The Meeker herald., 1917-07-14
STAND BY THIS EMBLEM
81 Am Told

yer News editorially gives one OF our
alleged big men a deserved calling
down." as follows:
II am told" said Senator Gronna
of North Dakota, addressing q Min
nesota audience the other day, ~ am
told that Great Britain has today
more than 2,5OO,OOO trained men who
have not entered the fight. England
has been very liberal In permitting
the troops Of her colonies to do the
main fighting. She has placed them
in the front ranks, but has held her
own soldiers back until the time
shall come when the strength of the
central powers shall have been re-
duced to a minimum, and then she
will ultimately step in, as she has
always done, and reap the glory of a
brilliant victory
Thus a United States senator de-
liberately and mendaciously ISLANDERS
an ally of his own country.
There is no foundation for this
kind Of talk no provocation for 1t. 1t
is untrue and 1t is disloyal. 1t Is aid
and comfort to the enemy. II Senator
Gronna was told these lies, he WAS
told them by some agent of the pro-
German propaganda in the United
States. The trouble Is that Senator
Gronna will now be quoted as author
ity for them, and many people will
suppose the senator is we'll informed
instead of being mere malicious
peddler OF gossip.
Great Britain has not been COM
PEELED or permitted her colonial
troops to do the harder part Of the
fighting. Great Britian's armies have
suffered at least 1.5OO, 600 casualties,
and probably nearer 2,OOO,OOO. Colon
ial losses, including India and South
Africa, number perhaps 100000.
What of the balance of l,20O,O0O to
/. l.7OO,OOOY They are Englishmen and
Seotsmen and Welsh,nen and Irish ;
they are the brave men whom this
loose-tongued senator calls slackers.
Great Britain has a reserve army
in England. Senator Gronna places
it at 2 100000. Senator Gronna might
reflect:
l. That no country ever sends Its
full force to the firing line at once.
The maintenance of reserve Is as
necessary in war as 1t is in banking.
2. That Great Britain is fighting
on at least five fronts-France, Mace
donia, Mesoputamia, Palestine and
South Africa; that on all these fronts
there are continual losses due to
wounds and sickness; that they must
be continually .re-enforced; that
there must be some central reservoir
for reinforcement.
8. That on any of these fronts an
emergency situation may develop at
any time demanding the quick dis
patch of large numbers of troops.
The senator might further reflect
that il Great Britain we're to ship her
reserve army to Frauce, and to main
tain 1t there, it would require twice
the tonnage n channel transport now
necessary, and that Tonnage would
have to be taken from the work of
feeding Belgium or some other abso-
lutely vital work. 1t is cheaper to
maintain the reserve in England and
send detachments across channel or
overseas as they are needed at the
front.
And an intelligent American whose
veins are not full of the virus of
Prussian poison will thank God that
while America is drafting and train
ing an army Great Britain still has
q goodly reserve with which to feed
the line. We would be in bad way
today II every man Britain could
spare was in the trenches.
Senator GrOnna's charge that Eng
land is holding back to win a cheap
triumph over All enemy decimated
by her allies is contemptibly slAnd-
erous, and of all men an American
should be the last to make 1t. Can
not the senator see how the charge
comes back? England, with nearly
two million casualties; with two
million men oil the firing line and
three years of warfare behind her.
might say-if she were not more gen
erous than the senator-"What OF
the country that after three years OF
standing on the side lines comes into
the war when the enemy is re-
treatinX?"