Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1917-10-12

of the Quebec reluctance 70 serve.
Willing as they have shown them
selves to help Uncle Sam make 'the
world safe for democracy" in general
they do not condemn their Canadian
kin-folk, and commentary almost In
variably opens with a condoning: ooh,
well, in Canada, it isn't the same
thing"
Why? Not all of the French boys
who have gone gladly into the Amer
lean ranks can clarity their feeling
into so many words, but the secret of
it is certainly this: as American citi-
zens and soldiers of the United States,
they feel part of a proud sovereign
nation making" war; Canada, on the
contrary, is only participating in the
war, and the Quebec cousin, If he
fights, only fights for England"
In certain French Canadian minds
hostility to anything English In itself
is natural. And this hostility is pre-
cisely cOrollary to the attachment for
France, vanquished by England on
Canadian soil century and a half
ago, and such rs have it will not fight
for England at any price, even with
France involved in the quarrel as it is
today. 1t is sentiment, reasons that
reason does not know" and an Irish
| man understands just what It means.
Add to this fundamental hostility to
Britain which is of the blood, the bit
terness of the bilingual war between
the French and English factions in
Canada, the multiplying grievances of
Jean Baptiste In regard to the rele-
eating of French to the rank of an
Accomplishment in the Manitoba and
Ontario schools, the rumbles of that
"guerre de races" he hears of with
every visit of a relative from the
North, and the New England cousin
Of Jean Baptiste is apt enough to ex-
claim: "They have reason in Quebec!
To hell with helping the English in the
war;
Besides the merely sentimental,
there are the 'thoughtful' spmpathiz-
ers for Quebec, keener students Of the
question. In these same people there
it is even approved Of as the Wisest
war measure President Wilson could
take to have imposed it at once with
out asking the people to vote on 1T.
But with one voice they say tnat in
Canada zee nest pas la meme chose"
and that to impose CONSUMPTION on
little country of 100000 inhabitants
which has already volunteered 100000
soldiers is tyranny. Note here the
subtle difference in the 'sense of cOun-
try and the "sense of colony" as 1t
were. French-AmericanS here feel
that they are fighting s'for their coun-
try" and the draft is just. Canadians
in their eyes are colonials who are
helping" who have first of all the
right to decide whether they will do
1t or not.
L'Etoile, the Lowell French paper,
has taken an emphatic stand against
CONSUMPTION in Canada; also against
the recruiting of New England French
Canadians for Canada's forces. Cana
dian recruiting officers recently on tour
in New England have been the butt Of
acerb aspersions from that quarter.
Serve the great cause under the Stars
and Stripes" reiterates the editor,
"dOn't go to Canada to serve Ivy the
side of English francophobes AMI fan
atlcs." This attitude has been char
acteristic of the French-American
press of New England consisting of
some 10 or IL sheets distributed among
the larger textile centers, with but an
exception or two. 1t has patriotically
rooted" for volunteer service under
the American colors on the part of
French-Americans, and In the same
breath defended the Quebec French
who refused to enlist under the British
cOlors.
In the bilingual quarrel the French
American press naturally sided with
the French element, contending that
it's rights were trampled upon, and
the present hostility to English efforts
in Canada is a resultant.
BY these extremists the big word
annexation is pronounced. Would not
Canada be much better off If it were
Americana" they ask.
At the other end of the bridge are
found those who bitterly denounce the
Quebec cousins as traitors, rebels, cow
ards, etc., and have not enough words
to paint them black. WHAT" ex-
claimed one fervid citizen before the
war didn't that Nationalist crew and
other patriots sing La Marseillaise
with tears in their eyes? And didn't
they clamor 'Restons Francois! on
every roof? Their very salvation, and
that of Canada itself, demanded that |
they should carefully keep their skirts |
from the communicating English, and
above all remain themselves, remain |
French. And now that France is
clutched by the throat, their refrain |
has suddenly changed to We are Cana |
dams, neither Frenchmen nor English |
meni This war is none of our affair
l must say that these people pass my |
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Transcript.
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