Mr. Schiff is plainly candid, so I have framed
an open letter to elicit his opinion:
[_An Open Letter to Jacob H. Schiff._]
Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, New York.
My Dear Sir: The universal esteem which you enjoy in the country of your
adoption lends great weight to any utterance of yours on public matters.
Your interview on the war in THE TIMES of Nov. 22 will everywhere have
influence for its gravity and fineness of feeling. It is with
compunction that I call your attention to the fact that your statement
is ambiguous on precisely those issues of the conflict which your
fellow-citizens have nearest at heart.
Your general position may be described as a desire for prompt peace and
restoration of the former balance of power. More specifically you wish
"Germany to be victorious, but not too victorious." If this be merely an
instinctive expression of the residual German in you, an expression made
with no practical implications of any sort, no American will do
otherwise than respect such a sentiment. But if you deliberately desire
a moderate victory for Germany, with all that such moderate victory
practically implies, it behooves your fellow-citizens to judge your
views in the light of what these really call for.
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