The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-08-31
America in Graver Danger Than
People Generally Believe

lIG DdlJlGISius
1t is but matter of months, not OF
years, when the U-boats will be able
to starve out Great Britain, France
and Italy, unless something is done
and done quickly to stop the U-boat
menace. An important New Yorl
business man, who has been doing g
large business with our overseas al.
lies, assured me that the people Of
the British Isles could, if compelled
to do so, feed themselves on the pro.
ducts of their own land.
Whatever the people of Great Bri'
tain might be able to do toward feed.
ing themselves by intensive cultivation
of their small acres is immaterial
because these acres this year have not
been so titled as to accomplish such
result, and next year it will prob.
ably be too late.
A Nitre Shortage.
But even suppose that the people OF
the British Isles might be able tc
feed themselves off their own land
there is one essential which they could
not supply at home, and without a
large supply of which they must in
evitably give up the fight, and that
is nitre-Chile saltpeter-which must
be brought in ships from South Amer
lea. Great Britain, depending upon
the mastery of the seas by her navy,
has not provided means for making
nitro compounds from the air, and
neither has France nor Italy, although
Italy makes a small supply.
Germany alone forsaw and prepared
in time her own nitro-compounds
from the air to supply the needs of
all her armies and all her farmers.
Without nitre the manufacture Of high
explosives and gunpoWder must stop,
and all Of the allies guns on land and
sea be made silent. Battles cannot be
fought without gunpowder and high
explosives, and high explosives cannot
be made without nitre, and nitre can
not be brought overseas without ships
Again, fertilizer cannot be made for
the land without nitre, any more than
gunpowder. Consequently, without
Nitro the people of the British Isles
could not sufficiently fertilize their
land for such intensive farming as
would be required for their support
without the importation of goods. The
U-boat sinkings still go on unlessened
more. they are increasing, and there
is no immediate prospect of prevent
ing them. If they are not prevent
ed, however, or at least very much les
sened, Germany will win the war.
Great Britain, therefore, is in the
direst peril, and her peril is our peril,
too. We must realize the stern truth
that if our allies are beaten the Amer
lean republic will be knocked down by
the mailed fist, like a house of cards.
There may be comfort in the old saw,
but it is a false comfort-that "where
ignorance is bliss, It's folly to be
wise"
Pope said, ooh, blindness to the fu-
ture, kindly given that man may fill
the circle marked by heaven"
God" said Napoleon, flights on the
side that has the best artillery"
We may hate to think it, yet we
must realize the truth that God fights
on the side that has the best subma-
rines.
These considerations make God the
side partner of the kaiser, and the
kaiser is perfectly justified in using
the expression, "Me und Gott". 1t
may possibly be a part of Gods plan,
which is only another name for the
law of nature, that we should be made
blind to our terrible future in order
that the circle marked by heaven may
be filled by German domination over
us.
The Germans have for fifty years
not only been obeying the law Of ma
ture, but also taking advantage of and
profting by those laws in every posi-
BILE way, while we, on the other hand,
have not only ignored those laws, but
have also been trying to reverse them.
We have tried to invert human ma
ture-tried to convert the vulture into
a dove of peace.