Iron County register., 1916-08-03
Mrs. Henry Smiths Son.
tFrom the St. louis POst-plspate


wrote letter to President Wilson
complaining of the hardships that her
son was compelled to undergo as
member Of the national guard on duty
in Texas.
The President, in his reply, has ex-
planned to her that the national guard
is at the border "not for the purpose
of drill, but for the purpose of pro-
tecting the country" and that he
"cannot believe that the men of the
national guard would wish to be ex-
cused from it, or would lose heart be-
cause of the discomtorts and incon-
veniences of the service"
If Mrs. Henry Smith were a wise
woman she would not be writing to
the President bewailing the trifling
hardships to which her son is obliged
to submit as a member of the nation
al guard. She would be down on her
knees thanking God that the Presi-
dent is exerting every honorable eff
fort to bring peaceful solution of
the difficulties with Mexico, and that
her boy is not already out on the fir
ing line with the boys Of 100000 other
American mothers.
The hardships to which the national
guard is subjected on the Texas
frontier are about equal to the hard
ships of an ordinary strenuous vaca-
tion in the Maine or Minnesota woods;
but war is a serious business. When
Mrs. Henry Smith thinks about the
petty inconyeniences to which her son
is subjected, let her think also OF the
millions Of boys in Europe who are in
the trenches and who are dying daily
by the thousands in the midst of the
most ghastly warfare known to human
history.
Let her think of the boys dying on
the field, with arms blown off, or legs
blown off, or faces blown off, perish
ing in horrible agony for the lack Of
medical assistance which cannot reach
them.
| Let her think Of the millions ofboys
in Europe who, after this war
is over, will be crippled for life or,
with health shattered, will be DOOM
ed to eke out a wretehed existence as
hopeless invalids.
Let her think of the millions of
mothers who are not worrying be-
cause their boys have to eat army
rations, but who are worrying day
and night as to whether they will
ever see their boys again alive. Let
her try to visualize the hourly terrors
OF war in which 100000 or 100000
men have already been killed or
wounded most Of them boys like her
boy.
Then let her remember that except
for the statemanship Of Woodrow
Wilson the body of her son might be
lying to-day in an unmarked grave
in Flanders or France.
Mrs. Henry Smith, with true mater
nal solicitude, naturally thinks it is a
great nuisance that her boy should
have to swelter in the heat of Texas
summer and live off coarse food, and
SO it is, but the troubles of her son are
very small in comparison with what
they would be if the United States had
undertaken armed intervention in
Mexico. Her own troubles, too, are
very small in comparison with what
they would be if she we're watching
the newspapers every day for the list
of the dead and wounded in the fight
ing.
There are millions Of Mrs. Henry
Smiths in this country with boys who
would be subject to military duty if
the United States went to war. When
they are disposed to find fault with
the policies of the President, let them
devote little prayerful consideration
to the millions of Mrs. Henry Smiths
in Europe whose boys are now only
memories. But for President Wilson
these American mothers would be
drinking the bitter dregs of that same
cup.