Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1917-03-28

voice the sentiment Of those in this
city or elsewhere who in case Of war
must bring the greatest sacrifice. I
mean the mothers of young men. And
in doing SO, [ find we are not willing
to sacrifice our boys to the Demon
War" unless, Of course, some great
principle were at stake, as at the
time Of Washington and Lincoln
But this great principle, try as we
may we cannot find in our joining
this present bloody and dreadful COM
bat; and if we're not willing to send
our own boys into it, have we right
to inf1ict upon others that which we
are not willing to do ourselves? In
fact, l have not met one mother. who
thought the principle at stake in this
war, for our country, was great
enough for her boy to fight for, no
matter what European nation her an
cestors came from. What can we
mothers do? We are not towards,
We love our country, and have taught
our children to love it. We are also
willing to sacrifice our sons for the
real good of it, and the welfare of i+s
citizens at large in any way that ne
cessity demands. Yes, the real good
OF this great and glorious nation.
great and glorious only when she
stands upon her traditions and the
principles Of Washington and a Lin
coin. But we are convinced that en-
tering this awful struggle is not 60
ing to be for our country's good. bat
will call down punishment upon us !.
for there is One who is not Knocked
and what a country "soweth" that will
she "alsO reap" We have not been
neutral, but have played the hypocrite
from the beginning. I'm afraid some
OF us mothers will be driven to des-
perate measures, if our country in
s1sts upon the sacrifice Of our bows.
III order that our munitions makers
and few foolhardy Americans who
insist upon going where mad men are
fighting should live" Is there any
other reason for fighting? That we
cannot export so much food and coal,
perhaps? Isn't it a country's duty
to care for her own citizens frs
What would we think Of a mother
who wanted to fight because he could
not take the food his children were
starving for, and sell it to strangers
Aren't we doing just that now? The
class Of mothers for whom | speak are
not those who have had or wished a
voice in public affairs. We've assist
: our husbands in laboring for the we'll
being of the public and have raised
our families. The height of our am
bltlon has been to see our children
grow up to serve useful, unselfish and
noble purposes in life. Will they
serve this purpose if they go into this
unprincipled, and inglorious strug-
gle? We think not
To be sure some of us have had
German ancestors (only small per-
centage Of the mothers I now have in
mind) but we are Americans by birth
and principle. To illustrate. my faith
er's whole family fought in the Civil
war, my oldest brother served in the
: SpanishAmerican war, and my other
two brothers both belonged to the
National Guards; one of whom, Lieut..
Arms, is on the Mexican border now.
But many, such as we, are looked
down upon, called hyphenates, per-
haps traitors even, by class Of peo-
pie many Of whose ancestors were
fighting against this union when ours
were fighting for it, Is this still "a
government of the people, by the PEG
| pie, and for the people," or has i
persisted from the earth?" Does our
banner still wave "o'er the land of
the free and the home of the brave?'
Or have we become subjects of the
tyranny of falsehood and misrepre-
sentation?
Yours respectfully,
LYDIA ARMS LAUBE.
Dubuque, Iowa.