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Show GOV. OOX'S EXCUSE FOR I HIS WAR EDITORIALS I WILL NOT DO I When tho stnrtllng J revelations came the other day about the strongly pro-German course of Governor Gov-ernor Coxb principal newspaper, Just before we entered tho war, no waited lu fairness to him tu nee what he had lu say in reply. Ilccausu fair play Is a general American trait wc havo no doubt that tho public waited. Now that ho has made his answer we do not hesitate to say It will not do for us. It will not do for the American people. And we aro bound to declare that, becauBa of the way he sought to evade his icsponslbility In this grave matter tiylng to shift tho blume to somebody some-body else, ho Iiob not raised hlm-, hlm-, pc-U lu our esteem and cannot lnlso I himself In the esteem of t tin Amer-I Amer-I lean public. There ate two Hcparatc phases of thia mutter. Thero Is tho serious thing which the paper Itself did at that time. Thero is tho shocking thing wnich Governor Cox" does now when that thing In brought befoio tho eyes of tho nation whllo ho la a cnmlldnto for President of tho United Unit-ed Slates. There might bo room for two opinions, opin-ions, as to whether Governor Cox's newspaper followed a wholly lndo-feuBlble lndo-feuBlble or a partly dcfciiHlblo course when, even nftcr tho Lusltaula had been torpedoed and hundreds of our fellow cltUenH thereby murdered, It published such editorial brutalltleH as the following: "Wo havo not heard of njnny Am crlcans biting their finger nails at tho thought of tho submnrlno activities. activi-ties. All of ub feel sorry for n merchant mer-chant vessel that Is sent to the bot tom of tho sea whether armed or unarmed. Wo feel sorry also for tho man-of-war that Is sunk Immediate i ly ater an encounter. Wo sympathize sympa-thize with tho soldiers who aro los- i Ing their lives In tho trenches, with miserable humanity In general Dut our skirts aro clear as regards tho activity of tho German U boats. They havo committed no crlmo against us. Wo feel sorry for tho meit who havo lost their lives in the war and for tho women and children who havo been mado to suffer though no fault of their on; but It Is not our war." Thero might bo two ways of think Ing as o whotlicr Governor Cox and his paper wero Justified In wishing this countr to Btay out of tho war at whatovor cost to Is own Immediate Immedi-ate honor and ultlniato safety. Thero might bo those to defend even such an editorial remark by his paper ai tho following, when ho was running for governor In tho autumn of 1016 after Btlll moro hundreds of American Ameri-can lives had Doen sacrificed by Gorman Gor-man submarines: "Every indication now Is that tens of thousands of theso splendid pcoplo pco-plo (Geimans) stilt sympathizing with tho Fatherland, stltl betlelng In tho righteousness of tho German cause, still hopeful that Germany will win thero Is ovnry ovldonco that they will voto for President Wilson for oloctlon AS THE REST MEANS OF AIDING GERMANY." 1 Dut surely 'thoro can bo no two r opinions among upstanding, right thinking Americans as to tho un-' un-' manly, flUiay nlmost pltlnblo excuse 1 or Governor Cox now for what his 1 paper said and did 'then. His excuse ' Birlously offered io the poopla of th( j Unitod States when ho . Io asklnv "... their votes for him to bo their Prcs- hhl Ident. Is that his editor Is to blamo fkbfl for the nets of his papor. It was a (11 hired man who did it. Governor jH Cox was not busy with his political H aiTalrs to know what his hired man iil was making his newspaper say about 3111 German torpedoes slaughtering Am- liil erlcan men, woiuon and children by JPH the hundreds of thousands. Il Now, It Ih known merely lo tho liH newspaper profession, It Is known to JjH all men, that tho proprietor and iH publisher of a newspaper Is responal- liH ble, cannot dodge responsibility, for jifl an habitual, determined and notor- liil lous editorial policy of his publico- IH tlon. This is so In custom, it Is so iH In moinls, It Is so In lnw. And liil thcio Is no possibility that at such iiiH a time Governor Cox did not know iiil what his paper wan doing. pfeiii Whether ho thinks his newspaper IPPJ was right or wrong In, la edi- niiil torlal course of tho.so dreadful days lil when we wero on ttio brink of war, H for Governor Cox lo Htand up now jH nnd offer to tho American pcoplo PpH mich an excuse1 for tho porslstcnt iiil nnd Insistent .declarations of his ilH uowspaoer through thoso days nnd IH weeks nnd months Is to show him- ill self lu a moro unpleasant light than lll the American pcoplo ever could havo H wished to sco any candidate for Pros- jpH Ident icvealed. Whatever 'they may think of tho course of his newspaper jjl then, they muso tegurd tho courso !H of Governor Cox now as something jiiil rH alien to American tradition. They tJH must think of It as something mean jil In American conduct. They must hl look upon It as something repcllant iH In Amerllcan annals. J M Tho American pcoplo, those who M aro Republicans and thoso who nro JpH Democrats, must deplore that tho ,pH San Francisco convention did not 'PPJ 1 produco for lis candidate a man who lpH In such a situation, however pain- PJJ ful, could stand up straight, and M look his follows squarely In the eye. , fH Sun nnd New York Herald, fpH |