Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 242, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1917 — Page 2

W hy French-Canadians Won't

Million and a half offyem in the United States proud to fight for Unde Sam:: Those tn the Dominion show ancient hate for England, once their conquerer

g—SST-IN THE United States a mil- | jS I lion and a half French--10 1 Canadians are proud to make war for Uncle Sam. Those In Canada have rewjfused to volunteer for service andl have fought conscription dangerously and fiercely. They declare that fighting for Canada is fighting for England, once their conqueror. Why all the rumpus? We present here an analysis of the situation by Yvonne LeMaltre, a French-Cana-dian. Her article is taken from the Boston Transcript, and says In part: The one great striking fact about the behavior of the French-Canadians on the Yankee side of the line —or French-Amerlcans, as they want to be called — is the contrast with the attitude of their Quebec cousins. Their response to the call has been splendid. According to recruiting officers, they and the Italians are the two racial groups which have furnished the largest proportion of volunteers in New England. And since the coining of the draft, not only have they been promptly and patriotically acquiescent to the nation’s demand, but have filed fewer exemption claims, again according to official report from the stations, than any other element in the population of foreign stock. Aside from this patriotic American war spirit, their sympathy and affectionate regard for France is lively; there is scant friendship for Britaih, and interest in Canadian affairs is keen among the older people and practically absent among the youngeK— Lowell, with its population of some 28,000 people of French name and . race, is a shining spot for the study of this “triple patriotism”—if one may dare the term —involving a race twice transplanted and as often de-national-ized and re-nationalized. The natives of France in Lowell are few, and chiefly represented by priests in charge of the largest French Catholic parish in the city and by members of a religious brotherhood, the Marists, in charge of the boys’ parochial school in the same parish. Several of these Marists are at the front, having at once responded when the call came from France early-in the war. One was killed on his first day under fire. So tills calm home of a French Catholic brotherhood in Lowell, surrounded by a delightful garden, with a charming view on the Merrimac, is a spot where the war is very much of a reality and every mall from France an event. Lowell’s French-Canadian stock, like all others submitted to Uncle Sam's alchemy, varies greatly in degrees of American assimilation. It has the two extremes, of complete assimilation and utter “hyphenation,” and alt the shades between. By the newspapers they read ye shall know them! Lowell has a large enough contingent of the older French-Canadians who subscribe to La Presse and La Patrie of Montreal and to Le Devoir, Bourassa’s organ, and to whom Canada is still very near; they are the ones interested in the conscription quarrel in the Dominion. It has a much larger number who read only American papers, young people born In “les Etats” and who insist that they are Americans first, last and all the time —that species of eagle-spread-Ing adopted son which Uncle knows how and likes to turn out, “plus royallste que le roi,” more Catholic than, the pope and more American than the Father of His Country. It has taken the French-Canadian stock longer to evolve this type, perhaps, than it has taken the Irish stock, probably because of the difference in languages and a greater attachment of the FrenchCanadians to their own schools. But there Is no questioning the fact that It has very much arrived, and is bound to be an ever-energizing factor in the political advancement and general material progress of the race In New England. The American end of the war comes home vividly to New England’s FrenchCanadians because of the extraordinary fecundity of the race, in which respect they differ so markedly from Jheir “cousins de France." The proportion of young men of military age among them is < strikingly large because their families are, so prolific. One Lowell family alone had five con-scripts—-not one of whom, by the way.

