Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-03-01
From the Rural Precincts

mlHtarlsm alone to set The pace ii
destruction OF innocent life, in tn,
deportation OF citizens. in the break
ing up Of homes and in a general dis
regard for non-combatant and neutra
life that leaves no question as to the
fact that this Is the settled policy OF
the military class now driving Ger
many to destruction.
II war comes it must he waged with
the full power of all the OF
the United States. There can be nc
halfway measures; either militarism
must be destroyed or civilization will
perish. IF Germany wins against the
powers she is now fighting, militarism
will be triumphant and the United
States and all it stands for will exist
by permission of the military aristoc-
racy Of the world. 1t is necessary
that this aristocracy be overthrow
In order that freedom may live. It is
necessary for us if we enter the war
to enter it with a calm determination
to wage it through to a successful
issue, and this determination has in it
nothing but love and sympathy for the
German people. 1t is not the Ger
many of pleasant villages and smiling
farms and kindly people that America
outlaws today; it is the pagan brut-
ism military rule that controls this
better Germany with which our ideals
and u government are alike in con
fict. just as in the days of our faith
ers. the veterans of Valley Forge were
not fighting the Englishmen at home,
but the British aristocracy grown ar
rogant beyond endurance; and just as
the war of the Revolution set in mo-
ton the forces that freed the English
men at home w may believe that the
present war in which the United
States may or may not be engaged is
a war for the liberation of the Ger
man people.
Should war be u lot Germany will
not find us a divided people. The
militarists' hope based upon the fact
that millions of our citizens are of
German birth or extraction will be
dashed to the ground. Much as they
love their Fatherland they do not
love the a~ristocracy that is driving
their kindred into the trenches of Eu-
rope. In this crisis they will be 10y
ally, whole heartedIy American. And
those Of us not of German lineage
will do well to remember the sacri.
fees our German born neighbors and
friends must make, for whether it be
war or the absence of war, there is
no longer peace between Germany
and America. We are no longer a
neutral people, we have spoken Off
cially what the heart of America has
long believed-that there can be no
peace in the world until the idea of
the rule of the strongest is destroyed.
To see the situation in which our.
friends are placed let us i'm
agine ourselves in Germany, where
we have settled, raised our families,
in business, become hon
ored citizens of the community and
then find ourselves suddenly faced by
some great crisis that compels us to.
choose between the land of our birth
and the land of our adoption. 1t is
such a soul-searching process that the
in America is going through
today. 1t is only natural that he
think Of all the ties that bind
him to the Fatherland-only natural
that he should seek In every way pos
sible to find a solution that shall leave
between the two nations.
Let us be very careful that the I'M.
kind word be left unsppken, for in our
Americanism we of American birth.
and traditions have nothing to give up
while he, in proving his loyalty to
the flag, is making sacrifices that few
Of us can understand.
Mrs. b. D. McDougal visited her
daughter. Miss Gladys, the last Of the
week.
r. G. Green made a recent trip to
Chicago.
Mr.. and Mrs. Emery Wheelock and
Miss Winona were passengers on the
east-bound train out OF the burg Fri
day forenoon
Mr.. Everett Wheelock and William
Broderman visited the c~ountysseat the
same day.
Mrs. N. w. Porter. Master; Weston
and Miss Winnie, who have spent sew.
eraI weeks at Prairie Lawn. departed
for their home at Creseo, Ia, Friday.
Mr.. Oscar OIeson and Mrs. Oleson
were shoppers in the city Thursday.
Miss Clegg accompanied them to the
city. The rural schools We're closed
the last of the week in order that the
teachers could take examinations.
Mr.. Will Murray was In WATERFOWL
Unsettled weather is the usual
weather report lately and it sure is
correct. Wednesday, except for tenn
perature would have been a regular
bad one had the wind been able to
have gotten hold Of much snow. AS ii
was it created a pretty fair effect out
Of the little there was. The roads
I very bad, at least as far as
horses are concerned.
Several Of the farmer boys put in
some time at the tractor school held
In Waterfowl the past week. Among
them we're Wilbur Brown, Frank and
Earl burke, Oscar and Glen Oleson.
No doubt the ideas acquired ait the
tractor school will be Or use to- these
boys II they keep In the business of
Agriculture for the tractor OF some
form Of gas engine is to be found or
utmost every farm and we presume the
tractor itself will be found on I1auy
more arms than ait present byIhe
time the boys are forty years Of age.
Mr.sAnd Mrs Henry Hopkins of
- HMo -fAEN 1865 ~ 49, -