The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-12-21
Judge c. M. Stanton Shows
Country Faces Crisis
MUST RISE TO SITUATION
Cannot Afford to Be Indifferent;
Country Is Engaged In
Serious Business

1t is be refretted that there was
not larger turn out last evening for
the patriotic rally, held at the Man
kato theatre, under the auspices of the
America First association. There was
a splendid array Of moving pictures,
showing scenes in the recent loyalty
parade in st. Paul and Judge c. NJ.
Stanton of Beinidji and Judge Lorin
Cray of Mankato told the audience
many things that every American
should realize, take to heart and re-
member. 1t was fair-sized audience,
but not what it should have been. No
doubt the lack of time in which to
advertise the meeting had much to do
with the lack of more people in the
theatre.
w. H. Andersen, after Judge STAN
ton had begun speaking, displayed four
large flags from the second story
boxes, two on each side.
When the curtain arose, Judge Stan
ton, Judge Cray and F. w. Hunt were
together on the stage. Judge Cray
opened the meeting, calling to mind
the early days when this region was
a wilderness. By long and patient in
dustry and rigid economy on the part
of the people settled here, the place
had been made one of the garden spots
of the earth. This was done under the
care of kind and considerate gov
eminent The meeting that evening
was to talk about what had been ac-
complished under that government and
to show appreciation of that govern
ment. The time had come when the
people must declare whether they
were standing by the government that
had stood by them. Mere silence did
not imply acquiescence in the work
that was going on.
Owe Support to Government.
In these hours of peril the people
owed their support to the govern
ment with all the means in their pos
session under every principle of COM
mon honesty, common decency and
common loyalty 1t was easy these
days to determine who was loyal and
who was not. The masses of the peo-
pie were standing firmly by the gov
eminent, ....-..
The Judge told of two Austrians
with whom he recently had a CONVEX
sation. One Of them had been a soldier
in the Austrian army. For that service
he got six cents a day. Out of that
money he paid for his washing and for
the backing of his shoes, as was re-
quired. He had come to the United
States and had prospered fairly we'll
since he had been here. He said he
liked the Austrian people only he
wished they could only get rid of their
kings. Now he was in the United
this country.
Speaking Of conservation of food and
other supplies, the speaker remarked
that the ladies could do much along
that line. They could conserve very
much in the way of wearing apparel
One idea that he suggested was to dis
continue the wearing of furs.
Judge Cray now presented Judge
Stanton, the speaker of the evening,
who is on the state district bench for
the district with headquarters at
Bemidji
CompIimented Mankato and County.
Judge Stanton complimented Man
kato and Blue Earth county on their
record since the war started for ego
ing over the top" in every way. He
said he came as a representative of
the America First association, which
was an outgrowth of the great loyalty
meeting held in the twin cities few
weeks ago. The object of the associa-
ton was to intensity the American
feeling and to put the people better
on their guard against the German
propaganda.
The judge spoke of his recent visits
to many parts of. this state, and
everywhere he felt that night that he
was addressing real American citi-
zens. He could not see how any man
who had sworn here to renounce all
foreign allegiance could be otherwise
than loyal American citizen. After
a man had lived here five years or
more and taken that solemn oath, the
judge said he was willing to take him
at his word. The one great dominating
fact was that America was at war.
That was enough n itself to stir the
red blood of every real American
citizen.
Powerful Military Force.
Another important fact was that
America was at war with the most
powerful military force the world had
ever known. In comparison with the
mighty Prussian force all other
armies of previous history amounted
almost to nothing at all. After three
years and more of strenuous warfare,
during which more than two million
German soldiers had been killed and
about as many more wounded and
captured. the kaiser still had force of
about nine million men, ready to go
on with the fighting. For forty years
and more the German government
had been preparing itself for the very
contest in which it was now engaged
The territory of the central en-
pires was compact territory, with an
, excellent system of transportation. In
the matter of shifting troops Germany
could do in few hours what it would
require the allies weeks to perform.
Perhaps it sounded pessimistic but
the people we're entitled to know the
truth. America was confronted with
a colossal task. The facts came out
through the reports of Ambassador
James w. Gerard, through events on
the battle fields and from Congress
man c. B. Miller, who had Just re-
he T~of