The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-02-11
HUNS AT HOME

! The following from the Philadel-
phia Ledger is well worth considera-
ton:
The detonations of DIR. Alonzo Tay-
! lor's dynamite still reverberate in
fashionable halls. We are amazed
| that the doctor was not even more
emphatic. To characterize our waste
of sugar merely as "disgraceful and
| fragrant" is to use mild terms. The
wasteful sugar-eater is blood-suck-
er; so is the waster of any food.
Waste is death challenge to thou
sands of babies, emaciated little be.
ings who have found at the breasts
of their mothers nourishment too
weak for sustenance. "May the ven-
geance of God visit these Huns who
have bombed women and children!"
Aye, but what of the Hun in this
country who, with callous heart and
laughing face, consumed the food so
vital to the mere existence of these
same women and children! Some of
US may as well quit thanking God
that we are not as other men are.
We do not believe that Doctor Tay-
lor intended to convey the impression
that we are whipped. His brain and
tongue are working in complete CO.
ordination to prevent just that thing.
But he did mean to say that we shall
all be either angels or slaves if we
insist on living in a FOOLS paradise.
This is not one of those hero-making
wars such as we indulged in twenty
years ago. 1t is not even an interna-
tional war, for its issues long since
loverruled national boundaries. 1t is
world at war, with civilization caught
unawares. We've got to the famine
point. Who puts the last loaf of bread
into his belly wins. 1t is no longer
question of who is strongest, but of
| who is weakest. Yet in such a crisis,
with the decisive factors so apparent,
there are men and women who strut
about and eat what they please and
more than they need. They are not
cutthroats, it is true, and no one of
them would consciously plunge a
dagger into an infants heart, but the
latter course would be far more mer-
ciful than to assist in the slow star
walton of human beings. Doctor Tay-
lor is doubtless disgusted with the
callousness of some citizens. He
ought to be.
1t is particularly irritating to men
on the inside, who see and know the
difficulties of this war, to view the
apparent indifference of many citi-
Eens. We are the mightiest nation Oh
earth potentially. In wealth there is
none to compare with US. Our re-
sources are of surprising magnitude
Our industrial ability is enormous.
We have available more man power
than any other white nation. We are
fresh, with abilities unimpaired, and
nothing can prevent our achieving
the victory which our allies expect OF
us but our own carelessness, our own
failure to appreciate the difficulty of
the task before US.
We hold no brief for pessimism,
but we abhor satisfaction. We believe
in applying the whip, in driving pri-
yate citizens and public officials to
the expenditure of everything that is
in them for the cause. We can suck
men dry of their abilities and then re-
place them. 1t is part of the sacrifice
to be made. But we might as well at
tempt to tunnel through the Rockies
with toothpicks as to win this war by
halfway methods and half-hearted en-
deavor. The devil incarnate is loose
on earth and he knows how to fight.
But he cannot last on an empty stom-
ach. We have had to supply our sol
oiers with two sorts of munitions, one
sort for their guns and another sort
for their mouths.
We are going to win this war, be-
cause the country will sweep ineffi-
clients out of office whenever and
wherever they are found and will