Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-01-23
AMERICAS PART

Our troops have been advised by
Secretary Baker that on them will fall
the burden of the next campaign. And
this is net to be wondered at. France
has already lost in casualties more
than two million men; the British
casualties are nearly one million. This
we know. Germany hiss net made
her wounds public, hut no censorship
can conceal TIE feet that Germany has
suffered desperate and deadly toll
in her assault upon the Fcscc eff the
world. The Crown Prince ha<l@-nore
casualties at VcrIun then the United
States has men in train'ng IL fifteen
environments. The AS iau5 lest
100000 nlen TO Bru2silcH in the early
summer Of 1916 and the steady wear.
ing cut of Gerraan men fr~r1 MIS-
SINGS and White Sheet to tic Vesges
Mountains, tas g7rc~on with increas-
ing acccleration.
III spite Of this loss on both sides
me war has rot been Seft'cI. Far
from it, fer Germany received new
resources in men ard matsiial by tins
cessation Of effective Russ an h@s.i;i-
ties for many months. Therefore
America faces the task of winTi7g the
war or seeing all that has oc@n lone
heretofore. dissipated in useless efforts.
Victory is all that counts now. A
deadlock peace 1nSans nothing.
These who know the heart 0s Amer
lea have no doubt what America S
answer will be. There is no place for
both Democracy and despctism in the
civilization of the white races. One
or the other means triumph.
Four years ago no one would have
believed that GsFmsry could have
come 50 near definitely turning back
the hands of progress. And to-day
the world knows it is a desperate
fight to a finish. We even begin to
doubt whether the German people
themselves want to be set free from
Prussian domination. German people
OF the next generation, men and
women who have been raised in a free
atmosphere of unfettered thought, and
who have been allowed to come to
their own conclusions and express the
will of their own rninds in s"'f-~nv-
eminent, will naturally love freedom
and will, when gained, maintain lt,
But those who for two generations
have been taught by Prussian masters,
preached to by Prussian preachers,
drilled by Prussian seggeants and or
dered to death by Prussian generals
out of the hearts of these men some
thing has gone that seems to set them
aside from the ranks Of those who
would die to he free:
And SO against men whose hearts
are proof against the appeal for free
dom; whose minds are so beclouded
they cannot see that England, Amer
lea and France are fighting not to de-
stroy Germany, but to set her free
along with the rest of the world, there
is no other means of approach ex-
cept through the field of battle. To
this crusade comes America. All that
a government can do our government
has done or is doing. In spite of mis-
takes which we all know, we have &C
complished great and unparalleled
works in preparation and efficiency.
Our troops have been conveyed to
Europe without the loss of a single
man, and they will be kept there, sup
ported and fed and cared for with
foresight and with abundance. This
much the government can do. The
rest lies with the soldiers, and those
who know the homes in the prairies
and mountains and the lowlanQs from
-