Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1918 — PRODUCERS AND THE GREAT WAR [ARTICLE]

PRODUCERS AND THE GREAT WAR

Every Citizen Must Be Prepared to Give Government Full Share of Support. . ALL: MUST MAKE SACRIFICE Present and Future Interests of Nation Are at Stake—Troops Must Be Kept Fit to Bring the Final Victory. By BEN F. M’CUTCHEON. This great war in which the'United States now is an active and determined participant is a war of the whole people. It is not being waged in the interest of any one class or combination of classes. The present and future interests of every citizen of the nation are at stake, and because of this there can be no division of duty or responsibility. As a plain matter of self-de-fense, every man, woman and child must shoulder a fair share of duty and responsibility; must be.willing to make any sacrifice the circumstances demand; must practice the thrift that works for the conservation of labor and material—in a word, must be prepared to co-operate with the government at Washington in the most wholesome and effective manner possible.

The United States has been at war with the German empire almost a year. Despite the fact that great strides have been made in the nation’s vast undertaking, many citizens, particularly those in isolated parts of rural sections, have not yet had the war “brought home” to them forcibly and with the full meaning of the possibilities of victory or defeat. Farmer Much Concerned. The American farmer, however far removed he may be from the centers of war activity, however vaguely the war has been “brought home” to him, is as much concerned with the outcome of the great struggle as any other citizen.

America went .to war with the imperial German government partly because the kaiser and his advisers refused to let this nation send to Europe its vessels laden with the products of American farms and fields and factories. The imperial German government cruelly sank these vessels and murdered American sailors. Assuming that the German government had not been called on account for its open violation of international treaty right—for there Was an understanding that neutral vessels should not be sunk without warning and not then unless they contained contraband of war destined to the en,emy—what would have become of American shipping in general? The answer is that none of American products would have reached the foreign markets. The war has vastly increased the foreign for American farm products, and the prices the producers are receiving are the highest they have received in many years. So, the. war is being waged very largely in the interest of the American producer of foodstuffs, making it possible for him to enter his goods in the foreign markets, which, because of war conditions, have been forced to almost entirely upon the American producers for the necessities of life. Men Must Be Kept Fit.

With conditions, intolerable and destructive to the American producer, brought about by the arrogant German government," the United States, after subjecting its patience to the severest test, took the bit into her mouth and entered upon the task of preserving her rights and the rights of all who live under her flag. This nation has called many hundreds of thousands of young men to the colors, many of whom already are in the war zones of Flanders and France. Other young men —sons of the soil as well as sons of the city—will be called to strengthen those who already have donned the kLaki of the army and the blue of the navy. Their voyage across the subma-rine-infested seas must be safe-guard-ed ; their bodies must be kept strong by the proper nourishment while on the European battlefields and on the war-

ships that art striving to keep the seas open to traffic between the American producer and the buyers of Europe; their health must be conserved —in a word, they must be kept fit to bring victory to the cause of the American producer. And those who remain at home realize r responsibility in keeping with that upon the endangered shoulders of American manhood in the fighting ranks. By thrift and saving, by sacrifice, if need be, they are called upon to form the second, but none the less important, line of defense. They cannot engage in the actual business of fighting, but their government has the right to expect them to aid in supporting the American fighting forces by lending their money to the cause.