Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-03-16
NE WAR, THE FARM
And the FARMER
BY Herbert Quick


Since the dawn Of history the farm
Or has been the man who suffers
most from war. All that he poes-
esses lies out Of doors In plain sight,
and Is spoil OF war-his house, his
grain, his livestock. But the farmer
everywhere Is warrior when war
is the only thing which will make
and keep him free-either a warrior
or a serf. He is sometimes the last
! to heat up; but ha stays hot. and IN
a long fight he is always found sturd-
lily carrying the battle across No
! Mans Land to the foe, In the last
grim struggle.
This war was at nrst hard to un-
Aerstand. No armed foe invaded the
United States. Tho night skies were
not Redeemed by the burning bFreS
and fermsteads OF America. No raid
ing parties harried us of our cattle or
horses No sabre-rattlers insuitod
our women We did not then know
that a monster had arisen with 4
thousand arms, who could reach across
the seas and take from US three
fourths Of everything we grew with
out our being aware Of it, and who
could follow up his robbery with in
vasion, subjugation and national
death.
What the Imperial German govern
ment offer 4 the farmers Of Amer
lea In it's ruthless submarine warfare
was not the loss Of profits. but
slavery to the saber rattlers OF Pots
dam, by numbering the people who
take our products TO market. by
! all the laws Of civilized warfare COM
mcrce under neutral flag was eree
from any hindrance except the legal
Interference justified by war; but
the Germans not only stopped mer-
chant vessels, they sunk them with
out warning and without trace.
Having the right, according to the
laws of war, to take the sea with
his feet and fight the thing out gun
to gun, but being afraid to do so for
fear he might lose his fieet, or I'M
| able to stop the selling Of our pro-
ducts to his enemies Or to open his
own ports to us by fair means. he
declared his intention to do 1t by
the foulest methods ever resorted to
in war.
To have submitted would have cost
us dear in prosperity; but that would
have been the least of our loss. BY
90 doing we should have accepted
DEGRADATION. We should have ac-
cepted, at the behest OF q half crazed
autocrat in Europe, lower standard
Of living IN America. We should
have hasely yielded up our birthright
az Americans. Peace at such price
would not he peace, but only a pre-
! pnration for a future revolt against
eubiugation Better any sort Of war i,
! better war forever than that!
This. then, Is the war in which
we are fighting. Whenever the time
comes cor Few sacrifices. lot US re-
! member that we fight not only for
the liberty Of the Belgians, the
French, the Servians, the Rus
slams, the British, the Montenegrins,
the, Roumanians, the italians, but OF
| ell nations, even Of the German poo
pie themselves; and most Of all. for
our own lhertles-for our freedom
today! There ia loss and sacrifice
In the war: but there would have
| been far more in accepting the Ger
man terms. We should have lost
more In money than we shall spend
IN the war; and something far more
precious than money-our souls
This is the crucial year of the war.
Our soldiers-hundreds Of thousands
Of them-are in the trenches, and a
million more are ready to go. The
whole burden Of carrying on our own
part In the war. and OF aiding our
sister nations n arms, rests on the
United States Urea sury. Therefore
every cent we can raise and scraps
together belongs to the treasury,
that our boys mey come back to us
victorious. We can whip the Cor
mans. not with the money IN our
pockets or our bank accounts, but
with what we put into the Treasury
| in subscriptions to Liberty Bonds!
Never since the Turks threatened
to overwhelm Europe, perhaps not
even then, was the world in such
danger rs now. Germany liz not yet
defeated. We must defeat her this
year We must withhold nothing
from the support of the war. We
must give our SONS. We must bring
forth food in abundance multiplying
eur labor to that end. We must give
into the Treasury OF the United
States, in subscriptions to Liberty
Bonds. every cent We can spare.
This summer the support OF the
war il up to the farmers; and Uncle
Sam has never called upon the farm
srs In vain.