The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1917-07-20
A CONSERVATIVE VIEW OF THE
SITUATION.
(From the Savannah Morning News
By MARTIN v. CALVIN.

nave thought OIL THIS many times
since the overseas war was prof ected
upon the world by militaristic Ger
many-thought of it in connection
with what should be the course of
the people of these United States
whether we should become involved
in the war or not.
Let pass the question whether we
were prepared. Let pass the ques-
ton whether we were too slow in
acting. By constitutional processes,
we have swung into it broadside, and
we are in to assist England and
France and their allies in winning a
victory so pronounced and so sweep
ing that the peace of the whole world
will be guaranteed for an almost in
terminable series of years.
To my mind, one of the most in
teresting developments of this high
ly intense situation is the recognition
accorded to the men between plough
handles and the men with hoes. New
er, in all history, has the world so
unanimously conceded its complete
dependence on the farmers, more es-
pecially the farmers in the United
States.
hold that too dolorous a view Of
the situation has been pressed upon
the attention-upon the minds of the
people. The issues involved cannot
be exaggerated. The duty which
rests upon all of US promptly and
cheerfully to do our part, Individual
ly and collectively, has not been too
frequently or too earnestly pressed
upon each one of us. Not at all
The production of the largest pos
sible food crops at the lowest pos
sible cost was wisely pointed out as
an imperative duty on the part of
the tillers of the soil, so, also, the du-
ty of outstanding our resources so
that the very best and most far
reaching beneficial results should fol-
low.
We needed line upon line on the
subject of wanton waste. Advice
along that line is to our Southern
people singularly appropriate all the
year round-every year. Why? Be-
cause the blessings of heaven have
been bestowed upon US, in climate, in
soil, in civilization, lavishly almost,
1t is so easy to produce crops, it is
so easy to grow fruit, it is so easy
TO grow live stock, we are uncon-
sciousy wasteful. No question a.
bout that.
A great crisis is upon the people
of the American Union and duties
uneXampled are upon them, but
there is no place for dolorousness in
act or in word. We shall prove our
selves equal to the situation! We
shall not perish from the earth or Be
driven from it either. We need to
walk with our foreheads to the sky
carrying cherry smile on our coun-
tenances and daily performing our
duties in a womanly or in a manly
way as the case may be.
Take the people of the cotton pro
ducing states-they know better than
any people in this country what war
ls-what patriotism requires. A peo-
pie who, shut in from the world
through four years of war, survived
and lived well, will prove themselves
more than equal to the existing stu
alton. am broad enough in nv
thoughts to believe-to know. that
our fellow citizens of the other states
Will be equal to the exacting duties
which are upon them just as they are
upon us.
Crop production South will be
equal to government demands and all
the necessities of the situation. That
is worthya great deal to US and to the
country at large.
The one lamentable feature, in the
entire situation is the fully develop
ed fact that the whole country has
been and still is to a considerable
extent, in the grasp of commercial
Ism. Love of the dollar has so dom
mated large bodies of the people that
genuine patriotism has suffered to
an alarming eXtent-has been smoth-
cred almost, hence the slowness with
which the young men of the country
are rushing TO the colors.
Under the extraordinary situation
which has seized US, the cause of
England and of France is the cause
of US all. Every moderately inform
ed man and woman, elderly or young,
must concede the truth of that de.
| claration.
have faith that the young men
OF the whole country will measure
up to the high standard set for them
by the record written in history for