The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1918-06-06

wealth Germany is pretty well
tpckcred out now Your Uncle sam
will flop her pretty quick Keep cool.
don't sweat; We shall win all right.
No, less dangerous is the other ex-
trcmoist who is scared to death. My
What an awful foe We are up against.
He has thrashed big Russia. and fore.
ed Italy, France and Great Britain to
the last ditch, What hope is there
that We, a mere Aedgling in modern
warfare, can stand before the dreadful
Hum He will soon crush the Allies
in Europe and force his kind Of peace
upon them, Then, with his superior
navy he will sail across, defeat our
/ fleets. blockade our coasts, seize or de-
Stroy our ports, invade our territories,
spread desolation everywhere and fin
ally beat US down to complete ruin
Both of these extremists are not
only mistaken, but both do a great
deal Of harm. OF the two we prefer
the one concerned to the point Of de
spair over the outcome to the other,
because he is more likely to do some
thing or permit something to be done.
The worst citizens we have are the
don't worry kind. Why? Because
there is very good reason why we
should worry. The stakes played for
are too momentous and the danger Of
our losing is too great to admit Of
yawning II ever nation needed to
put forth its greatest effort and do it
quickly it is now, when the greatest Of
all prizes-freedom and liberty-are
gravely threatened; threatened by an
enemy powerful enough to be feared
enough to spur us to our limit. But
the lugubrist who bewais the situa-
ton and voices his hopelessness in dire
predictions is almost dangerous be-
cause he injects the serum Of discour-
aSNHlche "iSiS iiotiIiiS VI llidI hlnu
helps. We need courage and conf
dence, just as we need a proper sense
of the serious condition that confronts
us and a determination to "do our
damnedest," to win this war.
SO in tho controversy over the war
preparations there are those who hold |
that all's well just as it stands and
that whatever mistakes occur we shall
"muddle through" while on the other
hand are many captious critics seem
ingly scanning with Eyeglasses to find
some little error or failure of which
they try to make great deal in the
effort to show that things are being
mismanaged and the whole situation
is unspeakably bad. OF these we be-
lieve the latter are the more mischiev-
Gus because, from the facts at hand,
it appears they have but little justif-
cation for their criticisms. The great
big facts speak for themselves too
strongly to be obscured by the rela-
lively few little things that have gone
wrong. On the whole, considering the
task undertaken one year
ago and viewing what has been ac-
who can honestly set it
down as even partial failure? II
may be, in some respects, less than
had been predicted-predicted by
those who had no reasonable basis for
such promises-as that we would have
$4,000 aeroplanes flying over the west
ern front in July Of this year 1t is
less, all will admit than we would
like to see accomplished in view Of
the present urgent need--a need that
became urgent most Unexpectedly to
all. But with the volume Of our eff
fective war preparations going on as
they are now going, why so much cen
sure and even abuse Of those in
charge? In the main, they are doing
q great work, doing it wisely and well
and as expeditiously as could possibly
have been anticipated.
Where, little more than a year
ago we had barely 100000 men in all
branches Of our army, we now have .
over two millions, fully equipped and
mostly trained. At least one-third Of .
that great number have already been
put on or near the fighting lines in
France--a reinforcement to the hard :
pressed Allies. Tens of thousands are
going across each week. We shall
have a million over in July and prob .
ably two millions by Christmas. They /