Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-09-18

proof OF our competency to use the
ballot. This proof lies solely with
you. If seditious and traitorous or
CARNATIONS are permitted to exist. If
lawless elements are allowed to de-
stroy property in your state, if capt.
tai fears to invest, if the development
of your farms, orchards and industries
is hindered and retarded, if the work
men of your cities are intimidated, If
the laborers are driven from the fields
and the forests, if all these outrages
go unreDuked and uncontrolled. if the
perpetrators are not driven out and
kept out, you have demonstrated your
unfitness for the ballot.
When one reflects upon existing
conditions, one cannothelp but Won
der what has become of the spirit that
animated those early pioneers who
Draved and Overcame all the dangers
or the unknown to make this magnifi-
cent state safe and comfortable place
10 live. Is their spirit dead or for
gotten that their children sit supinely
Dy and dread to raise hand or voice
to preserve the ideals and traditions of
their splendid forbears? Have we be-
come so softened with ease and lux
ury that we dread the discomfort of
resisting the evils we have let stalk
into our very homes? Have our char
acters become so undermined by shall
low reasoning and much false phi
losophy that we can no longer tell
good from evil? The foe is not only
at our door, it is within our very
gates, and yet we temporize and
some of us even pity anG excuse this
internal enemy. We are unable to
see that what is the loss of one is
the loss of all, that no part of a COM
munity can be injured without in
jury to the whole, that unreproved vi
oIations of our laws weakens re-
spect for the entire governmental
structure
These are the lessons it seems to me
the women of Washington can teach /:
respect and honor for the American
republic; love and reverence for her
ideals and traditions; Difference and
obedience to her laws; mind and heart
and brain given to her upbuilding. The
country is sending her boys with the
most perfect bodies, trained intellects
and generous hearts to fight and suf-
Ter and some to die for the preserva-
ton of our republic, mothers all over
the land, with brave faces and break
ing hearts, and fathers watching their
fondest hopes die, are bidding their
sons farewell, wives are taking up the
support of their children and facing
a lonliness that none may efface to
give their husbands to their country.
thousand different kinds and sorts
OF sacrifices are being offered every
day through the country. 1t is a time
when none may escape. Duty, if not
the higher motiveof loveof native land.
| calls every one of us to arms. 1t
calls our men overseas, it calls us to
hold tight to what is true and not let
fear or indifference or false pity or
even death itself deprive us of the
fruits of their works and sacrifices,
Women OF Washington, the men of
your state have placed a wonderful
glft, magnificent privilege in your
hands, but do not forget, and do not
let your sisters forget, / beg of you.
that privileges bring responsibilities !:
these responsibilities cannot be eyad-
ed. You must answer to the world
what use have you made of this priv-
llege. Will the answer be for good
or for eVil?' Will your state stand
for all that is upright and honorable
and just, or will it stand for corrup-
ton, syncophancy and selfshness
With you lies the answer and with you
lies the proof of woman's ability to
raise the standard of municipal life"