Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-20
HAVE WE GOT THE GOODS?


NJ LIAM gets more out Of life than he
puts into it and no nation ever be-
came great except through the upbuid.
ing Of character, which is itself the re.
euIt of conscious sacrifice and dedication
TO high ideals.
This nation has not become the colos.
asus that it is because it's territory is rich
in natural resources and its wide latitude
renders it productive of virtually all
products necessary to the sustenance and
comfort of the human race. Mexico, too,
is rich dn climate and resources, but the
poverty of the masses of its people is the
natural outgrowth of the enfeebling self
ishness which has characterized its gov
ernmental class.
The Puritan influence, it is not too
much to say, made America what it is
The winning of the West paralleled in
the necessity for hardship the experience
of New England. A sturdy race came
into being because none but sturdy
people could have endured the necessary
conditions of frontier life.
81 We have heard men complain that the
nation today is too concerned about feed.
sing our allies in Europe. We have heard
men say that our first duty is to feed
yourselves, even satate our appetites, be-
fore yielding TO the war-ridden lands one
bushel of wheat or one pound of meat.
I've have heard other men argue that
sthey are doing their share when they
spay war taxes. Their duty is done, they
aver, when they do what they are com
PEELED to do.
say. To Jericho with lickspittles who
kiss the feet of Mammon and have
lost the frontier virtues of their fore
bears in years of comfort and luxury.
How men can glut their appetites while
schildren by the thousands starve for
want of bread, how men can cling to dol.
lars when the Hun swaggers through the
chambers of civilization and fastens his
passionlighted eyes on the vestals of our
order, is one of the riddles of the era.
May we not humbly thank God that
IN numbers such creatures are small,
as small comparatively as they them.
selves are in mental stature, and that
: there still breathe Americans who with
stout hearts bring their all to the altars
of service, with no thought of personal
fortunes and in the true spirit of service?
They are the true heirs Of nation-builders,
the giants whose deeds shame the time
servers the profiteers, the dastards and
the contemplate mollycoddles who have
been compelled in this time of stress to
show their colors and take the brand
II is, we say, an honor to be permitted
to make sacrifices. It is one of the i'm
perative processes in nation building
The tragedy into which we have been
catapulted is soutesting and nerve
making. Can we run the gantlet? Can
we prove ourselves worthy of interna-
tlonal leadership? II there are in our
bones and marrow the will and the might
TO prove our worthiness; If we have in
fact, the virtues which alone can estab
lish prestige and the right of captaincy
then indeed is our future place in the
world fixed and certain. But no race Of
mollycoddies ever dominated anything
for long and no people unwilling to make
sacrifices ever got anywhere.
The nations place in the world will
depend entirely on what it gives to
the world, and the thing it is now
asked to give is security and safety from
the aggression Of mighty force that have
been united in a gigantic conspiracy to
overturn the whole system OF govern
ment, society and life asswe have known
4 and as it has been built UP through
centuries Of toll and suffering.
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