Edward P. Costigan to Woodrow Wilson
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May I say to you in all frankness and earnestness that I am one of many who were distressed this morning to learn that the criminal charge in New York against Eastman, Reed and others is to be pressed to trial in June? There is nothing of fact or persuasion which I may add to what you already know and feel on the subject, but I ought perhaps to say that I find myself unable to understand the backward-looking attitude of certain prosecutors in an hour when forward-facing unity is increasingly desirable.
Contrasting past and present viewpoints, I remember less than two years ago one of the strongest appeals made on your behalf in the Middle West by Progressives, who then and continually since have supported your administration, was summed up in the sentence: "President Wilson believes peace honorable." Some men and women have bridged the long distance between then and now easily and without friction. Others according to their differences of endowment and development have arrived, in doubting Thomas fashion, by halting steps and through criticism. Personally, I have no question that Eastman, Reed and the rest are in accord with the present overwhelming national mind and purpose, and, as one who remembers seeing many a fine spirit tinged with cynicism by certain pre-war conditions, now generally condemned as un-ideal, I hope something may be done by you to solve with wisdom the problem presented by so understandable an evolutionary process.
I trouble you with reluctance, and trust you will not feel called on to reply.
Believe me, as always, with deep respect,
E. P. Costigan
EPC/J
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