 
 that enough proof can be given them that will 
 in time satisfy their every doubt. My one re- 
 gret, and one that I am afraid will never be 
 remedied, is absolute proof that certain in- 
 dividuals are given the power by their Creator 
 to converse with the living spirits of the so- 
 called dead. It is but simple conversing, but 
 because of the fact that all are not given this 
 wonderful power, few can really understand, 
 and while many believe in spirit, it usually 
 takes strong tests to prove that all is straight. 
 This, no doubt, is due to abuses that are prac- 
 ticed by some to fake and fleece the public, 
 but it should be an easy matter to judge be- 
 tween the true and the false by the quality of 
 the messages and also in many cases by the 
 manner of receiving. 
 
 Had I been possessed of but an inkling of 
 what is clear to me now, I could have been the 
 most indomitable figure for good in America, 
 but it does not seem to be God's plan to have 
 mortal man know more than He thinks best. 
 
 god's plan 
 
 There is a God as surely as there is a visible 
 sun by day and stars and moon by night. A 
 
4 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 spirit father, guardian of all, regardless of race, 
 color or creed. He is not unjust. He exacts 
 nothing from man beyond man's power to do. 
 He asks no sacrifice of man beyond that of 
 man's strength to make, and when the great 
 summons comes that calls man home to Him, 
 He does not tax man with sins that man was 
 powerless to avert, nor does He hold him guilty 
 for technicalities, but He does make man under- 
 stand that He is Master as well as Father, and 
 man must obey. 
 
 If man has transgressed on earth, he must 
 pay for his transgressions here in full measure, 
 working out his salvation according to his sins. 
 He is not looked down upon, nor is he shunned, 
 but he is not allowed the freedom and the peace 
 that is accorded others in a more advanced 
 stage of purity. He is allowed to raise him- 
 self to a level with those to whom he will be 
 most congenial and who will be to him the most 
 congenial companions. Each has his plane and 
 lives here a life that is quite a bit on the same 
 order as earthly life, although without the little 
 worries and the bigger burdens and trials of 
 earthly existence. Of course, we all live here 
 in a finer state of being, even our dwelling 
 places, beautiful as they are, are but forms, 
 but you of earth, are you any surer that you 
 are living in physical existence, and that what 
 you feel sure is material substance, than are 
 we? Physical life is but a dream state after 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 5 
 
 all, and we of spirit life miss nothing by the 
 change but the fetterment of the body and the 
 petty ills of physical life. 
 
 All that goes into the making of an ideal 
 existence we have here. Homes of beauty, 
 adorned with all we could hope for in any 
 existence, beautiful flowers to make our out- 
 look more beautiful, loved ones around us 
 again, friends that we have lost through death 
 we find again, memories that to us were sweet 
 on earth are here brought back again into 
 realities, companions we have on every side 
 of worth and of congeniality. God himself 
 watching over us with loving care as a shepherd 
 his flock, or a father his children. No sights 
 or sounds of a disturbing nature, all is tran- 
 quility to those who wish it so, each man or 
 woman giving the best that is in them in love 
 and in guardianship to those on earth best be- 
 loved by them, and each one allowed to carry 
 out his or her own plans according as they think 
 best, something which I am sorry to add is 
 impossible on earth. 
 
 To those fortunate enough to be able to carry 
 out their plans as they see them on earth, this 
 will prove surprising, as it will show them 
 that others are equipped as well, if not in some 
 cases better, mentally to carry out ideas, but 
 are prevented from lack of capital to carry them 
 through. 
 
 Money is the one great handicap on earth, 
 
6 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 or should I say the lack of money is, as with- 
 out its help no one can accomplish much; but 
 here all that is changed. There is no exchange 
 of money, no talk of wealth beyond wealth of 
 love and happiness. There is no eternal striv- 
 ing after position, power and display. No 
 golden goal for which to bicker and fight. 
 There is a certain goal, it is true, but that can 
 be reached by all through their own efforts, and 
 these efforts are not base, striving to outdo a 
 rival, or to climb the ladder of success ahead 
 of another. 
 
 All have an equal chance here to reach the 
 plane for which they are fitted, and they reach 
 that through purity based on service, and hav- 
 ing reached their final place they find perfect 
 contentment without jealousies or bickerings. 
 They mingle with fellow spirits of the same 
 mentality and class, each pursuing his own 
 spirit life as he sees fit, with love as a guide. 
 If earth could be run on this same plan, how 
 much nicer it would be, but then I am afraid 
 that if earth were as is this land of spirit life, 
 I am afraid all would be loath to leave it, and 
 this place would have no extraordinary charm. 
 God knows best. He built the earth. He peo- 
 pled the earth and He runs the earth on His 
 own plan. We of spirit, or you of mortal life, 
 can change this plan not one atom. The mills 
 of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly 
 small. I can give you this little glimpse into 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 7 
 
 this life I so lately entered, but I cannot tell 
 all of its wonders in such a way that mortal 
 mind could really grasp every detail. I have 
 not been asked to curtail my descriptions, but 
 words of earthly coining are not large enough 
 to word what I would like to convey. 
 
 MY SON 
 
 I have met many former friends who had 
 passed away before my call. I have been re- 
 united with those of my closely related loved 
 ones, and I have clasped to my heart my son 
 who lost his life in France. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SOLDIEKS 
 
 T HAVE seen the mighty band whose lives 
 ■*- were given in the cause. They are a mighty 
 host, but undaunted and supreme. No mother, 
 father, wife or other kindred need feel sorrow 
 at their loss. Cut off in the prime of manhood, 
 it seemed and seems to the living, that theirs 
 was a great sacrifice, with all life before them, 
 to be cut down as unheaded wheat in a hail 
 storm, but theirs was not the loss. They have 
 gained by the great transition, and though the 
 world can see nothing yet of the true gains 
 that will arise through the death of these noble 
 boys, it will come in the end. They have not 
 given their lives needlessly, though it seems 
 a dastardly crime that any one nation could 
 have been the means of turning the world 
 topsy-turvy, and in doing so to shed the blood 
 of the flower of manhood of almost every 
 civilized nation. 
 
 To fight and die on the battlefield is not so 
 bad for a man. He can expect to be called to 
 his nation's assistance at any time, but to fight 
 a foe to whom neither child or age was sacred, 
 and one that respected nothing it seemed, was 
 like fighting against the very old Devil himself. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 9 
 
 Could he have conceived a worse type of fight- 
 ing craft than the undersea boat that lurked 
 beneath the waves ever ready to pounce and 
 to strike at an undefended craft, regardless 
 whether it be passenger or merchant ship, and 
 then, having struck, to leave the few survivors 
 to their fate on the ocean! That form of war- 
 fare truly belonged in the Devil 's category. As 
 if this was not enough, they must use another 
 of his weapons, gas in all forms. 
 
 I was heartily in favor of intervention long 
 before the United States went into the war, but 
 I see now that had my plans carried as I would 
 liked to have been able to have put them 
 through, there would have been not much more 
 gained than is the case now, but there would 
 have been more loss of American lives. 
 
 Our boys are brave unto recklessness. They 
 never stopped to count the cost, but are in war- 
 fare as they are in all pursuits of life, strenu- 
 ous and virile. If a job has to be done by 
 someone and they are elected for it, they do 
 not dilly-dally over what its final cost will be, 
 but they pitch right in and get it over with dis- 
 patch. Why live in trenches soaking in mud 
 and reeking in filth, waiting for the Germans 
 to advance and kill or maim them, when it 
 would be far easier and over with quicker to 
 go right out and meet the foe on common 
 ground. Death, if it was to come, would meet 
 them in the trench as on the highway. This 
 
10 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 is the sum and substance of the reasoning of 
 the boys who went over in that big offensive 
 that settled the war, and I give it in this con- 
 densed form, although the stories I have heard 
 from their spirit lips have been interesting in 
 the extreme and varied as to detail, but I know 
 that you will read the history of the great drive, 
 and it would be but a waste of time for me to 
 repeat their stories now, but I want to send 
 their message to the waiting world. It is brief, 
 but it conveys a world of meaning: 
 
 " Mourn not for us who gave our lives in the 
 great cause. We are not dead, nor do we sleep 
 where poppies grow. We live and we do not 
 regret our part in making the world a better 
 place for mortals. We do not ask retribution 
 for our lives, but we do ask that we shall be 
 heard and we ask that justice should be done 
 to those we fought and died for. Let men live 
 as brothers in peace hereafter, and let our 
 memories always stand as the beacon light. ' ' 
 
 With united voices they gave me this mes- 
 sage, and I send it along in their own words. 
 You on earth can interpret it as you will. They 
 are not bitter against their late foes, nor do 
 they seem to seek revenge on anyone. By their 
 asking justice they mean that what is just and 
 no more should be required of the German 
 nation. You must remember that it is the com- 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 11 
 
 mon people, the hard working and the thrifty, 
 that must in the end pay for all the mistakes 
 and the treacheries of their former rulers. 
 They did not ask for war, nor did they have 
 voice in its making, but it was their own blood 
 of their blood that was given, not freely, but 
 demanded by the leaders of their country. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE KAISER 
 
 IF the indemnities that are to be asked of the 
 Germans and their cohorts was to be taken 
 toll of the Kaiser and his militant^advisers, then 
 I, with the boys over here, in spirit land, would 
 demand full indemnity with all interest, and 
 by that word full, I mean full. The German 
 people were but slaves under the rule of Kai- 
 serism from the cradle to the grave. This doc- 
 trine has always been instilled into their very 
 lifeblood. Kaiser, country and loyalty to both 
 — regardless of what it means in sacrifice. 
 
 Take any people, and century after century 
 let them have this, their creed, deep rooted and 
 grooved and then what else could you expect 
 but obedience in anything no matter what, as 
 long as it was orders from Kaiser or country. 
 
 -In what other nation could you see such blind 
 obedience or such official arrogance? Where 
 else in a so-called civilized nation are women 
 held in the same light? The men in Germany 
 have always, since time began, held their women 
 as beneath them, almost as servants at their 
 bid and call. The best and the finest must al- 
 ways be reserved for the man. You can even 
 notice this trait in many so-called German- 
 
 12 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 13 
 
 Americans born in their fatherland and who 
 emigrated to freedom. It is as the word "Ver- 
 botten," which means slavery. Even the off- 
 spring of snch people are brought to these same 
 old-country ideas. When a man enters the 
 room you will notice the good housewife fidget 
 and fuss — to please him is her only wish; and 
 will he go out of his way to even as much as 
 set a chair for her? No. That is beneath his 
 dignity as a man of kultur. 
 
 It is often said that the men of America treat 
 their women with too much latitude, but on the 
 whole are not the girls and women of America 
 the finest all-around type in existence today? 
 If you have a doubt on this subject, wait until 
 the boys all get home. They can tell you the 
 truth. They have had experiences with girls 
 from blue-eyed, black-haired Irish lassies clear 
 down the row to the fair-haired girls of Ger- 
 many, and I will be willing to place a wager 
 that few reached as near their ideals as the 
 home lassies. 
 
 SOLDIER GIELS 
 
 Didn't the girls go over and stand up under 
 strains hard enough to tax the strength of a 
 strong, able man? Didn't they work under fire 
 as near the front as they could get? Not be- 
 cause they were sent there under orders, but 
 because they volunteered to go to be near 
 enough to bring succor and what little com- 
 
14 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 forts they could to the boys. Women of all 
 stations in life, giving up ease and giving up 
 comforts to go out in that hell, not under draft, 
 but because their hearts told them that it was 
 the logical thing to do when their countrymen 
 needed them and their help. I tell you, it took 
 more than mere love of adventure, more than 
 real love of romance, to stand up under what 
 those girls went through many times in the 
 line of duty. Not only the girls of canteen 
 service, but the loyal girls of the great Bed 
 Cross band. Their noble work should be com- 
 memorated as well as the boys whose work was 
 so well and so quickly done. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MONUMENTS 
 
 SPEAKING on this subject I may as well add 
 my views as to a proper and fitting way to 
 commemorate the heroes and heroines of this 
 great conflict. I think that the age of massive 
 and expensive brass and marble monuments is 
 past. To my mind the enormous sums that go 
 into the building and the setting up of these 
 beautiful, but rather useless, symbols, would 
 be spent far more wisely and to far better ad- 
 vantage if it were put into public buildings and 
 let them stand as memorial halls. By public 
 buildings as memorials I do not mean a sort 
 of mausoleums, but rather auditoriums wherein 
 relics of the local men of the city or town can 
 be kept and where all may gather for recrea- 
 tion. And then, too, would not the memory of 
 those who fell be kept green if, say, once or 
 twice a year services of some kind could be 
 held in this memorial in their name! How 
 many people stop to consider just what the 
 average monument really signifies after the 
 unveiling is over? True, they stand majestic 
 and beautiful as works of art, adorning some 
 park, square or other public site, but does the 
 average person gaze at it over a dozen times? 
 
 15 
 
16 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 And really, now, in your own mind, do yon 
 think that monuments of that sort really keep 
 alive the memory of those for whom they are 
 erected? 
 
 All this leads to another end that I wish to 
 speak of, and that is the question that will arise 
 in regard to a suitable memorial to my honor. 
 My views as just expressed hold good in this 
 case also. I do not feel that I am trying to 
 anticipate, when I make mention of memorials 
 in my name, because I know that this will be 
 the natural sequence to my passing, and I wish 
 that my ideas on this subject could be carried 
 out wherever money is appropriated for that 
 purpose. I would rather have one such place 
 dedicated to my memory than to have fifty 
 monuments set out for me. And another thing 
 apropos is that I do not favor the many dif- 
 ferent suggestions that the map of the United 
 States be altered as to names, already grown 
 familiar to the people, should be changed in 
 my regard. It is to my mind ridiculous in the 
 extreme. I do not wish to disparage those who 
 are acting in all good faith to commemorate 
 me, but there are so many, many other ways 
 that this can be done and not cause as much 
 confusion as would result in case localities and 
 age-old names of places were to be changed 
 in my favor. I myself, were I an occupant of 
 the chair, would veto any such bill as came 
 within my jurisdiction. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 17 
 
 PENSIONS 
 
 Another subject that I can safely add as com- 
 ing nnder this same head, and of which I am 
 not in accord, is the precedent established in 
 setting aside a yearly pension of $5,000 to my 
 widow. The sum involved was not necessary 
 to her maintenance, and even had it been, it 
 wonld have been the proper conrse to have kept 
 this dangerous precedent ont of legislative 
 channels, and to have raised this sum through 
 other means. 
 
 The man responsible for the introduction of 
 this measure did so in all good faith, and the 
 associates with him in voting this through with- 
 out dissenting voice, did so in the same good 
 faith, and even against the little lurking finger 
 of conscience that seemed to point against this 
 measure as one in which they should have had 
 no say. To my way of thinking this should 
 have been left entirely to the discretion of the 
 people. 
 
 I was not holding office in any way, manner 
 or form at the time of my demise. My family 
 was left in fairly good circumstances, and my 
 death deprived them of nothing in the way of 
 support. The question brought up as to the 
 precedent established in the cases of several 
 other President's wives left widows would not 
 hold good in my case, as I was not holding 
 office. 
 
18 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 In a case of this kind where public money is 
 involved too much care cannot be exercised as 
 to its expenditure. This is all I will say on the 
 subject, else I might arouse the ire of those to 
 whom I should feel indebted. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PACKEKS 
 
 THE probe of the packing interests as now 
 going on is commendable. It was high time 
 that this great industry, involving as it does 
 millions in money and practically the entire 
 control of the meat situation of the country at 
 large, should really be under government con- 
 trol, providing that this can be done without 
 exorbitant expenditure, or hold-up. There is 
 much hidden evidence that must be unearthed, 
 and when the probe really gets under the skin 
 you will notice some great squirming on the 
 part of the magnates in control. 
 
 If this war was fought to bring about justice 
 to all people, why then should justice not start 
 at home? Why allow a selected few to control 
 the vital necessities of life and to demand 
 exorbitant profits for that commodity which 
 happens to be under their control, necessary as 
 it may be to the life of the people! 
 
 MARKET GAMBLING 
 
 No man should be allowed to gamble or to 
 control the market price of any common neces- 
 sity of life, be it food or be it clothing, and all 
 those convicted of such an offense should be 
 
 19 
 
20 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 tried before a tribunal of the common people 
 who have had to pay their prices and let these 
 victims pass sentence. Why should a man wax 
 rich on another's labor? Why should he live 
 in ease and luxury while another toils to raise 
 stock and grain on which more often or not the 
 farmer loses while the man in control of the 
 markets manipulates the prices through some 
 gambling exchange? It is not fair, nor is it 
 just. Let the government step in and be the 
 controlling power in all commodities. Then 
 can the poor man receive as fair treatment as 
 the rich. 
 
 NEW IDEALS 
 
 I know that I am not following out my earthly 
 ideas, or expressions, in many of the remarks 
 I will make in the course of my talks through 
 this medium, but with death and cessation of 
 earthly strife, my eyes have grown clearer, my 
 vision has grown stronger. I now see both 
 sides of the questions under discussion, and can 
 judge accordingly, and so when I advocate gov- 
 ernment control in all things pertaining to the 
 common necessities of life to allow of the 
 poorest of mortals receiving the same treatment 
 as the highest, I feel that I am on the right 
 track at last. The packers are no worse in 
 their business dealings than are countless other 
 concerns dealing in other lines. All are gam- 
 blers more or less, and the common people lose 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 21 
 
 out in the end. But I have shown my policies 
 while on earth in dealing with the so-called 
 trusts, and while I supposedly dispersed them 
 they exist almost as strong as ever, but not 
 in as brazen an outward manner. I can see 
 what is needed stronger than ever to clear the 
 markets of muck. 
 
 SOCIALISM 
 
 I do not wish to propagate socialism, or any 
 of its kindred creeds. That would be like plant- 
 ing a field of grain, watching it grow until it 
 headed and was ready to reap, and then in a 
 moment of madness setting torch and devastat- 
 ing the field. 
 
 GOVERNMENT REFORM 
 
 There is no need of vast government reform. 
 The United States has a system that calls for 
 no great modification. It is in dealing with 
 corporations that changes and reforms must 
 come. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT 
 
 If the head of the government is a man of 
 honest worth, then very little of false and dis- 
 honest legislative acts will pass and be sanc- 
 tioned. He has the power to veto all measures 
 that come up before they are made laws, but 
 no one man can probe all things to his entire 
 satisfaction in the short time allowed before 
 signing. 
 
22 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 THIRD TERM 
 
 In my opinion when a man is elected to the 
 office of President he should be retained as 
 long as he gives entire satisfaction to the public 
 and their interests. He should not be harassed 
 by a short term of four, or even eight years, 
 in office. Often it takes practically the entire 
 first term for a man to understand the situa- 
 tions thoroughly that are under his jurisdiction, 
 and just as he is getting down to real under- 
 standing and to the real business of govern- 
 ment supervision he needs must go on a can- 
 vassing campaigning tour that breaks into his 
 routine and must have his mind on political 
 business. 
 
 No man can do full justice to his office un- 
 less his mind is undivided, and many hesitate 
 to start reforms for political party reasons, 
 fearing to hurt their interests in another cam- 
 paign, or if in their last tenure of office would 
 hesitate on vital questions because time would 
 not allow of their completion, and fear that 
 their successor would either resent the work 
 left for him to finish, or more often would 
 bungle the job. For that reason I would ad- 
 vocate, along with other broken precedents, that 
 one more at least be added, that of retaining in 
 office for indefinite periods, subject to recall, 
 any President, regardless of party, who can, 
 and does, prove himself the fit man for the 
 office. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 23 
 
 PRESIDENT WILSON 
 
 No more honest or higher principled man ever 
 sat in the presidential chair than he who oc- 
 cupies it now. He is a great student, and as 
 such is not given to voicing his opinions, or 
 airing his plans to the public eye until he is 
 ready for their consummation, and it is this 
 trait, while commendable in many ways, that 
 causes people of America more used to airing 
 their opinions to misunderstand him and his 
 motives. But on the other hand, they are be- 
 ginning to see his true worth. 
 
 He elected to cross the ocean to defend his 
 policies amid bitter denunciations on the part 
 of myself and many others, but time has shown 
 the great need of his presence at the prelimi- 
 nary conference for peace. 
 
 When he returns to his duties at the White 
 House he will take up the routine of business 
 where he dropped it, and questions that are now 
 at issue will be solved in all good time and with 
 careful consideration. That is one thing in 
 his favor. He never jumps into anything hap- 
 hazardly, but only acts after careful study of 
 all sides and all possibilities of every question 
 that is brought up. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 BOLSHEVISM 
 
 T will take a man of clear outlook and calm 
 judgment in the office for the next few years 
 at least. There is trouble ahead, I can see it 
 fomenting even now. A spread of Bolshevism 
 is about to strike the country at large. High 
 wages and plenty of work, both for skilled and 
 unskilled labor, has brought about this condi- 
 tion, and when wages begin to recede again, 
 which is inevitable, the greatest riots will come 
 throughout different sections of the country. 
 I do not look for as bad a state of affairs 
 throughout the Middle West as will be in both 
 the eastern and western coast states, especially 
 throughout the western states, where it seems 
 that the I. W. W. element has greater control. 
 Troops will have to be kept in readiness to 
 quell the riots and restore order out of chaos, 
 but I look to see blood shed before order will 
 be restored. 
 
 OEGANIZED LABOE 
 
 Organized labor, if under the right leader- 
 ship, and if it recognizes laws of the Union as 
 to peace and order, and does not make demands 
 that are at times entirely too drastic to con- 
 template, is a good thing for the masses, to pro- 
 
 24 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 25 
 
 tect them from too much capitalism, but when 
 organized labor can, and does, tie up an entire 
 city or state, paralyzing its industries and put- 
 ting the inhabitants at the mercy of their whims, 
 it is time that something drastic was done to 
 curb this power. It is as a dangerous mad dog 
 loosed in a crowded thoroughfare, no one can 
 tell where it will spring nor how deep its bite 
 will be. 
 
 If such a condition was brought about with 
 a good excuse behind it, as a demand for fair 
 treatment, or a living scale of wages, I would 
 not say a word, but when men organized to- 
 gether in the name of labor will go out on a 
 strike or demand, in sympathy with other 
 strikers who are demanding, not a living wage, 
 but an exorbitant salary, then I, who have 
 always championed the workers, have nothing 
 but contempt for their methods and would like 
 nothing better than to see them shut out en- 
 tirely and their places filled with returning 
 soldiers who fought their fights over there in 
 France, while these men were drawing salaries 
 far and above any that they had ever drawn 
 before. 
 
 There will be plenty of the boys glad to ac- 
 cept these same disputed positions and willing 
 to take up the work at the granted scale, so be 
 careful, you men of organized labor, that you 
 are not superseded by others while you parade 
 and argue. 
 