WAR WORK TO COME FIRST

New Zealand Efficlencyßoard Reaches Out for Every Man In the Country—Woman's Turn Coming. The national efficiency board, created by the New Zealand goveritmeht, has decided that every man and woman in the dominion must engage in war work if necessity,arises. It also sent a circular to school boards suggesting that the midwinter holiday in July be curtailed, and the time saved thenlbe

claimed exemption—five brothers, aged twenty-one, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-seven and twenty-nine years, respect i vely. A not her fami 1 y had f<>u r sons of draft age, and six others had three apiece—eight French-American families, in brief, furnishing the amazing number ot 27 conscripts. Young French-A ineri ciin meh in Lowell —home, by the way, of George Charette, one of the “heroes of the Merrimac" of Spanish war fame —had always in peace times enlisted to a noticeable extent in the regular. army and navy and in the national guard. As one officer of the latter organization put it: “The French boys always were strong for the national guard.” Upon the call to arms, the response of these same "Frenchvboys” was striking. In spite of the circumstances of many of them, forcing abstention because of dependents to support, volunteering was brisk with them in al 1 branches of the service. When the draft came into operation, Military District Number 4, corresponding to Ward 6, Lowell’s banner "“French ward,” had only 68 men to call to fill its quota, so numerous had been the voluntary enlistments, or “credits,” in the section. - A -recruiting officer in Lowell, who had been previously stationed in several other New England cities, Showed me a page of bls? register where 15 of the 30 volunteers’ names it contained were French, and he reported a similar willingness of the "French boys” to serve wherever he had been. This page was of course exceptional, but no page in the book was without several French names. —TheyrangeiL all_the way from that of a prosperous young lawyer to that of a woodchopper who phonetically signed “Arment,” the named he shared with the lover of the Dame aux Camelias.

The five Lowell units of the national guard went into camp with onefourth or ever of their men FrenchAmericans, while many more, according to an officer, had at some time tried to join and been “turned down” for various reasons. One company of the railroad engineers’ reserve, numbering 160 men now in France engaged in railroad building, was organized and is captained by a Lowell French-Canadian, who naturally sought among his compatriots for volunteers and Secured the larger part of them from their ranks. A company of the state guard in Lowell is composed to a man of “French boys” and captained by one, these same “French boys” being older men with dependents who could not otherwise serve, but who are all patriotically anxious to give what they can. Plattsburg commissions have also been sought and secured.

-"Patriotism has been shown in various other ways. A French-American group of the Red Cross has been formed, and knitting is fast and furious among the French girls. Priests in the French churches have preached volunteering. Earlier in the war one young priest stirred social gatherings at the Association Catholique, the largest organization of French-Amer-ican men in the city, by passionate appeals for voluntary service under the American colors. That organization alone has over 60 volunteers now wearing khaki or the sailor’s blue. In brief, all reports tend, to show that the one million and a half people of French-Canadian stock in the United States are gladly and even eagerly accepting war service,' while two million of the same people in Canada are apparently opposing it “en bloc.” What can be the reason for this striking difference of attitude? The English colonies in 1776 became American of their own volition. The French of Canada became English in 1763 by force of conquest. England to- the American colonials was the burden shaken off; France, to the Canadian colonials, the lost treasure. “There is no logic,” a young American once said to me, “about the French-Canadian affection for France arftl the corresponding dislike of England —one born of the other—after a century and a half of English rule. It is mere sentiment. Political, that is, practically, France’s name is erased from the Canadian consciousness.’” The sentimental link with France has naturally remained stronger with the-educated-classes. It always does. The cultured lose more in losing the ancestral land because they had possessed more of that land’s heritage. This is what has’ puzzled Americans so much —the contradiction in the Quebec Frenchman’s refusal to serve when fie Is described as still fond of France. This contradiction, however, is not wholly contradictory. The ancient French bloo<L bond, the occult and mighty pact of race, is still the obscure root of many things, and it cannot be ignored in "getting at” the complex feeling of French-Amerlcans on'the attitude of their Quebec cousins

added to the, .midsummer Christmas holidays. This gave about eight weeks’ vacation, during which the larger boys assisted In sheep shearing, fruit-pick-ing, hop gathering and other outdoor work. Lost Christinas a number of schoolboys did this ami-some of them earned from SSO upward. Some measure of the kind was necessary, owing to the steady depletion of labor by conscription. fi t only for home military service were organized for war work though women were not. But if the war long con-

