Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-10-18

are physically possible under which We might fai, 10
win this war. and the bonds of the government would
still be worth dollar for dollar. 4 We might, for instance.
quit right now. before we have properly started. We
might sell out to Germany and leave our companions in
the lurch. bid farewell to every sentiment of national hon-
or, and abandon all thought Of democratic government
on this planet. Doubtless we could drive a thrifty bar
gain on that basis. We could come out of the war with
everything lost but money, but with a sufficient supply. 81
that to redeem our bonds at par. M
But we are not going to do anything of the sort, we
are enlisted In the war in earnest. We are sending our
young men to aid the young men of other democratic
nations in fighting the battles Of freedom. And we are
going to see the thing through.
We are going to keep those men supplied with ev-
erything that can make their presence on the battle front
effective. We are going to feed them. and clothe them,
and shelter them, and arm and train them, and to aid all
our allies in doing likewise. to the end that there may
be hurled against the forces Of autocracy a force which
In its personnel and in its equipment will be Irresistible.
And It the million men whom We are now sending
are not enough. we will send another million, and anoth-
err and another. If the billions of dollars which we are
now raising are not enough we will raise other billions.
and then more, and still more. We will send men II
necessary until in the trenches there are graybeards side
by side with cheeks on which the first down has not yet
sprouted, until there are none left at home but the wom-
en- and the old men and the children. We will send mon
ey and material until the grim spectre of hunger stalks
through the land and the wealth that we have been pill
ing up IN a century of peace and opportunity has vanish
ed like the boar frost before the rising sun. We will keep
up the fight until our armies are annihilated ana our
ships sunk, and the armed enemy marches unhindered
through our land; until our fields are laid waste, our cit-
les destroyed and our government obliterated. These
things will be done before we give up the fight. And when
we have been reduced to this condition, the bonds of the
United States government will be useful only to the rag
man.
But, when we have reached that deplorable condi-
ton, it will not be bonds alone that will have no value.
The money which we may have boarded in anticipation
OF national reverse will have been confiscated by a ruth
less enemy. Our money will be gone; our homes will be
gone; our institutions will be gone. Nothing of the things
that we value will remain to us. and life itself will not be
worth living.
Things are not coming to this pass. We are in this
war to WIN. But we are in unreservedly. We are in be-
yond the possibility Of turning back. And we will STAY
in until that for which we fight has been won, no matter
what reverses We may meet in the meantime. And so
we may dismiss the thought of abstaining from the pur-
chase of bonds as a measure of prudence. The most pru-
dent thing is to buy bonds, provide money, billions upon
billions of it, and bring the war to a successful end with
the smallest loss and the smallest suffering possible.