26 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 Eemember one thing, that the government of 
 the United States is beginning to have a finger 
 in every pie, and if it sees that all is not as it 
 should be, there is power to make it right. You 
 have had a square deal, as near as could be on 
 short notice. 
 
 You promised to abide by the decision until 
 such a day as real adjustments could be had. 
 This promise was made, not to a private owner, 
 or to a man in civil life, but was made to the 
 government agents, and I tell you, men, that it 
 is a risky thing to break faith with your gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Eemember that peace is not here yet. The 
 United States is still at war virtually, and will 
 be until the peace negotiations are completed 
 and practical peace is declared. What has all 
 of this to do with your case you will perhaps 
 wonder. Well, while you have idle time on 
 your hands, you can figure this out for yourself. 
 
 Eemember, your President may be on foreign 
 shores, trying his best to make the world see 
 that all should live in harmony, and is it just 
 or right for you to go against these very prin- 
 ciples at a time like the present? If he can 
 get the world, that has more to complain of 
 now than you ever could have, to see his way 
 of thinking, do you think that he will let you 
 do as you please in this land that he feels re- 
 sponsible for? 
 
 Get together on a fair basis, and let your 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 27 
 
 differences be settled by arbitration and at the 
 right time. Be Americans now and stand by 
 yonr country. Don't let ideas that were fo- 
 mented across the ocean in the most illiterate 
 country in Europe be the slogans of your class. 
 See what is being done in Eussia today. Do 
 you want to see the same condition in your 
 land? If your answer is yes, then may God see 
 to it, if the government can't, that every man 
 voting aye to this question be exiled to Eussia 
 for the rest of his natural life. 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 EETUBNING HEEOES 
 
 ALL hail to the returning heroes! Let joy 
 - be uneonfined. But one thing to remember, 
 don't pour out all your enthusiasm and wel- 
 comes on the first units returning and give them 
 all the best that you have in hospitality and 
 in choicest positions in civil work, but remem- 
 ber that many of the boys who did the actual 
 fighting and endured the hardships of the war 
 are still over there and will be for some little 
 time. They, too, will want some of your cheer- 
 ing and some of your welcome on their return, 
 so I say, give freely, but keep a reserve stock 
 fresh, too. 
 
 The boys that have been kept as an army of 
 occupation will not want to come home and 
 find that the uniform is out of date, as far as 
 welcome and opening to a livelihood is con- 
 cerned ; and, girls, remember that the boys will 
 be hungry for the sight of your bright faces 
 and the sound of your loving voices ; and men, 
 you who have had the great privilege of wear- 
 ing the uniform of your country, see that it 
 is as unsullied when you return it as it was on 
 the day you first donned it. If not for the 
 sake of your own manhood's honor, then for 
 
 28 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 29 
 
 the sake of the boys who still wear it over there. 
 
 You who have returned home can do much 
 in keeping alive patriotism in the hearts of 
 all if you will but try. You have been under 
 discipline, most of you, long enough to realize 
 that it is, and was, practically the means of 
 making you stronger in every sense of the word, 
 mentally, physically, and I trust spiritually. If 
 it has not done these three things for you, then 
 the service has been a failure in your case, and 
 it will do little good for me to plead with you 
 on a moral ground. 
 
 One of the first things that the returning 
 soldier thinks about seems to be to establish a 
 home for himself. He has seen the love of the 
 European peasants for their homes, and being 
 removed far from his own kin and friends his 
 thoughts naturally turn to home and his return 
 there. The aftermath of the two facts, com- 
 bined to make one whole, is the decision to 
 settle down and found a home and rear a family 
 on his return. This is commendable, as the 
 homes are the foundation stones of a country. 
 
 JUSTICE 
 
 The boys returning should all be assured of 
 means and ways to establish homes, and should 
 be offered positions that will pay them a living 
 wage. This is the fundamental duty of the 
 government, and Congress would spend its time 
 wisely in framing such a measure before it is 
 
30 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 antedated by the boys getting discouraged over 
 the prospects that they see and becoming dis- 
 satisfied with conditions as they exist and forc- 
 ing an issue by other less commendable means. 
 The government conscripted most of her army 
 from civilian life, taking the boys from posi- 
 tions that some of them had spent years in 
 acquiring, and if the men for whom they worked 
 do not feel justified by service in their country's 
 name to find them another position equal to 
 the one they left, if not able to give them the 
 same places, I feel that the government should, 
 and eventually must, take a hand in settling this 
 question. 
 
 SERVICE FLAGS 
 
 It was easy enough to hang out a service 
 flag filled with blue stars. It was not so easy 
 to add a silver or golden one as conditions and 
 fate demanded. With flags floating on high 
 and the senses stirred to highest pitch by flashes 
 of news from the front, it was easy enough to 
 be patriotic and make promises to the boys leav- 
 ing for war, but with that incentive gone, and 
 life once more assuming a near normal phase, 
 it is a trifle embarrassing for some to be called 
 on to make good these promises. 
 
 UNREDEEMED PROMISES 
 
 To the soldier these unredeemed promises 
 are one of the bitterest pills to swallow. He 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 31 
 
 comes back with a feeling that the patriotism 
 shown at his departure will not be dimmed on 
 his return. In fact, he justly feels a bit exalted 
 over his great experience in being one of the 
 fighters, and others should look upon him as 
 a little out of the ordinary, but when the reality 
 strikes him you can imagine what effect it has, 
 like ice water thrown over one. He loses that 
 which he can never feel again, no matter how 
 long his life may be. Let him have his little 
 triumphs while he may. He has earned them. 
 Instead of damping his ardors, cheer him along, 
 and for the sake of the youth you have left 
 behind, find something in your establishment 
 that he will not be ashamed to work at while 
 still glorified, and something that you will not 
 blush to offer. 
 
 THE SAILOR 
 
 I give this little talk under heading of soldier 
 heroes, but I have not forgotten that there are 
 others just as deserving of your praise and 
 patriotism — the boys in blue of the navy. They, 
 too, did their share, and often more in winning 
 the war. They, too, deserve the best that can 
 be had when their country no longer needs 
 them. They, too, will be founding homes on 
 shore and rearing families. There will be thou- 
 sands of such releases in the next year, and all 
 should be provided with positions upon their 
 discharge. That will help keep loyalty for their 
 
32 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 government imbedded in their hearts as nothing 
 else would, the very fact that their country 
 was looking after their welfare even after it 
 was through with them as fighting units. 
 Enough cannot be said, or done, for them to 
 help make them self-respecting citizens instead 
 of dissatisfied citizens. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE EED CEOSS 
 
 I WANT to speak of the great work accom- 
 plished by the Red Cross, both before and 
 after the entry of the United States into the 
 war. It is the one civil organization that has 
 my entire approval in all of its different phases 
 of relief throughout the war, and I am glad 
 that the American people were so generous in 
 their contributions to this great working band 
 that there is left on hand quite a surplus of 
 cash beyond present needs, but I deplore the 
 little petty jealousies that have sprung up be- 
 tween the smaller chapters over surplus funds 
 in the treasury. Each seems afraid that if the 
 money is left with the different chapters that 
 it will eventually become too much of a tempta- 
 tion and be spent unwisely where not needed. 
 My idea of the proper thing to do with this 
 surplus on hand is to turn it over to the national 
 chapter headquarters and have it accounted for 
 in the proper manner, and then when need arises 
 for money it can easily be requisitioned from 
 headquarters and properly checked and ac- 
 counted for. This is public money, subscribed 
 by the people for mercy work, and must be 
 
 33 
 
34 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 used for that purpose, and it will be needed 
 before the end of relief work comes. 
 
 The Red Cross has under its wings, we might 
 say, many different units, but all forming part 
 of a great movement for the work of succor 
 and help. 
 
 The nurses' unit, while standing out as one 
 of the foremost works of the organization, is 
 really but an infinitesimal part played in this 
 war. The soldiers and the civilian population 
 of the stricken country as well, look to the Red 
 Cross as to a savior, for help and for sus- 
 tenance. 
 
 This great organization worked as one with 
 the government, supplying everything from a 
 tack to a fully equipped hospital unit on a 
 moment's notice, one might say. They saved 
 more lives through their work among the 
 civilian population than were taken toll by the 
 war. 
 
 Like angels and saviors the workers would 
 appear in a devastated region, supplying food, 
 clothing and even housing and refurbishing 
 what could be salvaged on the spot in the way 
 of household supplies and utensils, transpor- 
 tation being their one great difficulty in the 
 shell-torn regions. 
 
 The front lines held no terrors for the brave 
 workers, and even the women would venture 
 as near danger as the military orders would 
 allow, to bring help and comfort to the boys 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 35 
 
 in sore need of all comforts. The workers often 
 went without sleep for hours at a stretch, stood 
 on their feet until they were ready to drop 
 from sheer exhaustion, and when opportunity 
 came for a brief rest, often they would hesi- 
 tate to remove their shoes from feet so swollen 
 from the unaccustomed strain for fear that 
 they would not be able to put their shoes on 
 again in the time alloted them. 
 
 Sleep, that was the greatest need in many 
 cases, but when under the pressure of work it 
 was the last thing thought of, and I am sure 
 that on the day the armistice was signed, and 
 after the news was verified, that the only silence 
 on the front lines was not the silence of the 
 great and lesser guns, but the silence of sleep, 
 heavy, deep slumber of exhaustion, that only 
 the work-weary can know. 
 
 The women of America who were not given the 
 opportunity to go over and help did noble work 
 in the cause, both at home and in the work- 
 rooms of the organization chapters, and it was 
 mainly due to their efforts that so much was 
 accomplished in so short a time. They were as 
 truly doing their share, those who were loyal, 
 as the workers in actual service. Many a soldier 
 and sailor blessed the kind heart of her whose 
 busy fingers fashioned his warm and serviceable 
 extra garments of wool, and many a surgeon 
 working at high speed among the wounded, 
 blessed the careful fingers that had made band- 
 
36 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 age and pad, and many a soldier lad blessed the 
 hospital garments that kept him in comfort and 
 cleanliness. I know this to be the trnth. 
 
 I have talked to spirits of all classes, soldiers, 
 sailors, snrgeons and nurses, and they all had 
 the same story to tell of the goodness and mercy 
 of the Eed Cross. When an organization of 
 snch magnitude can carry on for years and 
 handle in the meantime millions of dollars worth 
 of supplies, subscribed by the people, and can 
 come through it all clean, it is worthy of much 
 praise, yes, even of praise from the land of 
 spirit life. Eest assured that the flag of white, 
 with its emblem of red, will always be received 
 with reverence by the people of Europe. They 
 know what that banner stands for in their lives, 
 and in a way that I hope the people of America 
 will never see. 
 
 The Red Gross should be made a permanent 
 government order, supported by popular sub- 
 scription, but under supervision of government 
 auditors. That would do much to keep its fair 
 name unsullied, in fact, that is what should 
 have been done in the first place with all or- 
 ganised civil relief. If the government had 
 supervised the accounts of all organizations 
 soliciting public funds on behalf of war work, 
 there would have been no aftermath, no muck 
 through which to delve, no dissatisfaction on 
 the part of those to whom the relief and com- 
 forts were to be brought, no shifting of re- 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 37 
 
 sponsibility from shoulder to shoulder. This 
 condition of affairs has done much to offset the 
 benefits and has done much moral harm, but 
 I hope that a great lesson will have been learned 
 if ever the need should arise again for such 
 work. It is deplorable that incidents of this 
 kind should have had to mar the Godliness of 
 the mercy work of the war, but enough on this 
 subject. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 SUBSCRIPTIONS 
 
 O PEAKING of public moneys collected 
 ^ through popular subscription, it seems now 
 that a start has been made in this direction, and 
 it is becoming overwhelming; where before a 
 hundred thousand dollars was considered an 
 enormous sum to raise, now from one to a hun- 
 dred millions are being asked for different pur- 
 poses, and when solicited from men in the busi- 
 ness and political world it is usually forth- 
 coming, because the men so solicited feel that 
 it is right and in a good cause, and because 
 they know it is their bounden duty to give. 
 
 QUOTAS 
 
 Now in my opinion a great many of these 
 begging pleas are not worthy of support, and 
 should be carefully looked into by a committee 
 capable of judging. This business of anybody 
 and everybody setting a certain quota on cities 
 and localities and then almost demanding its 
 fulfillment by threat, or begging plea, is getting 
 to be too much of a fad. If money is needed 
 for food and clothing in towns and localities, 
 let the city or state appropriate a certain sum 
 to be used for relief, and then appoint agents 
 
 38 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 39 
 
 to render that relief where it is needed, and 
 the sums expended be accounted for to the state 
 in itemized statements. Then if the sums 
 needed are in excess of the money on hand in 
 the treasury, let special taxes be levied on all 
 to pay for this. In that way each can pay his 
 or her mite and no special one will be burdened 
 with excessive call for donation. 
 
 I speak not from hearsay, but from actual ex- 
 perience, when I say that a man of any public 
 position is almost hounded into insanity through 
 committees soliciting funds or selling tickets to 
 different benefits, bazaars and charities, and if 
 the sum solicited only amounts to a dollar or 
 five each time, there are so many calls that at 
 the end of a year a big inroad has been made 
 into private funds, and you have no record of 
 how or where it went. 
 
 CHURCHES 
 
 Churches are supported almost entirely by 
 contributions and moneys derived from bazaars 
 and benefits. Often in localities that are scarce 
 able to support one church properly, you will 
 find three, four or five struggling along trying 
 to exist, and the pastors scarce knowing where 
 the next week's income is to come from. 
 
 Now, in my opinion, even though there be a 
 diversity in matter of creed, why try and keep 
 up several houses of worship in this manner 
 when if all the contributions and all of the 
 
40 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 support of the community were given to one 
 house of worship in which all might congregate 
 and receive the faith, much more could be ac- 
 complished ' and the minister kept in a self- 
 respecting style of living, where he could give 
 his best to the congregations. 
 
 The only practical difference in the creeds 
 is, after all, in the names. All are seeking God 
 and all are seeking salvation in the name of 
 His Son, and how better to seek this than to 
 make a right beginning on earth and banish 
 jealousies and little petty differences in reli- 
 gious forms, and form one great brotherhood of 
 united creeds under the banner of God. 
 
 There is little true Christianity in assailing 
 another of different creed just because your 
 way to heaven is not the way of the other. 
 There is only one God, and you all seek Him. 
 
 GOD 
 
 There is only one road to find Him, and that 
 I find is not the road through Protestant or 
 Catholic or Jewish creed, but it is through the 
 road of your heart and on the truths found there 
 are based your hopes of salvation. 
 
 JUDGMENT 
 
 What matters it if you are the elder, or 
 leader, in all affairs of your church on earth 
 if your heart is not in accord with God your 
 standing in the church affairs will avail you 
 nothing. God does not search the records of 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 41 
 
 the churches to find out who is the largest con- 
 tributor to its funds, or just who is the leader 
 in all of its activities when He seeks to judge 
 His people, but He looks deep into their hearts 
 as they come home to Him in their nakedness, 
 and there He can read the record of a life well 
 spent in His service of love, or mis-spent in 
 the service of hate. 
 
 NEAE DEATH 
 
 The boys in the trenches in France and Bel- 
 gium found that it made little difference 
 whether their trenchmates were of their same 
 faith or not. With death at their very side 
 throughout the days and nights, they came to 
 understand each other fully and found that 
 after all, in spite of nationality, creed or tongue, 
 that all were brothers and of a kin. 
 
 Death clears the sight and widens the vision. 
 To have death for a, companion for days at a 
 time does wonders in re-making a man, espe- 
 cially if he has breathing spells in which to 
 think over the affairs of the past. It broadens 
 the outlook and widens the narrow mind. 
 
 You will find the change of attitude towards 
 creeds in most of the returning soldiers and 
 sailors. They will never again tolerate preju- 
 dice against another because of religious dif- 
 ferences, and if all the world could be brought 
 to this same state of mind, there would be little 
 need of peace parleys or armament, as religion 
 
42 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 has much to do with war. Why, I have seen 
 whole communities split and neighbors at war 
 with each other over different views on the sub- 
 ject of religion, and that is why I advocate one 
 church, one God and one faith for all, to bring 
 peace among neighbors and love to the hearts 
 
 Of all. UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD 
 
 I would heartily support, with what support 
 I am capable of giving now, any plan for rais- 
 ing money by subscription if it was to be used 
 to establish universal brotherhood churches, or 
 halls of worship, but any plan to individualize 
 any one creed, or faith, will not even receive my 
 tolerance. 
 
 While the world is in the turmoil of recon- 
 struction and is trying to get back to a normal 
 civil basis, why harass and plague with de- 
 mands for money that the people of all classes 
 can little afford to give? 
 
 Living expenses have been high, and while 
 wages have soared along on wings, it has taken 
 practically all that a man of family could earn 
 to keep that same family in the common com- 
 forts of life, and few have been able to lay aside 
 the customary bit for a rainy day, but Amer- 
 icans are easily played upon and often will give 
 when they least can afford to, from sense of 
 duty, and as I said before, while not in the same 
 words, perhaps, but with the same meaning, 
 lay off and give the great American public a 
 breathing spell. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 WAGE EARNERS 
 
 YOU wage earners of the strong sex, are you 
 doing justice to yourself and your em- 
 ployer? Are you earning the money you find 
 in your pay envelope, or is your work so slackly 
 done that in taking your wage when tendered 
 you are in reality robbing him? Are you a 
 loafer or are you a man? Stop and consider 
 this. Take stock of yourself if you never have 
 before, and see if you are really worth your salt, 
 or worth more than your present salary. If 
 you are of the latter type and have uncon- 
 sciously gotten into a rut, get out of it and 
 make yourself. 
 
 If there ever was one thing on earth I de- 
 spised, it was a worthless man cluttering up 
 the highways and eating food that belonged to 
 men of worth. Give the best that is in you to 
 those who pay for your time. Don't try to 
 earn your money, and no more ; that is not the 
 road to advancement and to success. Did you 
 ever see a man who amounted to a can of beans 
 whose time was spent in watching the hands of 
 the clock for fear he would give a minute or 
 two of his precious, invaluable time to his em- 
 ployer without extra pay? 
 
 43 
 
44 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 You may not think that the little attentions 
 given to your work are noticed, and that de- 
 tails that to you seem very unimportant and 
 overlooked in your work to save bother are not 
 noticed. A really efficient man, one who gives 
 full value in time and energy and thought to 
 the interests of his employer, seldom has to 
 make demands for increased salary or to whine 
 over fair treatment in regard to promotions. 
 He usually finds, unless in rare cases where he 
 might have a jealous, spiteful man over him in 
 influence, his work has counted for something 
 after all. Employers are not blind to man 
 value, and are always ready to do their best in 
 encouraging standards. 
 
 HIGHEK EDUCATION 
 
 Education is a great help, but it is not such 
 a great factor in the business world as is sup- 
 posed, nor in other work, as many of the most 
 successful men were not even high school grad- 
 uates. School or college cannot make a man out 
 of you if you have not the making of a man in 
 you. They but give you the rudiments of your 
 education, the main part coming after your 
 graduation into the college of experiences. 
 There is where you will either stand or fall, 
 and a great many fall who have the power to 
 stand if they would but try. 
 
 Don't look for a soft snap. You will find 
 that the soft places do not always lead into a 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 45 
 
 future, and often are the cause of man's down- 
 fall. Men are so constituted by God that they 
 must have an outlet for their energy. His orig- 
 inal plan was for man to use this in gaining 
 himself a livelihood through physical labor, but 
 as civilization became more pronounced soft 
 snaps became more plentiful, and found plenty 
 of seekers. They, too, had energy stored up 
 in their soft bodies that must find outlet, and 
 often it will be used to the damnation of body 
 and soul. 
 
 IDLENESS 
 
 When idleness lies heavy on a man's con- 
 science it denotes manhood lies within, but 
 when a man revels in idleness it shows a sore 
 lack of manhood. There is deviltry at hand 
 that the idle seldom fails to find, while the busy 
 man has no time to see it. If your brain works 
 along with your hands, you will get somewhere, 
 but if your hands work alone you will always 
 remain just where you are. 
 
 IDEALS 
 
 A good plan for a young man starting out in 
 life is to set himself an object and strive always 
 to reach that object. A good successful man's 
 career should be studied through all its phases 
 and followed to the best of one's ability. In 
 having some certain goal for which to strive, 
 a man will make greater strides to successful 
 
46 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 attainment, as life then will be like running a 
 race with a determination to win in the end. 
 Be thoughtful, courteous, and above all, keep 
 your brains and your hands working together 
 for the good of all. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 SUFFKAGETTES 
 
 THE suffrage question, I notice, is still un- 
 settled. The Senate does not seem to take 
 kindly to the measure. The women backing this 
 bill should know that one thing causing this un- 
 favorable attitude on the part of the lawmakers 
 is the actions of the women in trying to force 
 the issue. Militant tactics go against the grain 
 of any red-blooded American man, and I think 
 I am in the right when I say that the deciding 
 votes were cast by men of that caliber. 
 
 IN WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 The women who have been doing picket duty 
 around the White House in Washington have 
 really done more harm to the cause than can 
 be rectified in years. They are not good types 
 of modern suffragettes, but belong to the mili- 
 tant class of women who like to draw public 
 notice to themselves, and think it an honor to 
 have their pictures published in the yellow 
 papers of the country showing them in war- 
 like attitudes, either fighting a squad of police 
 surrounded by a howling mob or being taken 
 by force to a cell. No wonder that the men 
 representing the country's best interests hesi- 
 tate to grant them equal rights. 
 
 47 
 
48 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 A lady can and should act her part as a lady, 
 no matter what she is seeking for, or where, 
 and the suffrage party will be wise in heeding 
 my advice to do away with this form and type 
 of advertisement, for that is really what these 
 women are, an advertisement, but of the wrong 
 kind. 
 
 IN PAKIS 
 
 The very idea of planning to send delegates 
 to Paris to picket. Why harass the President 
 of the United States and make both his position 
 and the women of the United States ridiculous 
 in the eyes of the world? The women who were 
 prevented from crossing to do this very thing 
 should thank the government for preventing 
 them from carrying out their plans. 
 
 EQUALITY 
 
 I believe that women, as a whole, are equal 
 in mentality, if not in strength, to the men of 
 the world, and should have equal rights with 
 men in all things, and the time is coming when 
 this will be true in fact, as well as fancy, but I 
 have no patience with fool women who try, as I 
 say, to gain notoriety and who defeat the aims 
 of their party through their acts. 
 
 A woman is capable, to my mind, of voting 
 and holding office as well, if not better in many 
 cases, than the men voting and filling office now. 
 They have keener instincts, clearer insights and 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 49 
 
 perceptions into things that men often blunder 
 at, and are less subtle in using their powers in 
 an unlawful way, but on the other hand they 
 seem to have less of the strength of purpose 
 needed to handle public affairs. 
 