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

in the war—an Ariadne’s web made up of both condejnnatlon and approval of the Quebec reluctance to serve. Willing as they have shown—themselves to help Uncle Sam make “the. world safe for democracy,” in general they do not condemn their Canadian kin-folk, and commentary almost invariably opens with a condoning: “Oh, well, in Canada, it isn’t the same thing.” -Why? Not-alf-of rat “French boys” who have gone gladly into the American ranks can clarify their feeling into so many words’, but ffie secret of ft is certainly this: as American citizens and soldiers of the United States, they feel part of a proml sovereign nation “making” war; Canada, on the contrary, is only “participating” in the war, and the Quebec cousin, if he fights, only “fights for England.” In certain French-Canadian minds hostility to any thing—EngHsh in itself is natural. And this hostility is precisely corollary to the attachment for France, vanquished by England on Canadian soli a century and a half ago, and such as have it will not fight for England at any price, even with France involved in the/juarrel as it is today. It is sentiment, “reasons that reason does nor know',” and an Irishman understands just what it means. Add to this fundamental hostility to Britain which is of the blood, the bitterness of the bilingual war between the French and English factions in Canada, the multiplying grievances of Jean Baptiste in regard to Jhe relegating of French to the rank of an “accomplishment” in the Manitoba and Ontario schools, the rumbles of that“guerre de races” he hears == 3U with every visit of a relative from the North, and the New England cousin of Jean Baptiste is apt enough to exclaim : “They have reason in Quebec! To hell with helping the English in the war!” ,

Besides the merely sentimental, there are the “thoughtful” spmpathizers for Quebec, keener students of the question. In these same people there is no dream of resisting the draft here, it is even approved of as the wisest war measure President Wilson could take to have imposed ft at once without asking the people to vote on It. But with one voice they say that in Canada “ce n’est pas la meme chose” and that to impose conscription on a little country of 7,000,000 inhabitants which has already volunteered 400,000 soldiers is tyranny. Note here thw subtle difference in the “sense of country” and the “sense of colony,’’ as it were. French-Amerlcans here feel that they are fighting “for their country” and the draft is just. Canadians in their eyes are colonials who are “helping,” who have first of all the right to decide whether they will do it or not. L’Etoile, the Lowell French paper, has taken an emphatic stand against conscription in Canada; also against the recruiting of New England French Canadians for Canada’s forces. Canadian recruiting officers recently on tour in New England have been the butt of acerb aspersions from that quarter. "Serve the great cause under the Stars and Stripes,” reiterates the editor, “don’t go to Canada to serve by’ the side of English francophobes and fanatics.” This attitude has been characteristic of the French-American press of New England, consisting of some 10 or 12 sheets distributed among the larger textile centers, with but an exception or two. It has patriotically “rooted” for volunteer service under the American colors on the part of French-Amerlcans, and in the same breath defended the Quebec French who refused to enlist under the British colors. In the bilingual quarrel the FrenchAmerican press naturally sided with the French element, contending that its rights were trampled upon, and the present hostility to English effort* in Canada is a resultant. By these extremists the big word annexation is pronounced. “Would not Canada be much better off if it were American?” they ask. At the other end of the bridge are found those who bitterly denounce the Quebec cousins as traitors, rebels, cowards, etc., and have not enough Words to paint them black. “What I” exclaimed one fervid citizen, “before the war didn’t that Nationalist crew and other ‘patriots’ sing La Marseillaise with tears in their eyes? And didn’t they clamor ‘Restons Froncais I’ on every roof? Their very salvation, and that of Canada itself, demanded that they should carefully keep their skirts from the contaminating English, and above all remain themselves, remain French. And now that France is clutched by the throat, their refrain has suddenly changed to ‘We are Canadians, neither Frenchmen nor Englishmen ! This war is none of our affair I’ I must say that these people pass my comprehension. —Boston Transcript.

ztinues female labor is likely to be similarly utilized..

Plenty of Canadian fish.

