Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1918 — STANDING BACK OF THE GOVERNMENT [ARTICLE]

STANDING BACK OF THE GOVERNMENT

Next to dishonor,, war; is ' the : greatest calamity that can iefili a nation. We are now hegteffiiag to realize how far-reaching its effects are. It is not i<»t> m.udhto ■■gJßnj* that the war affects to - feiree' the condition of life of mt woman and child in the. «®7a.*ry. From the loss ■:' life its-if the sacrifice runs all the way cas tiiscale to a slight deprlra,-’:..: a -:-f comfort or luxury. But for every wld--;. read disaster there is usually a small modicum of good to place in the Other side o; the balance. If may sc4 apgareatly make a hair's weight of difference against the ill, but it as there and perceptible if we look at it. What have we of good to set against the evils of war? Our answer would he, greater national unity. A year ago we were for the most part a ..nattoa of individuals, individual hmremramitfes, individual states. Men were pursuing their own objects. sommuai-

: ties were not looking beyond their own improvements, states were caring for their own people. 1 Now all horizons are broadened. i When a man sees his son or his ■ neighbor’s son going forth to war, ‘'his thought involuntarily goes out to the environment of that boy, the ; conditions he will meet, and the I governnfept which provides or reguflates theim. He realizes that the I government will have to provide these boys with the simple nece» sities, food, clothing and shelter, it will alto have to provide them ' with training, transportation,- weapons, artillery and aircraft for their : protection, medical services and hospitals for their care, and a hundred other essentials. And the man jalso begins to realize that it is up .to him in his individual capacity to 'stand back of the government, to take his part in providing these absolutely necessar.v things in his own rightful proportion, either from his abundance or from his bare sufficiency. And we need only to see the banners of the Third Liberty loan in ’the windows of homes throughout the land to understand how magnificently the individuals have risen ro th-ir duty and their opportunity. i Everywhere in the home of the rich and the homes of the poor alike the banners signal proudly: ‘I have given as I can to the call of livenation. It is my nation and I an. with it heart and soul in the hour of .its need."

We cannot estimate the aggregate sacrifices which this splendid showing has required. In many cases 'it meant the giving up of comforts, perhaps of cherished plans. But each man who has sub--eribed for iris bond or bonds feels that he is a component part of his country, that T «he stands or falls with it, and; that it is a country worthy of his sacrifice. He is in harmony of feeling with his neighbor, his community, his state and his nation.