 WIFE IN OFFICE 
 
 If it were not for the eternal sex problem, a 
 good plan would be to elect two officials to the 
 same office, where that office is one of impor- 
 tance, and have the officials each of the opposite 
 sex. Then by combining the two qualities of 
 the two brains and strength I think that an 
 ideal medium would be reached. 
 
 Men that have proved themselves to be suc- 
 cessful in business and political life, more often 
 than not, have a wife at home whose influence 
 is a big factor in that success, though the man 
 and the woman may be unconscious of this fact. 
 
 THE OTHER SIDE 
 
 A man can go far if his wife is of the right 
 sort, but on the other hand, a woman, be she 
 of the wrong kind, can pull a man down to 
 the gutter from most any station in life. I 
 wonder if the women of the land realize what 
 a big part they play in a man's life, and in his 
 successes or failures. If they did realize this 
 fact fully, they would also realize the fact that 
 they have little need of asking suffrage except 
 to give them equal rights in holding property 
 
50 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 and in legal matters, but as far as voting and 
 handling the affairs of the nation is concerned, 
 she can do that readily enough through her hus- 
 band. But let me give you a hint of advice, 
 don't let him know what you are doing through 
 him. 
 
 There is no cause for undue wailing on the 
 part of the suffragette party leaders about dis- 
 honor in connection with the defeat of the 
 measure. There was no desire on the part of 
 any member of Congress to dishonor the women 
 of the nation; on the contrary, it was to save 
 their honor that they voted as they did. Time 
 will show that I am right in saying this, as 
 women are not ready to enter the same field 
 with men, and the war, instead of being the 
 means of franchising women has been the means 
 of delaying the franchise. This reconstruction 
 period is not the logical time to introduce new 
 forms, or is it the time to allow women the 
 ballot through which they can overthrow old 
 forms. When life again assumes a normal 
 standard, then it will be safe to pass this 
 measure, but in the meantime if you women 
 want to gain the good will, and erstwhile the 
 votes, cut out the theatricals at Washington. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CHILD LABOE 
 
 THE child labor laws should be modified to 
 a certain degree and made to conform with 
 conditions in different parts of the Union. 
 While rigid laws mnst be applied to certain 
 sections, especially in the mill and factory in- 
 fested districts, there can be more laxity shown 
 in other sections where conditions warrant. 
 
 In my opinion strict measures should be en- 
 forced against allowing children under the age of 
 fourteen working during school periods, except 
 on given holidays and on the Saturday of the 
 week, except in the case of trifling outdoor work, 
 such as delivering and paper carrying, which 
 work is really more helpful to the average boy 
 than doing nothing; but on the other hand, the 
 long summer vacation, usually extending as it 
 does over a period of ninety days or more, 
 should not be spent by the children in idleness, 
 and the law should take this into consideration : 
 That an average normal healthy child from 
 the twelfth year and upward is better off work- 
 ing at some suitable task in which they can earn 
 part of the money required to clothe them dur- 
 ing the school term than in idling away the 
 
 51 
 
52 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 vacation months doing nothing. Teach them 
 to seek outside employment for wage. 
 
 CHILD HELP 
 
 The average home that can be conducted dur- 
 ing the school period without the aid of a child 
 of the stated age can do as well in the summer 
 months, when the work is lighter in most ways, 
 and the small wage brought home by the child 
 would go far towards lightening the usually 
 heavily burdened family pocketbook, or in the 
 case where the money question is not so press- 
 ing, it would be the means of teaching a child 
 the value of money that is self -earned, and this 
 lesson is never so well taught as when it can 
 be instilled into the mind of a child at an early 
 age. 
 
 Work, as the word is interpreted today in the 
 average American city, where hours are regu- 
 lated, is not a hardship on a child of average 
 health, but rather a benefit. Idleness only be- 
 gets mischief, and mischief often begets early 
 crime. 
 
 In the mill states and states where factories 
 flourish, children should also be allowed to work, 
 but strict measures should be enforced in regard 
 to hours and conditions surrounding them while 
 at work. In the average mill town a child can 
 find more to their detriment, morally, if allowed 
 to run the streets during the vacation period 
 that will in the end be a greater sin against 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 53 
 
 their lives than would any work that they were 
 allowed to do. 
 
 Give the children a fair chance to grow up 
 into healthy, right-minded people by making 
 conditions right for them through childhood, 
 but in doing this do not take away their privi- 
 leges of learning self-sustenance and self- 
 reliance. A child that is allowed to idle under 
 existing laws until reaching the age of fourteen 
 or sixteen will not make as good and worthy 
 citizen in the end as the child allowed the 
 privilege. 
 
 MOKE LIGHT 
 
 While I know that this message I give is con- 
 trary to my talks on this subject while on earth, 
 I can see that I, too, was often mistaken in 
 some of my ideas, and it is with the wish to 
 rectify as far as possible that I give this book 
 touching on the different questions of physical 
 life, and if its mission is but partly accomplished 
 I will feel well repaid. But to the subject in 
 hand again. 
 
 I feel that many who are capable of judging 
 this subject rightly will be in accord with me 
 when I say keep the child hands and brain 
 working together at some suitable task and the 
 future of that child will be assured, but allow 
 the child hands and brain to find their own 
 tasks and you will some day see that the course 
 was wrong. In speaking of work I am includ- 
 
54 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 ing the girls as well as the boys, as they need 
 the education and the benefits to be derived 
 through it, as well as do the boys, if we are to 
 expect women of worth when they have reached 
 womanhood. 
 
 UNIFORM DRESS 
 
 It is a deplorable fact, but many children are 
 hindered in their education through the ques- 
 tion of clothes. In speaking thus I am not talk- 
 ing of young ladies and young men, but of chil- 
 dren of average school age, and deals more 
 with girls than with the boys. Many will say 
 this is a free country and no regulation in 
 regard to dress should be asked or demanded, 
 but, truth to tell, there is as much need for regu- 
 lation in this regard as there is need of regula- 
 tion in regard to child labor. 
 
 When children in every grade, from primary 
 to graduating class of the high schools of the 
 country, have the question of clothes first in 
 their minds, to the detriment of studies, it is 
 high time that regulation should come ; and when 
 girls of tender age, scarce graduated out of the 
 nursery, don peek-a-boo waists and silk hosiery 
 and add rouge and powder in an effort to attract 
 the masculine classmates' favorable notice, 
 they shun the less fortunate classmates whose 
 family cannot afford to dress them in frills, 
 or whose parents are of the common-sense type 
 and object to this immodesty of dress. I say, 
 it is time for regulation, and if all of the public 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 55 
 
 schools of the country would follow the lead 
 set by many private schools of requiring the 
 pupils attending to wear a regulation uniform 
 of plain but modish cut, it would do much; in 
 fact, I believe I am right in saying that it would 
 almost entirely eliminate the sex problem from 
 out the graded schools, and you must admit that 
 there is such a problem in our schools today, 
 especially in our high schools. Mothers may 
 stand aghast at this assertion in regard to chil- 
 dren attending the schools, but close inquiry 
 will bring an affirmation. 
 
 HEALTH 
 
 How to keep free from disease. This is vital 
 and is as much to be included in the education 
 of a boy through every school year of his life 
 as is reading, writing or arithmetic. Yes, more 
 important than any of the other studies, and 
 anyone reading the reports of the examining 
 boards delegated to examine physically the 
 draftees conscripted for the great war will see 
 that I am right in declaring this a necessary 
 adjunct to education. Parents neglect this vital 
 question to the detriment of the health and 
 future welfare of their children, and so if the 
 nation is to be free from the awful curse of the 
 black plague, it must be taught to the growing 
 child through educational paths, and we must 
 not rely on the parent to give this the atten- 
 tion it so earnestly needs. 
 
56 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 COMKADESHIP 
 
 If the boys were taught all that this great 
 question implies, there would be little need to 
 devote so much thought to ways and means of 
 safeguarding our girls from harm, and there 
 could be more general comradeship between the 
 sexes when they reached the proper ages. 
 
 When the men and women understand these 
 vital questions, and through their understand- 
 ing can intermingle in political and in business 
 life, as well as the social without contamination, 
 then truly will the earth be cleansed. 
 
 UKEVEBSAL TKAINING 
 
 Universal training will be a good step in the 
 right direction. All boys will be subjected to 
 a severe physical examination, the same as ap- 
 plied to anyone trying to enlist, or called to 
 military duty. This examination would come 
 at an age when it is most needed, and then while 
 undergoing training physically the boys would 
 also receive instructions in physiology, or in 
 other words, taking care of the body and keep- 
 ing it clean morally. This training would fit 
 them for a useful life in business, as well as 
 in the social life, as a clean moral man is more 
 apt to make a success of himself than otherwise. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 GOVEBNMENT AID 
 
 ONE great question that arises to my mind, 
 and which I think is being formulated in 
 a bill, is the question of helping every man in 
 America to own his own home and pay for it 
 as he can. If this measure were adopted 
 whereby a man could submit his plans for a 
 home for his family, and could borrow enough 
 from the government on a small interest and 
 long terms, it would do much in my belief to 
 create a nation of loyal people, and also make 
 our land a land of homes, real homes, not rented 
 ones. 
 
 HOME 
 
 If the average man was paying on a home of 
 his very own, he would naturally spend his 
 spare time in improving the place instead of 
 attending bolshevists' meetings. When a man 
 has a real interest in the land, through owning 
 a part of it, he is not going to take chances on 
 losing it through disloyalty, and then, too, it 
 makes for more contented family life. . 
 
 The government has proved that the farm 
 loan business is a success, although money is 
 loaned on a small margin, and if this is true, 
 why would not the home loan proposition prove 
 
 57 
 
58 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 to be as successful from a financial standpoint, 
 as well as an economic standpoint, to the bor- 
 rower, and then see that measures are taken to 
 protect the builder from fraudulent parasites 
 who would try to get the contracts for building 
 and would make a big steal out of the deals. 
 Pass laws requiring honest building of homes, 
 not mere frames to be sold as homes, and have 
 an expert mechanic go over each place before 
 allowing a loan, to see that there is no fraud 
 toward the home owner, and therefore toward 
 the government. 
 
 MIGEATOEY AMEEICANS 
 
 The American nation is what might be called 
 a migratory nation, as most of its people of 
 average standing, or less, are rent payers, not 
 home owners. This is not good for the welfare 
 of the nation at large, as it does not make for 
 a loyal and patriotic people, in that they really 
 have nothing to be loyal or patriotic about. 
 That is one reason why Americans are great 
 spenders, feeling as a great many do, that it 
 is as well to live from one payday to the other 
 instead of laying aside enough for the future. 
 But if the people were given an impetus to 
 save by the government passing a measure pro- 
 viding a way to start paying on a home, it 
 would soon make a difference in the people of 
 the nation, and from spenders they would soon 
 become savers and procreaters of the earth. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 59 
 
 This is what the country needs at this time 
 when war has ravaged the young manhood of 
 the countries. It cannot afford to stand still 
 in the matter of creation, and if the mere fact 
 of owning homes will help in this vital manner, 
 it is the duty of the nation to see that this 
 question has immediate and serious attention. 
 
 BIRTH EATE 
 
 The world can ill afford to go backward, or to 
 stand still, at this critical period in the matter 
 of birth rate, and a good step forward, though 
 it would seem a bit radical at the moment, 
 would be to allow a certain sum, or bonus, at 
 the birth of every child to parents of moderate 
 means, who are naturalized citizens of the 
 nation, this sum to help in allaying the expense 
 attached to maternity. Every couple should 
 give to the country at least two offsprings. 
 Every marriage that remains barren is that 
 much of a loss to the nation. Children are, or 
 should be, as natural productions of nine-tenths 
 of the marriages performed in the land, as the 
 fruit follows the flowers, or the tree springs 
 from the seed that is sown, and the tenth, or 
 sterile marriage, that remains unproductive, is 
 like unto the seed without germ, or the seed 
 sown on barren soil — but a waste. 
 
 CHILDREN 
 
 Children make the home and keep the home 
 ties strong throughout life. True, they are 
 
60 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 often the cause of much worry on the part of 
 the parents, not only while in infancy and ten- 
 der years, but often throughout life; but on 
 the other hand a home without children is a 
 dull and barren home, even though social duties 
 give life a semblance of gayety, and companion- 
 ship. It is in the mature age that this bar- 
 renness is felt the keenest. When social obliga- 
 tions are beginning to pall, and age comes 
 creeping on, then if there is no offspring to the 
 union a great void is felt that nothing seems to 
 fill. 
 
 It is God's plan, as in the case of all things 
 that live, that reproduction must be carried on 
 by the sexes, and God's laws must be obeyed. 
 
 EUGENICS 
 
 There should be rigid laws enacted in regard 
 to the mating of physically unfits, and health 
 certificates should be required of every person 
 entering the marriage state to insure the future 
 of the offspring. All persons afflicted with pul- 
 monary weakness, or people without normal 
 mentalities, should be barred from the marriage 
 state, and all confirmed criminals, or degen- 
 erates of either sex, should be unsexed. If this 
 were carried out to the letter of the laws as 
 they should be, you would see a great decrease 
 in the number of mentally deficient, and also 
 deformed and depraved children, born into the 
 world. This is a tender subject to discuss, but 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 61 
 
 it is one that needs more light being cast upon 
 it. If laws can be passed for the good of stock 
 and cattle, why cannot children of the future 
 be protected in some way by law? 
 
 I have heard people say that if there was a 
 just God in heaven, He would not allow the 
 little children to be born on earth to suffer 
 through the sins of their parents, but God can 
 teach His people no other way than through 
 these methods of the results of folly on the 
 part of the parents, or even extending in some 
 cases back to second and third generations. 
 The children who are born to suffer are God's 
 special cares. He makes up to them for the 
 suffering they have to undergo, but it takes 
 drastic measures to teach the lessons that com- 
 mon intuition ought to tell mortals, and often 
 even these drastic measures are futile. 
 
 I hope that in this message I send these fun- 
 damental points will stand out clearly to all 
 readers : Firstly, that this nation must become 
 a nation of home owners to save itself; sec- 
 ondly, that home owners are prone to become 
 procreators of the race, and this is vital to the 
 nation; and third, that marriage laws should 
 be enacted to guard the health of the future 
 generations to come. 
 
 WAR SAVING STAMPS 
 
 The government has at last begun the right 
 system by inaugurating the War Saving Stamp 
 
62 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 movement, which movement was designed pri- 
 marily to meet the need of the children for 
 an impetus to save the pennies and buy Thrift 
 Stamps to be converted into War Saving 
 Stamps, or Baby Bonds, and many of the mil- 
 lions that had formerly been spent promis- 
 cuously were in the last year converted into 
 these stamps, and more than one little spend- 
 thrift in the making was converted into a saver 
 of pennies instead of a waster. 
 
 This is one of the great movements that the 
 war really forced into being, and is to be com- 
 mended in the highest terms and should be 
 made a permanent institution by the govern- 
 ment, as the good it does is so far reaching. 
 
 Children taught to save in childhood will cul- 
 tivate a habit that will mean much to them in 
 their future. In closing I will say: Give the 
 child a chance to live as a child, give them all 
 freedom, but restrict them to a childish plane. 
 Do not elevate them to your own before their 
 time. 
 
 U. S. BONDS 
 
 Apropos of the subject of saving I wish to 
 add a few words in regard to the great war 
 loan drives and bonds. The enormous budgets 
 required for war purposes necessitated the call- 
 ing on the nation's wealth with which to finance 
 the war, and in this way was the first bonds 
 issued, to be succeeded by other issues as 
 needed. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 63 
 
 Many hesitated to subscribe to the first and 
 second issues because of misunderstandings that 
 existed in regard to the bonds and their true 
 value as collateral, but with the passing of time 
 they grew to understand, in a way, just what 
 the bonds meant and invested heavily. Some 
 never did take kindly to the issues and bought 
 only through coercion on the part of their em- 
 ployers or townsmen, and these people placed 
 little value on their investments, deeming them- 
 selves lucky to sell at any price, and sell they 
 did, and are doing, at the first opportunity 
 offered, instead of holding fast and clipping 
 coupons when due. This, as an investment fea- 
 ture to the people, is of as great benefit as are 
 the war saving stamps, and should prove a 
 boon to careful, prudent investors, as it is one 
 of the safest and most conservative buys on 
 the market. 
 
 The Fifth Liberty Loan, as it will be called, 
 should receive hearty indorsement by all. 
 
 The timid purchaser to the former issues has 
 grown more timid through fear of declines in 
 value of the bonds because of the quotations on 
 the stock exchanges of the past issues, and this 
 damnable outrage of gambling with national 
 bonds at this time seems to me treasonable. 
 It can and does interfere with the government's 
 plans in floating new issues as needed, and some 
 measure should be taken to put a stop to this 
 nefarious work. The bonds have a face value 
 
64 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 and should be kept at that value, as they are 
 as good as the gold in hand. 
 
 Why not allow of their cancellation at full 
 face value in case the holder can show extreme 
 need of cash, just as in the case of the War 
 Stamps, and limit the amount that each person 
 is allowed to cancel? 
 
 The companies formed to take over these 
 bonds at market value will reap a harvest off 
 of the small patriotic investor, hard pressed for 
 cash or afraid to take chances in holding on to 
 the bonds in the face of their lowering value 
 on the market. While this condition cannot be 
 outlawed, it is not fair, but the wild-cat com- 
 panies formed to trade in worthless stocks that 
 are shown to carry more interest to the investor 
 by fraudulent reports shown the prospective 
 trader for gilt-edge government bonds, can 
 and should be legislated off the earth, and the 
 promoters thrown into jail for an indefinite 
 time. 
 
 The government has acted fair and square 
 in all matters pertaining to the bond issues, 
 and it should not allow others to step in and 
 fleece the unwary now. Lincoln was right in a 
 way when he said: "You can fool some of the 
 people part of the time." Anyone with com- 
 mon intelligence would know that a man was 
 not traveling over the country trading A No. 1 
 stocks bringing in a high rate of interest for 
 the patriotic duty of collecting government 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 65 
 
 bonds at a nominal interest, bnt the fools are 
 not all dead yet, and some protection must be 
 given them. 
 
 There is no better or safer investment in the 
 whole world than these bits of paper, and every- 
 one who holds them should do so until forced 
 to part with them on their maturity. 
 
 Your country has thanked you a thousand 
 times for your help in loaning her this money, 
 but when you bought and paid for your little 
 store of bonds, or your single bond, she thought 
 you was making good the promises they stood 
 for. A loan of your mite for the terms under 
 which they were issued is your patriotic duty, 
 as well as a duty to your own future welfare. 
 Keep to the terms of the contract, and when the 
 new loan is floated, buy again to your utmost. 
 Above all things, be patriotic when your country 
 calls. 
 
 THE FLEECER 
 
 More than one fleecer of the public sprung up 
 during the war, and all are as despicable as are 
 the grafters of war bonds. Given the name 
 of profiteer they are at liberty among the 
 people of the land, when in truth, under the 
 name of thief, they should be behind the bars. 
 "What difference between a man who robs from 
 necessity and who is called plain thief and dealt 
 with accordingly and the man who sits in luxury 
 and steals from scores! To my mind the com- 
 
66 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 mon thief is the better man of the two. A steal 
 is a steal, and a man who deliberately takes ad- 
 vantage of the conditions caused by war and 
 under methods that appear honest enough to 
 the observer does plan and carry out enormous 
 swindles against the people who have no re- 
 dress in the matter, by substituting inferior 
 materials in the making of the clothing that 
 constitutes a necessity to the poor, and to the 
 wage earner, and who deliberately substitutes 
 inferior foodstuffs, or raises the price, already 
 high enough, to an exorbitant figure, that man, 
 I say, is criminally guilty of thievery and should 
 be dealt with accordingly. 
 
 THE CAUSE OE ANAKCHY 
 
 Gambling in food and clothing, as I remarked 
 in one of the former chapters of this book, 
 should not be allowed. It works hardships on 
 people already overburdened with care and 
 worry over money matters, and is one of the 
 great factors in the spread of unrest and Bol- 
 shevism, or anarchy, among the people. 
 
 "When a man works hard for his daily wage, 
 sees his family economizing to the last cent 
 and doing with only the barest necessities to 
 make both ends meet, and often seeing the ends 
 overlap on the wrong side of the ledger with 
 never a chance to put aside a nest egg, he begins 
 to think and wonder about the future and 
 whether, after all, it is worth while keeping on. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 67 
 
 He sees the man of wealth living in luxury, 
 his family well dressed and seemingly free from 
 all the worries and cares of life, with servants to 
 wait upon them hand and foot, and limousines 
 at their call, and he begins to figure that he is 
 helping pay for all this splendor with his hard- 
 earned money and his daily labor. 
 
 It is but a step more to anarchistic thoughts, 
 especially when he hears these very same ideas 
 expressed by his fellow workmen and exhorted 
 by orators from a street corner, 
 
 It is but a waste of time to try and sermonize 
 to him about happiness in a cottage being of 
 far more worth than barrenness among luxury 
 in a palace. The outward side of the easy life 
 looks good to him, and he feels that he would 
 willingly take a chance on the inner side, but if 
 government measures would be taken against 
 all those guilty of extortion against the com- 
 mon people and would land those who were 
 guilty where they really belonged, and where 
 their conscience tells them they belonged, jus- 
 tice would be satisfied and the working man 
 would see that his life was, after all, the more 
 desirable life of the two; but as long as these 
 wolves are allowed freedom to live off of the 
 fat of the land and to exist on the labor of 
 others like parasites, then so long will you see 
 unrest and trouble among the masses. But give 
 all a fair deal and peace will prevail. 
 
 If a certain per cent of profit, figuring over- 
 
68 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 head expense and allowing so much as interest 
 on capital and so much as profit, were stabilized 
 it would be the just and right way to handle 
 a fast growing menace to peace among the 
 classes. No man is entitled to an enormous 
 profit through the labor of another, or through 
 the inability of another to demand his rights 
 in the matter. 
 
 The same condition prevails in the money 
 marts. Banks realize enormous profits on their 
 capital stocks, this mainly through the misfor- 
 tune of others through need of help, and this 
 condition can and should be remedied by the 
 government as soon as peace conditions will 
 allow. 
 
 Establish banks under government control 
 where the common people can be accommodated 
 without being forced to pay enormous interests. 
 Give them a chance to see that American gov- 
 ernment is for the people and with the people, 
 not for the capitalists and politicians and 
 against the people. 
 
