Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-11-02
WORDP|CTURE OF
AMERICA after
THE WAR GIVEN
Rev. Willsie Martin, Pastor
of the First Methodist
Church, Gives Address on
America Tomorrow"

Rev. Willsie Martin, pastor of the
First Methodist church, last night in
a scholarly address on America To-
morrow" pointed his finger at the flu
ture and set vividly before his large
audience some of the things which the
citizens of this country would face
after the war. He declared that the
country would face Industrial, politi-
cal and diplomatic problems of mag
nitude, but out of 1t all, he predicted,
the United States would come through
a better nation and a nation, the slo-
gan of whose citizens would be What
is best for the nation"
The minister stated in his introduce
tory remarks that by tomorrow he
meant the period when the present IT,
tanic war of Europe would be over and
declared that 1t seemed reasonable to
believe that the war would continue
two years longer. II such was the case,
he said, the people of this nation had
"a months in which to grid themselves
for the most severe test America had
yet experienced. He declared it would
be q test which would try the very
foundation of this republic, one which
would sift our temper and search our
national fiber like lambert fire.
AMERICA FIRST.
Mr.. Martin said In part: II take Il
tonight that am talking to Americans.
Born under an alien flag, l am never
theless an American through and
through. Ny country comes first and
this Is my country. ] take 1t that
you who are here are such Americans.
If you are not, IL you do not love
America first, If you yield to higher
allegiance to emperor, king, car. pres
ident, church or race, than you do to
America, my only word to you Is cease
being an American citizen. A man who
has his citizenship here, who takes
part in political and social affairs and
the shaping of national policy, who
accepts the gratitudes, the privileges,
the prerogatives, the opportunities of
American citizenship, but in the face
of all that yields his hearts first alleg-
lance and loyalty to some foreign
power or influence, is a black hearted
Judas who has betrayed with false
vote and sinister influence the land
that has granted him the rights of
home and citizenship.
II fancy that there are none Of that
INK present here. / hope that there are
none in our town. l feel that you who
are here are folks who love our coun-
try first of all. To such, then, l talk
In sober earnestness."
On the factors in the testing he
first touched upon the economic and
said: 1T does not matter for our dis
cussion which way the war ends. In
any event. we are going to face war
hardened competitors. 1t means that
we are going to face as commercial
competitors nations that have endured
poverty without q murmur In an at
tempt by war to secure a place in the
sun: have endured poverty to put 1t
in the lowest denominator, to secure
markets for the nation. We are 60
Ing to face peoples who for four years
have been down to simple living, peo-
pies who have eliminated frills and
fads and extravaganza. We are going
to face peoples whose very diet has
been restricted in the interest of ma
tional economy. Money will not be
squande-ed for clothes and pleasure.
They have already acquired that View
point that regards waste as a crime.
MORE SKILLED MEN.
Further, we shall have to compete
with a largely increased number of
skilled workmen. The men on the bat
tlefields are for the most part skilled
men. The places of the men at the
front have been taken by others less
physically fit but at the end of four
years they will be skilled workmen.
30 at the end of the war there will be
more skilled men than Europe has
ever SEEN"
Politically. Mr.. Martin said, this
country would be affected tomorrow
by an unrest, which would be plain
when hard times came and when men
beheld the extravagances of the rich
and contrasted it with their lot, real
unrest would be shown in this coun-
try which would be led on by Wis
lonary theorists, by class agitators and
by demagogues looking for place and
power at the hands of the malcon-
tents. He declared that these men and
thousands of others will not stop to
mink and if they should they would
be unwilling to look the facts sternly
In the face and acknowledge that these
hard times were not due in any sense
70 our form OF government, but the
natural reaction from a world war, the
natural and inevitable result of trade
competition for which America was
not ready and with which it could not
sompete.
"Diplomatically we shall also be
tested," stated Mr.. Martin. He de-
elared that the United States would
have no voice in the terms of peace,
that despite all predictions this would
De a nation practically isolated as
avery nation would be striving for it.
self to build up trade. Among the
Sanger points he pointed to the Phil
ippine islands and Hawaii and added