The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-22
Must Realize Danger

To the EdltOr or The Age-Heralu: l The suggestive cartoon of Uncle Sam in your Thursdays issue may have caused | some to laugh. but to thoughtful people it contained a humiliating truth, and it fs tc be sincerely hoped did some good, even
 among those disposed to minimize the real danger of our nation in it's present inex- cusably deplorable condition. Had we years ago. even before the rumble of the civil war guns had ceaesd, turned our at tention to building up an army and navy we would not have been premature. Even now, at this late date, we should not lose a single moment. No man knows what the future holds. It's of no sort of use to try to conceal true conditions when the world knows even better than many of our own people.
 I notice your evening contemporary ad- vocates the soft pedal. What purpose could 1t possibly have in trying to hide tho ugly matter? Is it not better to face | the whole thing squarely and frankly and | make a united and strenuous effort to correct the awful mistakes we have made | There is, undeniably. a disposition among possibly the major portion of our people l to frown upon anything of military ma l ture. and while this can be ascribed te only two things. ignorance and selfish | ness, it is none the less real and az gravating to those who realize and admit l conditions are bad, and wish to remedy l at the earliest possible moment the blun- ! dei that may prove our undoing. | And (to our everlasting shame) there are | many strong, able-bodied. young men who openly boast that rather than fight for | our country and it's flag they would hide ! and shirk this duty. Sometimes this may | have been spoken in jest. but from per sonal observation the writer believes the I most of them meant just what they said | The real truth is, fear, that our people have degenerated into a selfish, pleasure l loving money-getting machine. What a contrast in statements of this kind and 1 the spontaneity of action that character | ized our fathers in the ''sixties," when almost with one accord they sprang to meet the foe, suffered untold agonies and willingly yielded up life for home and country.
 l too fierce for the coward masquerading as | a man, who would have to be forced to 1 fight for home and loved ones, and but l little respect should be accorded those so- called "pacifsts'' whose viens are evi- | dently filled with water instead of warm red, American blood. Nevertheless the writer hears daily young, able-bodied men | DOdSt lldt tHcy WOulQ uOt IcSpOuQ tO IuelI country's call.
 There is something radically wrong with aspeople when home and country cau un- needed and I fear it will take rude jolt to awaken the dormant attitude of our U. s. A.
 R. P. Hobson pointed out our peril years ago and was laughed at, and was even missed from the floor in Denver, when he | tried to cry out his warning. Now, that warning Is coming home to us with ter rifice force. and yet we fail to give this
 brave young Alabamian credit for his foresight.
 With war clouds growing darker every
 day. how important 1t is that we lay aside
 the business of money-getting and the pleasure of social life and get down to the real danger that Is even now tapping at our door. R. F. LACKEY Birmingham. Ssi0 Avenue F. March IS, l 1916.