Iditarod pioneer., 1916-12-02
FIGHTERS IN THE TRENCHES
 DOING SERIOUS THINKING

(Stoughton Cooley in Chicago Herald
 One must be dull indeed to imagine that the men in the armies have done nothing but shoot at their enemies during the last two years. There has passed before their eyes such panorama as most of them never had conceived. They have seen a lev cling of ranks and social distinctions. The high power shells show no more respect for the Lords anointed than for the hum blest man in the trenches, and the blood of the noble and of the peasant look alike when spilled upon the ground.
 It may well be assumed that the words of the Socialists, the land reformers and the various social and political agitators, calling upon their comrades in arms to as sert their rights at the conclusion of the var, are not falling on indifferent ears Had the kaiser kept all of the Socialists out of he trenches he might have had fewer men with which to meet his foreign enemies, but he would also have had fewer domestic ene- mics to confront him at the conclusion of hostilites.
 And what IS true of the German army is true of the armies of all the other nations Thousands of men-nay, millions Lave toiled for bare living, who rcmem- Der fathers striving for the same meager +ba:,
 ildren toiling hopelessly in their turn, have felt something stirred within them. For, contrasted with this condition of the working people, has been that of the prvi- laged classes, who have luxurated in super abundance.
 These things might have been seen before only to be dismissed as a dream But now here are men in every army in every regi- ment, in every company, of sll these war ring countries, who know why this condi- ton has existed, and how it may be changed. They are telling their brothers in arms; and their brothers in arms will not
 rget When they climb out of the trenches
 the conclusion of the war it will not be
 accept the old conditions
 These men when asked to return to their
 rmer service to take up the old task to renew their life of negation, will recall how naughty monarchs, exalted princes. re- nowned statesmen, sancti6ed prelates and Iol ,l ! # and self-sacrhce snd told them they were preserving their country, and they will n- quire: Where is the country I have been fighting for? Show me my part, that may claim 1t and enjoy it.
 Cynical philosophers have been wont to ask how man living in 8 boarding house can be got to lay down his life for "his" country for "his' hearthstone, for ''his" birthright The answer is found in the fact that he has been controlled by his feelings instead of his reason He has shouted Deutschland uber alles,' though himself clothed in rags; he has chanted "Britons never will be slaves" as he saw his little children going into the mills, and he has sung Home, Sweet Home" in tenement.
 But the dsinherited man is ceasing to be controlled entirely by his feelings. His req on has been quckened Sentiment alone no longer satisfies him. He wants justice. He is asking those who are set sumptuously while he munches his crust how 1t has come about that those who work hardest have least while those who work least have most.
 And then the words that have been whis pered from mouth to mouth throughout the world recur: Governments derive their power from the living; wealth is produced by labor and divided by law Why not change the law?
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