Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-07-11
IOWA GREAT POWER
IN WARFARE
Commonwealth Richer by Far Than
Rumania, Bulgaria or
Serbia.
COULD RAISE GREAT ARMY
In THE STATE IOWA

Crop Acreage Three Times As Great
As That OF All England and
Wales.
When, on April 6, congress declaf-
ed that state of war existed be-
tween the German empire and this
country, Iowa became one of the al
lies.
While most of US have not yet
realized the full extent of what tis
war may mean to Iowa, it is more
than a possibility that before fin
al peace is agreed upon, tho en-
tire resources of the United States,
and therefore of this particular po-
litical division of the nation, may be
strained to provide the men, the
wealth and the food which will be
required to bring victory.
Under these circumstances, Iowa
lis now preparing an inventory of its
available contribution to the war
cause, and already the state has dem
o1strated in more ways than one the
tremendous possibilities which the
Hawkeye commonwealth possesses
as a lighting power, says Louis H.
Cook in the Des Moines Register
Let us forget, for moment, the
constitution of the United States,
and other minor details such as the
Atlantic ocean, and consider Iowa,
as alone and unaided, placed upon
the borders of the German empire in
= 90 n n pnl-
GUM.
What could Iowa do to defend it.
lself?
Very little, possibly will be the an
swer upon the lips of great ma
jority of Iowans.
! But not SO. True, the Iowa mill
tary forces at first would be able,
probably, to offer little resistance to
such a military machine as Germany.
Yet, with some assistance in man
power, Iowa alone wonld be a far
more valuable ally than a Belgium,
| a Greece, a Rumania, Bulgaria or
even Italy.
! If Iowa could be dropped down
somewhere within the borders Of the
German empire-it would cover one
| fourth of it and more-the allies
would then just as we'll stop think
ing of starving the central powers in
| to a surrender. For Iowa alone
could supply the empires of Ger
many and Austria-Hungary with the
additional food necessary to insure
three meals day for every man wo-
man and child.
Can Furnish Army of Quarter Million
Neither can the military possibili-
ties of Iowa be scorned. Going back
to the days of the civil war, Iowa
with a male population in 1858 OF
I354,493 men, furnished 1903 men
to the union army. Should the same
proportion be followed in Iowa's con-
| tribution to the present war, full
strength Of 266,181 men would be
placed in the field.
AS for financial resources, Iowa
is an ally worth having. Statistics
are poor reading as rule, but here
are a few:
The wealth of all Spain. as esti-
mated in the World Almanac for the
current year, Is $4,000, 900, 00J.
The wealth of Holland is an even
Ave billion. The wealth of Switzer-
ld-lu 10, III Iouuu ioui va
lions. The wealth of Portugal is
two billions and half, and the total
wealth of Serbia, Rumania and Bull
garia combined is less than seven
billions Of dollars.
But Iowa possesses wealth In
it's farms and its factories, its live
stock, it's homes and all the pri-
vately owned property that lies with
in it's borders of $6,511, $4,000.
Publicly owned assets of the state
would increase the total resources
of the state to seven billions OF dol
lars.
Iowa, as a source of wealth, is
worth more to the allies than Ru-
mania, Bulgaria, and Serbia combin-
ed could be.
Iowa Already Has Contributed a Big
Bit.
With the above facts as a foun-
dation, probably the Iowa reader
will now be in a frame of mind to
consider for a few minutes what
Iowa has already done in this war,
and what Iowa can do and possibly
must do, if the war continues for a
term of years.
The Spanish-American war kick
ed up quite bit of disturbance here
abouts. The state was thoroughly
aroused. Probably today the gener-
al idea is that Iowa contributed far
more men to the forces which help
ed defeat Spain than it has enlisted
so far in the present struggle. But
not so, Iowa has already enlisted in
military service in the present war
at least three times as many men as
we're drawn from this state IN the
war With Spain.
Iowa furnished IN the Spanish
American war four regiments OF in
fantry, one signal corps. one COM
tany OF immunvs and two batteries,
which, with officers. totaled 5,Sl =
men. Perhaps another thousand
|Iowaus saw sci yi~s in the regular
a.ns, the navy, marines and as mem
|bers Ct military d1.-s OF other states.
At the presen. time the Iowa Ma
|t;ona. ,,uard is risct .cally at war
strersth, S,46i men and 271g officers.
Recruiting figur % show that more
than 900 Iorans are new serving
49, AnnT0Yt-