The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1918-03-08
WHEAT IS THE
CRYING need
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upon that hellish act. Can you
imagine Captain symmes sailing into
port with the news that he had sunk
a vessel, as the Germans sank the
Lusitania and the Belgian-Prince!
Can you imagine how jefferson Davis
and Robert E. Lee and the whole
south would have repudiated him with
indignation? They would have ex-
Gained, 1--WE can go down to an hon.
orable defeat, but we will not win a
victory by means like this!" When
Admiral Dewey returned from the
Philippine Islands can you imagine
him meeting a Spanish passenger ves-
sci and sinking it with all on board.
*spurlos versenkt," without leaving a
trace? If he had done such a thing
there would have been no triumphal
arches to greet him nor the thanks Of
congress, but we would have court
martialed him as a disgrace to the
American flag, a disgrace to civiliza-
ton, a disgrace to humanity.
We ire fighting because no nation
has a right to trample upon weaker
peoples nor wantonly to attack its
neighbor states. We are fighting to
make the world not only safe for de-
mocracy but safe for humanity. We
are fighting in order that all nations
may have the right to freedom and
self-expression. We are fighting to
put down international lawlessness
and to win international disarmament,
arbitration and lasting peace.
The war situation at present is a
serious one. Germany has conquered
nearly the whole of Belgium, some of
the best lands in France, has con-
quered Serbia, Roumania and Monte
negro, has put Russia out Of the war
by her spies and gold and unscrupu-
lous intrigue, and has made a ter
rife drive upon Italy. If she can
break through the lines of heroes on
the western front, the war may be
carried to our own Atlantic sea board.
One of the biggest factors, and
perhaps the deciding factor in this
war, is the question of food.
In times of peace Germany pro-
duced four-ffths of her own food sup
plies, while England produced only
one-fifth, France one-half, Belgium
one-tenth and Italy two-thirds of the
amount necessary for their people.
The seas are sown with German SUBJ
marines, and it is easier for Germany
to starve our allies and our own SOL
diers at the front, than it is for us to
starve Germany. Germany may be
hungry but she will not starve. Un-
der normal conditions, before the war,
the allied nations were compelled to
import an average of forty per cent
of their food supply. Since the war
commenced their production of food
has very greatly decreased. The farms
of France r producing barely half
as much today a they were pro-
ducing in the year 1913.
One reason for the decreased pro-
duction since the beginning Of the
war has been the conditions Of eli
mate, for the year 1916 was n of
the poorest years so far as weather
was concerned, in the agricultural his
tory of the world. Another reason
is the withdrawal Of experienced men
from the farms in order that they
might go into the trenches, leaving
the cultivation Of the soil to inexper-
fenced women and children and feeble
aged men. Another reason is the lack
of proper farm machinery. Before
the war a great deal of farm machin-
cry was imported from America. This
machinery d~eteriorates, and since the
war commenced we have not been able
to afford space on our ships to send
new machinery to replace it. Those
who have come from France recently,
tell of the heroic efforts of the French
women to cultivate the fields, and de-
scribe them hitching themselves to
the plows, working and toiling over
the fields with our old fashioned hoes,
o. sven creeping on their knees pain
fully along, tending the newly planted
crops. Previous to the war Europe
imported a great deal of fertilizer,
but since the war we have not been
able to afford space on u ships to
bring fertilizer across the seas. The
scarcity of ships has made it impos-
sible for Europe to secure food from
the more distant markets, such as
Australia and India, because we can