South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-05-26
A Talk With a Tar
and With a Banker
BY Il. G. Forbes.

-------------------
The young tawny. brawny tar from
the battleship seemed willing 10 be
sociable. So we fell attacking
How did he feel about America be-
ing drawn into war?
I'm ready" was his immediate re-
Spouse. given with a jaw-snap.
That's what 1 Joined Cor. / knew
what / was doing. 1t can come when
it likes.
"Thereu be hell for some OF us If
we 90 over to mix up with Germany's
mines and submarines and warships:
but I'm prepared for that / listed
To fight, and it can't come too soon for
me-
Apparently ne liked the navy?
Sure 1 do. And 1 mean TO stick at
it for 30 years-if l don't go sooner.
ANY job is what you make it, I'm
satisfied. I'm sure of three square
meals a day and / get SIS a month.
Hadn't New York life any lure for
him?
Live in New York? Not for an the
money in the treasury. I'm from In
diana. No New York for me as a
steady diet My old folks are out there
and $50 of my pay goes 10 them
regular. They're saving it for me-
but they're welcome TO use any of it
they need"
Grand centralr' shouted the train
man, and it was time 10 go.
That's what I joined for" - i.
I'm ready"
How many Of us have as clear-cut
ideas Of our jobs as this youthful
sailor?
How many Of us are constantly
ready for any difficulties that come
along?
Your job is what you make it"
That morsel OF philosophy from a
STRIPPING Of no academic education.
/ confess the hurried little CONVEX
sation gave me a thrill Of pride in the
whole navy. If the same dauntless
spirit animates the other members of
the nations feet, then the sooner
more of our young men are attracted
to the service the better for the cOun-
try.
Is there not danger that our ma
tiOnal muscle may. under the present
system of ease and extravaganza. be-
come too habby?
A banker, a product of southern
SOIL a robust. brainy. level-headed
fellow with a grip like iron. now fill
ing successfully an important place
in one of our great financial institu-
tions, happened, the same day, to dis
cuss war possibilities with me.
Here are his out of-the-ordinary
statements:
We are not likely TO have war at
present, but ii is well we have had TO
face its possibility.
The present generation of Amer
leans have not had TO think Of war
or face war. The Spanish affair was
an incident rather than a war
And whenever a nation has been
long time without war il is apt to
fall into certain habits that do not
make for national or individual fit
ness
1--WE in the United States have
grown so prosperous, we have such
vast resources. thsN the growing gen
Grafton is getting away from nature
getting away ] mean, from. having 10
wrestle with tanning the soil and
overcoming the obstacles that con
trCnted our foHefathers and forced
them to develop their muscles and
cultivate strong. healthy bodies.
ITO our fOrefathers accustomed to
rOughing it, to tackling and leveling
virgin forests, to- subjugating rude
prairies to facing wild animals, war
was not very much different from
their daily life. They were fighting
battles every day. so to speak They
were always in trim.
But what Of our youth of today?
Aren't they pretty soft material.
most of them? Haven't most of them
rather soft hands? And don't they
think more OF pleasure than Of real
hard work?
War TO them would be the most
unnatural thing in the world-a
nightmare. Their daily life is far
away from nature. They are mostly
tenderfOOts. A lot Of them are diet
tantes They haven't had TO get
down to hard pan. They do not
know what it is to rough it.
Recent history has brought us
face TO face with the crude realities
Of life.
We are having to do some serious
thinking
we are being forced to take phys
ical stock Of the country
And we are finding that we have
drifted away from nature-too far. I.
for one, think.
1T is time we addressed ourselves
seriously to national problems. to
questions affecting our very existence
as a nation.
I'VE must no longer bury our
heads, ostrichlike, in the sands. or
cry 'peacei peacer when peace NAV
not be possible"
Somehow 1 cannot avoid seeing a
connection between the tar's talk and
the bankers.