The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-12-17
DEMOCRACY AT WAR.

Digging through the annual re-
port Of Franklin K. Lane, the Sec
retary of the interior. the other day
we struck pay dirt"
Mr.. Lane gives a pen picture Of a
democracy struggling to equip it
self suddenly for war. To quote the
report itself. on this: "A democracy
making war is never an agreeable
sight for 1t is not its normal line
Of life. And those who sneer at it
or jeer at 1t. because it does not play
the game as we'll as might be, pay an
unconscious compliment to the
merits Of free institutions. 1t takes
time to accustom men to the short,
hard words of command, and to the
surrender of personal judgment"
But the nation is coming slowly
to a military basis, and to the mill
tary state Of mind that accepts dis
cipline as a necessity.
Mr.. Lanes report, however, re-
lates some most entertaining in
cidents which illustrate how typical
Americans accepted the declaration
of war and what it involved. To
quote one:
In studying a map Of southern
ore deposits with relation to the
placing of a nitrate plant it be-
came evident that pyrite was to
be found in a stretch of the
mountains running from north
ern Georgia to central Alabama.
And just when this was found
there came into the office one OF
the most forceful of southern
manufacturers, who entered with
a statement that he was looking
for a place-"not under the
spotlight" ann not a prima
donna; just a mans job; some
thing somebody else would shy
at"
why not find the pyrite ore
in your southern hills?" / asked.
Never heard of the stuff, but
IL it's there and you say we need
it for the war I'll get it."
That was almost literally the
conversation that has led to the
opening of five mines yielding
400 tons day, which 1t is
promised before the winter is
over will be increased to a thou
sand tons a day.
And again he tells of the uses OF
science in the world war, as fol-
lows:
1t was not long after our en-
trance into the war that one Of
our biologists came into my Of
flee, proudly dressed i'm an army
uniform. The last time / had
seen him he had come to make
report on the tungsten fields in
Alaska, almost within the Arctic
circle. He had spent more than
90 summers in that distant ter
ritory, taking here and there a
sample of rock, studying the
peculiar outstanding and twisted
beds of coal in the Matanuska
and Boring fields, rushing from
one placer gold field to another,
reporting on each new find of
metal, until he had become iden-
titled with the rise Of Alaska
and was the embodiment Of its
hopeful spirit.
Il have come to say goodbye, IN
he said. My next address will
be somewhere In France as q
member OF Gen. Pershing's
staff."
/ naturally asked the kind Of
work that an Alaskan geologist
would be called upon to do with
an army. His answer illustrates
how much Of science has gone
into war.
my work." he replied, lis to be
concerned with the location OF
trenches and dugouts. We must
have trenches into which the
country will not drain. These
slashes in the earth can be made
so that they win do their own
draining. Mud, mud, mud That
Is the trench curse which brings
on trench feet and puts the
soldier out Of business