Gilpin observer., 1917-07-19


war on the battlefelds, in the trenches,
amidst the lurking dangers of the sea,
or with the bereaved women and pitt
full children, before you will come for
ward to do your duty and give some
part of your life, in easy, peaceful
fashion, for the things we are fight
ing for, the things we have pledged
our fortunes, our lives, our sacred hon.
or to vindicate and defend-liberty
and justice and fair dealing and the
peace Of nations?
"Of course you will not. 1t is in
conceivable. Your patriotism is Of the
same self-denying stuff as the pa
triotism of the men dead or manned
on the fields of France, or else 1t is
not patriotism at all.
Full Dollars Worth.
Let us never speak, then, of profits
and Of patriotism in the same sem
tence, but face facts and meet them.
Let us do sound business, but not in
the midst of mist.
MANY grievous burden of TAXA
tion will be laid on this nation, in this
generation and in the next, to pay for
this war; let us see to it that for
every dollar that is taken from the
peoples pockets 1t shall be possible to
obtain a dollars worth of the sound
stuff they need.
Let me turn for moment to the
ship owners of the United States and
the other ocean carriers whose ex-
ample they have followed, and ask
them If they realize what obstacles,
what almost insuperable obstacles,
they have been putting in the way Of
the successful prosecution of this war
by the ocean freight rates they have
been exacting.
Making War 4 Failure.
"They are doing everything that
high freight charges can do to make
the war a failure, to make it impos-
sible.
Il do not say that they realize this
or intend it. The thing has happened
naturally enough because the CONNER
cial processes which we are content to
see operate in ordinary times have
without sufficient thought been con-
tinued into a period where they have
no proper place.
Il am not questioning motives. /
am merely stating a fact, and stating
1t in order that attention may be fixed
upon it.
''The fact is that those who have
fixed war freight rates have taken the
most effective means In their power to
defeat the armies engaged against Ger
many. When they realize this we may,
take 1t for granted count upon them
to reconsider the whole matter. 1t is
high time. Their extra hazards are
covered by war risk insurance.
Warning Is Sounded.
Il know, and you know, what re.
sponse to this great challenge of duty
and Of opportunity the nation will ex
pect Of you; and 1 know what re
sponse you will make.
Those who do not respond, who
do not respond in the spirit of those
who have gone to give their lives fol
us on bloody fields far away, may
safely be left to be dealt with by
opinion and the law-fOr the law must
Of course, command those things.
II am dealing with the matter thus
publicly and frankly, not because have
any doubt or fear as to the result but
only in order that in all our thinking
and In all our dealings with one an
other we may move In perfectly cleal
air Of mutual understanding.
Must Have Same Prices.
"And there is something more thai
we must add to our thinking. The
public is now rs much n part of the
government as are the army and navy
themselves; the whole people in al
their activities are now mobilized and
in service for the accomplishment OF
the nations task in this war; 1t Is
in such circumstances impossible Just
| ly to distinguish between industrial
purchases made by the government
and Industrial purchases made by the
managers of Industries, and 1t is JUS
as much our duty to sustain the indus
trials Of the country with all the in
dustries that contribute to its life al
| 1t Is to sustain our forces in the fielt
and on the sea.
Think Not Of Self.
1--WE must make prices to the pub
lie the same as the prices to the gov
ernment. Prices mean the same Shine
everywhere now. They mean the eff
cheney or the inefiiciency OF the ma
ton, whether It is the government that
pays them or not. They mean victory
or defeat. They mean that America
will win her place once for all among
the foremost free nations OF the world
or that she will sink to defeat and be
come second-rate power alike In
thought and in action. This is n day
Of her reckoning and every man among
US must personally face that reckoning
along with her.
"The case needs no arguing. I as
sumo that / am only expressing your
own thoughts-what mus. be in the
mind Of every true man when he faces
the tragedy and the solemn glory Of