Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1906 — THE FLAG WAVES AND THE EAGLE SCREAMS AROUND THE WORLD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE FLAG WAVES AND THE EAGLE SCREAMS AROUND THE WORLD

WPiEMEMIIKR what Sherman said about war? It also apto Independence Day and the popping, roaring, craekIng, whooping, exploding that drives some folks almost to Insanity and means that wo are a. nation of patriots and FS are so glad of it that every year we bCtrn tons of powder fcPh and malm, mutilate and cripple between 4,000 and' 5,000 human beings—mostly boys. And the popular idea of patroitism is war. We are yj glad we fought or that our ancestors fought, and the hair bristles on the back of our necks, and we feel, by hoky. that we can fight again and that the foreigners

from London town to Vladisvostok had better keep off the toes of your Uncle Samuel. Huh! All right. The navy is growing and we are spending millions for target practice and more millions for great guns. But let’s hope hard that there will never be another war. and that widows and orphans will never again be made in a strife with other nations or at home. God grant it, is the prayer of the millions. A patriot isn’t necessarily a soldier. A man doesn’t .have to storm a fort to prove that he loves his country. That kind of bravery is fine. It gets into the papers and there Is a thrill of pride even in the later days when flowers are strewn on graves and women in black weep. But don't you forget that there are more patriots to-day than ever before. There are millions of them. They are behind counters in shops; they are running locomotives and tilling farms. They are not thinking much about war. They have no hatred in their hearts. And how is it that they are patriots? Because they are trying to do their full duty as American citizens. That is how. They toil till their backs are stooped and their hands gnarled and knotted. They rear homes and honor good women. They bring up children and educate them. They .do not hesitate to deny themselves to the end that those who come after them shall find greater opportunity and till a better place. In the affairs of the world than did their parents. They are the fathers and mothers of progress. They are the bone and blood and sinew that the r.aihm siroßg-.They are the living exponents cliuUQ. decency, energy and human love, and they are stronger than the combined armies ajid navies of the world. And so, while the explosions in memory of ’76 shake the earth, be glad that you are a worthy member of that great army—the patriots of peace. God guide them all.—Kansas City World.

THE PATRIOTS OF PEACE.