 A LAW AS A SOLDIER^ MEMORIAL 
 
 The bill for loans to those seeking a home 
 will be a big step in this right direction, but 
 added to it a banking system where loans of 
 all denominations could be had, on the same 
 basis as loans are made through private bank- 
 ing institutions, but on a nominal interest 
 charge, and one of the biggest strides in Amer- 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 lean freedom from tyranny would be made. If 
 
 s^:_ ■?. "': ill — ri'r ii:r : 1::- 1 .inl :•-: 1 :: — :zl '. 
 be a far greater victory for humanity and jus- 
 tice to the people than any victory brought 
 about by wai Name it as a memorial to the 
 departed soldier braves and it will keep their 
 ziiriLiry crii'li-rr iz. :_r mills :: il ~ :z .n~ 
 memorial that money eonld erect. They would 
 ask nothing greater, nor could they receive any 
 greater. 
 
 Give the so-called common people their chance 
 t: i~T ;..- iirr ;_:: ii: :lr fr.-.: :: ; : _z 1: ^il 
 
 IrTrl rirrl tlr ] ! IlLTry - _ . 1 " ?! = "" / i _t 
 
 ressoi r a 1^1 npon them a:_ sm dy 5 the 
 
 stji r:sr5 :\::Tr ziyiTA-r : . t" ;'.v.v. : ■_ :: ::z- 
 •iitions ~li : :^1t :: : v 1_: : :i: -_: . / 1_ : :: . - 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 LOYALTY 
 
 THE loyalty of tlie people must be firmly im- 
 bedded in their hearts through loyalty 
 shown them by the country's leaders by passing 
 measures favoring them in the vital issues of 
 life. Once this loyalty is imbedded it will take 
 much to uproot it again and the foundation for 
 everlasting patriotism that is real will be laid, 
 to be passed on in the blood of the children and 
 their children's children. 
 
 The returning soldiers from abroad will tell 
 of the wonders of the loyalty shown by the 
 peoples of the foreign countries upon whose 
 soil they were privileged to step, and how much 
 more there is in this grand and glorious country 
 to be loyal to. I see now the great mistakes 
 made by those seeking prestige and power 
 through partisanship to party in assailing their 
 government, and its leaders, in all matters, no 
 matter how small and trivial, just so that much 
 noise can be made that will in the end cause 
 friction among the voting population of the 
 country. 
 
 If members of Congress would but devote 
 their efforts to the work that awaits them at 
 every turn, more good would come of their ses- 
 
 70 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 71 
 
 sions and much accomplished that is left undone 
 or neglected, while arguments hold the floor. 
 This is not what these men were sent to Wash- 
 ington for by their constituents. They are sent 
 to present the needs of their community and to 
 help frame laws for the benefit of the people's 
 welfare, not to use their time for furthering 
 their own ambitions or prestige. 
 
 PARTY ISSUES 
 
 Party issues should be forgotten by this body 
 of men, and all should work together for the 
 best interests of the nation at large, voting as 
 their consciences dictate and reason allows, not 
 as party demands and sanctions. 
 
 The President has full power to veto the 
 measures as passed by both houses, but it is 
 not often that this power is used by him, as 
 the man that occupies the presidential chair 
 usually figures that regardless of party the law- 
 makers have used every means at their disposal 
 to give the measure full investigation as to its 
 merits, or its drawbacks, before sending it 
 through for his signature, and so gives little 
 attention to the real value of the documents in 
 regards to a minute examination of their worth. 
 This is not always the case, though, but has 
 been in past years when the occupant of the 
 chair was more the politician than the student. 
 From what I can see for the future this system 
 of electing men for their political attributes 
 
72 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 instead of their manly qualifications is past, 
 and men will have to show that their life has 
 been such that they are worthy of the honor 
 as well as capable of filling the position with 
 trust. 
 
 No man will be elected purely on his military 
 or economic reputation, but on his reputation 
 as to honesty of purpose and a platform for 
 and with the people, based on reforms to the 
 betterment of the common people as against 
 the moneyed interest, but dealing fairly to all. 
 
 Any man with strength enough to plan a 
 platform based, as I say, on reform for the peo- 
 ple, and with strength of purpose enough to 
 carry out these reforms in the face of strong 
 opposition, and even danger, will become an 
 idol of the people when they see that he is 
 true to his campaign promises, and therefore 
 true to those who voted for him. 
 
 It would be a great thing for the welfare of 
 the country if parties were none-existent and 
 the names of men brought up for nomination 
 through some new method and recommended 
 for their worth alone, not given the nomination 
 solely because they happened to belong to the 
 strongest party, and instead of sending electors 
 to decide the fate of the candidates, as is the 
 present method, let the people's votes decide 
 direct. 
 
 The party with which I was affiliated seems, 
 in my opinion, to be rather weak in the matter 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 73 
 
 of a leader for the forthcoming campaign, and 
 I hope that they will be more fortunate in the 
 interval that will elapse before necessity com- 
 pels them to choose. I have no suggestions to 
 make in that regard at this time, as I see it 
 wonld do little good, if any, to voice my choice 
 from the status I now occupy, so I will leave 
 this question to those who feel better qualified 
 to answer it in a material way, but I will give 
 this note of warning: Choose your man with 
 care and foresight if you expect results in the 
 next great campaign, and do not attack present 
 and past policies promiscuously unless you have 
 proof, and absolute proof, of discrepancies and 
 better policies to offer in their place. 
 
 Dig in and show the voters, you men of the 
 old party, that you are capable of doing your 
 duty justly without holding partisan feuds and 
 bitter thoughts. Don't let the other side carry 
 away all of the honors in the name of humanity, 
 justice and right. Stick to the colors of your 
 nation in handling her law machinery rather 
 than to the colors of party if they interfere in 
 what your sense of justice calls right. 
 
 The people take cognizance of your actions 
 while in session, even to the smallest detail, and 
 act accordingly later. Don't hinder the admin- 
 istration for purely partisan reasons during the 
 pre-peace era, as it will only cause unfavorable 
 reaction later when favorable action will be 
 needed. I speak from a clear insight into the 
 
74 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 thoughts and minds of the masses, as they are 
 open to my inspection now, and I am only try- 
 ing to help in the one way left to me now. Heed 
 the advice of your one time leader, and be true 
 to yourself, and to your country, and your con- 
 stituents, above party or other interests. 
 
 PAKTY ISSUES IN 1920 
 
 How rich in material politicians feel are the 
 fields around them. With the greatest issues 
 the United States has ever had before it to 
 choose from as campaign hot-bunk, what a shift- 
 ing back and forth and what a dodging of re- 
 sponsibilities will ensue. 
 
 Fortified with the League of Nations and the 
 peace pact on one side and the railroad and 
 labor troubles on the other the parties will both 
 drown the country in oratoryism. 
 
 What will I have missed, and how my name 
 will be bandied from mouth to mouth, lauded 
 by the very men who caused me to secede from 
 the ranks and allowed the party in power to win. 
 
 Were I on earth today and on the day of party 
 nominations I would be elbowed aside for the 
 newercomers in the race who stood so valiantly 
 and prominently in the public eye as buffers for 
 their party in the last sessions of Congress. 
 Do not be deceived, my friends, into thinking 
 that they have lowered their ambition or donned 
 the hats they had doffed preparatory to casting 
 them ringward. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 75 
 
 DAEK HOESE MOST POWERFUL 
 
 The most powerful man in the whole cycle 
 of parties is what is usually termed in these 
 cases a dark horse, and his name will be sub- 
 mitted late. 
 
 Cohorts of former days, take stock of your 
 gaff and don't let your bile be the ruination of 
 your party 's interest at a time when her chances 
 are of the best. 
 
 The people have grown tired of Democratic 
 party rule, though they know not where their 
 best interests lay, and are ready for a change if 
 but offered a straw at which to grasp. 
 
 POLITICIANS, RESTORE ILLUSIONS 
 
 Playing politics in the house and in the senate 
 will never do a cudgeon of good, and will never 
 give the people the confidence they are looking 
 for and rightfully need. It will take more than 
 mere words, though eloquent they may be, to 
 dispel suspicion and lull to rest resentments 
 and restore illusions where disillusions are har- 
 bored now. 
 
 THE PLATFORM 
 
 Make your platform conform to true Amer- 
 ican standards for the Americans who live upon 
 your shores. Hoist Old Glory to the pinnacle 
 and stand as men beneath her folds, ready to 
 come clean for her sake and the people she rep- 
 resents. 
 
76 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 Down party partisanship and hatreds if it 
 interferes or clashes with what you know to be 
 her best interests. If your hated, though now 
 successful, rival party has done good things 
 throughout its tenure of reign, and in your heart 
 you know these things to be good, not only for 
 the country but for the world at large, don't 
 belittle or bemean them for what little good 
 it might do your party, but stop in your tracks 
 and remember that the great American public 
 has eyes to see with and ears equipped for hear- 
 ing. 
 
 What great things are before you today, op- 
 portunities such as no party has ever before 
 faced and at such an opportune time! An op- 
 portunity if you will but grasp it at the right 
 time and in the right way to make amends for 
 the failures of your representatives in the last 
 two sessions now closed, and to again hoist your 
 party to the pinnacles of success. 
 
 HECTOKING POLICY 
 
 You must admit your haranguing and hector- 
 ing policy has been a failure in many ways. 
 Your wash-woman methods of handling big 
 questions has cast a blot on your party's name. 
 
 Holding a bludgeon over a sick man's head 
 and reigning blow after blow upon him through 
 false accusations and implications that have 
 turned as a boomerang, has proven a bit like 
 teasing what was thought to be a sick and help- 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 77 
 
 less cat lying in the forest shade and which if 
 care is not taken will prove to be a man-eating 
 tiger. 
 
 His cunning and almost supernatural gift of 
 handling any situation and coming out on top, 
 even when confined as an invalid, should be 
 warning enough to let him be. 
 
 Never harass a God-gifted man lest the Al- 
 mighty take sides with him against you. By 
 you I mean no one particular party cohort, but 
 the members of the party as a whole, all have 
 been offenders to a certain extent and all need 
 a call down now. Each can sift over the mass of 
 accusations and take what most he needs for 
 the betterment of his own interests and to the 
 good of the party as a whole. 
 
 PLANKS 
 
 Build your platform, as I say, on Amer- 
 icanism for Americans, which means for fair 
 play to the world as well as to those who call 
 America home. Build your platform of planks 
 that will withstand the buffings of not only cam- 
 paign work but also strong enough to endure 
 as pledges that can be fulfilled without back- 
 down on any one issue that the American people 
 will want to hold you to. Pledge help to those 
 who labor by promising them a tribunal before 
 which they can place their differences and upon 
 which they can look for a square deal. Insert 
 a plank and make it a strong one, pledging the 
 
78 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 aid of the Republican party in making America 
 safe for Americans and freeing them from the 
 terrorism of Soviet Reds, whether these same 
 Reds be American born or affiliated Americans 
 in name only. 
 
 THIN ICE 
 
 Get the American masses with your party in 
 heart and mind and you will have little trouble 
 getting them at the polls, but first get their 
 confidence restored in the party by giving them 
 the right man and the right platform, and in 
 the meantime, regardless of party and partisan- 
 ship, give them a square deal now, if not you 
 will be but furnishing the thunder for your 
 opponents' campaign. The ice is thin, boys, in 
 spite of its firm appearance. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 CONGRESS 
 
 CONGRESS is not a clearing house for the 
 airing of individual prejudices, or wrongs, 
 but is the great law-making institution of the 
 nation and should be held inviolate against petty 
 grievances and trivial quarreling being carried 
 on among its members in session there. 
 
 Men are supposed to be sent to that institu- 
 tion, not fretful, sulky boys. I, myself, have 
 seen many of the latter type on its floors, hot 
 in an argument, one with the other to the edifica- 
 tion of the spectators gathered in the gallery. 
 
 Dignity should prevail under that roof al- 
 ways. If quarrels must be had take them out- 
 side into the corridors, but do not put ridicule 
 into the sacred chambers, through your own loss 
 of dignity. Remember, too, that times and con- 
 ditions are changing the policies and precedents 
 of the entire world. 
 
 PRECEDENTS 
 
 Do not spend time in arguing against a 
 measure, or act, because of its establishing a 
 new precedent over the old, or because it shat- 
 ters the sacred conventions held by Washington 
 
 79 
 
80 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 and other dead presidents. What was just and 
 right and for the good of humanity in their 
 day, cannot and does not apply to the present 
 day and its crises any more so than the saddled 
 horse could take his place against the more 
 modern means of locomotion today. This is a 
 fine stand to take to show a patriotic front, 
 but you know, as well as I can see in your hearts, 
 that times have brought about changes all 
 around, in America as well as in every civilized 
 country in the world. 
 
 LAW 
 
 War is a great leveler and destroyer of con- 
 ventions and traditions, but in destroying the 
 old it makes place for the newer ones that apply 
 to changing conditions, usually to the better- 
 ment of the masses. I do not believe in sta- 
 tionary laws and statutes that are made in one 
 generation and applied in another when condi- 
 tions are on an entirely different status. Too 
 many laws cluttering up the records, and almost 
 entirely obsolete laws from their very antiquity, 
 are brought into play from their musty hiding 
 places to tangle and harass the modern school. 
 
 If I had my way about it, as I see things now, 
 I would declare most laws passed before the 
 war void, and would start in on a new set of 
 statutes that would apply to the modern day 
 style of thinking and living, and the laws that 
 I should declare constitutional would be straight 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 81 
 
 American laws, without quirk or technicalities, 
 to confuse and thwart the unwary, or unversed. 
 I would have a spade called a spade and not 
 a diamond. I would make the laws such that a 
 misplacing of a period, comma or a misspelled 
 word would not cheat justice and allow for a re- 
 trial; senseless, useless waste of valuable time 
 and often the means of doing a rank injustice 
 to one who has right on their side. I would 
 make the courts of the land places where justice 
 was meted out, as correctly as possible, not mere 
 stages for the matching of lawyer's wits, often 
 to the detriment of the party in the right, espe- 
 cially when held before a jury of twelve men, 
 tried and true, but usually a motley band of 
 mixed classes, totally ignorant and unfit to sit 
 on the judgment of a case. 
 
 JURY SERVICE 
 
 Men selected for jury service should not be 
 taken at random and paid a nominal hire, but 
 men for jury service, especially on cases of 
 life or death, should be men well read in the 
 law and men of enough intelligence to know 
 right from wrong in testimony and able to pick 
 the grain from the chaff of the opposing attor- 
 ney's impassioned addresses to the jury. 
 
 More than one man has gone to his fate 
 through the eloquence of the prosecuting attor- 
 ney leaving a more favorable impression than 
 the efforts of the other. 
 
82 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 Too much stress cannot be laid on this evil 
 of allowing men without education or percep- 
 tions to decide on another's fate. I have seen 
 men act in this capacity as judge of another's 
 guilt that I myself would not choose, and I 
 know that no manager of a dog show would 
 allow as judge of his dog's guilt in stealing a 
 bone if the evidence was right in the dog's 
 mouth. 
 
 If men of proper qualifications were used 
 on juries there would not be as much injustice 
 done as is the case now, and jury bribing and 
 tampering would be eliminated to a greater 
 extent, especially in cases dealing with the un- 
 derworld, where often juries are bought and 
 sold as so much merchandise, especially in the 
 larger cities where cases can be changed to 
 courts in which friendly judges and bailiffs pre- 
 side. 
 
 Money defeats justice on too many occasions, 
 and too much care cannot be taken by the voter 
 in casting his vote for a judge. Read up and 
 make all inquiries that you can upon his past 
 records, not only as a judge, but as a man in 
 the every day pursuits of life. 
 
 THE JUDGE 
 
 If a man lives clean every day of his life, 
 you can usually bank on his doing the clean 
 thing on the job. There is no office, to my 
 mind, that needs a man more of moral and 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 83 
 
 of just reasoning powers than does the office of 
 judge, and he who administers justice to the 
 best of the ability that is in him, without preju- 
 dices or favoritism, will never have to fear the 
 hand of retribution overtaking him. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 MISTAKEN VIEWS 
 
 ONCE more I will shatter my earthly policies 
 and contentions when I literally jump on 
 those who are in contention against the Presi- 
 dent of the United States in his peace program. 
 As I see clearly now from spirit land, it is not 
 right or is it just to elect a man to office, the 
 highest he can hold in the nation, and then to 
 allow him to bear the brunt of attacks from all 
 quarters, purely for partisan reasons. I con- 
 fess I was as big an offender as could be found, 
 even up to the day of my passing, and were it 
 not for my prominence before the public eye 
 and the prestige of my position as a former 
 ruler, coupled with the magnanimity of Mr. 
 Wilson, I am afraid that I would have spent my 
 last days in confinement for sedition. The at- 
 tacks I made against him were such as would 
 have sent many another of less prominence to 
 prison, and it was not fair, as I view it now, 
 for either I to take advantage of my position or 
 of others allowing me the free rein. 
 
 ATTACKS ON THE PKESIDENT 
 
 To my way of thinking now, the office of 
 President of the United States should be held 
 
 84 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 85 
 
 inviolate against attacks of either a personal 
 or political nature during his actual reign of 
 office. He should be given every opportunity 
 to make good in his position, and instead of 
 opposition on every hand from his political op- 
 ponents he should receive help and encourage- 
 ment. 
 
 While America is considered a free country, 
 freedom of speech should have a limit. When 
 license is reached in making attacks on the per- 
 son of the ruler, either to make him appear 
 ridiculous or weak willed before his constitu- 
 ents, all such should be guilty of lese-majeste. 
 
 What more fair offer could be made than the 
 recent one of asking permission to go over the 
 points that are held to be essential to the form- 
 ing of a league of nations, and which have prac- 
 tically been accepted and approved as a base for 
 the league by all of the allied nations, and which 
 was made in full faith to the existing lawmakers 
 of the country, bidding them to withhold dis- 
 cussions of the league until such a time as would 
 be advisable after all of the facts could be pre- 
 sented as they were received at first hand and 
 each point of the basic foundation could be fully 
 explained and discussed by the only one really 
 capable of giving first-hand news of the work 
 accomplished in France! To my mind the re- 
 fusal of certain members of the body to attend 
 this discussion constitutes treason against their 
 country's best interests. They are but playing 
 
86 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 politics, not acting fairly, either to their Presi- 
 dent or to the people they represent. This is 
 not a time to do that. It is a critical time in 
 the history of the country, and reason and fair- 
 mindedness should prevail, not politics. I do 
 not hold with such as these now. Their petti- 
 ness will avail them nothing as far as I can fore- 
 tell. 
 
 The President has the power to do much in 
 his own way, and he will not abuse or dishonor 
 that power by using it in a manner to bring 
 dishonor and shame upon the land, but to bring 
 honor and fame and good will of all the world 
 through his uprightness in dealing fairly with 
 each nation to the best of his ability and power. 
 
 MODERN CONDITIONS 
 
 To say that he is destroying the constitution 
 that was made possible through Washington 
 and that Lincoln reverenced and died for by 
 adding new precedents and by allying this free 
 country with the nations of the earth in a com- 
 pact that will interfere with her liberties in 
 different ways is like objecting to the electric 
 lights because the nation first knew candles and 
 could do well with them, or like objecting to 
 modern progress on the grounds that our coun- 
 try was founded on the old methods that have 
 been superseded by the new. 
 
 Times have changed and with them have gone 
 many of the old traditions and ideas. Condi- 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 87 
 
 tions have also changed, especially so in the last 
 fonr years, and these changes have brought 
 about the need for greater changes throughout 
 the world. 
 
 THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 
 
 Governments have been formed, monarchies 
 overthrown, and once powerful nations have 
 been mutilated and maimed. Through all this 
 shall America stand by and allow readjustments 
 to take form of themselves without support or 
 frame upon which to lean or build ! Should she 
 allow her time-worn constitution to interfere 
 in her plans for a greater brotherhood of man 
 throughout the world in which justice and peace 
 and humanity to man can be brought about, just 
 as Christ would have had it were he on earth? 
 
 AMERICA A LEAGUE OF STATES 
 
 What is America today but a league of states, 
 all existing as one under one flag and one fed- 
 eral constitution, but each being governed as a 
 sovereignty through its own state laws! Can 
 any find objection to this? Well, then, I think 
 that when these men of Congress hear the real 
 facts of the league as it will be given them by 
 the President they will see that the whole struc- 
 ture is built on about the same plan, and would 
 in the end work in just about the same way 
 after the newness wears off the gears and times 
 become normal over the world again. 
 
88 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 A mere acceptance of the invitation extended 
 will in no way pledge any one of the members, 
 nor will he be compelled to change opinions or 
 his attitude one atom if after hearing the facts 
 he is still of the same mind as before. Don't 
 allow prejudices or political aims to govern you. 
 Keep reason foremost. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE BUDGET SYSTEM 
 
 AT the present writing I see one great radical 
 -^*move that would be the finest and most rea- 
 sonable and sensible thing for some member of 
 Congress to suggest, and to have the matter dis- 
 cussed and passed on, and that is, to have a 
 Minister of Finance appointed to make out a 
 budget of the annual expenses and to hold each 
 department responsible for its expenditures, 
 and all appropriations asked by special legisla- 
 tors for different purposes in their own states 
 would be carefully gone over and granted or 
 rejected as seems best by experts trained to 
 work of appraising and reporting on needed 
 improvements. 
 
 This would do away with much grafting and 
 politics would not be so lucrative a game, and 
 therefore would not hold such an appeal to the 
 certain classes that seem to dominate as bosses 
 for purely financial reasons, and pork barrel 
 appropriations would become myths if the right 
 system was employed and the right man chosen 
 for the place, which should be made a permanent 
 office to the man qualified to fill it and not a 
 political plum. 
 
90 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 OUE SYSTEM 
 
 The public moneys should have more protec- 
 tion than are given to it now. It is an easy 
 matter for most any member of the congres- 
 sional assembly to introduce a bill for an appro- 
 priation for his community to be thrown as a 
 sop to his constituents to gain their good will 
 and to give him prestige and votes among them. 
 In this way many millions are squandered each 
 year on unnecessary public buildings and public 
 improvements that could be saved and put to 
 better use later. 
 
 Millions of dollars of the public moneys are 
 getting to be but a mere bagatelle, to be shunted 
 about at will of a few men instead of passing 
 appropriations for great national improvements 
 throughout the country, such as in the reclama- 
 tion of land for the settlement of returning 
 soldiers from France, and the building of homes 
 and highways throughout this vast acreage that 
 is now both swamp or desert, and in this way 
 not only providing for the future of the soldier, 
 but giving employment to them as well in the 
 present needs when labor seems scarce and un- 
 rest is growing throughout the nation because 
 of this scarcity of work. That, to my mind, 
 would be killing two birds with one stone, and 
 also reclaiming vast areas of untilled but fer- 
 tile soil to the betterment of all concerned, in- 
 cluding the nation as well. 
 
 Would this not be a better way to spend the 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 91 
 
 public money at this time of great need than to 
 appropriate it for the erection of some ornate 
 public building in a little jerk- water town of 
 nil inhabitants for the exploitation of some 
 political aspirant to fame! 
 
