Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-04-21 | Page 6 | Kenyon's Courage

KENYON'S COURAGE. "JC vwir comes out of this," ic-. marks Sena I or Ken yon of Iowa, ' ' 1 hope t lu- f irat to enlist will be tlms? who have insisted on riding on -armed bollici i'iit liips. " .Senator Kcnyon justly believes that ovei yone should have the courage ol hi? convictions. The senator likewise ' should face the consequences of bis con- j iclion, but we feel quite, sure thai if he were called upon to meet such a crisis his courage would oo.e rapidly away and leave him awash in a sea oi" fears aii'.l regrets. The Sussex was not an armed belligerent bellig-erent ship. Like other ships which Ger- man submarine commanders have sunV . without warninc it was an unarmed, pasr-enr boat carrying several Amcr- j icaus abroad on business matters re- j luting to the enormous trade we have built up since the war began. If, therefore, the brave Senator Ken-j you is willing to face the ultimato con-j seijiiiMK'rs of his policy, he should de- ; luaud that Americans remain off all i ships in the designated sea war zones j and that would mean that none of our j business representatives could go) ' to Europe to handle the titanic trade j : which is such a comfort to all of us,; i including Senator Kcnyon. We are not j ; here referring to the war muni- j tious trade. We could cut out that t trade and still he .jujigtiu;; with mil-j lions and billions. ! A year apo men such as- Senator! Kenyon glibly assumed that there v.asj no need for Americans .to go abroad, j They pictured our traveleis in Europe j as curiosity seekers who were ready i to imperil their country 's welfare for 1 the idle satisfaction of loue-troi tiDj. Hut more than a year and a half of the mightiest foreign trade wo have ever enjoyed has demonstrated that our business; representatives must travel in j Knrope if the country is to keep its principal foreign trade. The alternative alterna-tive is to leave our business in the hands of foreipners, at their men-y and discretion. Under such a regime, the profits would go to the foreigners in large measure, and when the war ended we would have such a slight hold upon the trad'- that we could retain but a modicum of what we bad secured by ou r i m.iust : y and orgauizat ion. If we forbade our nationals to ha aid i hy perils of thf- high seas we would be from pel led to warn them against i raveling even ou neutral ships bound from one neutral port to another, for t icrinan submarines are sinking even sU'-b ships. Sr-ru t ni Kenyon. we make no doubt, is as much p!acd with our foreign Trade as those who belie e that it should be protected by warships if nec-f-snry. If we are driven into the war it will be primarily because e i-h to p rot net our countrymen from I piracy a nd murder on the high seas, ! nit a ; the same '.ime v e ran pi o- I i ''"-t o.' r fund mi t r;nl 1; is not ig- !:Oule to fight in delene -of our prop- I ci ty interests. 'Jerijiaiiy ha-, tm.ght us j -Lai. 'Jiie of tho dominant reasons fori ieimny 's i-ai ti.-ipat ion in the prs- ! c-rt war is the desire and the aggreive! v, ill to secure a greater put tion of the; v. :Tld s trade, to secure ' ' a phu e in : the sun, ' ' ' Sei;;ilor Kcnyou i.- glad to share with ;he rest of his countrymen our unpre--'-dented foreign trade, but would he ' willing to commit that trade to the lender mercies of the foreigner"? And i I he were wi Hi n". how would he de-t de-t '-nd A mericn n honor for permit 1 v.u the foreigner to take all th- ribk-while ribk-while we bagged the trade?