Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 126, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1917 — A New Note Is Struck By Philosophes. [ARTICLE]

A New Note Is Struck By Phil osophes.

Homer McKee has struck a new note in the hours of calamity that is assailing the ears of Americans today, and his voice rises Clear and helpful above the dolorous wailing of trfb multitude of writers who feel it incumbent upon themselves to become prophets of evil. The appended paragraphs will give the reader inspiration: “For heaven’s sake let us figure on a net basis. “Afherica is up against a stiff proposition—granted. “We’ll probably lose a couple of hundred thousand men before tais thing is over, and you and the writer may be two of them. What of it, so long as the great principles upon which this government is founded still endure? “But there is absolutely no chance for us to lose the war. And. doesn’t it mean something to Americans to know that at last their hour has struck, and that from today on. we are to be a nation, rich in tradition, a power among world powers, and that the voice of one Uncle Sam is going to be raised in the h t;h councils of the, mighty, not in a tone of arrogance and vaunting egotism, but in the deep-throated tones of one who is right, and who has at last learned to use his big duxes. America is already the world’s one great arbiter —the world’s one great throne of appeal—the world’s chaperon, protector and chief of pblice—all in one—incorruptible, fair and fearless. “I like to say these things because it makes me feel good. It makes me feel my Americanism. It makes me feel my birthright and it sort of justifies the lump I get in my throat when the flag goes by. “God, what a privilege to be an American these days. “What a privilege to know that all of us can spend our money and our time and maybe our blood itself, in behalf of the greatest cause since time began. “It is as if we were permitted to punish all the concentrated crime of the ages, to put the kiss of solace on the wasted cheek of Mother Earth and love her back to life, and to gather the orphans of heroes about our knees and tell them fairy tales of how their fathers died, like the martyr of Galilee —‘that men might live.’ , . ... • This is not a time for tears —it is a time for ecstacy. '. “These are not the pangs of death —they are humanity’s birth pains. America is not going to taste defeat —she is not even going to sip the edge of the cup. . “Here, on the other hand, is what America is going to do: “America is going to throw her weight in the scales of righteousness and end the submarine carnage. “America is going to be in time to save poor, bleeding, heroic, sublime France. * , “America is going to come back into the old Anglo-Saxon family circle and be the big boy who left home and who has won his spurs and made his way in the world. “America is going to have the finest, cleanest and most respected army in the world, and it is to be an army of Christian soldiers —not an army of hate and horror. “The American flag is going to float from the spars of the finest merchant marine on earth. : “Wilson is going down in history as the man who knew his hour and arose to meet it. “Henceforth, when we register from the U. S. A. ,in the hotels of other lands, men will speak gently and women will drop unbidden .tears of gratitude, and children will hush their voices in the presence of a love that no man cart define. “Wherefore all this gloomy neighbors? “Let us throw out our chests, hold up our chins, and thank Divine Providence for the honor of taking the white man’s burden off shoulders that are still strong—but, oh, how weary.” . _