 The soldiers have seen how well developed 
 every inch of the fertile soil of France is kept, 
 and then he thinks of the acres and acres of idle 
 land in America that would support millions of 
 people if it were cultivated, or cut up into stock 
 ranges for the breeding of cattle and sheep. 
 It is a great national waste of resources and 
 should have the attention of Congress at the 
 earliest moment. 
 
 PRESENT NEEDS 
 
 The dockets should be cleared of all bills not 
 pertaining to the immediate needs of the coun- 
 try in these post-war days, and should be kept 
 free from bills of this sort until such a time as 
 Congress can give them attention without in- 
 terfering with the needs of the day. By the 
 needs of the day I do not mean suffrage ques- 
 tions and political wrangles of any kind. What 
 I do mean is the vital questions of life, to be 
 instilled throughout the nation by doing just 
 what the constitution calls for. Bringing the 
 government up to its right plane, "for the peo- 
 ple, of the people, and by the people,' ' and by 
 doing this they will be doing the duties that 
 they were sent to Washington to fulfill. 
 
92 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 Keep the nation's citizens busy with work 
 that is to their liking and give them lucrative 
 payment for their work. Abolish the practical 
 politician and substitute the man of high ideals 
 and honesty in his place, and give the people a 
 chance to live their lives as God intended them 
 to do, free from oppression and with a chance 
 to forge ahead through government help and 
 encouragement, and America will become the 
 most formidable nation on earth. Not because 
 she will be the most feared for her dominant 
 powers of prestige through power, but because 
 she will have such gifts, and her shores will be- 
 come as a paradise to homeseekers through im- 
 migration. But she will be feared because of 
 her power of attraction to the foreign home- 
 seekers and lovers of freedom and justice and 
 liberty, and her shores will be in danger of 
 being overfilled. 
 
 AMEKICA A MECCA 
 
 America is a paradise as it stands today, but 
 she would become, as I say, a mecca for seekers 
 of paradise if she but added a few new reforms 
 and precedents to her statutes in favor of the 
 people and following as nearly as possible the 
 lines I have suggested in the former chapters 
 of this work. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 GEOKGE WASHINGTON 
 
 ON the occasion of the birthday of both the 
 father of the country and the man who 
 virtually united its states through the Civil 
 War, there is a tendency on the part of public 
 speakers, who make politics their life work, to 
 use these days and occasions for a furtherment 
 of their aims by making speeches of a political 
 nature instead of a spiritual nature in memory 
 of the dead. 
 
 The life of George Washington was thrilling 
 in the extreme, outside of his life as President 
 in the days of the Revolution. He was a fear- 
 less leader and a great general. The methods 
 of warfare in vogue at that time were simple, 
 but today he would not be able to train a recruit 
 before first receiving instructions himself. He 
 endured hardships with his armies, and often 
 slept on the muddy ground with hunger as his 
 bed fellow. He helped to give this country 
 freedom, and he helped to frame its constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 HIS CUSTOMS 
 
 He was utterly at sea in his first tenure of 
 office as regards to what customs would be cor- 
 rect not only in the business, but in the social 
 
 93 
 
94 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 attitude as well. It was a great responsibility, 
 in a way, to assume an office so high and so 
 newly created with no precedents to follow and 
 no established social customs to maintain, but 
 after all his was the easier task when compared 
 with the duties of a President of the present 
 day. His was the right to set new customs and 
 to establish them to his convenience and to his 
 liking, but are the days of his regime to be com- 
 pared with the modern day and demands? If 
 not, then why harp on the changes that are made 
 from time to time! 
 
 PKESIDENTS IN EUROPE 
 
 Having nothing in common with countries of 
 Europe that would necessitate his crossing the 
 ocean, and, in fact, realizing he would be far 
 better off at home, he kept to the shores of 
 America ; therefore he created a precedent that 
 has carried through the ages, but was this be- 
 cause of his belief that his duties as President 
 were so sacred that he must cling to his own 
 shores to hold that sacredness inviolate? And 
 was this precedent handed down through the 
 ages, sacred and unprofaned, by the long line 
 of his successors to the chair because they, too, 
 felt that they were needed on their own shores 
 most! 
 
 Did ever one of them, clear down the line to 
 the present day, ever have other excuse than 
 pleasure to make such a trip excusable? Then 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 95 
 
 why did we all raise such a commotion and try 
 to impede the journey of the only occupant of 
 the chair whose duty called him to foreign 
 shores? He attended to his duties in a strict 
 business sense in spite of the homage paid him 
 there. 
 
 DIED ON THE JOB 
 
 Let us look over our own records while he 
 was gone. Can any of us say the same? Just 
 see what I did. Laid down and died on the job, 
 but did my cohorts in political circles do any 
 better than I? If so, show me the results of 
 their labors. 
 
 Will it require a whole busy week of a busy 
 man's time to attend to the signing of measures 
 and to other work at hand that has been ac- 
 cumulating for him on his return through the 
 overwork of Congress? Suffice to say that if 
 he is satisfied with the work accomplished it 
 will be a great surprise to me. 
 
 MEMORIAL OEATIONS 
 
 When oratoring at the grave of the brave 
 Washington, or on a public platform, before 
 you make your speech a denunciation of the 
 man in power and his policies, and before you 
 declaim in loud and eloquent language how he 
 is bringing the country and her constitution to 
 dishonor and to ruin, stop and question your 
 own conduct as to fulfilling the duties of that 
 
96 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 constitution to your best ability, and of just 
 how you are fulfilling the pledges of the plat- 
 form that put you where you stand in your 
 party. 
 
 Try to visualize the spirit of the past Presi- 
 dent in whose memory you speak, and stop to 
 consider whether he would approve of what you 
 are doing for your country and her honor, and 
 whether he would consider it an honor to have 
 his memory and his birthday commemorated 
 with a denunciatory elegy of one whose position 
 should command respect throughout the nation, 
 even though his policies were not your own. 
 In the future remember this when preparing 
 your memorial orations. Stick to the subject 
 in hand and do not neglect the memory of the 
 spirit dead in your vehemence against the 
 living. 
 
CHAPTER. XIX 
 
 WAB 
 
 PTJTTIXG- aside all political questions and 
 controversies, we will take np the subject 
 of war in all its phases. This last great war will 
 lend enongh facts without going back into his- 
 tory to delve into other wars that now appear 
 to be mere scraps by the side of this last con- 
 flict. Germany was ready to declare war on the 
 slightest provocation, as she was fully prepared 
 to follow up her declarations with deeds, and 
 could, with reasonable assurance, become victor 
 over any foreign power in Europe. She knew 
 the approximate strength of every nation in 
 the world, including America, but she figured 
 that American democracy would not permit of 
 America 's entry into a foreign broil, but in that 
 showed, like Achilles' heel, that which was 
 thought of little matter, proved the undoing of 
 the whole German Empire, for all the world 
 knows today that without American interven- 
 tion Germany would have been dictating the 
 peace terms instead of the Allies. 
 
 BELGIUM AND FBANCE 
 
 Belgium and France bore the brunt of the 
 war, not so much because the hatred of Ger- 
 many willed it so, but because those two coun- 
 
 97 
 
98 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 tries lay directly in the path of Germany's 
 hoped for plan of reaching England and de- 
 stroying her. If once France was conquered 
 it would have been but an easy task to conquer 
 England by using France as a base from which 
 to strike. France was not an indomitable com- 
 petitor against Germany's supremacy in the 
 world's trade, nor were her people of the same 
 progressive nature as the German's were. The 
 people of France are a patient, home-loving and 
 persevering people, not aggressive, progressive 
 and ambitious for world supremacy as are the 
 people of Germany. They were not ready or 
 anxious for conflict, and therefore the odds 
 were against them from the very day of the 
 declaration, but Germany had business to attend 
 to across the channel, and she went right after 
 it, armed to the teeth and regardless of who or 
 where she stepped. 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 England saw the danger approaching, and 
 with quick preceptions threw her armies in the 
 field to the aid of France and Belgium, but she, 
 too, was in an unprepared state and little 
 dreamed of the extent of the preparation that 
 had been going on in Germany for years with 
 just such a conflict pictured as a goal. 
 
 MILITAKISM THE CAUSE 
 
 It was not all the fault and plan of the Kaiser, 
 this World War. He was truly more the victim 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 99 
 
 of militarism and had little or no power to 
 either declare or suppress the outbreak. That 
 was entirely in the hands of the militant powers 
 of the nation, and they can truly be said to have 
 dominated the ruler and the ruled in this matter, 
 using the Kaiser mainly as a figurehead. By 
 this I do not mean to convey the impression that 
 he was not a party to the agreement. Having 
 plans made and perfected to raise himself and 
 country to the highest pinnacle in the whole 
 world, towering high above his most despised 
 rival, was something for which he was ready to 
 risk all in giving the command when the time 
 was ripe. 
 
 THE EXCUSE 
 
 The assassination that served as an excuse 
 for the first declaration was but a flimsy one 
 after all, but it served the purpose as well as 
 another would have done. 
 
 GEKMANY 
 
 Germany was primarily a military nation, 
 and to that end had used the scientific and in- 
 ventive genius at her command to perfect her 
 machinery of war, so that she was practically 
 letter perfect in the art and its accompaniments. 
 No other nation could have hoped for victory 
 against her in that state. Her men were sol- 
 diers, trained so from the cradle, and with a 
 doggedness that only such environments could 
 
100 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 produce in man. No other nation, nnless nnder 
 the same conditions, could produce such a set 
 of men. 
 
 The officers were for the most part arrogant 
 and officious, and held little in common with the 
 men under them, and by this bearing kept the 
 men subdued and subservient and willing to 
 be driven, as all their life they had been taught 
 that a uniform meant law. 
 
 HOME LIFE 
 
 Pitted against this master machinery of war 
 we have the peasant and provincial soldiers of 
 Belgium and of France. Militarism to them had 
 meant little. Homeland and family life much. 
 Peaceful in the pursuits of their daily life and 
 tasks they had little thought, and less heart, 
 for matters of this kind, but when called to the 
 defense of their native soil they proved what 
 they could endure and suffer in her defense. 
 Handicapped as they were, without modern 
 equipment and without training, they put up a 
 brave fight and died like the heroes they were, 
 facing the foe. 
 
 It is useless for me to try and visualize those 
 first mad years of warfare. I was not there to 
 see the conflicts and cannot speak at first hand, 
 so will let others better qualified do that, but I 
 can speak of their indomitable courage and 
 their bravery throughout the whole dreadful 
 carnage. Belgium became a battleground, a 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 101 
 
 veritable hell indeed. She is but a ruin of her 
 former prosperous little self, but in spite of all 
 that, the spirit of her people is not broken and 
 is not dead. She will rise up to a new and in a 
 sense a loftier plane than that upon which she 
 stood before her travail. She has lost much, 
 but through her losses her gains will be great. 
 
 KING ALBERT 
 
 Her ruler is beloved by all subjects, as is his 
 queen, with a love that is reverence for the most 
 part. He showed his worth not only as a king 
 of country by his actual participation in the 
 struggle, but as a king of men as well, and one 
 who deserves the homage and trust of his 
 nation. 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 France, too, will see a rejuvenation of her 
 land through war's scourge. Her people have 
 a great deal in common with the Belgium peo- 
 ple. Their lives run in about the same grooves, 
 with home life their obsession, and to them home 
 meant the nation, as well as their own little 
 abode. 
 
 It was in the defense of home and nation that 
 they fought so valiantly in the face of what they 
 knew was almost certain death, and today these 
 two countries are almost totally bereft of their 
 young manhood. That is one of the damnable 
 phases of war. The very flower of manhood, 
 
102 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 the most perfect types, are sacrificed on its 
 altar, while the older men who would gladly go 
 in their places are left behind. This seems an 
 injustice to the laymen, but it is the only just 
 way, as men in middle life, or past their prime, 
 would become physically unfit to carry on, even 
 before finishing their practice marches. It takes 
 men of youth's vigor to make soldiers of 
 strength, but many a man of the older type was 
 sacrificed in the conflict. 
 
 OFFICERS 
 
 It is different when speaking of officers, as 
 they do not, as a rule, suffer the same hard- 
 ships after reaching an advanced class as do the 
 younger and more vigorous men. Older men in 
 the service are usually not on actual field duty, 
 but hold offices that do not call for the same 
 vigor as required in field duty, but is, in a sense, 
 more important from a strategist's point of 
 view. 
 
 PLUNDER 
 
 It will take years to build up what has been 
 destroyed throughout the battlegrounds, not 
 only in the rehabilitating of the home lands and 
 agricultural districts, but of the industrial dis- 
 tricts as well. Here wanton damage was done, 
 but not as many suppose, from sheer desire to 
 destroy in ghoulish temper, but for the sake 
 of salvage and loot — dear to the heart of every 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 103 
 
 German. You will find that time will disclose 
 the loot safe and sound and put to a practical 
 purpose on German soil. 
 
 They considered themselves the victors in 
 truth and little dreamed what fate had in store 
 for them through American intervention. Had 
 they known that retreat and defeat was likely 
 to overtake them, they would have spared more 
 of the country, knowing that in the end in- 
 demnities would be claimed, but as it was, and 
 with victory so clearly defined before them, they 
 looted and burnt and left terror in their wake 
 to so impress the people of the conquered terri- 
 tory that no hand would be lifted against them 
 from sheer terror of the fate that would ensue, 
 and also to impress them with the importance 
 and dread of German militarism. 
 
 The people of the invaded districts were not 
 easily cowed into submission, and their defiance 
 and their tauntings of the invaders brought 
 about a swift and stern punishment, especially 
 severe on the women and children of the dis- 
 tricts. Many were taken as hostages and suf- 
 fered hardships and torture from their ignorant 
 and brutal task masters. Eape and carnage go 
 hand in hand in the vanguard of an army of in- 
 vasion, especially where the army has been in 
 the field for an indefinite time. This is not al- 
 ways a sign of degeneracy of a race, but is the 
 natural sequence when restraint of passions and 
 lust is not part of the training of the soldier. 
 
104 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 Men return to the primitive when on the march, 
 and heretofore the battle cry has always been, 
 to the victor belongs the spoils. 
 
 It is not my desire to excuse or condone these 
 crimes ; they are beastly and repulsive, but are 
 not to be held as a blot against any one nation's 
 honor or made an issue in the world's parley. 
 
 SON WITH ME 
 
 France and Belgium will be held sacred 
 throughout the world as the resting places of 
 so many brave lads of all nations. My own 
 son sleeps among them there, in the eyes of 
 the world, but in reality his body lies at peace 
 beneath the sod, while his spirit lives on with 
 me. 
 
 GERMAN REPUBLIC 
 
 France need have no fear of another invasion. 
 Germany as a republic will lose all zest for 
 war. The payment demanded of her through 
 indemnity claims will rest heavy upon her shoul- 
 ders for many years to come, and like all democ- 
 racies she will be content to rest within her own 
 borders. Her internal troubles are nearing an 
 end, and she will emerge free from oppressions 
 and from Kaiserism. This much the war has 
 done for her — given her freedom through de- 
 feat, while victory would have meant further 
 enslavement for her people. God was with 
 them, but not in the way that they thought. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 105 
 
 Mysterious are the workings of the Master 
 to human mind so frail, but always with an end 
 in view of love that cannot fail. The downfall 
 of monarchy in Germany will mean not only 
 freedom to her own people, but freedom from 
 the fear of everlasting hatred and revenge that 
 would haunt the minds of the closer allies. 
 
 When peace at last settles boundary disputes 
 and real peace settles upon the earth, it will be 
 a lasting one. France has never been free from 
 the bugbear of German autocracy and mili- 
 tarism of the empire throughout the years of 
 her existence, and even now, when peace is ap- 
 parently at hand, she fears for a recurrence 
 in the future, but of this I assure her there is 
 no danger. 
 
 The people of Germany will have a voice in 
 the matter in the future, and when such a ques- 
 tion is brought up for the decision of the voters 
 it is usually vetoed without much dissent of 
 opinion. 
 
 INDEMNITY 
 
 They have had to pay dearly in the blood of 
 their loved ones for the ambitious and arrogant 
 demands of their former leaders, and will in 
 the years to come be heavily taxed to pay the 
 material costs, not only of the actual warfare, 
 but of the indemnities claimed as well, and when 
 you strike a German through his pocketbook 
 you strike at a vital point. 
 
106 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 Germany is well able to pay her debts, as sbe 
 is a prosperous and thriving country, and her 
 people are noted for their thrifty and hard 
 working ways, and then, too, her country re- 
 mains practically intact as to damage created 
 by the war. She would be ready at very short 
 notice to resume her trade relations with the 
 world, but the freedom enjoyed in the days be- 
 fore the war will naturally be restricted to her 
 now, although a boycott of her goods will not be 
 sanctioned by the peace envoys, as it would not 
 tend to help matters to impede her in obtaining 
 resources from which to adjust her claims, and 
 in my opinion this is not only just but right, in 
 so far that to bankrupt her now through an in-, 
 ternational boycott would only react against 
 those who hold just claims against her. If she 
 became bankrupt through their efforts she 
 might in revenge repudiate- all the national 
 debts held against her treasury and defy the 
 world to collect them from an empty purse, so 
 for that reason alone, if for no other, sane rea- 
 soning powers must be used, not retaliative 
 methods. 
 
 GEKMANY AND THE LEAGUE 
 
 Germany must be included in the League of 
 Nations. Her new form of government gives 
 her that privilege. She is as an infant in the 
 first phases of a new life, and must receive help 
 and encouragement in her first days so that she 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 107 
 
 may grow into a strong, sturdy republic, worthy 
 of a place in the world's category among the 
 other larger nations, and not left outside of the 
 pale to degenerate into an anarchistic state and 
 a menace to all the world. 
 
 Her new leader is a man of keen perception 
 and honesty of purpose, not only for his own 
 subjects, but in the relations they will hold with 
 the Entente later, and time will show that he is 
 worthy as a ruler of the land. 
 
 MEMORY 
 
 It will be years before France and Belgium 
 can forget the wounds they received at the 
 hands of the invaders, but time will soften their 
 hearts and dull the memories now so keenly 
 alive to their losses, and hatred of the foe will 
 gradually lessen into tolerance and finally into 
 a relationship less poignant when they see that 
 the new regime is not as was the old. When 
 that day comes then truly Christ's influence will 
 have reached through the dark clouds and 
 brought the light. 
 
 WHY WAR IS HELL 
 
 "War is hell, truly expressed by those three 
 words, and the pity of it all is that the innocent 
 suffer with those who really deserve a cruel 
 fate. 
 
 The soldier in his trench does not suffer in 
 facing death one-half as acutely as do his loved 
 
108 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 ones safe from the horrors of war at home. 
 He is in the thick of the fray waiting with tense 
 breath for the command that means action, 
 ready to go at a moment's notice wherever duty 
 calls, regardless of what fate may have in store 
 for him. 
 
 Fear may be lurking in his heart, but he dare 
 not show its grip on him to his comrades, and 
 so he must, by sheer will power, throw off the 
 spirit and assume a courageous bearing and 
 forget even to think of the probable conse- 
 quences that may follow a command. In this 
 he is unconsciously supported by his com- 
 panions, as all rest under the same clouded 
 vision, or state of mind, and look one to the 
 other for invisible support, and to God for 
 spiritual help in their time of need, while those 
 at home can only watch and wait with the dread 
 spectre of what might be ever at their side, 
 and this is hell, indeed, as well I know from 
 actual experience while in the flesh. Hell, too, 
 follows through the ruin of home lands and 
 hope for the peasant, and the town folks as 
 well. 
 
 Mere death is not the hell of war, it is but the 
 blessing and brightness of war. The hell comes 
 to those whom death has passed by and left 
 maimed and tortured almost to madness, as 
 well as to those widowed and orphaned through 
 death's call. 
 
 Many a maimed and mangled soldier would 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 109 
 
 have gladly exchanged places with a buddy gone 
 before, but it is one of the prices that must be 
 paid, though I must say it is hard on him who 
 foots the bill and who are offered up as a living 
 sacrifice upon the altar of war, and yet, hard 
 as it seems, they are in reality part of God's 
 wonderful plan for the salvation of the world 
 from deadly hate and jealousy that brings on 
 war in all its phases. They remain as testimony 
 of the horrors of war, and through their sacri- 
 fices and sufferings the world will be urged to 
 adopt a plan whereby war will cease almost 
 entirely from the earth, and arbitration will 
 take its place. 
 
 BROTHERHOOD 
 
 When this plan is formulated to the satisfac- 
 tion of all and put into operation, it will bring 
 brotherhood of man throughout the world to 
 as near an entirety as can be had between men 
 of different nationalities and creeds, and even 
 the horrors of the great conflict will be seen 
 to have, through their very horror, brought 
 about God's will through the world. 
 
 Stop and shudder to count the cost of all of 
 this and you will, perhaps, wonder that such 
 drastic means should have been used to bring 
 about all this I speak of, but if you knew men 
 and their ways, as I thought I did but clearly 
 do now, then you would see that no other way 
 was open to bring brotherhood about, and even 
 
110 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 yet there is and will be much dissension on the 
 subject before its final acceptance by the world 
 powers. 
 
 Politics stand more in the way of its com- 
 pletement than does difference of opinion in 
 regards to its commendments, but it is not to 
 be left to the dictates of a powerful few, but 
 to the will of the peoples most interested, and 
 will be forced to an issue through public opinion, 
 I might say, as the voices of the masses are 
 usually classed under that heading. 
 
 INTEKNATIOISTAL POLITICS 
 
 There need be no fear of any one nation domi- 
 nating the league, as each will have a certain 
 place and allotment of power that time cannot 
 change, and politics will not enter into the ques- 
 tion at any time, as there is no such thing as 
 international ^politics, or party partisanship, 
 and national politics will not figure at all, as far 
 as any influences are concerned. What a great 
 thing it will be for the countries so united to- 
 gether for mutual protection and help! And 
 America can truly be said to be the mother of 
 the league through the idealism of her ruler. 
 
 If war had not assumed the terrible propor- 
 tions and aspects that it presented during these 
 last years of conflict there would have been no 
 logical excuse for the formation of such a league 
 and war would have still been flourishing 
 throughout the fair lands it ravaged, but with 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 111 
 
 modern science at command of the greater na- 
 tions involved war 1 assumed as horrible an 
 aspect as could be devised, and one that was not 
 even conjectured in wildest fancy or dream. 
 
 WAR GAS 
 
 Little more it seems could have been devised 
 or invented to outscale and outdo that which 
 was in use to deal death and horror upon man. 
 I cannot conceive of anything more effective in 
 dealing death through torture than the use of 
 the so-called gases, and chief among them all 
 for inflicting excruciating suffering to those un- 
 fortunate enough to breathe its fumes was the 
 deadly mustard gas. Shell or grenade would 
 kill or maim, but not leave its victim in the 
 same tortured condition as did the gases, and 
 even in maiming, health was not impaired to 
 anywhere near the same extent as when a man 
 suffered through gasing. That was part of hell, 
 indeed, to go through with. 
 
