The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1918-03-07

AtNA fsAAAk va sNHt pstNh NAi hNtP
soldier warm
Every piece Of bread you save fron
waste will keep a soldier from being
hungry.
Every pair Of shoes you refrail
from buying without need will keep |
soldier shod.'
We must not only save at ever!
point but loan the money saved to th'
Government Liberty Loans and Wal
Savings Stamps are the best securi
ties the world affords and by investing
in them, you will help the soldier boys
and yourselves at the same time.
Why are we so slow to appreciat,
the factsg Why will we learn only al
the cost Of our blood and treasure and
not from the experience of others tina,
food will win the war; DO we under.
stand that the combined crops Of nee
| essary foods in Great Britain, Italy
France and Belgium last year totalled
less than one-half their need, leaving a
shortage Of more than a billion and a
quarter Of bushels to be furnished
them from outside, or more than three
million bushels in excess of our own
surplus? DO we grasp the fact that
the people Of the United States are
adopting wheat and meat rations be-
cause Of the food shortage in four
countries whose combined population
is less than one-thirteenth Of the
world ? DO we sense what this means
DO we realize that in this situation
there is terrible picture Of world
nearer to world famine than ever be-
fore7
The meatless and wheatless meals
and days are called for as our willing
contribution to the sustenance of our
Allies. They are dying in those lands
for our cause. Shall we let them
starve?
Not every household in this broad
land is able to contribute in men or
money to help the United States win
the war, but every household can make
the contribution of self-denial which is
required. A measure Of prudence,
really no sacrifice, is all that is asked
Of us.
Thousands have already put this de-
sired restriction upon themselves.
What is now needed and asked is that
the movement Of unselfshness for a
great purpose shall extend to all class
es and to all individuals except those
who are actual invalids, or those whose
years or whose special services and
&.ieds properly exempt them from the
requirement
The President has put the necessity |
for saving food squarely before the
nation. He has pointed out exactly
how the necessary savings can be ef-
fected. An obligation of duty and
honor has been put upon us. 1t would
be unpatriotic, not to say almost sui
cidal, not to heed his request.
The genuine sacrifices which so
many are making in order to win the
war make it difficult for one to speak
or with moderation
such statements as Il shall
not deny myself wheat flour so that
the Frenchmen can have it. 1t won't
hurt them to eat corn any more than
i will us"
1t is not the time to palliate, attempt
o Justify or to treat with complacencyl
such statements, or to ignore those
people in our midst who make them.
No patriotic American citizen is justi-
led or can be excused for entertaining
;uch thoughts or making such state
nents. 1t is no time TO mince matters. !
Absurd and snobbish repugnance on
he part of people with more money
han brains TO the use of cleft over" :
ood does not excuse them. Plain
aziness and Indifference to the rights
nd needs of others can no longer be
ondoned. He who thinks more of his
tomach and of his present conven-
ence than of his own life, or Of the
ives of those who are fighting for
i'm. at a time when his own liberty 9
nd happiness and the very existence
4 the nation are at stake, to speak '
cry plainly, fails to understand and to
o his duty as patriot.
1t is time that such people and ev-
rybody else should distinctly under e
tand that there can be no zone OF
afety, no neutral ground, no half !
earted business in patriotism.
To let our Allies starve; and to COM
el your boy or mine to die in their = =
cad soldiers places is cruel, wicked,
anton waste, most unpatriotic, and
ow but certain national suicide. A
ian or woman, able bodied and well, o
no in order that the wheat may be
nipped abroad to win the war, Will a