The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-05-29
TRUE PATRIOTISM OFTEN CAR,
RIEs WITH IT AN IMPOSITION
OF SILENCE.
MILLIONS SPENT FOR .
RUIN0US PR0PAGANDIST
House Of Hohenxoliern Realizes More
and More That America 10 Nation
to be Rsckoned With.

=
be measured alone in contributions to
the Red Cross, Liberty Loan subscrip-
lions, strict compliance with the war
time food and fuel regulations, nor
even In readiness to serve with the
armed forces of Uncle SAM" declared
| Attorney General Groesbeck of the
War Preparedness Board. I'm this era
patriotism often carries with 1t an i'm
position of silence.
Don't permit yourself to be the me-
dunn OF transmission for rumors and
criticisms and false reports which are
being spread broadcast in the interests
of Prussianism. Anything which tends
to break down the morale of the ma
ton, in this great emergency, is more
far reaching and~far harder to combat
than the deadly bombs from German
aircraft or the destructive shells the
/ Teutons are singing into Paris from
their wonderful long range artillery.
1t is not for the average man to dis
tinguish between conscientious critic
ism and the weapon of the propagan-
dist whose sole duty is TO undermine
the unity and patriotism of American
citizenship. Indeed, after 1t has been
passed along from mouth to mouth,
intelligent, conscientious criticism
may become so broad and bitter in its
terms as to constitute a weapon of i'm
measurable destructiveness amidst the
citizenship of the nation that eventu-
ally will be forced to bear the chief re-
sponsibility for erasing of Kaiser Bill
and all he represents.
mo one realizes more than the
House of Hohenzollern that America is
the nation to be reckoned with in the
final analysis and any little obstacle
that can be put in the way of war pre-
paration, any word which will raise
doubt in the minds of American citi-
zens, is deemed more valuable to the
German cause than a dozen attacks
from the air or sea. Germany has not
hesitated to spend millions at a time
when she is hard pressed for money,
to spread the destructive doctrine of
the propagandists throughout the Uni
ted States. And so it is our duty to
check, rather than aid in the spread
ing of stories that mean such aid and
comfort to the enemy that he is will
ing to pay lavishly from Germany's
dwindling treasury while the German
people are all but starved and ruth
lessly stripped OF their resources.
IF it means so much to warmad
Germany, the very least a patriotic
American can do Is to see that even
inadvertently, he Is not party to the
spread of this subtle propaganda. The
atmosphere is full Of rumor. No off,
Ger or department OF the government
has escaped. Even the Red Cross
which serves the injured and suffering
of both sides in the great war, has
not been immune The government
has made mistakes. 1t has been no
small undertaking to transform the
worlds greatest nation of peace TO
meet the demands of life and death !
war Great Britain made her mis-
takes. France has suffered from err
rors of commission and commission.
Even the great German war machine,
the product of a generation of pains
taking building upon which all the re-
sources OF the nation were conferred,
has gone wrong on more than one i'm
portant issue having 10 do with the
prosecution of the conflict n
I'm France and England, whose very
existence depends upon the speedy
transformation in the United States,
they are disposed to be patient. They
realize what problem 1t is and how
beset with difficulties. And certainly
the people of the United States, safe
at present, at least, from the ruth
less blows of the fiendish Hun, can
afford to be at least as patient and
forbearing In such an emergency as
the French and English to whom the |
coming of the United States might best
be likened to the appearance OF the
surf boat to those clinging to rap
idly sinking ship.
ANY word which tends to create a |
doubt or a question In the mind Of |
an American citizen as to the purity |
OF purpose Of the government is an
act Of treason. And to pass this word |
along 10 only slightly less reprehensi
BILE than to start IT on its way. 1t has
only too truly, been said that 1t is
not only the bullets that win in war
And so, when some one whispers this
or that criticism into your ear, make
him prove It. II Is only by passing |
the word along that such rumors as
that charging the Red Cross with
pronteering in supplies destined for
the sick and wounded and starving,
ever obtains foothold. When these
stories come along, just bury them.
This is one allimportant form OF
patriotism that costs nothing.
"Over in France. the allies grimly
are hanging on against odds because
they realize America IL coming. Each
week sees a few more Sammies IN
the trenches and . few more In the