The daily Alaskan., 1918-03-15
Success Depends Upon Realiza- ton of Vital Interests That
 Are at Stake.
NEED LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
People Can Maintain Enthuslasm Through Patriotic Leagues In Each Locality, Says James
 M. Beck.
By JAMES Nj. BECK,

l
 Author of ."The Evidence In the Case"
 Some weeks ago 1t was my privilege to make trip to the middle West at the invitation of patriotic societies In Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chica- | go, and St. Paul. In each of these cities addressed large and represent ative meetings on the issues or the war. Four of these cities had an ex- ceptiOnally large population of foreign birth or immediate ancestry, that of Cleveland alone aggregating, as was informed, T5 per cent of its whole pop | ulatiOn.
 As one who from the beginning or the war earnestly advocated the par tIcipation of the United States in the world war in defense of the basic rights of civilization, I naturally looked with great interest to the nature of the response which I might receive 1 from audiences gathered, in most cases by public invitation, to hear discus- l sion of these issues.
 If there Is any apathy In the middle | West these audiences gave no indi- | cation of 1t.
 So far as my experience and obser- yatlOn in those cities justiteS any opinion-aud I appreciate how dan | gerouS such generaliZatiOnS are-I found a loyal and ungrudging inten- 1 ton on the part of all classes Of American citizens to support their country and its president in this most l righteous war.
 It was especially gratifying to see how the best of the American youth had arisen with vigOr and enthusiasm to President Wilson's inspiring call to arms.
 Much to Be Done.
 Nevertheless there Is much to be done if the interest is to be maintained and America is to play large and l noble part in the greatest of all wars.
 There are many ways of developing this interest. but I know of none that Is so we'll adapted to its object as the plan proposed by pr. Ellery c. Stoweh, 1 the distinguished historian of Colum- bia college, who some months ago commenced to develop a patriotic serv- | ice league in his own congressional district The principal object of this | league was to give the civilian an op- l portunity to support at home the work 1 of his soldiers in the field, and the results which followed Doctor Stow l ellis movement In his own cOngression- | al district (the nineteenth of New York; were so gratifying that a simi- lar local organization was commenced | fin the seventeenth district, and the or ganlzation has already made an excel lent beginning.
 It seems very desirable that in ev- cry congressional district there should be such patriotic service league, com l posed of it's best citizens, who will unite to promote the objects of the war, to secure enllstments, to interest the masses In Americas vital stake in | the war. to combat seditiOn, to in- crease subscriptions to governmental loans and the Red Cross, and in all other possible ways to support the armies of America in the field.
 War in its actual operations has be- l come a matter of mechanics, Ghemis- try, and industrial organization, but fundamentally 1t remains, as It has always been, a question of psychology. No nation ever conducted great war to a successful conclusion unless It's heart was In it. For this reason a very serious work remains to be done in this country, and that Is to Inter 1 est the American people, as individu- 1 als. in the causes and issues of this titanic contest and Its supreme im- portance to the future of the United States.
 Not All United In T6.
 A somewhat similar condition e1- isted when our Republic was founded. The great problem was to interest the people of the colonies In the struggle That struggle has become such an epic that we are apt to think that all Amer leans had equal zeal in defending the constitutional rights of the colonies. ) The fact unfortunately was to the con trary. John Adams, long after the revolution had been brought to sue cessful conclusion, estimated that at l +be hepinnIng O1 the struggle one-third