 The first years of warfare were years of lost 
 hopes and dread defeats to the Allies, and the 
 blackest clouds gathered just before the inter- 
 vention of America. There were some battles 
 before that time that could be called glorious in 
 history, but for the most part it was merely a 
 war of machinery, with little chance for in- 
 dividual glory on the field, as in former wars, 
 and when the romance of war is reduced to a 
 science of machine against machine for mere 
 
112 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 slaughtering, then truly it is high time that war 
 be relegated to the scrap heap along with other 
 antiques of ancient times. 
 
 MILITARY POLICE 
 
 It will take more than mere scraps of paper, 
 though signed by all those qualified to sign for 
 their respective governments, to down the war 
 god over the earth. It will take a competent 
 force of military police to keep peace and hold 
 war at bay, not that any one or a dozen lands 
 will require policing for any length of time, but 
 the fear of the power behind them must be 
 strong enough, and they must be kept in readi- 
 ness to go wherever duty calls without delay of 
 red tape or passing legislative law. 
 
 The interest on the present debt, incurred 
 through lack of discipline of these very issues 
 now at hand, would ten times over pay the cost 
 of any measures America will have to take in 
 the future in regards to settlement of dispute 
 and in joining with other powers in keeping 
 peace intact. 
 
 LOVE, JUSTICE AND LIBERTY 
 
 How many lives would have been spared and 
 how many homes now desolated would still be 
 warm with a bright hearth fire of cheerful glow, 
 and how many orphans and widows would still 
 be happy in the arms of their dear loved one, 
 or parent proud of son in life? It is, after all, 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 113 
 
 but a little to ask of the world and its people, 
 but did not one come before the same tribunal 
 more than nineteen hundred years ago pleading 
 the same cause, with prayer on His lip and love 
 in His heart! Peace, five letters that make up 
 this simple word, but what a world of mean- 
 ing it conveys! Love, justice, liberty, truth, 
 brotherhood and humanity to all, above all, 
 throughout the world wherever the sun does 
 rise, wherever the sun does set. Scribes and 
 Pharisees attacking on every hand for reasons 
 just as base and selfish and self-centered as in 
 the days of yore. 
 
 Don't think for one minute of your time that 
 these same men are using all their powers of 
 eloquence and persuasion to throw suspicion 
 and doubt upon the good features of the ques- 
 tion because of loyalty to their constitution, 
 which they so loudly acclaim, but which, by 
 their very actions of disloyalty, their actions in 
 the line of duty well done, they are discrediting 
 each day and month of their tenure in position 
 of trust. 
 
 FLAG OF GLOEY 
 
 Oh, flag of glory! Oh, symbol of justice to 
 one and all, how many, many have stood beneath 
 your folds upon the rostrum, not to uphold jus- 
 tice with hearts filled to overflowing, but to 
 harangue or to blight a man's fair name 
 through mud slinging method! Oh, flag, sym- 
 
114 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 bolic of all that is just and true, founded on 
 justice to all, did and does not your folds blush 
 in very shame for the ones who feel not the 
 sacrilege of befouling your purity when they 
 spoke in your name and that of the country 
 you represent? 
 
 The flag that led so many bravely forward, 
 in riot only the war just about closed, but 
 through the wars preceding this one as well, 
 should not be used promiscuously wherever 
 and whenever desired as a form of decoration 
 only, but wherever the flag is used or unfurled 
 reverential thoughts should enter into the act, 
 and reverence be shown the flag at all times. 
 
 It is a symbol throughout the world today of 
 hope, where hope was an almost forgotten vir- 
 tue, and let all help by just and sane reasoning 
 toward the vital issues of the moment, inci- 
 dentally setting aside all political and party par- 
 tisanship and do all to put through with help 
 and strength and courage of public acquiescence 
 on the great measure before you today. Make 
 the flag stand for all the principles she was 
 born to uphold. 
 
 Is America, after all the sacrifices of blood 
 and youth that she has given to war, to draw 
 within herself now, when the great work is 
 about to begin, and cry, no, no, I am not my 
 brother's keeper; I will have no hand in other 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 115 
 
 affairs than my own, bnt when you get every- 
 thing settled to the satisfaction of all I will 
 condescend to ask for your good will and inci- 
 dentally your trade. I am rich in worldly goods, 
 and resources of unlimited quantities I hold 
 within my domains. These I will barter and 
 sell to you in competition with other nations 
 who stood as sponsors when we failed, and I 
 crave your indulgences in all things pertaining 
 to money and power that I have invested within 
 myself, but do not ask me when clouded skies 
 overtake you and trouble threatens at your 
 door. Eespect my isolation and geographical 
 perfection as much as do my people, and leave 
 me to wallow in my wealth without interference 
 or fear that I will be called upon to entangle 
 my constitution in foreign alliance. 
 
 THE ANSWEK 
 
 men and women, thinkers of America, will 
 this be your answer to the cry of the world 
 today? Will this answer be sent to those wait- 
 ing and trusting in the strength and the justice 
 of the land that Old Glory upholds? 
 
 The Israelites crying out in the wilderness 
 were no more in need of help and guidance than 
 are many of the nations of the world looking 
 toward America for strength and help. Be 
 virile, true to form, you red-blooded sons of 
 liberty, and emblazon that word throughout the 
 world. 
 
116 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 Stand back of your President in this, his 
 greatest issue, and help down the war gods for- 
 ever, hoisting justice, humanity and peace in 
 their place on the throne. Help those who need 
 help at this time, and take the tail off the cur 
 through curtailing the powers that threaten to 
 kill this everlasting peace, and let the yelps of 
 the curs be heard so loudly that none other will 
 care to undergo the same fate. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 FRANCE AND BELGIUM 
 
 IN the former chapter, in speaking of war 
 and its phases, I put Belgium and France 
 foremost as bearing the brunt and scars of 
 battle. This is true literally, as, while other 
 countries played important parts in the world 
 conflict, France and Belgium were the actual 
 battlefields upon which the war was fought and 
 won, and consequently they have borne the 
 weight and the devastation necessarily follow- 
 ing upon such scenes, and it is to them that 
 the world owes most, both in help given through 
 co-operative methods in helping them to de- 
 mand their just rights against the transgres- 
 sors, and in standing by them through their 
 just claims to a proper protection in the future 
 years to come. 
 
 ENGLAND AT WAR 
 
 England shared the task nobly, but her coun- 
 try's home lands did not suffer to any extent, 
 though her sons have shed their blood upon 
 those sacred fields of war-torn Belgium and 
 France. She, too, has incurred enormous 
 debts, and has been to great expense in doing 
 her part to make the world a safe place, not 
 
 117 
 
118 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 only for her own subjects, but the subjects of 
 all nations of the world as it stands today. She, 
 too, will have a place in history immortal, and 
 she, too, will be in accord with the new idealism 
 of a League of Nations as outlined and formu- 
 lated. 
 
 ENGLISH WOMEN 
 
 Her women rallied to the call of the crown 
 as readily as did her sons, and they should 
 receive recognition and commendment for their 
 part in the war. 
 
 ITALY 
 
 Italy, too, must needs be recognized as an 
 able ally, and while her armies were mostly 
 engaged upon different fronts than were the 
 other allies, she did noble work for the great 
 cause of freedom. 
 
 So, too, of all the other ententes engaged in 
 the victory war. All will, in the end, receive 
 just reward for duty well done in responding 
 to the call in time of need. 
 
 RUSSIA 
 
 Eussia, while in a deplorable state of turmoil 
 and havoc now, was at the beginning one of 
 the strong allies and the hope on the eastern 
 front. For her help in those first stirring days 
 of warfare, some part of the glory must be 
 tendered to her as a nation. 
 
 If Germany had had no army to meet upon 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 119 
 
 that frontier she would have been able within 
 very short time and with quick dispatch to de- 
 feat the nations with whom she was engaged 
 upon her western border land, and defeating 
 the nations that impeded her passage to the 
 channel, she would have, with her immense 
 armies and modern, up-to-the-minute equip- 
 ment, been able to have swept on across the 
 narrow channel and to have overpowered her 
 greatest foe; so, after all, to the nation for 
 whom the world holds pity, mingled with dis- 
 gust now, history will look back over the years 
 and see that she has had a day around which 
 glory and even grandeur has shown. 
 
 Did you ever see a great, clumsy bear, muz- 
 zled and chained, led about the streets by some 
 decrepit and thieving, lying, human flotsam 
 and dancing to the tune of fiddle or organ, or 
 just command of this same captor, and if you 
 have ever had this experience it cannot help 
 but strike you, as it does me, of being an ap- 
 propriate example of poor old Russia's plight 
 at the present moment. Big, clumsy and with- 
 out much conception of right and wrong, or jus- 
 tice and truth. She is visualized to my mind, as 
 she will be to yours, through this comparison, as 
 a great trusting yet suspicious and even dan- 
 gerous shaggy bear, captive for the moment by 
 the lawless and uncouth mob, but if aroused in 
 time to her peril she could in one sweep of her 
 mighty paw down that lowly master, tear loose 
 
120 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 the chain of bondage, pry off the muzzle of 
 oppression and slavery and become free. 
 
 She has resources and untold treasures within 
 her boundaries as yet undeveloped and unmined. 
 Her peasants have so long been held beneath 
 the iron heel of oppression that they are little 
 above the four-footed creatures of the earth in 
 development of mind and in literacy, but they 
 could be brought up to a standard equal in time 
 to any of the races of Slav blood, and Russia 
 could become one of the great powers of the 
 world in truth as well as in name. 
 
 She stands today in ail her demoralization a 
 menace to the world on one hand, and on the 
 other a great and lasting good will come out of 
 her state of unrest and repugnance. Good will 
 come, as I say, in that she is a great living 
 example of just what lawlessness and bol- 
 shevism, or in others words anarchism, can do 
 to a nation under its control. 
 
 Would any other country care to have the 
 same conditions exist within its borders as 
 exists in Russia today! America has learned 
 her lesson through this same example afore- 
 mentioned, and she is taking the right steps 
 toward ridding her shores of the danger of bol- 
 shevism by enacting laws and also fearlessly 
 carrying them through by deporting all un- 
 desirable and dangerous aliens. In doing this 
 she is nipping in the bud what would have been 
 a source of great menace and trouble to her. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 TAFT AND WILSON 
 
 THE President parts with his people for the 
 second time to cross the ocean and complete 
 the great work started there. Tonight he gives 
 his farewell speech before sailing, and with him 
 on the rostrum another of prominence will also 
 give an address. This, too, will be a precedent 
 in the history of America when a President 
 affiliated with one political clan is supported 
 fully in his ideas and plans for a great issue 
 by an ex-opponent and also ex-President who is 
 affiliated with the opposite political power, espe- 
 cially at a time when this same opponent power 
 is doing all possible to hinder and discredit the 
 President, in both his domestic and foreign 
 plan, not only from a party standpoint in that 
 they fear the opposite party's power, but for 
 the reason that they are in line-up to have this 
 opposite party discredited in every way possible 
 before the final campaigns for the presidential 
 election, but could they but see, as do I, they 
 would realize it is a damnable way for men sup- 
 posed to represent the nation to act, and for 
 that reason, even though personal prestige and 
 ambition could lie behind the actions of my 
 former friend, it is, as time alone can show, 
 
 121 
 
122 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 much in his favor that he stands behind and 
 beside the President in this great issue. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT^ CRITICS 
 
 Has not the man enough to bear and contend 
 with in being torn between two duties, one in 
 his native land and one on foreign shores, with- 
 out leaving these home shores with a feeling in 
 his heart and a cross to bear as heavy almost 
 as that which Christ did carry on His last and 
 farewell journey on earth, but as did Christ of 
 old triumph in glorified manner against his 
 foes and crucifiers, so, too, will the President 
 overcome in the end his opponents, though not 
 through death. I have called shame so many 
 times in previous chapters of this spiritual work 
 upon the heads of men in the great Congress 
 who are acting in a questionable and damnable 
 manner at this critical time in America's his- 
 tory and when in truth her very honor in history 
 is at stake, that I feel I can say little more than 
 what I have already said to them, unless my 
 spiritual ire rises up and calls them damn 
 traitors; to America, to her people, and to the 
 President who rules her now, and in spite of 
 their opposition will rule her two years more, 
 and, gentlemen, to whom this chapter is espe- 
 cially addressed, two years means twenty-four 
 whole months, and 730 days, less none today, 
 March 4th, and much can he do in that time if 
 he carries the same determination for right and 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 123 
 
 justice to all throughout the world as well as 
 throughout the nation in those future days, as 
 well as he has in the past ones. 
 
 a spirit's thoughts 
 
 Question not that these are the words of the 
 indomitable lion of old. The same, and yet 
 not the same, as of old. A spirit now, but just 
 as much interested in the world's affairs as of 
 yore, especially where they pertain to the affairs 
 at a critical juncture in America's life and 
 where the least misstep on her part or that of 
 her ruler and lawmakers will send her prestige 
 and power crashing to hell with such a thud in 
 falling because of the high plane upon which 
 she stands today that the whole world would 
 shake from her fall. Give her anarchism, bol- 
 shevism, which is practically the same thing, 
 in the measure as is meted out in Russia, pref- 
 erably to letting her meet dishonor through 
 political wrangles and their sequences now. 
 
 HONOR 
 
 Surely Old Glory and the bald-pated eagle, 
 our own symbols of national honor, must stand 
 for more than mere politics as played by those 
 in power. It takes a man, not a mere politician 
 or figurehead of a political party, to attend to 
 the affairs of state now. Deplorable enough to 
 have a man of such caliber in that high office 
 in normal times of peace, but if such had been 
 
124 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 the case at this juncture in the crisis it would 
 have been a calamity. 
 
 WILSON 
 
 Mr. Wilson, the present occupant of the chair 
 as ruler of the nation, is not a politician in any 
 sense of that word, nor could he even be called 
 a great statesman or an eloquent talker, in so 
 far as the word eloquent carries, but he is a 
 man at heart and one of studious and reasoning 
 mentality, and one who can, and does, give 
 serious thought to the problems of the day as 
 well as the past and the future of all classes 
 and all needs. He is not, in a sense, over- 
 prudent, nor is he inclined too much on the 
 lavish side, but in so far as he can see his just 
 duty in just that measure has he tried to fulfill 
 that duty, regardless of powerful influences at 
 work to coerce or swerve him from the path set 
 out by him through his study of the question in 
 hand. 
 
 The thinkers of the nation, no matter what 
 their affiliations may be, should be able to see 
 all this that I have just expounded clearly, de- 
 fined through actions of the past, if they would 
 but give this subject their unbiased and un- 
 prejudiced attention long enough to study up 
 the facts without taking political poison along 
 with the facts, which same poison is injected 
 merely to cast doubt and suspicion where none 
 should exist, and out of purely party reasons, 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 125 
 
 which seem to be the bitterest at this time, on 
 account of the prestige gained by the personage 
 in power through his clean slate in dealing with 
 all. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 W. W. AND W. H. T. 
 
 A FINE speech, boys, a fine speech, and one 
 that showed the Americanism of your 
 hearts and (minds as well. Two noble men 
 welded into one in a great cause is a rare and 
 glorifying sight to see at any time, and espe- 
 cially more so at this time and where each are 
 of opponent party partisanship. An apprecia- 
 tive audience, forming a great unit to a fitting 
 farewell for a time of the chief executive. 
 
 CONGEESS 
 
 With Congress adjourned and the President 
 on the ocean, America will notice no difference 
 in the running of her machinery, although many 
 hysterical politicians will rant and rave about 
 the country being in an unprotected state 
 through the desertion by the President; but fie 
 on such political rot. No thinking man would 
 listen a second to such a ridiculous state- 
 ment, as the laws of the country take care of 
 her in all things, and not one iota of duty is 
 slacked by anyone in official capacity now that 
 Congress is adjourned ; but what slack and un- 
 fulfilled duties were left undone at the close of 
 this session. Bills that required immediate 
 legislation and action were thrust aside along 
 with others of less commendation, but of enough 
 
 126 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 127 
 
 worth to have received consideration at the 
 hands of those paid to consider them and not 
 paid to furnish a spectacle of ludicrousness to 
 the many gathered together to witness the pass- 
 ing of the old regime. 
 
 There would have been no need for all-night 
 sessions in which little was accomplished after 
 all if business had been carried on when it was 
 the business to carry on instead of playing 
 politics and airing grievances of personal and 
 political stench. 
 
 A dignified spectacle, indeed, to see the great 
 men of the land sprawled out in several pos- 
 tures, dead to the world in sleep, during the 
 last session of the Congress and being awakened 
 to answer to their call. Great things these men 
 could do in that condition of mind and body. 
 No wonder history must hide the blot on the 
 page that must be entered in its covers. 
 
 Men must be well rested, with brain and body 
 vigorous from refreshing sleep, to be able to do 
 the best that is in them for any cause, and no 
 man can or could do justice to any act calling 
 either for strength of body or mind if that 
 same body is worn out with fatigue or the mind 
 befogged with drowsiness. 
 
 KAILEOADS 
 
 The railroad appropriation bill was one re- 
 quiring immediate legislative favor. Without 
 it much trouble will ensue. 
 
128 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 This is not the logical time for turning back 
 the railroads to private control, nor is it the 
 time to make them a party issue and to hamper 
 their workings through party bitternesses or 
 personal desires, but it is the logical time to 
 give this great mobilized and now nationalized 
 project a fair chance to test out the worth of 
 the system of government control under govern- 
 ment supervision. 
 
 War and its entailments could not do else 
 than cause great expense and complicated con- 
 ditions to arise because of the fact that economy 
 and in a way perfect systematized railroad 
 work had to give way to the pressing needs of 
 war, and even personal comfort of civilian pas- 
 sengers was curtailed to a great extent in re- 
 stricting passenger service, limiting train serv- 
 ice on local as well as transcontinental lines, 
 and taking off luxurious and commodious parlor 
 or accommodation cars and stripping the lines 
 to a strictly war basis, setting aside all prec- 
 edents in sidetracking passenger trains to al- 
 low the passage of freight filled trains right 
 of way over the road. 
 
 The sudden armistice, coming as it did at a 
 totally unexpected time, saved the country at 
 large much more in the way of drastic measures 
 pertaining to rail traffic and inconvenience of 
 travel. Had war continued for another twelve 
 months or more America would have seen, or 
 would rather have been forced upon a strictly 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 129 
 
 war basis in this matter, as well as others, and 
 where the case was, at the time of signing of 
 the armistice, that the public was requested to 
 curtail all travel as far as possible to aid the 
 government in conserving, they would have 
 had to curtail traveling in cases where absolute 
 proof of the need of travel could not be shown 
 to the satisfaction of the officials in charge. 
 This is what happened in practically all of the 
 allied countries, although they were forced in 
 many cases to either suspend night traffic or 
 run without lights for fear of air raids which 
 were directed against trains and traffic, but this 
 step would not have been necessary in America. 
 
 If the government had allowed the railroads 
 to remain in private hands during the war 
 period in which she was engaged, there would 
 have been a sad calamity in regards to the trans- 
 portation of troops and supplies; as it was, 
 with all lines mobilized and civilian traffic prac- 
 tically demoralized to a great extent, it was a 
 great feat to bring the transportation of troops 
 and war material up to scratch. 
 
 The government has played fair with all rail- 
 road employes in regard to all just demands 
 made by them, and would, if allowed the main- 
 tenance of the roads for a sufficient length of 
 time, in normal times, prove out the wisdom 
 of government ownership versus private owner- 
 ship, and would be able, I am sure, to win all 
 points in her favor, though the budget of the 
 
130 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 past may look formidable to unskilled and con- 
 servative people who happen to be given the 
 statistics by far-sighted politicians. 
 
 By all means, now that the first great step 
 has been taken in the right direction through 
 acquiring these roads, the government should 
 not return them back again to private owner- 
 ship, but should keep them free of political 
 stench and filthiness and create some iron-clad 
 program in regards to the proper handling of 
 the roads through other than political channels. 
 
 LEASING THE KOADS 
 
 This could be worked out on the plan of leas- 
 ing the roads, but still holding the invested 
 ownership with the privilege of supervision and 
 cancellation of all leases if unsatisfaction is 
 found in their operation. This would net the 
 government quite a tidy sum in the long run 
 and would solve the problem of anti-politics in 
 their ownership and operation, too; but to go 
 back to the old system would be a great mistake, 
 especially in these pre-peace times, as America 
 cannot afford to allow the threats of a general 
 strike and tie-up over the country that might 
 ensue, if conditions were not exactly favorable, 
 to harass her now. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 SHIPPING 
 
 ALONG with the railroad question, because 
 >■ of their unity of purpose — transportation 
 — the shipping bill was a most important one. 
 America should never allow her flag to be hauled 
 down upon the ocean in favor of a stronger 
 rival nation's supremacy in mercantile ship- 
 ping bottoms, but she should keep up the good 
 work started in building and acquiring ships, 
 governmentally owned, and leased in the same 
 manner as would and could be applied to the 
 railroads so as to eliminate politics in one fell 
 swoop, but as in the case of the railroad leases, 
 if such a plan is worked out, complete super- 
 vision and a cancellation clause for violation of 
 contracts would be properly inserted in the 
 documents. 
 
 AMERICAN BOTTOMS 
 
 The American flag was at one time seen in 
 almost every port of the world, and she was 
 queen of the seas, but by a colossal calamity 
 she allowed her flag to be lowered and lost so 
 much prestige on the seas that at the time of 
 the declaration of war in 1917 her flag was a 
 curiosity in foreign ports and was mainly un- 
 furled from coastwise vessels. 
 
 131 
 
132 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 High priced labor, such as is demanded by 
 American laws, was one of the main factors in 
 this loss, as no American owned bottom could 
 compete successfully with foreign bottoms 
 whose nation's laws were very lenient in the 
 respect of labor and other little niceties in 
 which American laws were seemingly drastic, 
 but with higher priced labor and seamen's 
 unions demanding recognition in foreign lands 
 this law will seem less drastic, and the more 
 intelligent crews that can be acquired through 
 the higher wage scale will in the end prove 
 profitable after all, as the modern ships are of 
 different type in the entirety than the old 
 models, such as were used in former days, and 
 crews of less numbers but more intelligence are 
 a necessity now instead of a rarity as then, 
 when any man with legs and hands could be 
 
 USed * BKUTALITY 
 
 Many were shipped in a shanghied state to 
 be kicked and mauled by brutal task-masters 
 and fed upon food that would be repulsive even 
 to the lowly swine, but such is not the case 
 upon well-manned ships such as the American 
 bottoms are today. Brutality is not tolerated 
 and the food and quarters are excellent as the 
 sailors can testify to. No more of the "Wolf 
 Larsen" type of masters, especially on Amer- 
 ican owned ships, and incidentally, I may add, 
 no more of the " Cookie' ' type of cooks, with 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 133 
 
 due apologies to the spirit of Jack London for 
 using this simile. 
 
