The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-06-16
PHYSICIANS VIEWS
 OF AMERICAS CAUSE

T
 ceived tho following from Dr. Spier, who is captain in the medical reserve corps l and who has been in France since De- cember:
 France, 1918. My Dearest Homefolks: The days now are beautiful. Birds are singing and green vegetation is sprouting Behind the lines it is not like few kilometres ahead. where men face one another, act ing their parts in the greatest conflict that has ever happened in this, our world. I almost wrote, ''disgraced the
 world" but second thought of the ex 1 alted ideas of our great President made me change.
 President Lincoln once said: The United States cannot exist half free and
 half slave It took four years of bloody warfare to become established.
 President Wilson said in 1917: "Tha world cannot exist half free and half l slave" He has pitched his career on ] great field. God cannot but be with him and the brave, self-saerificing sol diers over here, in the permanent estab- lishmelt of this blessing.
 : What a gerat thing for the United States that such a man as Woodio ow Wilson is at it's head. God has been with America in four great crises, ana there was a man for each crisis There was George Washington for the Revolutionary war for independence, and for the first eight years of q young na- |. ton s existence. What stamina and courage he had we will never appreciate. Think of him during that awful winter in New York state when the New Eng land troops, discontented and sick anu neglected, left the army by hundreds. Think Of him at Valley Forge with an army so depreciated and ill clothed and badly supplied that the British forces, snug and comfortable in Philadelphia, could easily have overcome him. But ne had the dauntless courage Of divinely insp>Sed leader and d glorious success came.
 And next was Thomas Jefferson, phi .losopher and statesman, who laid the
 corner stone of our house of democracy, and by whose wisdom and diplomacy and sagacity we were able to purchase that rich tract of Louisiana territory from the great Frenchman, Bonaparte. From this have been carved some of our rich- est states. Thus Jefferson not only put down the corner stone of democracy, but he added largely to the building itself. He was a chosen man. the right man, for a visis that was taking place in the world, and that was bound to affect the young United States. Jefferson steered Us safely and profitably through, and we emerged greater and stronger.
 Thus Jefferson placed us in the coun- Gil of nations. and this enables me to omit mention of James Monroe. who. without disparagement Of his gerat aoiI- ities, merely emphasized our doctrine" or conception of that international re!a- tionship, matter already mentioned by Jefferson.
 So the third great American leader would be, to my mind. Abraham Lin- coln He was confronted by perhaps the greatest crisis in our history, next to the task of Washington. And how we'll he handled this crisis. every historian of America checrfully attests Think Of his seeming neglect of party friends when he summoned to his cabinet men like Seward, who constantly abused ana harassed him, but whose ability he needed for the success of his country's cause. Think of him as he appointed hostile and critical generals in the army, because he thought they were necessary for the common cause. Think of his no- ble uttsrances, that are now paged in the
 book of immortality. He mace his coun- try wholly free.
 And so must our own Wilson make the
 world free, That Mir. Wilson is con-
 stantly studying the careers Of these
 three great predecessors, all of his ut-
 terances show In his Thanksgivins
 prOclalndtlOn Ol lSlt, tAc liIst year Ol ouT
 war. he wrote: i've have been given the
 opportunity to serve mankind as we
 once served ourselves in the great day
 of our Declaration of Independence by
 taking up arms against a tyranny that
 threatens to master and debase men ev-
 erywnere and joining with other free
 peoples xyi demanding for all the nations
 of the world what we then demanded
 and obtained"
 That is long sentence. but in 1t
 is the kernel of Americas purpose i'll
 this war It could not have been more
 simply or more sublimely expressed.
 It covers the past, and the present and
 the future of America and unfolds |
 future for the world.
 Behind this splendid leader of mod
 ern America are thirty-five times ..
 many as were behind Washington,
 twenty times the number behind Jef-
 ferson. and five times as many as with Lincoln. And the remarkable part of
 the story is the unaminity of thought
 and enthusiasm with which this vast
 population is becoming imbued. We
 who are over here in our several
 niches appreciate this fact. It is with an intense love of America, of oNr fathers. our mothers, our wives. oLr sweethearts. and our children, that we endure privations. suffer from disease and she'll fight blindly and faithfully.