The President has made it clear that, like Lincoln, he
will stand no nonsense from the agitators against conscription, whether they are German agents or Pacificists, or mere politicians fishing in troubled waters. Riots organized by the Peace Party in Chicago and other places have been suppressed, and the would-be peace- makers, who as usual are the first to resort to violence, are being prosecuted. Conspiracies to promote fresh disorders have been discovered in States as far apart as Virginia, Texas, and Washington by a vigilant police, and the Federal Courts will know how to deal with the offenders. It is highly improbable that Mr. Wilson will have to face anything so serious as the Irish riots in New York against the Draft which Lincoln put down by military force. He has less to fear from active opposition, whether honest or treason- able, than from the indifference and apathy of the inland States, whose people, like many Englishmen in the first year of the conflict, do not realize yet that America is at war.
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