South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-01-06

or livestock trains 10 the great
food centers OF st. Paul and Chi
cago. What an amazing country
this land Of America is. with its
seemingly inexhaustible resources!
We can feed the world. indeed. But
these treasures We mean 10 keep
We intend 10 administer them our
selves and not permit them TO be
seized by any enemy on earth. This
nation has been ours so long that
/ we are in danger OF thinking il
viii remain ours by mere right Of
! possession, with all its recurring
riches. We forget that the envious
eyes Of others have long been upon
US, and that with our present en-
envy might is right and the end
I justifies any act of plumber and
murder.
You may think that this is far
4 fetched, but surely we can not fail
I TO see that "A victory for Germany
would mean the seizure Of our land
! products. if not the land itself.
Farther along towards the Pacific
lay Idaho. and here 1 began to see
saw-mills and great areas of piled
| lumber. and we met and passed
/ train after train laden heavily with
! the products OF the forests. There
we're many train loads of massive
sawed timbers-perhaps fir for our
new merchant fleet - and other
! dozens of train loads of miscellane-
/ Gus lumber and still others Of
shingles. There seemed to be no
end 10 them.
But I was just getting into the
| fringes, so far as lumber was con-
cerned. Passing through the gate
/ way to the state of Washington-
| the pretentious city of Spokane
we came at length TO the mighty
forests of the Pacific slope. Even
If nothing else were worth fighting
| for these immense areas of noble
trees certainly are. Up there along
| the Pacific, in Washington and
| oregon and in the regions ada
cent, stands probably two-thirds of
the good timber of the United Stat
! es. From here will come much of
the sturdy stock necessary for the
| frames of our great aircraft fleet,
] and from here originates such enor-
nous quantities of lumber for all
| purposes that we are dazed in con-
templating it.
We wouldn't like Germany to say
TO US: Washington and Oregon
hereafter must be a German possess
sion! This timber is just what we
need"
Stranger things than this have
come out of wars. We can not af-
ford to be too skeptical, for if Ger
many should win in this titanic
struggle she would not pick out the
deserts for her American domain.
Next 1 went southwark to the
Golden gate-the land of fruit and
perpetual summer. Do you imagine
that Germany would overlook so
fine a prize as this, if she had the
choosing? We are conceding, re-
member, that Germany stands
chance of achieving victory in this
frightful war. We can make such
a contingency impossible only by
fighting the war for ourselves-re-
Numbering always that this is our
war just as much as il is the war of
France and of England. Once we
realize that we are waging the ter
rife struggle in defense of our own
great land, we will show a new
spirit. We will put every ounce of
! our strength into it.
California, 1 say, is one Of the
choicest of war prizes for the vic
tor, should we be conquered. What
an astounding region it is! do
not like statistics. They don't mean
much TO most of us. But picture in
your mind the hundreds of train
loads Of fruit that roll eastward
every year from this heaven-fav or
ed country. Just imagine the or
anges and lemons. the cherries and
peaches. the apricots, prunes. olives,
figs, grapes, pears, and raisins. Then
conjure up in your mind the tons
of berries, and the nuts.
But these make up only a part
of sunny California. After all this
immense product has been shipp
away, we have left the country it
self-the June time in January We
have the wealth of flowers, the
semitropical verdure in the months
OF ice and snow els where. We have
this Mecca of the traveller. Would
Germany want it? Will we fight
for it?
Eastward 1 went toward home,
and the miles clicked away by the
hundreds Of thousands. For four
days and nights I rode. and still
was in our United states of Amer
lea. Through unbelievable reaches
OF forests and prairies; through
cornhelds that stretched away for
hour after hour: through meadows
that were sprinkled for days with
haystacks: through truck gardens
that never ended. And toward the
south lay the cotton lands that had
given us almost the monopoly of
that mighty product-and the sugar
cane and the rice.
Finally came the colossal steel
mills of Pennsylvania, and all the
factories Of an industrial region
that has no rival; and no matter
what hour OF the night / reused
myself to look from the car win
dow l saw the flare in the sky
IL is all ours-all Americal No
other land on earth possess such
riches, or such a variety of good
things that come from the soil and
the work shop. In no other land
CON tho common naon1a prat fbasa