 EXPOKTING 
 
 America with all her vast resources must 
 needs protect herself and her exporting busi- 
 ness against discrimination, and to do this she 
 must be in a position to protect her interests 
 in owning her own ships, not only of the coast- 
 wise vessels, but also ocean going carriers as 
 well, and in owning these boats she can well 
 afford to meet any and all competition in foreign 
 ports, due to discriminations in regard to rates 
 which could be met with successfully where a 
 private owner would throw up hands and call 
 enough if confronted with losses through 
 lowered rates and high-priced labor and main- 
 tenance cost. 
 
 America is now the foremost nation in the 
 world today, and she should hold this su- 
 premacy in all things, even if forced to ask ap- 
 propriations for a while to meet the demands 
 of these unnormal times, and then when the 
 world becomes sane again and normality again 
 rests over all, she will be able to make up for 
 the budgets spent at this time, and her flag will 
 remain unfurled throughout the world on seas 
 that have been strangers to the flag before, and 
 in some ports, too, where she has not always 
 been a stranger in the days of her supremacy 
 of the sea in merchant craft. 
 
 The navy will turn out as fine a line of able 
 
 10 
 
134 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 seamen as can be found anywhere upon the 
 earth; in fact, in my opinion they will be su- 
 perior to any found on the ocean, and these 
 same lads will come clean and strong and filled 
 with knowledge of the seas, directly to the great 
 merchant marine fleet of the government, ready 
 to take up the duties of peace time pursuits as 
 readily as they took up the pursuits of war 
 with all of its entailing dangers and discom- 
 forts. 
 
 THE CALL OF THE SEA 
 
 The call of the sea is one that can only be 
 understood by an experienced sailor or traveler 
 upon the ocean, and it so gets into one's blood 
 after a time that there is but one answer to 
 its call, and that is to again return to the life 
 on the ocean waves. 
 
 Life on shore, with its daily monotonous and 
 trivial happenings of real everyday life, grows 
 irksome and deadly after a short time spent 
 again upon the shore, and the siren of the sea 
 begins to call and nothing must do but that it 
 be answered by a return of at least one voyage 
 upon her bosom, and then, too, the berths to 
 be had on the newer vessels will be positions 
 of worth, in so far that they will allow of pro- 
 motion to experienced seamen with rapidity, 
 and this, coupled with the fair wage, will be a 
 strong appeal in itself, especially at a time when 
 labor on land will be in an unsettled and scarce 
 condition. 
 
. POST MORTEM OPINIONS 135 
 
 BUSY TIMES 
 
 America will have much work yet to do in 
 bringing back her brave ones from foreign 
 shores, and this task alone, not counting upon 
 the great task of bringing back equipment and 
 stores, will occupy her ships for some time to 
 come, and after this work is off her hands for 
 all time she will have all she can do to handle 
 the exportation of her goods and foodstuffs, 
 not only to war-stricken European lands dev- 
 astated of industries and resources by war's 
 dire hand, but also to lands untouched by the 
 ravages of war in so far as the word devasta- 
 tion would signify. 
 
 FOKEIGN MAEKETS 
 
 There is a great market, even now, for much, 
 but there is a far greater market that will be 
 created especially for American products, in 
 both the finished and raw state, directly peace 
 in truth is declared, and bolshevism is brought 
 to bay in European lands now cowering under 
 its yoke, and the great cry of American ex- 
 porters will be for ships and more ships in 
 which to carry their goods. 
 
 If America herself is in no position to fur- 
 nish these bottoms as needed, she must give 
 way to foreign competitors who will see to it 
 that enough ships are furnished to satisfy this 
 demand. Rest assured that the goods will not 
 be carried at a loss, or for any philanthropic 
 
136 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 motive, so why allow others to garner where we 
 ourselves have but to sow to gather the fruits 
 of our toil? 
 
 BIG QUESTIONS FOR THE VOTERS 
 
 If Congress will not ratify a movement to 
 gain and to retain supremacy of the merchant 
 craft of the sea, then it is the duty of the voters 
 of America to demand that this question be put 
 to the vote of the people of America direct, 
 and make demand that the direct vote carry this 
 question without further parley or delay. In 
 fact, were it possible, all such big and what 
 seem to be overwhelming questions for Con- 
 gress to settle should be submitted to the people 
 direct and allow them to either pass or veto 
 the measures by vote without political inter- 
 ference. 
 
 AMERICA FOR AMERICANS 
 
 America first, last and always for Americans 
 born upon her shores, and those who have im- 
 migrated to her shores and have become natu- 
 ralized citizens with the intention of remaining 
 so and doing her credit through fair dealing 
 in voting for the measures best for her wel- 
 fare, and America first, last and always in 
 supremacy on land or sea, with power above 
 all, gained not through fear, but through what 
 her flag stands for on land and sea — justice, 
 fairness and liberty to all. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 DEMOBILIZATION 
 
 THE demobilizing of the troops, both at home 
 camps or cantonments and of the troops 
 from abroad upon their return, will occupy the 
 attention for some little time to come. This 
 question is one argued strenuously by men high 
 in the government service, some being skeptical 
 as to the wisdom of the course now taken in 
 demobilizing as rapidly as is consistent to gov- 
 ernmental plans and ideas as to the proper 
 method of the procedure; others taking the 
 stand that the enormous expense of keeping 
 up a body of men both in cantonments and 
 abroad is an unnecessary burden upon the re- 
 sources of an already overburdened government 
 treasury, and contending that demobilization, 
 if anything, is not going on at as rapid a pace 
 as they would like to see accomplished. Both 
 are wrong in a sense, and both are discussing 
 a question that also finds echo in thousands of 
 hearts and homes, and that is why I will try 
 and give my little message this evening on this 
 particular subject, and try and give the version 
 as my spirit mind can see its solution. 
 
 THE SOLUTION 
 
 In the first place all must remember that the 
 American army and navy of today numbers 
 
 137 
 
138 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 some million or two of men still in the khaki 
 or the blue, and most of these men have been 
 conscripted into the service, taken at random 
 from every class and walk of life, regardless of 
 position, power or wealth. 
 
 The millionaire's son was no more favored 
 than was the son of the poorest among the land, 
 and each and every man of them held some niche 
 in the life of America. The wealthy idlers and 
 the hobo, or willing, weary idlers, excepted, 
 but of the vast army of men of worth alone I 
 am speaking. 
 
 Now, of the many positions that were of a 
 necessity given up by these countless men in 
 answering to their lottery number, each and 
 every one were either filled by others or done 
 away with for conservation causes, and that is 
 the great issue upon which the wisdom of hasty 
 demobilization mainly rests. Would it be just 
 and proper to with one great proclamation 
 announce to the soldiers and sailors scattered 
 over the earth : ' * The war is over and you are 
 free to go when and where you will; boats will 
 be furnished as quickly as possible to bring 
 you back to America's shores, but when you 
 reach there no further delay will ensue in re- 
 gard to your liberty.' ' Could anyone conceive 
 of such a scene or order being conceived by the 
 military authorities of the country and allow- 
 ing of such disorder as would necessarily ensue 
 at the ports of disembarkment, or the camps 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 139 
 
 in American territory! No, Everything in 
 the military department of the government is 
 attended with system, which at times seems 
 irksome and unnecessary red-tape matter to 
 those who come under its authority, but that is 
 what makes for a perfect discipline and order 
 throughout the commands, and each order as 
 issued has gone under microscopic inspection 
 as to its wisdom and propriety before allowed 
 to be passed on as a command that must be 
 obeyed without question or delay, and as the 
 military affairs of the country are in seemingly 
 capable hands, little question can be made 
 against the methods of procedure in this case 
 under discussion, that of demobilization; and 
 going back to the subject of conscripted men 
 in service, I will add a few more remarks upon 
 their case in returning too hastily to civilian 
 pursuits. 
 
 POSITIONS FILLED 
 
 As I remarked before, many of their positions 
 were filled by other workers, either of the same 
 sex above the draft ages, or disqualified for 
 service in some manner, or else by members 
 of the fair sex who so willingly stepped into the 
 ranks of the workers called to the colors, and 
 in many cases these newer employes gave as 
 good satisfaction as did those whose places they 
 assumed, or as in many cases where female help 
 superseded the men, better satisfaction with less 
 
140 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 pay in return. Where this has been the case, 
 both employes and employer are loathe to make 
 a change even in favor of a returned hero now 
 that the need for high pitched patriotism seems 
 to have been passed, and soldiers are returning 
 in such numbers as to be a common sight upon 
 the streets, where their absence before had been 
 noticeable in the days when youthful manhood 
 seemed suddenly to have disappeared from our 
 midst, and the young lassies drooped in their 
 lonesome state and men and women all over the 
 country vowed to remain true to the men in 
 service and to either save a position for them 
 on their return, or to relinquish any position 
 that they filled, as was thought temporarily at 
 the time, when the need for workers was so 
 great that many who had never known what 
 toil or service meant, joined the great rank of 
 wage earners, as a patriotic as well as a remu- 
 nerative duty, but now that the war is over and 
 peace treaties are being formulated in Paris, 
 how many are keeping their pledges to these 
 same boys upon their return to civilian life ? 
 
 Is there enough room for them to assume new 
 duties in the workers' ranks when their old 
 ones are denied them? 
 
 THE PROBLEM 
 
 In the Middle West this situation is not acute 
 in so far as labor can absorb these returning 
 men about as fast as they are mustered out of 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 141 
 
 service at present writing, as the Middle West 
 is in the throes of prosperity that is arising 
 from natural growth and not through inflation 
 caused by war, but in the coastal states, espe- 
 cially in the eastern part of the country, the 
 situation as regards employment for returning 
 soldiers is getting more serious each day, not 
 alone from the lack of employment to be had so 
 much as from the fact that the returning men 
 are seeking better positions than were left by 
 them, feeling 1 in way that they are entitled 
 through service in their country's name to bet- 
 ter things than what they left, and this is mak- 
 ing it hard for the government agents, who are 
 trying to do their best by the men to return 
 them to civilian pursuits, to place them in these 
 overcrowded cities where daily plants that have 
 been busy in turning out material for the war 
 are shutting down each day and turning out 
 hundreds of employes to add confusion to an 
 already confusing problem ; and then, too, many 
 of the soldiers with unspent money in their 
 pockets want to play the hero role a while be- 
 fore taking up what will seem to many a drab 
 and monotonous existence after the greater ex- 
 periences through which they have passed. 
 "While these men are greeted and feted for a 
 while, their popularity will not last forever, 
 and when it wanes they, too, will add another 
 surplus to the problem, and that is why de- 
 mobilization of all troops should be made upon 
 
142 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 a basis in regard to the supply and demand of 
 labor, as to dump the troops upon the land 
 without system and with no regard as to their 
 ability to find employment would be a great 
 disaster now that Congress has seen fit to dis- 
 regard the bill before her for taking care of 
 the soldiers in this very regard. It is just these 
 things that, while seeming as of little account 
 to the selected few, prove to be the big factors 
 after all, especially when men, torn from their 
 environments and sent to face death and dis- 
 comforts, are returned to private life without 
 provision being made for them, as if their lives 
 were but pegs in a vast game and to be dis- 
 carded when no more use can be found for them. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 ARMY UPKEEP 
 
 THE expense attached to the upkeep of a large 
 standing army is of necessity an enormous 
 one, but considering all sides of the question, the 
 army's upkeep in itself is not entirely an ex- 
 travagance in the sense that it was formed to 
 do no real duty, or accomplish no real good, 
 or in the sense that it is a luxury forced upon 
 the people of America and kept in large num- 
 bers, as counted by dollars, solely for prestige 
 or show of power, but because there is no other 
 way to deal with this question than by footing 
 the bills and demobilizing as rapidly as is con- 
 sistent with the best ideas of men in authority 
 and who are best able to handle this part of 
 the machinery used for war purposes, as only 
 through lessening of numbers and therefore 
 lessening supplies can expense be cut at all, as 
 everything that could be done was done to 
 eliminate useless expenditure in military and 
 naval departments. 
 
 Some few cases of money spent unwisely and 
 unwell may be unearthed from time to time, 
 but on the whole the military and naval authori- 
 ties will come through clean. 
 
 143 
 
144 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 HALF MILLION 
 
 As far as raising and maintaining a standing 
 army of half million men is concerned, I my- 
 self am in favor of such a step, as I think the 
 United States is fully able to maintain an army 
 of that size at any time, whether for peace or 
 war, and if prepared to throw an army of that 
 size into the field upon short notice there will 
 be less bluffing and blowing by other nations 
 every time they have some slight grievance 
 against the government. 
 
 UNIVERSAL TRAINING 
 
 It would be one of the finest moves ever un- 
 dertook by the government if universal training 
 was made compulsory to all youths between the 
 ages of eighteen and twenty-one, not excepting 
 the high school boys of younger age who should 
 be given all the fundamental setting up exercises 
 of a soldier's training, which would stand the 
 boys in good stead in their later years of real 
 military training. 
 
 I do not advocate that a boy should be taken 
 from his civilian pursuits and sent to a can- 
 tonment, or camp, for three years of his youth, 
 but I do feel that part time of these three most 
 important years of his life be given over to the 
 training for duty as a son of his country if 
 demand should be made upon him, and not only 
 for that purpose alone do I advocate this train- 
 ing, but for the physical good of the boy and 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 145 
 
 for the making of his body stronger and 
 healthier for the training. The teaching on 
 hygiene that is an accompaniment to military 
 training of today in American forces is fine, 
 whether on foreign or domestic shores. 
 
 Too much stress cannot be laid upon the re- 
 ports of the examining boards engaged to 
 examine men for both army and navy during 
 the war, and upon the amazing number of men 
 whose physical conditions were brought under 
 the pitiless light of a military medical examina- 
 tion. From all reports the majority of cases 
 passed upon were curable, or would have been 
 preventable if proper hygienic treatments were 
 given or had been used by the afflicted ones. 
 So many, many youths between the ages of 
 eighteen and twenty-one were in bad condition 
 physically, when in truth they should have been 
 in the very glory of their youthful lives, but 
 through ignorance, as I just mentioned, of 
 proper hygiene and through failure of parents 
 to discuss vital and important sexual questions 
 with these boys, there came this appalling dis- 
 covery at a time when they seemed most needed 
 in perfect health for their duty to their flag. 
 Had these boys been given training along the 
 proper lines in earlier years we would have 
 seen no such reports as reached headquarters 
 and the press. 
 
 The United States learned one great lesson 
 through her entry into war that will never be 
 
146 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 erased from the memory of man or nation, and 
 that was the need of clean minds as well as 
 clean bodies are one of the big factors in the 
 making of a successful man, whether he is to 
 be used for military, naval or civilian duty, and 
 this great lesson was taught to all men in serv- 
 ice, as well as being expounded to civilians 
 from pulpit and rostrum, and that is the reason 
 that the American army stands today as the 
 finest, cleanest, most moral body of men ever 
 organized into an army. 
 
 Some there are who transgressed the laws, 
 but this number is infinite simally small when 
 compared with the vast number of men under 
 arms throughout America 's participation in the 
 war, but on the whole the record held, and was 
 and is still, well merited, and not one soldier 
 who returns from service to private life but is 
 better all around for the change and training 
 received, and this in itself should be a great 
 argument in favor of universal training for the 
 boys. 
 
 CANTONMENTS 
 
 The cantonments erected during the period 
 of the war could be made good service of in 
 being put to use as training camps for the young 
 men, giving each a certain period of the year 
 in which to undergo this training, and choosing, 
 as during the war, by conscriptive method and 
 allotment. of number, so that all would come 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 147 
 
 under this law and none might escape, without 
 fear of reprisal on the charge of desertion, or 
 the colleges of the land could be taken over for 
 this purpose as commandeered in war time, 
 and fewer men congregated together at one 
 time. Educational work of great benefit to them 
 in private life could be given these same young 
 men along with their military training, each 
 graded according to his educational standing, 
 and in this way given the fundament of an 
 education that will do much to help in civilian 
 life, and would be a great act of benevolence 
 on the part of the nation and would in time 
 repay her through better citizenship, as lit- 
 eracy among the masses is an asset to a nation 
 where illiteracy becomes a liability. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE army and navy go hand in hand, with 
 the marines over all, and the navy should 
 be kept up to the maximum strength, if not to 
 exceed the strength of any other power. Amer- 
 ica with all her resources is as able to main- 
 tain a big navy and army as any other nation, 
 and in a sense better able. 
 
 DESTKOYEKS 
 
 The flotilla of destroyers should be kept up 
 to the highest standard of efficiency and 
 strength, as they are just the boats needed for 
 coastal survey work and protection of the un- 
 defended shore lines of America, and their up- 
 keep is on the whole, when considering their 
 efficiency, not too exorbitantly great for the 
 budget to stand. This is a type of boat that 
 should be made a permanent fixture among the 
 fighting craft with well trained and experienced 
 crews to man the fleet. Of the larger craft, 
 such as the regulation warships, there is too 
 great an expense to their upkeep in proportion 
 to their worth now, and they are outdated in 
 a few years from the time of their launching 
 by other types found more suitable and more 
 
 148 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 149 
 
 powerful, even though their original cost runs 
 up into the millions. They would, to the land 
 man, appear to be capable of being used for a 
 half century at least, but experience has taught 
 that ten years is a long life for a modern war 
 vessel without new improvements being added, 
 and for that reason I advocate the smaller 
 vessel be made the mainstay, or larger wing of 
 the navy, in these days when the danger of 
 war seems past and a navy will be used more 
 for show of power and prestige than for actual 
 use in warfare. 
 
 HYDKOPLANES 
 
 A goodly number of aircraft, or hydroplanes, 
 should be also maintained in connection, more 
 with the navy than as an adjunct to the army 
 branch of armament, as aircraft are the most 
 effective eyes of the modern wars and are used 
 not only to spy out the enemy positions but 
 to wreak damage as well, where other means of 
 conveying bombs or ability to strike at the foe 
 would not be available. In this way protection 
 would be afforded to the coasts from hostile 
 fleets, and transports of troops be detected 
 through the eyes of a hydroplane soaring high 
 above, connected by radio with the shore or 
 fleet, warning of approaching danger, and if 
 not able to destroy with bombs could give the 
 range to the gunners on board the warships 
 or on a shore battery. 
 
 11 
 
150 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 OVER-PREPAREDNESS 
 
 Protection and preparedness, to a certain 
 extent, are always needed regardless of any and 
 all peace pacts or treaties to prevent a nation 
 being taken by surprise by armed forces, but I 
 do not advocate a standing army or navy of 
 unnecessary strength, which would in time 
 prove more of a boomerang in a political sense 
 than it would or could prove itself useful. 
 
 THE NATIONAL GUARD 
 
 A wise move would be the abolishing of the 
 National Guards throughout the country and 
 using the appropriations made in their favor 
 each year for other and more useful purposes, 
 and if in need of military forces in any way 
 use the Federal men instead and give them 
 something to do. There is no reason that I 
 can see for maintaining these civil or state or- 
 ganizations and appropriating money for their 
 use when Federal troops can be called if need 
 arises on short notice and seem to carry more 
 weight or authority with the masses than do the 
 state troops, as all transgressors stand more in 
 fear of U. S. governmental authority than do 
 they at state laws. This, no doubt, will cause 
 quite a bit of contention among advocates and 
 all those who favor the restoration of the 
 National Guard to full powers again, but as I 
 say, in my opinion as I see the situation now, 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 151 
 
 it is a sheer waste of the people's money col- 
 lected by taxation from a tax burdened nation, 
 a condition brought about through war's de- 
 mands. 
 
CHAPTEE XXVII 
 
 DIVISION OF THE SPOILS 
 
 THE time is here when all questions in re- 
 gard to the settlement of the war should 
 and must be threshed out to the satisfaction of 
 all powers concerned, and in such a way that 
 no sediment of dissatisfaction will remain to 
 bring about a rift later that could in time 
 widen into a breach, and then into war. Such 
 a question that is in controversy now among 
 the peace delegates is the one of division of 
 spoils of war among the Allies, each claiming 
 certain parcels as their own through capture 
 during the period of the war. This question 
 must be settled, as I say, definitely and for all 
 time before peace negotiations are gone into 
 much deeper, and the logical way to settle all 
 disputes is to declare the spoils of war the 
 property of all allied nations engaged together 
 in the war at the time of capture, and all to be 
 divided on an equal basis with preferences to 
 none. 
 
 There are certain captured articles, as I will 
 refer to them by that name as I go along, that 
 can hardly be called contraband, or subject to 
 capture, even through the excuse of war, and 
 
 152 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 153 
 
 one of these articles is a cable laid beneath the 
 sea and used to connect more than one neutral 
 nation outside of the colonies of a belligerent 
 nation. It is entirely within reason and proper 
 rights to disconnect this article in any way pos- 
 sible so as to interfere with messages sent 
 through its medium, but no one country should 
 be allowed to maintain control of an article of 
 this kind by calling it a prize of war, especially 
 where it affects other nations not so engaged 
 and where it could be used to react unfavorably 
 against them in times of peace. This, then, 
 should be made an issue of in the conference, 
 and America being one of the countries affected 
 by the capture, or so-called capture, by England 
 of the Pacific cables should insist upon their 
 disposal being made in such a way that will 
 not work to her detriment in the future, as it 
 would lay her at the mercy almost of foreign 
 competitors in the trade fields of the West. 
 
 It is not right, nor is it just, that any one 
 nation when fighting as an ally, aligned with 
 other nations who are practically acting as her 
 buffers, should take advantage of them in any 
 way, although America came into the war after 
 this so-called capture was effected in a sense. 
 
 America, it cannot be denied, did act in a 
 buffer state in regard to England, as were it 
 not for her interference at the time she entered, 
 not as an ally, but as an associate in war, there 
 would have been others deciding the fate of 
 
154 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 the spoils of war and others dictating as to 
 their disposal, as all the world knows today. 
 
 It is not my desire to bring np a controversy 
 over the war, and the part all played in it at 
 this time, bnt I do think that a bit of a reminder 
 will not go amiss in a case where discrimination 
 seems as if it might be assured against the 
 United States, and that is the one thing that I 
 cannot stand. 
 
 T. R. AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE 
 
 I was not invited to be a participant in the 
 conference now going on at Paris, and for that 
 reason, perhaps, it is best that I do not try 
 and take up the questions being settled there, 
 as my spirit self can overhear them, for I will 
 confess that I am an unbidden guest at the feast, 
 but luckily no one guesses the fact as I keep 
 within my bounds and am rather quiet for a 
 spirit of my caliber, even though at times 
 I would revolt, I hold my peace, but I can dis- 
 cuss, without causing contention, the questions 
 as they are released one by one to the press, 
 though I am afraid that the peace conference 
 will be in session long after I close this script 
 on data, so I will confine my writings, as I say, 
 to topics that can be discussed at this time, and 
 then perhaps later I will return to take up the 
 work again when I feel that I can do some good 
 in my way. 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 155 
 
 BOUNDAEY OF FKANCE 
 
 There is another question, though, that will 
 and does come up in the conference, but which 
 has been discussed outside the closed chambers 
 as well, and that is the proper boundary line to 
 be established to protect France from further 
 invasion. 
 
