THE LEAGUE AND THE WAR 



doubled, and were presently aided by an un- 

 fortunate speech a United States Senator 

 conspicuous as an opponent of the war and 

 representing a state that contains a larger 

 percentage of persons of German birth or 

 descent than any other state in the Union. 

 He was addressing at St. Paul a convention 

 held under League auspices. Several versions 

 of his speech came to be extant, and eventu- 

 ally the Senator repudiated the versions that 

 were most resented. Because of his remarks 

 on this occasion he was brought before a com- 

 mittee of the Senate on charges, but in the 

 end these were dropped. What he said, ac- 

 cepting his own account of it, was highly ob- 

 jectionable to the majority of the people, and 

 the worst part of it was that while the League 

 had no responsibility for his utterances, they 

 were used extensively and industriously to in- 

 crease the feeling already aroused against the 

 reform movement. At that same convention 

 President Townley made a speech that may 

 be taken as a fair exposition of his state of 

 mind and that of the other League leaders 

 in those days. He said: 



Let me try to make plainer still to you the reason 

 for the injustice in our industrial life. This war will 

 cost America maybe thirty, forty billions of dollars. 

 It is very difficult to raise so many billions of dollars. 

 It entails tremendous sacrifices on us all, a sacrifice 

 that we shall not shurk. Those billions ^vill be spent 



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