South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-09-20
What Are We Going to do About it
By E. E. Hartman

This war will end some day some
folks are already planning what
they Will 40 after il is over. Are
we?
L read the other day that the Geri
man and Austrian prisoners now in
Russia had resolved, almost 10
man. that they would not go back
10 their former homes when the
war ended but would emigrate 10
the United States and Canada. What
will our twin countries say 70 them
Come right along, brother.
Make yourself at home Take this
chair Ii has a higher back and
thicker cushion Have a glass of
! ice-cold beer with me. I'll tell the
wife and she will cook up a mess
OF sausage and make some biscuits
and open her best canned fruit for
you. Let me adjust this stool un-
der your trench shoes and offer
cigar to while away the time, till
the dinner is ready"
Will we talk like that? Oh, Will
we2
If we do / shall start out on
hike into the frozen north and be-
I gin 10 live ON whale steaks and seal
blubber
/ Isn't il about time for Us TO begin
to plan? Should we go on with our
/ job Of licking the Hun and never
look ahead TO the time when he is
going TO become an economic Ques-
ton? Should we let things slide till
/ he is on the sea, coming over i'm any
old bottom that he can rake up
/ prepared 20 grab off a lot of New
World coin and land and help as
/ make our laws nice and easy for
the Hun at home
or will we tell the Hun in Europe
TO get inside the Hunnish lines and
stay there, while ne works out his
own salvation Shall we say TO the
Hun who. being in America and en-
| joying its advantages. has elected to
go back 10 Hunland and Join in the
frightfulness that has been the
backbone Of Kaiser Bills plan. that
is was no more than should be eN-
pected and he is welcome to come
home to us?
Shall we open our internment
camps and let them spew out upon
our land the rotten messes they
now hold? Having a clean dish and
wholesome food. shall we defile il
with propa gandists and spies and
enemy agents? Having made our
bed with clean sheets and pillow
slips and blankets. shall we turn the
covers back and let the wallowing
swine from the roadside mudhole
creep within?
There is only one line Of conduct
that we can follow with honor and
/ commonsense. and that is the line
that will keep our bed and food
and home clean. The line that will
maintain the purity that we have
ATTAINED through the refining by FIRE.
We must say TO the Hun in Europe.
in America. i'm Asia. anywhere he
may be found:
Ger 10 work within the confines
OF your own country, Build up and
purify your land Purge il Of the
Nth that clogs its spirit Wash il
clean of the evil IL has clung TO SO
long Refine II with years Of sacri-
fee and earnest work fOf the right
Then. after the leaven has worked
and passing decades have carried
away the last grain Of the old devil
ish doctrines and beliefs then il is
possible that the nations may grant
YOU amnesty and let YOU go out
through the world az large bnce
more. To is mp To YOU. Get TO work
ON yourself"
Letting the Hun wander at viii
after this war is over will be like
leaving the lire OF fuse burning and
merely cutting off the dead end aft
or the spark had crawled inward
toward the magazine
I Allowing him 20 have the same
old freedom 10 come 10 our shore.
would oe as folish. and as disas
trous in the end. as il would be &C
smother FIRE with cotton loose!
piled
President Wilson and his adviser
have a great many matters 10 han
| die and many questions 20 decide
| Let rs not leave them 20 do all tn,
| thinking or ali the talking on thi
/ question. The American people ar
| I concerned 20 such a degree in thi
| matter that thew should not dele
1 gate % any man or body OF men the
/ task 81 thinking FOR them The
/ should do their own thinking an,
/ when they have had time 10 formu
i late plan that looks feasible an,
1 thoroughCoing they should say p
1 their servants at Washington from
4 the president down.
J Here You put this throusl
! along The line We have laid down. 7