Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-12-19
Morale VIII Win the War
IFrom an Address Of James N VI

IFrom am Address Of James M.
We are living in the most fateful
hour of the greatest crisis in civiliza-
ton. 1t would be difficult to overes-
innate the gravity Of the situation. CIV
ilization hangs in the balance, and up
on the event of the near fixture, pos
sibly at most twelve months, the great
question will be determined whether
the community of nations shall be rul-
ed by reason or by terror. If the
great cause, the hottest for which men
ever fought, be lost then civilization
will become hell, in which Germany
will sit as Overload.
It was said by Mr.. Lloyd George ct
the beginning ofthe war that 1t would
be determined by the last s100. 100000
which could be thrown into the tremb-
ling scales. Others have said that the
great issue would be determined by!
that group of nations which could
throw the largest armed force into the
field. These are factors, but not nee
essarily controlling ones. The omi-
nous -peril of the Seven Years War adj
monishes us that q small nation may
triumph against great coalition Of
superior resources and armies.
It has been said that food will win
the war;" and some of our overenthus-
iastic food conservators have recently
made the more specific statement that
hogs would determine the result"
Food is important but lighting men.
war munitions and supplies are more
important. Above all is the concen-
trated will to victory" in which spfr-
it Prussia is pre-eminent.
In my Judgment the present world
war, the greatest In recorded history,
will be determined, and in the. not dis
tant future, by. the exhaustion Of one
or both groups Of belligerents, and the
result will probably depend upon the
comparative poWerTof the two groups
Of belligerents to preserve the morale
Of their civilian population. The world
is already war-weary, and this fact
makes it inevitable that this titanic
struggle is fast reaching its crisis.
The fateful question therefore, re-
mains, which of the civilian popula-
tons will be tho first to succtrmb IN de-
lection Of spirit to the terrible ,sacri-
fees of the war. It Is my hope and
expectation that 1t Will the civilian
population Of the central powers. No
censorship, however rigid and drastic,
can hide the growing disiEtregation Of
the morale OF the peoples Of Germany,
Austria and Turkey. The marvel is
that they have survived for three
years. Nevertheless. the plainest die
tate Of prudence requires that we
should not prematurely assume that
their collapse will necessarily be the
case. and that every effort should be
made nsthe countries OF the Allies to
nerve their peoples to the greatest eff
fort, In the spirit Of ITO the last man
and the last penny
It Is this consideration that gives
such Importance to the object Of this
meeting, for while Great Britain and
France might have won this war with
out US before We became an ally. any
weak ening on the part OF the United
States IN the fateful months that await
MS might be fatal to the great cause
IN this vital matter several impor-
tant considerations should be recog-
nized. In the first place, q homo gen.
eous nation. like Germany. japan,
Great Britain and france, can more
readily preserve its morale than het-
erogeneous people, because It IL weld
ed together by racial solidarity, while
heterogeneous hation, like China,
Russia, Austria and the United States,
is at q great disadvaittage, because the
intermingling Of races makes 1t more
difficult for such nation to think,
& q