Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-06-08
HOW DO you LIKE 1T?

This man Townley has gone up and down the state
preaching hatred ana dtssension. treason and anarchy,
ever since he took the first steps toward becoming the
notorious character that he is. There is not a respectable
man in any community who has not, directly or by Inn
plication, been reviled and abused by this blatant dem
agouge. Many mon who have held him in contempt
have tolerated him because 1t seemed to them that the
situation into which he had injected himself was a purely
domestic one. and that any complications for which
he might be responsible would speedily right themselves
and no great damage would be done.
Let us waive all that and consider the situation
fore every family in this land today is that we are at
war. not a figurative, imaginative. polite friendly war.
but q terrible war, with ships and guns and bayonets; q
war compared to which the greatest war which we have
ever known was as child's play; a war which Is about to
require the active services of a million Of our young men,
with no one knows how many before 1t is done; a war
which means for the men at the front long and weary
marches. days and nights in the trenches. to many of
them unmarked graves in No Mans Land, and to many
others the lives Of the manned ana crippled. 1t is a war
which to those Of us who cannot go to the front means sac
rifice and lf-denial, enormous burdens Of taxation. empty
places in tho home circle, and, unless it is shortened by
the most effective means which we can command. hun
ger and restitution to thousands Of our families, \destitu-
ton similar to which. within the short space Of three
years, has come upon the most prosperous countries OF
Europe.
That is the sort Of war upon which we have embark
cd. 1t matters not now what were the causes which led
to it. 1t matters not for the moment whether or not 1t
could have been avoided. 1t is here. 1t is upon us. We
must deal with 1t, and we must deal with it now.
You farmers and merchants, you blacksmiths and
carpenters, you men and women of all occupations in
North Dakota whose sons and brothers have been en-
rolled as those from among whom the first OF the great
army for foreign service is soon to be drawn, you who
are giving of your best loved and most priced. you who
are straining every nerve and precticing every economy
in order that when your men go to the front they shall
go cheered and sustained by the knowledge that the spirit
Of their home and friends is in every blow that they
strike. and who are seeking for ways to make every act
of our government the most highly effective that it can
be made in order that the war may be ended as soon as
possible-you people Of North Dakota who are trying to
play the part of patriots, how do You like the spectacle
of a man travelling from town to town throughout the
state sticking q knife in the back Of your son and taking
the bread out Of the mouths Of the starving? How do
you like it? That is what Townley is doing.
Every reasonable utterance of this man tends to
strengthen the arm Of the enemy. to weaken the arm OF
the United States, and to weaken the power Of the nations
which are associated with us in this endeavor. How do
you like it? What treatment is mertted by traitors
What treatment has been given them? Read history and
see. Always and everywhere the man who has struck a
the contempt Of decent men. And that contempt has not
been silent or inactive. whitening denunciations have
been heaped on his head and the prison has received him,
or he has been suspended from the gallows. This has
been the attitude Of society toward the traitor, and yet
this man Townley is still at large. addressing meetings
and pouring out his poison into the ears of men and
women who, by themselves or their loved ones. are to
be made the sufferers from his abominable conduct. How
do you like it? And what are you going to do about it!