The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-02-08
Publisher

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present is that the long, cold winter
may be broken, that nature may hurry
to assume the smiling garb of spring,
and that before another winter comes.
with it's merciless chill. our armies
may be returning home victorious,
with sweet liberty made safe to all
the peoples of the earth. If all of
these things come true our people will be
filled with thankfulness never equall-
ed since the proud host of Lord Corn
wallis laid down its arms before the
patriot army of Washington and the
generous hearted French at Yorktown.
From our experience as member of
the Local Board for Genesee County,
we should say that one of the greatest
needs of that branch of the military es-
tablishment. is the providing of such an
explicit system of rulings as will make
the application of the draft law prac-
tically uniform throughout the country.
Where men living under precisely sim
liar circumstances, but coming before
different draft boards, are differently
classified it results in unfairness in the
application of the law. This is not at
tributable to any unfair intent on the
part of any one in authority, and the
situation is unquestionably difficult to
handle, but it would seem that some
remedy might be provided.
The next great battle on the western
front in France, if the issue be decisive,
is likely to prove the beginning of the
end of the great war. 1t will be like
Gettysburg in our Civil War. Germany
is now in position to muster every
available man for a supreme offensive,
and with rapidly diminishing resources
for the support of her civil population.
and the slow but sure growth of dis
satisfaction therein, it seems clear
she must make her great effort now or
never This does mean the war would
stop Immediately, if Germany fails,
but it means she will have demonstrate
ed she has not force to win and must
eventually engage in such peace pact
as will be acceptable to the allies. If
the result favors Germany. overwhelm-
ingly, the allies, especially the Europ-
can allies, may be forced to make terms
favorable to her. The United States
will never make terms which comprom-
Use our independence or cause abandon
ment of those principles of self govern
ment which we hold more sacred than
life itself Our isolation gives us a
chance for continued resistance that
our allies cannot have.
Up to the beginning of the great war
America had for many years been inn
porting, annually, millions of dollars
worth of dyes and pigments from Ger
many. Indeed, it was supposed that
Germany alone possessed the materials
and the scientific and mechanical means
for making these important products.
Great Britain's blockade of German
commerce and the entry of our own
country into the war completely stop.
ped the importation of these goods
from Germany, and what has been the
result? Within the space of time men,
toned we have learned to utilize our
own resources and to make all of the
dyes that we need, enchancing the val
ue of our mineral wealth by millions of
dollars and providing labor for hundreds
of chemists and thousands of workmen.
Proving this are the statements of Sec
rotary of the Interior Franklin X.
Lane, who says: American chemists
have met the country's need as ably
and completely as did the chemists of
Germany We can go forward with
every confidence that there will be no
serious shortage of the many chemical
products required for domestic con-
SUMPTION If this is not an unanswer-
able argument in favor of the efficacy
of the protective idea we should like to
know what to call it.
The most deplorable disaster, the
most crippling event that could come
upon this country and paralyze its
power, in the midst of its present strug-
gle for an honorable and benefcent ex-
istence, would come through any con-
siderable hating of the wheels of indus
try in any of the branches upon which
our people depend for employment.
A great mass of wage earners, distrib-
uted among some hundreds of callings,
have pledged themselves to the finan-
cial support of their government in the
war. Their industry has been mort
gagged, so to speak, in behalf of their
country. 1t is we'll known that most of
them depend upon their daily wages to
meet their obligations of all kinds. If
their opportunity to labor fails, their
ability to pay fails and the government
fails in its financial program. 1t is