The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-30
No One Can Fight With Thoughts of Peace Con-
 tinually in Mind
ENEMY FOSTERING a. ALL TALK OF PEACE
Famous Writer Says He Has Found Evidences of This Propaganda | In All Parts of
 the World
By RICHARD wAsHBuRN CHILD

I came back from. China and Japar a few months ago. A reporter on the pier in San Francisco said: "What de they think in the far east about when the war will end?'
 That was the first expression about the war heard by an American return ing to his native country and achlne to know what Americans at home hao been thinking, planning, doing, now we were expressing our manhood anc womanhood whether we would soon find way to mobilize America and throw the giant force of her agalns' the menace of men.
 1 heard this query with sickened spirit The reporter would never have asked the question unless in behalf oi the readers of his paper. Could this represent the spirit of the people-tne spirit of America?
 I had heard the same question in ' England back in the days when the Zeppelns had just begun to come over London with the slogan, "Women and children first"
 " 'Over there," however. they learned slong ago of the folly of living daily sife with the sound of this question in their ears They have learned that in- siaiously, quietly, imperceptibly, the
 tsistent tap, tap, tap of this little
 Westion weakens the cause, turns the
 aSe of determination, enters the sub . conscious mind like a slow disease W draining off fighting spirit manhood, and the dash and power of the one purpose. and beats upon that which should be the unbreakable will of peo- pie who must win.
 For America, this question haunting the minds of it's citizens is more dan gerous than it was lover there" Our soft prosperity, our distance from the struggle, tempts weak men to cling to the comforts of peace. We have not felt the gaff of war. Not yet have we learned the pain of that full deep thrust of regret that when democracy called for us, we, the pioneers of lib- erty, asked why and how and when but, at first, did not come. We have not learned even the prelude of that day when the war will have seized upon and wrung our hearts, when the ghosts of our men come back to sit in the farmhouse kitchen or in the leather chairs of the club, to click the latches of village gates and march in invisible brigades up the asphalted avenues
 So the flabby men and women among us still go on asking in that voice of childish eagerness, How long will the war last?'
 And the selfish retailer. trader, or financier, fat with gain and ease or lean with avarice, thinking of the effect of peace upon the market. asks What would be your guess about the end oi thetwar?''
 And the timid, faint -hearted woman who has son of 13 wonders whether there is a chance that when he becomes of draft age the conflict, still contin- uing, will call him to the colors, and she inquires, Don't you think peace will be made in the spring."
 And even the thoughtless and the ignorant and empty headed, who would otherwise say, "Is this hot enough for snow?'' say now, Well, when will the war end?'
 Test the spirit of these questions by the two types-7those who ask them and those who do not Which is the type of person whom you would trust for charac- ter, courage, and sense. for unflinching determination when something has been begun, to see it through?''
 I remember leaving Kitchener's office in London to visit the recruiting at Scotland Yard. Six feet four inches and 25O pounds of retired British army vet eran hardened. reddened. grizzled, was my escort. That was in 1915.
 There's too much wondering when the war will end" said he. My three boys have gone''
 ITO France?' said I, misunderstand- ing.
 'sTo rest" he said, strengthening. s.Killed in action. Perhaps 'tis that which makes me squirm when I hear any Brit isher guessing about the end of the war. My good s,nse would tell me anyway. If you see two men lighting, would you put a bet on him who was wondering when 1t would be over2''
 "No''
 Nor I. When they ask me when the war will end, I say Something like a f1rn of PrnSai1nS time to stop.
 For a contest between two men, two football teams, two nations, or two great , alliances struggling in the greatest war \of all, over the greatest issue Of all, Where can be no other doctrine. When Hohn Paul Jones' antagonists asked him if he was ready to stop fighting and he answered that he had not begun to fight, 1t was not John Paul Jones but his ,ene- my who was licked. For it was his ene- my fwho was wondering when it would be over
 No man. TO woman who contributes even by innocent, thoughtleSs mouthing ta a mental attitude expressed in won- dersng when the war will be over is fulfilling the obligation of Americans to go straight and hard and together fer the one united, persistent purpose to which the United States has dedicated ouK strength. A job is to be done. A 
 Germany will be glad at any moment to divert us from the idea that the job is to be finished. when in our Judgment if M finished, and attract us as much as Possible to the idea that our job will be Finished some place short of that bv danglng peace as bait for towards andA fools.
 Here in Washington this policy of Ge many is understood It is the primer Ieston in an analysis of Germany's pol iciek. The state department knows well enough that Germany has tried unsus- cessfully endless moves to make peace decoy--to create morbid appetite among the people who have been try ing to make democracy safe-an appe- tite for rest. for an end of deprivation, joss, suffering, for relief from stress. for d temporary comfort bought at the price of principle-the principle of finishing the job.
 Germany will make other attempts. The Britishers who have come to the United States on missions for their gov erriment will testify that Germany has even allowed stories describing her starving condition to go out timed so that the peoples who oppose her will think not of the job to be finished but of peace.
 The secret service of the allied coun- tries know we'll enough that millions of German money has been spent to make Americans talk and think not of the job to be finished but of peace.
 Not a move is made by the President Llof the United States ncr any branch of Eupon which just peace-one which will #.v,1o fha fetv of mankind-can ha