Mohave County miner., 1918-02-23
WESTERN WOMEN BOYCOTNIRG GOODS
 MADE IN GERMANY
(By Ellis Meredith in Denver PostJ

" ACIl4-NG 1O-Ny EGD. ZU.-lutIG lS going on in this country, at the pres ent time, a secret propaganda that may have a widespread influence for many years. It appears to come from the west and is carried on, like the flaming torch of the ancient Welsh chieftains, from one family of the clan to the next. So far there is noth- ing printed except the card of mem bership, and that it not shown to the prospective member until by a sound ing cut process it is determined that she is eligible.
 There appears to be no officers, no dues, no initiation fee, no meetings, no headquarters. This alone makes it a society that any woman might like to join, and, so far, at least, it's member ship is restricted to the gentler CD sex. No oath of secrecy is exacted from the member, but she is expected to use her judgment and say nothing where the purpose might be misunder- stood, and the name is not diYulged, nor the password, nor have they adopt ed any kind of button or insignia by which the members may know each other. To join this league one takes a solemn pledge never again to purchase German-made goods. The card reads as follows:
 I solemnly swear, by the ever living God, never again to buy anything which was made, or which l have req son to believe was made in Germany, in whole or in part. Only an emerg- ency in which life itself is at stake shall relieve me from this VOW.
 ''No, we are not doing this out of spirit of revenge" said the woman who explained the purpose of the league to me. "We are not singing any Hymn of Hate We are not nov ed by any small personal animosities. In truth many of US feel that we have unwittingly helped to arm the Hun. We feel that every postal card, every dish, very pair of stockings dyed with German dye, every importation from that country which we have purchas- ed, all the vast trade which has been built up on our good faith-all, all of this has only helped to furnish am munition to shoot down our husbands and sons.."
 "In this country women are very differently situated, with liberty un- know1I to German men. And yet, do you think that women will be asked to sit at the council table when the terms of peace are to be agreed upon? Will the. women of England, who have borne burdens that weighed men to the ground-will they be represented?
 "It is almost certain that they will not be-" she said with finality, land it is better so, perhaps, for we cannot split hairs and make long speeches about international law. We don't care much about fine-spun theorles. And then I wouldn't believe anything the Hindenbergs and Ludendorfs and Bernstorffs promised. Nothing they can say will ever make me feel that the world is safe so long as Germany lis rich and powerful-and the rich are always powerful. All the time, even now. their generals talk of the next war. Well-there isn't going to be any next war"
 ''Your idea is to ruin Germany com mercially?" said.
 Probably their rich manufacturers would think so," she replied, but that is not our idea. Some wise man has said that prosperity for the worker comes, not in increasing our demands, but in enIarging his ability to possess the desirable things he creates. Now' instead of creating that which neither he nor anyone else should possess what none of us wishes to possess ln- dividually, like great guns and shrap- mel and ammunition-all this munltlon of waste and woe, let him make the things he will need for himself. Let him consider himself as the consumer of his wares, and let the German peo- ple buy. They were not so well sup nlied. so fortunate, but that they could use more than they ever did. If we will not buy their postal cards, let them make something they themselves need. They have bOasted now for more than three years that they were self maintaining. I am willing that raw materials should be sold them, though 1 I wouldn't do it myself, but all l ask i i. that women shall not buy.
 "Other people felt the same way l did. and little by little these Germans found themselves alienated from thelr customers as well as enemy aliens of this country. One of them went back to Germany before we declared war The other satisfied himself that the charges we have so often made against Germany since the war are all
 true, and he took out naturalization
 papers and translated Schmidt into
 plain Smith and has a son in one ot i the camps"
 "But what will become of Germany
 if many people-hundreds of thou sands of them-millions, perhaps, boy