The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1918-05-30

S..>sH'SSs
sacrifice. 1t Is a matter Of enforced
necessity. Of grim compulsion. They
are not saving food to feed someone
else. They are saving because they
have too little themselves. And in the
warning countries. there is war in every
breath. War Is tragic reality for
them. They do not need flags in the
streets to remind them Of the war
and you see few flags over there. War
portions out their meager rations. War
10 their cook. War allots the comforts
Of their daily life. and the proportions
are small. Luxuries are gone. War
stalks through their streets with the
soldiers In uniform. Wars shadow 10
behind the mothers who pray In the
churches that their boys may be saved.
3eSnds ! WarrlnS. ,s-
we hardly know these things. We
at6 fevelling Ia luxury, ana call It war
economy. We think We are saving,
yet have seen more food wasted In
the two weeks since landed In New
York than In the three years Of my
war experiences. y
II do not say this as complaint.
say 1t as warning. We must learn
quickly the great lessons Of this war.
For every day We wait now will cost
40 two later on. If we wait long
enough. they will cost US weeks. To
win this war. we must awaken to q
full realization Of all 1t means and all
It demands. We must be in It, not one
million strong. but one hundred MIL
lions strong. We must make economy
not fad or a principle, but sacri-
hce.
"Five weeks ago. was In General
Pershing's headquarters In France. and
saw our soldiers march out to unknown
destinies in the trenches. Proudly
they marched. knowing that they car
ried with them the hearts and the pray
ers Of our great nation. Now 1t is up
to us to show them that we are behind
them. And we will do so. We will
show the people Of France who have
seen our soldiers march into French
trenches. that this great nation stands
behind those soldiers.
One Egg in Three Weeks.
"Shortly after the break of diplo-
matte relations a year ago, when I
was still in Berlin for the Daily News,
an American colleague, the Berlin rep
resentative Of the Associated Press,
contracted pneumonia. It was criti-
cal case. The physicians said they
could cure the pneumonia. But they
said the patient would never recover.
The Berlin food rations, they said,
would not permit that. Patients such
as he, they say. invariably died. That
was the penalty Of war. For it takes
eggs and butter and milk and other
unknown luxuries to bring a man back
from the grave. At that time, the Ber-
lin egg ration was about one every
three weeks. Every three weeks, by
the calendar, a coupon on the egg card
would be validated to entitle the hold
er to purchase one egg from the grocer
with whom his name had been regis
tered. Often the groceries did not have
eggs enough to fiji even this scanty or
der. But we sent out an appeal to
every available American to help. We
modified every egg in the American
colony in Berlin. We gathered all the
butter we could find. We asked no
questions when there seemed some
doubt as to the strictness with which
the tone egg every three weeks" regu.
lation had been obeyed. But this pa.
tient had three delicious omelettes q
day for three weeks. No one else In
all the Central powers, not the kaiser
nor Hindenburg. had reveled in any
such luxury of eggs in three years Of
war. But It saved his life. It was
the mobilization of the eggs, not The
physicians, that did It."