The Canadian government’s venture to supply the public with fish at a reasonable price has proved a success, A refrigerator service from Nova Scotia to Ontario was provided, and the government’s scheme was advertised. In one week there were three cars, carrying approximately 60,000 pounds of fish, as against normal shipments of 5,000 pounds.

HOME TOWN HELPS

HOME-OWNING AIDS THRIFT Being Tied to One Place Is More Profitable Than Being Foot-Free and Homeless. The owning of a home, a fortune greatly desired by every man, is achievable by’ most men. And yet the proportion of Americans who- live in rented quarters grows larger year by year. One of the prime reasons for this Increasing tenancy is that an increasing proportion of earners are employees, and being employees they wish to hold themselves free to move as better employment may offer itself. To this hope of better employ’ment the hope of a home is easily sacrificed. The fear of being tied to a home is not .uncommon in those who are not employees, says the Minneapolis Journal. Some are not content to settle down permanently, being lured by the enchantment of the beyond—that beyond being the other side of the continent or the other side of the street. Moving becomes a habit, made easy by those whose business is transportation. But in the end the habit is expensive. As a matter of everyday demonstration, two facts stand forth: First, being tied to a home is vastly more profitable than being foot-free and homeless; and, second, the home-owner need never be tied to his home in an undesirable way. Few tnen ever accumulate enough to carry them through life without first being caught and tied up. Every well established business is a financial hitching post. The business of the lljfg. insurance agent i-s to catch—and tie those who will not otherwise accumulate. Buying a home while living in it is one of the surest ways on earth to persuade a man to accumulate property.

IS THE BEST WAR MEMORIAL

Town Hall or Library Serves Purpose Well and May Replace Monuments of the Past. The question of war memorials, of fitting tributes to those tvho have met death through military serviep or whose deeds have been marked by signal acts of bravery, has been for a long time discussed in the foreign architectural press. A plan proposed, and one that has met with general approval, has been the building in each town of a permanent memorial to mark appreciation of the heroic men who have gone forth in this war. This plan will undoubtedly be found to be as admirable in this country as it is in Europe. No one, says the American Architect, will criticize the patriotic impulse that prompted a grateful people to set up in our cities and towns the many soldiers’ monuments that so often disfigure public squares and commons and which as often cause a feeling of deep regret to every artistic observer. Now* will be found an opportunity to take steps to avert in the future a very serious artistic blunder, and no class of men can exert a greater influence in these matters than architects. As the town center is the logical place for these memorials, it is equally logical to assume that when properly conceived they would exert a very decided influence on the future development of the neighborhood. We need in this country a better development of community life, a more intimate intermingling of the people, and there is no greater or better method than the facilities offered by the town or village hall. A well-designed village hall or library will admirably serve the purposes of a memorial and provide for all the people a constant reminder of the purposes of its erection.

Food Handlers Examined.

Tp deal with the “carrier” problem and many others along this same line, the New York city department of health has passed an ordinance that demands a certificate of health from every person who in any manner handles public food. The manufacturers and employees are enjoined from hiring any person who has not such certificate, and they are made responsible for his compliance with the law. They are examined free of charge, and the public institutions have been very generous in supplying them with free treatment, when they are found not up to requirement. These regulations include cooks, bakers, butchers, dairy employees, candy makers, waiters, dishwashers,, delicatessen workers, food peddlers, etc.

Model Homes for Working Classes.

What is designated as “Model Labor Colony” is being started on Staten Island by a company In connection with the" new $2,500,000 garbage disposal plant that is being placed in operation. The colony is designed to house the working classes of this plant and other large industrial establishments in the vicinity. There will be a number of cottages of five rooms each, equipped with < running water, electric light, bath and toilet facilities, steam heat, etc. There will also be a large dormitory to accommodate single men and a restaurant for foeding the entire community.

The preacher was visiting In Tommy’s home. Tommy was just three years old and loved above all things to sit on the preacher's lap. This day when they were enjoying a romp the preacher shook Tommy’s head and clucked much as one would to a horse. Jumping down frbm his lap Tommy ran across the room and shook his head vigorously, then looked disappointed. He ran back to the preacher for another shake and cluck, then away again. He repeated this evetul times, each time looking puzzled. Finally he ventured: ‘‘Say, are you loose or am H” —Indianapolis News.

