Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-07-18

II take Ii for granted that those
who argue thus do not stop to think
what that means.
do they mean that you must be
paid, must be bTibed, TO make your
| contribution, a contribution that costs
You neither a drop Of blood nor a tear,
when the whole world is in travail and
men everywhere depend upon and call
to you TO bring them out of bondage
and make the world q fit place to live
in again, amidst peace and justice?
Appeals to Honor.
"DO they mean that you will exact
a price. drive a bargain, with the men
who are enduring the agony of this
war on the battlefields, in the trenches.
amidst the lurking dangers Of the sea,
or with the bereaved women and pitt
full children, before you will come for
ward to do your duty and give some
part Of your life. in easy, peaceful
fashion, for the things we are fight
ing for. the things we have pledged
| our fortunes. our lives, our sacred hon
or to vindicate and defend-liherty
and justice and fair dealing and the
peace of nations?
"Of course YOU win not. II Is in
conceivable Your patriotism is of the
same self-denying stuff as the pa
trlofism Of the men dead or MANNED
on the fields Of France, or else it is
not patriotism at all
Full Dollars Worth.
Let rs never speak. then, Of profits
and Of patriotism In the same SEN
tence. hut face facts and meet them.
Let US do sound business, but not in
the midst Of a mist.
MANY "A grievous burden Of taxa
| zion will be laid on this nation, in this
| generation and In the next. TO pay for
| this war; let us see 10 Il that for
every dollar that is taken from the
peoples pockets it shall be possible TO
| OBTAIN a dollars worth Of the sound
stun they need.
let me turn for a moment to the
| ship owners Of the United States and
| the other ocean carriers whose ex-
ample they have followed, and ask
| them il they realize what obstacles,
what almost insuperabIe obstacles,
they have been putting In the way Of
| the successful prosecution Of this war
| by the ocean freight rates they have
| been exacting.
Making War a Failure.
"They are doing everything that
high freight charges can do 20 make
/ the war a failure, TO make it impos-
sihIe.
Il DO not say that they realize this
or intend it. The thing has happened
naturally enough because the CONNER
! cial processes which we are content to
see operate I'm ordinary times have
without sufficient thought been con
tinued into n period where they have
ne proper place.
Il am not questioning motives. |
am merely stating a fact, and stating
it in order that attention may he fixed
! upon It.
The fact is that those who have
| fixed war freight rates have taken the
most effective means in their power to
! defeat the armies engaged against Ger
| many. When they realize this we may,
| I take 1t for granted. count upon them
to reconsider the whole matter. 1t is
high time. Their extra hazards are
covered by war risk insurance.
Warning Is Sounded.
II know and you know. what re-
Spouse to this great challenge of duty
and of opportunity the nation will ex-
| pect Of you; and know what re-
Spouse YOU viii make.
Those who do not respond, who
| do not respond in the spirit Of those
/ who have gone TO give their lives for
us on bloody fields far away. may
safely be left to he dealt with by
| opinion and the law-for the law must
Of course. command those things.
Il am dealing with the matter thus
/ publicly and frankly. not because have
any doubt or fear as 10 the result but
only in order that in all our thinking
and IN all our dealings with one an
other we may move in a perfectly clear
| air of mutual understanding
Must Have Same Prices.
And there is something more shat
we must add 70 our thinking The
/ public is now as much part Of the
| government as are the army and navy
| themselves the whole people in al
their activities are now modified ant
Ia service for the accomplishment Of
| the nations task In this war: II IS
in such circumstances impossible just
/ ~ 70 distinguish between industrial
/ purchases made hy the government
and Industrial purchases made by the
managers Of industries and il is just
as much our duty 10 sustain the indus
trials Of the country with all the In
dustries that contribute to its life a.
d Is 10 sustain our forces In the field
and on the sea.
Think Not of Self.
We must make prices 70 the pub
lie the same as the prices to the gov
eminent Prices mean the same Trims
everywhere now. They mean the eff
cheney or the inefficiency Of the ma
ZION. whether II is the government tha
pays them or not They mean victory
or defeat. They mean that Americ,
will win her place once for all amons
) re foremost free nations Of the worlC
or that she Will sink to defeat and be
come a Second-rate power alike il
thought and in action. This is dal
Of her reckoning and every man among
us must personally face that reckoning
along with her.
The case needs no arguing I ns