 France will be conceded Alsace-Lorraine, that 
 is a settled fact, as all the world feels that this 
 is but her just due for what she has undergone 
 in the World War, but further than that steps 
 cannot be taken in all justice to establish a 
 buffer state, seizing German soil for the pur- 
 pose. This would be fair neither to the new 
 Germany nor to the buffer states so created, 
 and could but stand as a constant irritation 
 and reminder in the future days when all the 
 world will be trying to forget. 
 
 COLONIES 
 
 All captured German colonies should be held 
 as international charges, and neither returned 
 to German control nor given over as prizes to 
 any one nation, even though that nation may 
 have had the honor of capturing the colonies. 
 Also, any navigable streams under discussion 
 should come under the same head and be treated 
 of in the same manner and made international 
 as far as that they should be controlled, and 
 all disputes settled through international arbi- 
 
156 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 tration. This would settle all disputes in re- 
 gard to the disposal of such articles in such a 
 way that there could be no ill feeling brought 
 to play against any one nation, for all would 
 have a say in the matter, and all certainly have 
 paid a high enough price to gain that end. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 WILSON AT PAKIS 
 
 THE position of the President as occupied 
 in the peace chambers is not one to be 
 envied, as he is looked upon by all the smaller 
 principalities as a sponsor for them, and they 
 look to him to settle all their difficulties and 
 trials, not only those brought out by war, but 
 some others that had been brewing for years, 
 and this task in itself is not one to be over- 
 looked or sidestepped, as often it is one of 
 these small country's affairs that bring about 
 larger entanglements. The allied nations had 
 disposed of this question through secret pacts 
 long ago in a simple way that would suit them 
 admirably, and that was by simply divid- 
 ing these smaller states as prizes of war, we 
 might say, and giving to each nation in the pact 
 those most suited to her needs. While this was 
 in entire accord to the larger nations, it cer- 
 tainly did not fit in with the hopes and future 
 aspirations of the principalities so involved and 
 would have brought about endless friction if 
 this step had been allowed to consummate, and 
 in being asked to act in their behalf to see that 
 full justice is done their case, President Wilson 
 is being placed in a mighty precarious position 
 in relation to his popularity with the entente, 
 
 157 
 
158 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 or representative nations, as he will be placed 
 in the position of dictator in this matter. It 
 is one that requires diplomacy and tact in the 
 handling, as the entente nations will have to 
 relinquish their former plans and renig on their 
 promises, one to the other, and this is not always 
 an easy matter to accomplish graciously at the 
 instigation of what seems to them a foreign in- 
 truder into their affairs, even though that 
 foreigner is bound with them and to them with 
 bonds of blood and spent steel. 
 
 It is not of the people of the nations involved 
 and their opinions that I speak in this manner, 
 but of the opinions of the statesmen of the 
 nations engaged in the peace parleys and whose 
 opinions will affect Mr. Wilson more easily in 
 as much as he will be affected by their change 
 of manner toward him as time goes on. This 
 he will be able to discern, even though to the 
 casual observer there will be no change in re- 
 lations or cordiality. To a man of his caliber, 
 who places justice and right above personal 
 feelings, this change of attitude will affect him 
 not one jot in what he feels is his duty to the 
 world, nor will it cause him to swerve one atom 
 of a fraction from his purpose, but it will only 
 prove to him that he was right in his percep- 
 tions when he saw what appeared to him to be 
 his clear duty in being present personally at 
 the conference until it closed, and all pacts were 
 assured of acceptance, even if in doing so he 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 159 
 
 imperiled his position and prestige in the eyes 
 of some of his narrow-minded countrymen. 
 This is big game that is being stalked, and care 
 must be taken that the hunter is ready at the 
 logical moment, and his aim must be true else 
 he himself fall victim to the others cunning in 
 an unguarded moment. 
 
 I know and can verify my knowledge by per- 
 sonal vision and insight now that Mr. Wilson 
 is a match for any of the statesmen abroad, but 
 that clearness of mind and knowledge of 
 technics would avail him nothing if he were not 
 personally present at Paris to deal directly with 
 the men in person and to handle all questions 
 as they come up for discussion at first hand. 
 This is not a time when the affairs involving 
 the future of America and her freedom in all 
 lines, as well as the freedom of the world, should 
 be left in the hands of secondary agents, but 
 it is the duty of the highest in the land to see 
 that no loophole of injustice is left to bring 
 about cause for contention later. 
 
 INDEMNITY 
 
 Another question that will cause strained re- 
 lations, though not a rupture, will be the Presi- 
 dent's clear stand on what he considers just or 
 unjust claims and deals against German terri- 
 tory and Germany in general. In this matter 
 more ill-feeling will be engendered than in any 
 other issue brought up before the board, as the 
 allied nations expect to bring exorbitant claims 
 
160 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 against the former empire, and these he feels 
 he cannot in all jnstice sanction. This will cause 
 much discussion and many opinions will be 
 freely expressed on this same question through- 
 out the whole world, but no matter which way 
 the pendulum of public opinions swing, he will 
 stand firm in this one respect, as it involves the 
 future peace of the world in a larger sense than 
 it is looked upon today. 
 
 If Germany is given justice and is not forced 
 to bankrupt her resources to pay the debts in- 
 curred by her militant leaders who had usurped 
 the powers of the throne for their own exploit- 
 ance, she will in time settle down to become a 
 normal, well directed republic, for the people 
 and ruled by the people, and a credit to the 
 world, but if the reverse policy is shown her 
 and she is forced into practical serfdom through 
 taxation of heavy indemnity claims that will 
 take years and years to settle, her people will 
 lose all incentive to settle down and begin their 
 lives upon a new plan under a peaceful regime, 
 but revolt upon revolt will ensue that will in 
 time react upon all of Europe, though its fangs 
 will never be strong or long enough to penetrate 
 far into America's shores. 
 
 gekmany's mokal debt 
 
 The outrages perpetrated in the name of war 
 can never be repaid by money, nor can the lives 
 sacrificed to war be paid for by the golden 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 161 
 
 medium. This money that will be claimed then 
 can only salve the wounds, for could its power 
 heal the wounds and assuage the broken hearts 
 left in war's wake I would feel grieved for the 
 people indeed. It would be a step downward, 
 I can assure you, if the people who lost and 
 suffered through the war could be satisfied 
 through a mere monetary settlement, high as 
 money values are held upon the earth. 
 
 The debt that Germany owes to the world is 
 one that cannot be paid in gold, or in reparation 
 of any nature, as it is not within her power or 
 power of any living man to restore to the 
 nations their flowering young manhood so sadly 
 sacrificed to war, or can she pay to herself the 
 debt she owes her own subjects for the loss of 
 their kin as well. True, she can pay enough to 
 restore, in a way, devastated districts and 
 ravaged industrial plants and help build up 
 the home lands in general, but her greatest pay- 
 ment, and one that will go the farthest in pay- 
 ing her debt to the world, will be her joining 
 in accord with other nations in making the 
 world a safe place, by first making herself a 
 safe nation for all the world to trust and then 
 helping to bring everlasting peace and brother- 
 hood among the nations with the nations of 
 the whole universe. This she can do without 
 loss to herself of either prestige or honor, as 
 she holds neither in the eyes of the world today, 
 but through such a compact she could gain both. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 U. S. AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 
 
 IT is up to America to either get in or stay 
 out — getting into the league she loses noth- 
 ing and gains much, much in the way that she 
 retains her prestige and her honor before the 
 world, loses nothing because she stakes nothing, 
 and it's a winning game at that. If she stays out 
 on the advice of those too narrow to see the 
 whole at one time, she loses, as I say, her 
 prestige and her honor, and that means prac- 
 tically everything to a nation, and she holds 
 on tight to her Monroe Doctrine, a doctrine that 
 has stood much abuse from politicians mouth- 
 ing its phrases and not understanding one item 
 of their real meaning. That doctrine is an 
 elastic one and can be stretched in need to meet 
 and fit in with most any argument, but it would 
 not be worth more than the proverbial scrap 
 of paper if it had nothing behind it to enforce 
 its meaning on the world, as the wording itself 
 is not formidable enough to scare any nation 
 with designs upon the territories it covers if the 
 United States armed forces were not visualized 
 between the lines. 
 
 America holds herself as being splendidly 
 isolated on account of her ocean boundaries, 
 
 162 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 163 
 
 but she has territory on the south that could 
 easily be invaded by foreign powers and used 
 as a base to work against her, and it would take 
 more than a standing army of 500,000 to parole 
 and protect that boundary against invaders if 
 they were invaders with a determination and 
 will behind them. 
 
 It is just such possibilities as that one bound- 
 ary possesses that calls for America's joining 
 into the league, not that she need ever fear 
 that her armies could not handle the situation 
 if presented to them, but why not take the steps 
 necessary to avoid such a possibility! 
 
 MONEOE DOCTKIKE AND MEXICO 
 
 There again is a question that the Monroe 
 Doctrine covers in some ways. It gives protec- 
 tion to the lawless elements in Mexico in their 
 uprising against foreign residents there, as 
 America is loathe to enter into that country as 
 an invader, even against the lawless element in 
 defense of her own citizens, and she surely does 
 not go in defense of foreigners quartered there, 
 and the doctrine does not admit of foreign in- 
 vasion by allowing armed forces of foreign land 
 to enter and demand reparation, or war that 
 would in the end lead to conquest, and so 
 guerilla tactics go on unmolested, and he who 
 kills and wins is hero for the time until another 
 supersedes him through better aim or more 
 powerful followers. 
 
164 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 This we know has been going on for years, 
 and as America suffers little from invaders and 
 the troubles brewing constantly, not verging 
 too near her borders, she rightly deems it none 
 of her affair to interfere in an aggressive man- 
 ner, and in this she is right, in so far that to 
 sacrifice American blood to save that land for 
 itself woulcf be almost as futile as pouring 
 water, water more precious than gold, because 
 of its scarcity on the desert, from a water bot- 
 tle onto the sands to make them bloom, be- 
 cause one would be gaining as much as would 
 spilling American blood in Mexico accomplish 
 now, unless one went at it on the same plan 
 as watering the desert would have to be gone 
 after, through running a river upon it by irriga- 
 tion could the desert he made to bloom, and by 
 sending such forces into Mexico that they would 
 over-run the country as a flood, and by taking 
 over the government and running it under 
 America's sheltering wing until the people 
 could prove their power to run it themselves in 
 a proper and law-abiding manner and holding 
 them as subjects of the United States, answer- 
 ing to her laws and to her authorities until that 
 time of freedom for herself should come, would 
 be the only way that I can see to bring about 
 law and order and safety into Mexico, but this, 
 of course, is not a question for immediate settle- 
 ment, but I suggest it because of its relationship 
 in the sponsorship America owes to Mexico 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 165 
 
 through her interpretation of the much dis- 
 cussed Monroe Doctrine. 
 
 MEXICO AND THE LEAGUE 
 
 There is no question but that she holds large 
 responsibilities under the terms of that doctrine, 
 but these would not have to be relinquished 
 upon her entrance into the league, nor would 
 the pact allow of any nation violating that docu- 
 ment's terms; rather, on the contrary, the 
 league would but strengthen America and 
 lessen her responsibilities in that she would 
 would have no fear of violations occurring be- 
 cause of the fact that it is to settle just those 
 questions of nations' rights before arbitration 
 boards and giving each nation a chance to air 
 their grievances before taking steps of more 
 serious nature that the league will prove a pro- 
 tection rather than a detriment, and careful 
 study will prove that I am right in my con- 
 jectures on this subject as I see it laid out 
 before me now. 
 
 Not only will protection be afforded to the 
 nations, large and small, against invasion with- 
 out due warning, but many questions that arise 
 during the course of time concerning what one 
 nation may think is discrimination in trade 
 channels and even tariff questions that might 
 cause dispute could be settled under an inter- 
 national law or ruling, so that fairness to all 
 would be the result. As the covenant stands 
 
 12 
 
166 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 now, each nation would be given free right in 
 all matters pertaining to her own questions in 
 this regard, and with this I do not seek to 
 interfere in my assertion that drawn issues 
 could be submitted to the arbitration committee, 
 but I wish to convey the suggestion for the 
 value it may contain, as it is often these very 
 small, insignificant grains of disputes that set 
 the whole machinery of civilization at variance 
 through war. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE IKELAND QUESTION 
 
 AMERICA cannot rightfully interfere in the 
 -£** Irish settlement question at this or any 
 other time, as that affair rests entirely between 
 Ireland as a subject and England as the sov- 
 ereign over her in rule. It would be as unwise 
 for America to try and interfere in this age 
 old feud as it would be for England to try and 
 dictate or interfere between America and her 
 possessions, as nothing gives the United States 
 the right except Ireland's demands for freedom 
 to become a republic of free men, under their 
 own home rule. 
 
 They will in time gain their independence 
 and their freedom from British power, but will 
 find that freedom alone does not bring success 
 and settlement of all difficulties at the same 
 stroke. Able leaders and' brilliant minds 
 a plenty are to be found in that small isle as 
 well as noble-hearted sons of toil, but, too, there 
 will be found a class ready to hoist itself, if not 
 deterred, into control as soon as freedom shall 
 be established, and it is a great problem to 
 separate the sheep from the wolves in camou- 
 flaged wool, because once in power it seems 
 almost impossible to eradicate the breed. 
 
 167 
 
168 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 England would do well to set this island free 
 as part of her peace program. By doing so she 
 would receive renewed prestige as a nation be- 
 lieving in truer justice to all her possessions or 
 colonies because of their aid in her critical 
 moments, though some little disturbances may 
 have rippled the tranquil waters of peaceful 
 relationship between the child and parent 
 through fault of a slight few, but not the 
 majority. 
 
 IN ENGLAND 
 
 England has many problems of her own to 
 settle, not including this greater question, as 
 peace did not seem to come to her at home with 
 the signing of the armistice ; rather on the con- 
 trary labor problems seemed to become para- 
 mount, and confusion reigned where had been 
 organized system for the winning of the war, 
 a result of unexpected peace conditions and no 
 preparations made to combat the reverse situa- 
 tion brought about through peace in the doing 
 away with many positions made necessary 
 through war's demands, thus throwing many 
 out of employment who were receiving a goodly 
 wage in war work and who were not willing to 
 take up different work readily and at a vastly 
 reduced wage. 
 
 Idleness always begets trouble. It is only 
 the busy in brain or body, busy in useful un- 
 dertaking, that are contented and happy with 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 169 
 
 life as they find it, and it is one of the big 
 problems of nations to keep its people in just 
 that contented and happy state of being. 
 
 UNIVERSAL PEACE 
 
 It is not my object to try and solve the prob- 
 lems of the internal troubles of foreign nations, 
 and so I will go no farther with this subject 
 than to acid that I am looking forward to a day 
 of universal peace, not only throughout the 
 world, but throughout each nation as well. Each 
 has its own problems to solve, and each must 
 solve them in its own way. 
 
 Ireland feels justified in looking to America 
 for help in her struggle, even demanding that 
 help as her right, but America cannot be held 
 sponsor or arbitrator for the world's enthralled 
 or down-trodden people when there is no just 
 cause for her interference, and it is only when 
 the peoples cry out for help through unjust 
 treatment and brutality towards them that she 
 can reasonably assume a dictatorship in their 
 behalf, and certainly this is not the case in this 
 instance. 
 
 CUBA 
 
 In going to the help of down-trodden and 
 starving Cuba she did so through purely hu- 
 manitarian motives and because they were in 
 need of help and sustenance, and even this 
 purely charitable expedition led to unforeseen 
 
170 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 entanglements. America has always been a 
 friend in need to the oppressed throughout the 
 world without regard to nation, race or creed, 
 and she will never fail a needy one in their 
 call to her if that need be manifest; even Ger- 
 many, that nation despised now of all the world, 
 will not cry in vain for mercy and justice if 
 that call be just. 
 
 LOST HOPE 
 
 Certainly no country will have had greater 
 need of a sign of a friendly hand extended 
 through the darkness of despair and the black 
 waters of oblivion of prestige, honor and power 
 as a nation among the great than will Germany 
 in her newer state of rejuvenation, as a republic 
 out from under the Kaiser rule. 
 
 Greater punishment cannot come to man or 
 nation than the loss of all hopes. To have 
 staked all, taking a gambler 's chance of win- 
 ning high stakes and then losing everything 
 at one fell swoop is one of the greatest and most 
 calamitous blows that could fall on man or 
 nation, as it brings in its wake either of two 
 evils — oblivion that is merciful in comparison 
 to degradation. That is why many men who 
 fail in what should have proved great under- 
 takings often take their lives rather than face 
 the world as failures. They seek what they be- 
 lieve will be oblivion in preference to facing 
 degradative thoughts within others, directed 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 171 
 
 towards themselves, which though not always 
 put into word form still can be felt by he upon 
 whom these thoughts are directed. 
 
 In cases of this kind where the principal to 
 the tragedy leaves kindred behind, he feels that 
 he is doing them a justice in making away with 
 himself and leaving them free to carry on with- 
 out the blot of his presence to retard them, 
 and so it is with nations as with individuals. 
 When the structure falls the ruler who has been 
 the cause of disaster should obliterate himself 
 in a manner that would cause the least discus- 
 sion, and should leave his people free to re- 
 make their lives and their nation without his 
 retarding presence or shadow as a dark, fore- 
 boding cloud ever on the horizon, darkening 
 their skies for all time. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXI 
 
 CLEAR VISION 
 
 PEOBLEMS that to me seemed, while on 
 earth, complicated and hard to nnravel to 
 reach and grasp their true meaning are to 
 me like an open book with well written pages. 
 
 Death lends clear vision and true insight to 
 the mind once befogged and clouded. The 
 glamour and gilt of life vanishes with death's 
 call, and bare and naked she stands clear and 
 readable in all her phases to the spirit eye. 
 
 Minds of men, and hearts, where lie hidden 
 deep secrets and emotions, lay bare to spirit 
 eye. Friends who called themselves that to 
 us while we still were in physical life have been 
 put to the test and found worthy or not by this 
 ability of being able to read the heart, and, 
 thank God, I still can say that I was blessed 
 with true friends whose friendship extended 
 deeper than mere expression and courtesy. I 
 would rather have known one such true friend 
 on earth than to have gained riches far sur- 
 passing anything yet known. A friend whose 
 friendship lies in the heart is a possession 
 rare and priceless, more so than any jewel 
 that glows and glitters. Few ever gain this 
 rare jewel, and few possess the power to be- 
 
 172 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 173 
 
 come such a one. To those of my friends to 
 whom I wish to pay this tribute from spirit 
 land, I wish to say, God be with you through the 
 days and nights of your iniquity, and may He 
 bless and lead you into paths of righteousness 
 and light, preparing you to enter the spirit state 
 without fear of a past to bring shadow over the 
 future for a time long in eternity. 
 
 REJOICE WITH ME 
 
 Mourn not for me that I am gone from your 
 midst, rather rejoice with me at my entrance 
 into the spirit state, where freedom from bodily 
 ills and f etterments of the body are the reward, 
 and where the soul is pure in thought or deed 
 through the clear vision made possible by this 
 state of transition. I have lived, enjoyed pres- 
 tige and power such as is alloted few on earth. 
 I lived, I loved, ran the gamut of human emo- 
 tions, lived my few years filling each one of 
 them full to the brim with experiences of wide 
 range and color, and then when at last death 
 called, I passed away with him, quietly and un- 
 obtrusively, without struggle or display, and so 
 closed the last chapter of my eventful life on 
 earth, but not so my spirit or inner life. 
 
 It was not that I wished to go at that time; 
 rather would I have prolonged my journey had 
 I dared. To me mortal life held much of what 
 I considered unfulfilled duties in the interests 
 of my country and my fellow men, but in that 
 
174 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 I was mistaken, else had I a mission unfulfilled 
 on earth I would not have been called from the 
 ranks as I was. 
 
 DEATH 'S CHOOSING 
 
 Death does not choose at random, but with 
 well defined and careful system, choosing those 
 upon whom God has laid the finger of approval 
 as ready for the great adventure into the un- 
 known. Each has a mission to fulfill, and each 
 is alloted a specified time in which to carry out 
 God's plan, be he or she tiny babe who only 
 gasps and passes away, or be they gray haired 
 and tottering, feeble and trembling with age. 
 Bail not at death's decrees and think not that 
 God has forsaken His world when a loved one 
 falls under -the reaper's hand. Eather, if only 
 the understanding were there, rejoice that one 
 you loved was thought worthy enough to be 
 called after their life's mission was done, and 
 so live and adjust your life that you, too, friend, 
 foe or loved one left behind, may become worthy 
 of following into the land of spirit life. 
 
 MY PLEA 
 
 I ask no greater boon than that the work I 
 have put into these written pages shall not be 
 for naught, but that they may reach far out 
 to carry the messages I have tried to convey, 
 through the only method I found at my com- 
 mand, and through the power conveyed by God 
 
POST MORTEM OPINIONS 175 
 
 upon this medium whose very obscurity of fame 
 will tend to throw shadow of doubt as to the 
 authenticity of this as being of my composition 
 through spirit power, but to those who knew 
 me best my voice and manner of address will 
 be apparent throughout this volume, and no 
 greater proof can I offer than this — my spirit 
 thoughts expressed in words, 
 
 IN CLOSING 
 
 I can go no further, or deeper, into the in- 
 tricacies of the peace program as it is being 
 formulated today without betraying diplomatic 
 secrets that are not ready for public perusal, 
 or do I care to go further in giving opinions 
 upon other matters and questions arising daily 
 in America and abroad at this time. I have 
 touched upon what I consider some of the more 
 important issues of the day, not, perhaps, quot- 
 ing opinions of the same caliber as would have 
 been my expressions if I had still my earthly 
 vision, but while with transition vision has 
 changed, mode of expression and of handling 
 a subject in my own particular way has not 
 deserted me, nor been cast off with my bodily 
 coating. 
 
 My spirit stands today as indomitable in will 
 as was it on earth, though clothed in different 
 raiment. Though my body may moulder in the 
 grave, my spirit lives on, ever in the service 
 of the land I held so dear, and ever ready to 
 
176 POST MORTEM OPINIONS 
 
 do its bidding to the best of my ability. Long 
 may my work live in the land that gave me 
 birth, and may that memory remain in the eyes 
 of all as of one who was above all a real though 
 rugged American. Rough and ready, but loyal 
 ever. To all I bid good-by. March 12, 1919. 
 
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