Many School Children Are Sickly Children who are delicate, feverish and cross will gex immediate relief from Mother Gray’s Sweet Powders for Children. They cleanse the stomach, act on the liver, and are recommended for complaining children. A pleasant remedy for worms. Used by mothers for 30 years. All Druggists 25 cents. Sample FREE. Address Mother Gray Co., Le Roy, N. Y.

“Here’s Uncle Jed. He can reminisce with Uncle Peleg.” “How far back can Uncle Jed reminisce?” “To the Civil war, of course." “That-won-1 suit Uncle Peleg. He reminisces back to Jhe Black Hawk and Mexican wars.”

“I had an experience yesterday which made me lose my nerve.” “Dear me! What was it?" “A seance with my dentist.”

Canada’s Liberal Offer of Wheat Land to Settlers ““h is open to you—to every farmer or farmer’s son Uwho is anxious to establish for himself a happy home and prosperity. Canada’s hearty invitation this year is more attractive than ever. Wheat is much higher but her fertile farm land just as cheap, and in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta 160 Acre Homretud* Are Actnilly Fret to Settlers fl J 8 end Other Land Sold at from sls to S2O yer Acre gf,F J fla BM The great demand for Canadian Wheat will keep up the price. Where a farmer can get ■ 1 near $2 for wheat and raise 20 to 45 bushels to lIvGl /oVrrX-H lb* acre he is bound to make monay that a »U«W CATs oICEUH what you can expect in Western Canada. Won- ■wmjl T derful yields also of Oats, Barley and Fl«x. HfcWl ttr T 5? "mA. SH Mixed Farming in Western Canada is fully as X*s-> P rofitable “ industry as grain raising. The excellent grasses, full of nutrition, are the only UAIAIH food required either for beef or dairy purposes tn’N-Good schools, churches, markets convenient, ouinaie ■Ol’mA t .JU) WttJhH excellent. There is an unusual demand for fa>m Har JkWA IJf ■_ VlVi wMllfflifH labor to replace the many young men who have «_ AUL-. Ajk IMI Vfl volunteered for the war. VVrite for literature and L--frX - fllll particulars as to reduced railway rates to Bupt. of WWJMJMx • «i X ftpH migration, Ottawa, Can., or to ‘ iffll C. J. Broughton, Room 412, 112 W. Adams Bw/AyAiKWwfeifejaSweat. Chicago, 111.-, M. V. Maclnnas. 176 wffiw'H Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, Mich. H*' W IvSl Canadian Government Agents \

WOMEN WIN IN WASHINGTON

Supreme Court Curtails Hubby’s Power to Dispose of Goods Without Wife’s Consent. No more Is the married man of Washington absolute head of the family. He shares that post with the wife of his heart so far as the disposal of community personal property is concerned. Man was demoted from his high estate and his authority curtailed by a recent decision of the stqte supreme court, which held that the “Mrs.” of the household has an equal share in the personal property and must be consulted before it can be transferred. The decision was rendered, says the Spokane Chronicle, in the case of a man named Steel, who was found guilty of alienating the affections of another man’s wife. Judgment was rendered against him and the question of using community property to satisfy the debt was brought before the tribunal. Chief Justice Ellis, with the concurrence of six associate judges, reversed former decisions which have been the basis of law on this point for 20 years or more In the state, and held that the community personal property is liable only for those debts contracted for the community and in the community interests. 4 Under former decisions the power of the husband over community property was absolute, except that he could not will away more than half, the other half going to the wife at his death. He could mortgage, sell or dissipate the family personality without the consent of his wife. The furniture could be sold over her head to pay the debts of a drunken husband. A judgment for a husband’s wrong conduct could be collected from her half of the personal property as well as his. Now the husband is no more than an agent, the court has held.

