Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-04-24

tween him and the foreign enemy Anc
who, therefore. will stand between dan
ger and the men who are behind or he
side the president. ~
These are the men who will 90 tc
the war at once II there is war with
Germany. or with any other great pow
err. and who feel as do tslat we would
far rather go to war unprepared than
see our women and children murdered
with impunity and the honor OF the flag
stained.
"RuIers Folly 70 Wicked"
But It is wicked thing that the
folly of our rulers In obeying the be-
hests of the peace-at-any-price people
and the apostles Of anti preparedness
should make the sacrifice either useless
or else needlessly and appallingly
wasteful in blood.
In the event Of such war my four
sons will go. and one and perhaps both
of my. sons In law; / will go myself.
The young kinsfolk and friends Of my
sons will 60. so my words are spoken
with my eyes open.
1T Is OF small consequence what hap
pens to us Of the older generation. But
when think OF the young men, my
heart grows bitter that their fine and
gallant lives should be sacrificed not to
the nations need but to the nations
folly. .-a X
Needless Deaths Feared.
II would far rather see them dead
than see them finch from their duty
when the honor of our people is con-
cerned. But IL we now go to war these
young men and all their fellows will die
in, nd ~
and lung trouble in the camps, because
we have not prepared in advance. be-
cause they and those who lead and
care for them have not been trained in
advance
They will be butchered neediessly
in battle because we have failed to
prepare masses Of artillery and ma
chine guns and motor trucks and
to provide and train the men who
shall manage all the formidable and
delicate mechanism OF war.
"Twenty-one months have passed
since the great war began: and dur
ing all this time we have not pre-
pared even in the smallest degree in
order. IL possible. to avert war from
us. or. IL it could not be averted, to
y. s. 10 Left Helpless.
"The pacificists and anti -prepared-
ness people have had their will and
our rulers at Washington have bowed
to them and left us helpless, and with
blind faulty. they said they did this
in the interests of peace. D.
When viii our people learn that
the peace Of unpreparedness il the
peace of cowardice and folly and may
at any time lead to overwhelming dis
aster? ~ .r
Fourteen months ago we notified
Germany that IL she did whatever
since she had done and continued to do
We would hold her to q strict ac-
countability. Such language could
only be justified II immediate and in
thoro- going fashion We had bent
our every energy to the task of pre-
pairing, and therefore showing that we
meant what we said, and that we
possessed both the will and the power
to make our words good.
U. s. Not Taken Seriously.
Such course would not have In
creased. II would have greatly d.
the chances OF war. But
we sat supine. We took not one step
to prepare. Naturally Germany did
not treat US seriously: we misled her.
The failure Of our rulers at Wash
ington to prepare during these twenty
one months, when even q child ought
to have seen what was happening, has
represented a folly 50 extreme that In
it's effect It was q crime against the
nation~ t'5lN% - -