The World Needs Mitchells

By Jock Dionne

(On December first, 1925, there appeared in ihese columns a black-faced editorial bearing the above title. At that time they were fixing to try Billy Mitchell for insubordination. The matter seemed so pertinent and the philosophy so sound that we take pleasure in reprinting it, twenty years later.)

As far as the detailed merits of the case of the Government against Col. Mitchell are concerned, we offer no opinion.

Whether or not he violated his obligatiors as a soldier by attacking his superiors is a point we will not attempt to pass on.

But insofar as the PRINCIPLE of the thing is concerned -WE ARE STRONG FOR THIS MITCHEI-I, PI]RSON.

'flre rvorld or.ves all of its progress, from the day when .^ clam Stonehatchet chippecl his first weapon of offense and <lcfense out of the living rock .up t() now, t() men of the Mitchell type; nen n'ho rvere totally unrvilling to keep in the rnt, to follorv the footsteps of plodders, ancl t<t permit tfrenrselves to be muzzled when the speaking time came.

If it n'ere not for men of the Mitchell type-progressives --men rvho cannot be restrained frorn rearing up on their hind legs and speaking the truth out in meeting whether it pleased the.powers that be or not-we vvould still be living in caves, clad in the skins of wild beasts, and chasing one another around the trees with knotty-headed clubs loaded to scatter.

Only through the Mitchells has the world progressed, have foolish and worn-out traditions been disrupted, and shackles been stricken from the minds and the hands of humanity.

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth, and it is through the fearlessness of men who won't be held down and cannot be restrained, that the world keeps forging onrvard.

Moses was one of that type. So was Jesus. And Buddha. And Confucius. And Socrates. And Galileo. And Roger Bacon. And Isaac Newton. And Luther. And Cromwell. And the men 'rvho took the Bastille. And George Washington. And Abraham Lincoln. And Columbus. And Robert Ingersoll. And countless others.

Not iconoclasts ! Not simply men who tear dorvn, but men who destroy in order that we may build to better advantage. Men rvho have visions of better things for men, and who throw off restraint and assault worn-out. cast-off. erroneous thoughts, and methods, and replace them with better thoughts and better things, in order that mankind may live the more abundantly, and may develop, and grow as God intencled that he should.

We enter the postwar period with Hope and Confidence.

Hope-for a rapid and peaceful reconversion to a civilian economyl and-

Confidence in our American system of living.

We are building up our inventories and stand ready, as always, to take care of your Hardwood needs.