The sport of surf coasting reached this country from Hawaii and promises in a few years to become a popular sport. In California it was much practiced this past summer, while ft few surf boards might be seen on the New York beaches. American manufacturers have put on the market a special surf board which is a considerable improvement over the plank used by the Hawaiians, having ah air chamber at one end. All we lack now Is the Hawaiian skill in riding the big breakers standing up.—Exchange.

A college president known for his drollery was describing the Home Guard of Connecticut—an admirable force whose service will be confined to the state except in case of invasion.— Christian Register.

To the ordinary man his club is both meat and drink. Many a convincing political speaker can't get a hearing at home.

A Puzzler.

An Old-Timer.

Very Likely.

Surf Coasting.

The Alibi.

Back Lame and Achy? There’s little peace when your kidneys are weak and while at first there may be nothing more serious than dull backache, sharp, stabbing pains, headaches, dizzy spells and kidney irregularities, you must act quickly to avoid the more serious trouble, dropsy, gravel, heart disease, Bright’s disease. Use Doan’s Kidney Pills, the remedy that is so warmly recommended everywhere by grateful users. An Illinois Case A. Cavender, 621 Eighth St, Waukegan. 111-, G, 'Waft?iVV says: “I had some pretty bad T baEIJ spells of backache and was alfUh V zXZ’SJ? I most doubled up Zv \> J at times. The kidney secretions z 7 were retarded V JK?* and painful in Tl passage and were filled with sedllinin' 'll!' ment. My feet II * 1 and ankles swellHI 1 ed and I was suf- ’ sering intensely when I began using Doan’s Kidney Pills. They cured me. although other medicines had failed.’ Get Doan’s at Any Store, 60c a Box DOAN’S “p’/L’kV FOSTER-MILBURN CO.. BUFFALO. N. Y. “HEAVEN and HELL" The moat Kartling of the profound wridngu • of SWEDENBORG, the renowned tbeoloflan, philosopher and scientist $ Big 632 page book treating of I ||_ the Life after Death, sent without further cost or obligation on receipt of 10c. Write for complete list of publication!. 7HE AMERICAN SWEDENBORG PRINTING & PUBLISHING SOCIETY Room SO. 1 West 29th Street, New York

Cruel Comment.

Miss Uglygirl—Do you know, I actually changed countenance. Miss Pert—l should think you would have been glad of the chance.

CLEARS AWAIT PIMPLES Does Cuticura Ointment—Assisted by Cuticura Soap—Trial Free. On rising and retiring smear the affected surfaces gently with Cuticura Ointment. Wash off In five minutes with Cuticura Soap and hot water. When the skin is clear keep it so by using Cuticura for every-day toilet and nursery purposes. ' Free sample each by mall with Book. Address postcard, Cuticura, Dept. U Boston. Sold everywhere. —Adv.

An Alteration.

“China and Brazil sever diplomatic relations with Germany, while Holland and Denmark and Spain accept Germany’s sea murders with a polite protest. Holland is nearer than China to the Hun, and circumstances alter cases." The speaker was Richard LeGallienne. He resumed: “Circumstances alter cases —often for the worst. A bride once said to me: “ ‘Marriage makes such a big difference, doesn’t It? I notice that when I sit on George’s lap now, his foot goes to sleep ever so much quicker than it used to.’ "

The Omniscient Papa.

Again the Kid was delving into literature and again he sought from his father solution of his difficulties. "Pa!” he said. Father looked up from his paper In that kindly, patient way of his. "Well, my son?" “It says here in this literature lesson: ‘At the age of twenty, Coleridge was graduated from the university and admitted to holy orders.’" “Yes?” “Well, what are ‘holy orders?’ ’’ “Holy orders? Why—er—the Ten Commandments, of course.” “But what does that —” “Now go on with your book, and don’t Interrupt me again.”

When a man Is really in love ha thinks there Is but one woman In the world. Give the Wheat to the soldiers, but give me post Toasties