The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-06-20
WAR CONDITIONS
Read w. Kellogg Manager Of the Mississippi
the Meeting of the keokuk Leaque
Argyle, Iowa, Last Night. - =

,,r,,,a II Is now over two and one
~ months since the United States
la .,.rad war against Germany, 1t is
w. ,.. heginning to be seen by the
ON, n,e at large what going to war
pe aans in these days; and l believe,
people, we still have a great
deal to learn as to how the war
st affect our lives and business.
What | have to say to you this even
;ng is to present some features of the
.i which the experience of
0ther countries (Which have been in
.he war for some time) shows we
Nv reasonably expect in this country.
IT The first central requirement for
,,ccessful prosecution of this war is
0on,nlete mobilization of every single
sunce of energy or resource every
oua NJ us possesses. For this pur-
on aso we must learn to think nation
p p,,v and to realize our individual re-
Snonsibility in the premises. To Illus
,rata what / mean, let us take a
$50 near home. Suppose one OF you
nod hundred acre tract near the
1Doc Moines river, with a corn crop
Standing on it worth $4,000 an acre,
~ 81 10000 for the hundred acre
tract. and suppose that severe flood
oome down the river, and that, by
evnending $4,000 in labor and sand
hsps and the like, you could prevent
tho, food from inundating your land,
bnt that, without that expenditure,
your crop would be ruined. OF course
yo, wouldn't hesitate to spend the
$4,000. That same $4,000, epent BY
Ten million people, makes the stag
gering total of $4,000, O00,000.0o. That
Is what mean by thinking nationally.
The $4,000 l mentioned might be 5
norcent of the value of the land In
rolved vet 5 percent of the wealth of
This natoin is $12,500, 900, 000.00-a
sum as large as our expenditures for
a war of one and a half years dura-
ton The point that wish to make !
is that a degree of sacrifice any of
nc would make as matter OF course |
IN the way of business, becomes a |
huge sum when the menace is to |
the whole nation instead of only one
farm and when everyone does his !
share on the same basis.
In the old days, countries which
went to war not infrequently hired |
professional soldiers to fight for
them The requirements of the
armies as to food were frequently
taken from the countries overrun,
the requirements of munitions were
vastly simpler than they are now,
and. in general, war was often no
different from some large public
work. which took considerable in
men and money, but was thing
quite aside from the normal, every
day life of the people. This state
ment is of course only relative, as
many past wars have literally worn
out the countries engaged in them.
Now, however, with the enormous
size Of the armies and the even
larger amount of specially made
equipment, and the ammunition to
run 1t, not to mention the food prob
lem and the other great require
ments like the Red Cross (Which we
are all working on this week., moth
everything the nation has or is to
the war, can possibly secure the
necessary results.
So far, the problem is easily ,
stated, but when it comes to speci-
flying in detail how this concentra-
ton should be carried out, we get
into problem so vast and intricate
that none but the mightiest minds {
can grasp it. I will attempt, of I
course, only to outline the general
principles involved.
Men and Money. t
The two great factors in fighting |,s