New Britain herald., 1917-04-20

public like war. The alarm hastens the footsteps of thousands of young men to the recruiting stations and iindustry prepares to ward off the blow and. if possible, administer few blows of it's own. All men canot take to the sword. Many do take to tho pen and in moulding public the pen can make the sword appear like rusty can opener.
 F For tho purpose of arous!ng the public 10 it's duties and obligations, a number of we'll known writers have become associated in an organization known ss the Vigilants Paul Revercs done in pen and ink. The platform includes four blanks, as follows:
 To eI ouse the country to real:za- ton ef 'ke importance of the p-ol,- lems confronting the American peo- rlc.
 To awaken and cultivate In the youth efithe country sense of puh- lie service and an intelligen. interest in citizenship and national problems.
 To work vigorously for prepared ness; mental. moral and physical. "'5
 To work with especial vigor for universal military training and serv- ice under exclusive federal control. as . basic principle of American democ- racy.
 Some of the writings are serious, others humorous but all are inter- esting. Included in the sparks struck from the heels of their Reverean steed are the following:
 The Pneumatic Brain.
 (By Irving Bacheller). , The pneumatic rubber brain which has to be blown up with hot air every day, expands into madness when the mir is little too hot and imagines itself a cousin of the Lord. Then if 1t has an army to back it, the swelled brain kindly offers to take the Lord into partnership in the butcher busi- ness It is . type of insanity with which the world has been familiar for ages. Most of the Roman emperors had it. William, the Godful has 1t. So has all that pneumatic throng of Prussian princes. It has always been hard on the plain people. Whole races have been disemboweled by 1t. The pneumatic brain is and always has been the deadliest foe of demcc- racy. To 8 man who cen imagine himself the cousin of God the life of an ordinary human being is not more important than that of a Plymouth Rock rooster. Nothing is of any inn portance except his plans.
 The pneumatic brain Is we'll known to us here. Certain American princes, reared in idleness and hot air, have had it. Harry Thaw had it and seems still to have 1t. England has deprived the brains of her princes of their pneumatic and military attachments 4nd made them safe and harmless. Germany is ruled by a group of Harry Thaws-backed by prodigious armies. They have the world by the throat. E. Is America not to do her share in shaking off those ancient enemies of democracy-these deadly vermin that infest the heavenly throne and im- peril the health and comfort of the world. Is America to be a stacker and people and the whole human race? I hope not.
 What we need is universal training which will develop the manhood of rich and pooy and fraternize it on a basis of plain living and hard work. l. will do more for America than all the colleges have done. We need a \ common aim that is above money. which Is. indeed, the defence of the sacred, God-given aims of democracy. decency and sanity. There can be no peace for honest men while a maniac criminal has a throne and an army.
 Therefore, get us ready to take our proper place in the army of the Lord. you chiefs and captains who are still lingering in the paths of ease and dalliance.
 The Fellows That We're Prepared.
 (By E. F. Harriman).