If This Be Treason

His grey bangs newly barbered, his coat collar fitting as badly as ever, Secretary of War Stimson paced into his press conference with a glint in his usually glintless eye. He had something up his sleeve: a postcard. To 40 correspondents and Army officers, stewing gently in Washington's summer steam heat, he made a couple of routine announcements, then cleared his throat and waited for questions.

The question he was waiting for came: Had Mr. Secretary anything to say on the matter of keeping drafted men under arms longer than a year? Mr. Secretary had, very decidedly. He then played his postcard.

The card had been received fortnight before by a professional soldier, Sergeant William Lester White of Fort Benning, Ga. Sergeant White read it. boiled over, then sent the card with a letter to General George C. Marshall, an old friend. What caused Sergeant White to boil over was the card's message: "Write today to President Roosevelt . . . that you are against our entry into the European war. (Signed) Senator Burton K. Wheeler."

Mr. Stimson read White's letter aloud, then showed the press a similar card, sent to Lieut. Alfred T. Hearne at Fort McIntosh, Tex. Had Mr. Secretary any comment on these exhibits? Yes, he had jotted down something. From a typewritten flimsy he read: ". . . It is necessary to keep this force in existence . . . peril still exists. ... At this moment, a circular is sent out which will have the effect of impairing discipline. . . . Without expressing legal opinions, I will simply say that I think that comes very near the line of subversive activities against the United States--if not treason." With this terrible word in their beaks, the correspondents broke from the room like a flushed covey.

Snorted Isolationist Wheeler: "One can probably excuse Secretary Stimson on the ground of his age and incapacity. Everyone . . . knows that the old gentleman is unable to carry on the duties of his office and some go so far as to say that ... he is gaga. ... If it is near treason to ask the President to keep his sacred promises . . . then ... I am guilty of 'near treason," whatever that may be." He admitted that 1,000,000 cards had been sent out under his Congressional frank, declared that: 1) the America First Committee had paid for the printing; 2) the cards had not been sent purposely to soldiers but to an ordinary commercial list.

From the Commander in Chief at Hyde Park came this nod to the angry Secretary. He declared that an editorial in the New York Times headed "Mr. Wheeler Goes Too Far" had not gone too far.

Three days later, Wheeler made a full-dress reply in the Senate. He declared that the President had "joined the wolves of war in their slanderous attack," that Stimson " with deliberate cunning . . . created the utterly false and spurious impression that I had circulated this franked card principally among selectees. . . ."

California's white-haired Hiram Johnson rose to defend his isolationist colleague: "Every man in this chamber should be proud of you, as I am proud of you today. ... A man is charged with treason. For what? For saying that men in army camps have the right to petition their President. For God's sake, have we reached the point in government where there is no right of ... free speech?"

He painted a picture of Wheeler in a concentration camp, shouted: "I will go with him! We will go together. We will stand together for the rights of the people. So I say: stick to it, Brother Wheeler. .. ."

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