Life Before Honor?

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Since the crisis with Germany has taken place, the pacifists, headed by Mr. Bryan, have come to the fore, sporting a veritable menagery of peace-doves and soft drinks. I have talked with every advocate of pacifism that I could get close enough to on the street and they all say that, in the President's place, they would have applauded Germany for her latest move and rejoiced that the war was at last on a fair basis. I got several of them to endorse the statement that their lives were more valuable than their honor or their moral welfare. "There would be no civilization if honor came before existence," they said.

Now I would like to ask them two questions.

You say you prefer life and the "pursuit of happiness" to the "dictates of humanity" and national honor. What one of you is there to whom the honor of your women is less dear than their lives? And yet you would give a veiled compliment to their sex by calling your country "she". What one of you is there who dares deny the open insult of Germany's defiance? What pacifist would have saved his own life on the Lusitania, to let a child and mother drown? And yet you say "life before honor"!

And in closing, my second question:

Mr. Bryan said the other night that "any dispute which cannot be settled amicably at this time should be deferred till after the war." How about it? Two wars? DAVID O. WOODBURY '18.