The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-03-15
THE war, The FARM
and The FARME
BY Herbert Quick

CluCe the udNu VI History bHS Idlll /
er has been the man who suffer
most from war. All that he poss
esses lies out of doors in plain sigh
and is spoil of war-his house, hi
grain, his livestock. But the farme
everywhere is warrior when wa
is the only thing which will max
and keep him free-either warris
or a serf. He IS sometimes the las !
to heat up but he stays hot, and II |
a Icing fight he is always found sturd |
lily carrying the battle across y
Mans Land to the foe, in the las
grim struggle.
This war was at first hard to IN
derstand. No armed foe invaded tn
United States. The night skies we
not redeemed by the burning byre
and farmSteads of America. No raid
ing parties harried US OF our cattle O.
horses. No Sabre-rattiers insulte
our women. We did not then know
that a monster had arisen with
thousand arms, who could reach acres
the seas and take from us three
fcurths Of everything we grew with
out our being aware of it, and VIII
could follow up his robbery with in
vasDn, subjugation and nationa
death.
What the Imperial German govern
laent ofre: The farmers Of Amer
lea in its ruthless submarine warfare
was net the loss Of profits, bu'
| slavery to the saber-rattlers of Pots
dam, by numbering the people whe
take oar products TO market BY
all the laws Of civilized warfare com
| merce under neutral flag was free
from any hinGrancc except the lea
| interference ius' by war; but
| the Germans not only stopped mer-
| Chant vessels. they sunk them with
ont warning and without trace.
| Having the right. according to tho
laws of war, to take tie sea witt
his fleet and fight the thing ont GU
to gun. but being afraid to 90 so fo}
fear he might lose his flee, or IN
able to stop the selling Of our Pre-
ducts to his enemies or 10 Open L
own ports 10 us by fair means, h
declared his intention to do it b
the foulest methods ever resorted t.
in war.
To have submitted would have Cos
g rs dear in prosperity; but that wou'
: have been the least Of our loss. Il
/ -,
degradation We should have a.
. copied. at the behest OF Il half craze
autocrat In Europe, a lower stan3ar
Of living in America. We shou'.
have baseIy yielded mp our birthri-h
rs Americans. Peace ut such pric
would not he peace, but only pre-
paration for future revolt agairs
suhiugation Fettcr any sort OF war
h better war forever than tEatG ~-0
This, then, Is the war in whic
o we are fighting. Whenever the tin
:. comes cor new sacrifices, LEI US r.
member that we fight not only &c
J tie liberty Of the Belgians, tn
French, the Servians. the Rus
slams, the british, The Montcnegrins
- the, Roumanians the Italians, but {
all nations. even Of the German pc
4 loo themselves: and most OF all. *
/. our own liberties-for our freedo
today, There is loss and sacritiC
2 in the war; but there would hay
Il been far more in accepting the Gei
) man terms. We should have 10
more in money than we shall sper
~ in the war; and something far mo-
-, precious than money-our souls,
This is the crucial year Of the wa
en- Our soldiers hundreds Of thouSan'
IS of them-are in the trenches, and
Il million more are ready to 90. II
whole burden of carrying on our ov
" part in the war, and of aiding o
~ sister nations in arms, rests on t
Of United States Treasury. Thereto
every cent we can raise and scra
I'd together belongs to the Treasur
e that our boys may come back to
,iii victorious. We can whip the &c
~ mans, not with the money in G
pockets or our bank accounts,
,+s with what we put into the Treasu
mt in subscriptions to Liberty Bonds
tee Never since the Turks threaten
to overwhelm Europe, perhaps I
al even then, was the world in su
III danger as now. Germany is not d!
70 defeated. We must defeat her Z
year. We must Withhold nothi
from the support Of the war.
must give our sons. We must bri
hos forth food in abundance multiply
tai our labor to that end. We must G
ork into the Treasury of the Uni
States, In subscriptions to Libe
for Bonds, every cent we can spare.
no This summer the support OF
ny war is up to the farmers and Un
,a+ Sam l.s never called upon the fal
erS in vain.
ern --
We WHY WE FIGHT.