Norwich bulletin., 1917-07-21
Views of the Vigilantes
OUR COUNTRY.
By Henry Dwight sedgwiek of The
 Vigilantes.


 War is a hateful and a mad thing It enbodies the maximum of human wickedness and human folly. To turn this strange and wonderful ex- perience, IHe-this brief time between the darkness from which we came ana the darkness to which we go-tha1 or ferS to man a beautiful world 70 iooH at. the boundless interests of knowl- edge, the happiness of friendship, the enjoyment of labor. the blessing Of tns deeper affections. to turn all this in1o shambles and hatred, is nonstrous, the doing of devils.
 But the wickedness and waste of it must not blind us to some good to pc got from it.
 In the first place there is Russia redeemed from tyranny, there will De Germany, we hope, rescued from her military madnss, and at home there will be some recompense for our pri- vations and sufferings. The country will be consolidated as never before; East and West. North and South. will find sectional differences we'll nigh oo- .iterated The Western farmer will find the Wall Street banker man de- voted to the general good; whose cnlet fault Is not to be a revolutionary re- former, and the Wall Street banker will feel that the Western farmer should have his economic condition ameliorated. People may live three thousand miles apart, but a common emotion will make them neighbors. far quicker than steam and electricity.
 Then we hope that the incidence Of taxation will fall on luxuries curing the war and will continue to fall on luxuries after the war, so that now and hereafter to indulge greatly in luxury will be the sign of a stacker in patriotism.
 democratic nations will be the begin ming of real human union, will real ize the old dream of Christianity "a Christendom in which all men shall be brothers that no nation will seek 70 keep a market solely for itself that protective duties will be suppressed by international amity the sword be beaten into a ploughshare, and mill tary preparedness be regarded as the last remnant of the Middle Ages
 But most of all our country will have a greater significance for all of us. Now we are conscious that we ars Irish, Germans, Italians, Swedes. men of Jewish. English, or Scotch descent; we feel that we are parts of com. posite whole, that America is sort OK agglutination of pieces taken almost at random from the old world. The war will change all of this It IS com mon suffering and common sacrifice that creates a nation. Not common blood, nor common speech, nor q com mon literature, nor Shakespeare ana the Bible. but 1t is the fact of hay ing striven and suffered for the ideal which the country holds up, that ere ates and sancitifles a nation.
 All this taxation. all the Liberty Loans. all the gifts to the Red Cross all the partings with our soldiers and sailors, all the blood to be shed, all the wounds and death to be endured, wiD consecrate the citizens of America will unite the forty eight states, white folks and colored, rich and poor, men of German with men of French des- cent, men of English with men of Irish blood into one great eelf-consctous organism, animated by purpose higher and nobler than the purposes of ordinary men, and will give to eacfA American the sense of a great per- sonal responsibility, and great pSr- sonal self respect, because he Is a cit- izen of such a reRenerate nation.
 Such good Is this we must not lose sight of in the midst of all these hor- TOTS; such good we must be resolute to achieve. keeping our eyes on the America of promise while we help the America of today to carry on the tradition of Washington and Lincoln, ard show the world that America will sacrifice what 1t holds dearest for it's ideals.