E.G. Blubough letter to Champ Clark - April 26, 1917

Transcript

[Mount Vernon], Ohio. April 26, 1917. Hon. Champ Clark, M.C. Washington, D.C. Esteemed Sir: I have noted your opposition to conscription, and I can not refrain from writing you a complimentary note for the stand you have taken. The common people are with you, and that means the country. The newspapers are not fighting this war, only from a buncombe standpoint, prompted by auriferous desires; but they are responsible for our present plight, and the sayings of an old statesman “that sooner or later the nation must pay for the windows which the newspapers have smashed” will be demonstrated in this country. There are too many in congress to day with caterpillar spines that stand O and led by one man power. You need not hold your ear close to the ground to-day to hear the mutterings against conscription the people are 10 to 1 against it and if the cream of this nation is to be disgraced by conscription, the nation will be disgraced later. Do not understand me to be a pacifist, slacker or pro-enemy but a genuine American, born, bred and want to die in America and not in some foreign blood soaked trench fighting for the gladiators of lucre. I wish you the best from the bottom of my heart in this trying ordeal; may the star of light continue to guide you in the future as in the past, as you have already proven yourself a nations martyr. From one that wishes you well, E. G. Blubaugh 715 E. Vine., [Mount Vernon], Ohio.