Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-23

Towns in France Are Cited.
The west would send it's men away
to camps facing the enemy. 1t would
lose its most abundant and energetic
producers, while the east would gain
consumers Western towns would be
in the position of those of France
which are farthest from the front.
They wait for the lists of the casual
ties with idle hands. for business is
dead in them. Their makers of BUSH
ness are at the front facing the enemy
and dying: and the commerce that an
army creates does not reach back to
these towns So ii would be in the
west in war time in America.
The most prosperous towns in France
today are the manufacturing towns and
those within the zone of the armies.
Here the troops spend their pay. The
town occupied by British headquarters
keeper sticks to his shop in the zone
of she'll fire because the soldiers. when
they have their turn out of the
trenches. are such good customers. The
farmers have markets for their eggs
and vegetables. Many a small fortune
Is being accumulated out of that gem
erously spending British army. for the
soldier. when he is OFF duty in time of
war. not knowing but that he will be
dead tomorrow. is not given to bag
Cling over prices.
Let us suppose that New England has
been occupied by the enemy. There
will be hundreds of thousands of refu-
gees fleeing before his troops. The
well-to-do among them will spend their
money. and public money for the care
o. the poor will be spent, back of the
American front in the eastern states.
The west will have to give and give
and give TO their refugee fellow-coun-
trymen and receive little in return.
The west will suffer as the south of
France suffers while counting its dead
in the midst of hard times.
Let the enemy reach the Hudson, and
the region of central New York and
Pennsylvania will become the center
of great training camps. There will be
. boom like that of a western mining
camp of shacks rising from bare
ground. Carpenters and masons will
be needed for the building of bar
racks: market produce and every form
of transport will be in demand The
local tobacconist. candymaker and pie
maker will be unable to care for his
trade.
War Profits No One in Emo.
II the enemy does not strike at our
swn shores, but tries to take the Pana-
ma canal or violate the Monroe doc
trine by an attempt at colonization in
South America. it will be the coast
towns and the gunmakers and the
shipyards and the manufacturers of
army material who none the less will
prosper. But do not think that this
means profit for the east in the end.
Only one section will have to pay more
of the cost than another. For war
profits no one in the end. 1t is de-
struction: and destruction cannot be
construction. Whatever ravages ans
invaded section suffers all other sec
tions must assist in paying for in the
end. The south of France must help
pay for the restoration of the ruined
towns or the northern and eastern
frontiers of France. II no indemnity is
won from Germany. then the big appro-
priations must and will be made for that
purpose the end of the war French
men already speak of this outcome as
a matter of patriotic duty and economic
wisdom.
Not san Francisco alone. but the
whole United States, suffered from the
losses due to that city's earthquake
and fire. The fortunes of all parts of
q nation. and in a measure of all parts
of the world. are bound up together.
You cannot strike blow at one part
without striking all. Should we lose
the Panama canal. we should still have
to go ON paying interest on the money
we spent in building 1t, which would
be so much lost capital
Preparedness is no more sectional
than ozone. A man may still be able
10 use his arms IL his leg is cut of.
but shortly after the amputation, when
he begins to use his clutches, he will
md that IL isn't only his leg that
suffers. but his whole human plant.
when you defend your own home you
are defending your brothers also. II
your neighbor's is attacked and you
stand by without any actiDn until
yours is attacked. that is just the thing
the enemy wants. He might not be
able to lick you IL you both fought
Together. bur he can get you both II
he may strike YOU singly. South OF
France. central France. all of France
was unit. and this saved France
Unity is the lesson of the French
democracy in this 10 the Ameri-
: car dem ocracN in preparedness.