New Britain herald., 1918-05-16
Stand to the Colors.
Railway Age).

The Germans, as if by pre-arrange-
ment with the Liberty Loan commit
tee, are staging today history's most
impressive demonstration Of the price
Of liberty. While we at home are be-
ing importuned to invest to our III.
dlVldual limits in a third Liberty
Loan, the super battle in Flanders is
lighting the eastern sky with letters
OF tame. Liberty needs every man
and every dollar. Stand to your
colors now, children Of light, or for
ever lie PROSTATE in the muck of
Prussian dominion"
1T is Impossible to exaggerate the
Crisis before us; it ia impossible to
oVerestimato the value in such a crisis
OF huge oNersubscription to the third
IibertN Loan. For tho purposes Of
the present battle it will provide an
irresistible moral stimulus so vital in
that last quarter Of an hour in which
battles are won. For future battles
possibly even for this one if it lasts as
long as some military experts are pre-
dieting, it Will furnish an abundance
Of the men and materials without
which we must wage war with GEES
lures.
We do not need to so about wiring
ing our hands in apprehension Of the
doom that threatens in Flanders and
PicardN, nor need We permit our
anxiety to interfere with food or
sleep, A stiff upper lip and q serene
attention to the task in hand are the
Americans duty ID the present hour
But at the same time he should face
the facts like Il man and not like an
ostrich. And the facts are grave.
Germany is plunging for the chan
mel ports as she did after Antwerp,
only With vastly greater force and a
more desperate determination. Could
she gain control OF these she could
So seriously interfere with further
British efforts in France as to render
them negligible She might then
turn her military steam roller to the
business Of crushing tho unspeakabIy
heroic French army. and from her
multiplied bases she might unleash
such a cloud Of T-boats as would
starve the United Kingdom and sever
America from Europe.
These are the imm ediate POSSIBLE
ties of German victory in the present
offensive. Like the desperate military
gam bier he. the kaiser. is playing for
huge stakes. He is pyramiding his
bets In men with every reverse. He
is com nitted irrevocably to a trium phi
on the western front and he will not
cease to dash his hordes against that
barrier of brave men which stands
between us and the hideous night OF
Prussian tyranny until his defeat is
too conclusive to permit of further
argument
The United states has its own men
in that first line Of defense. General
Foch, commanderin-c Of the
forces of liberty and civilization. has
brigaded them with the British and
French. The forces Of the Allies at
the front have been pooled to meet
the shock, and now we at home are
in the hell of Picardy and Flanders,
hut to pool our unimpaired resources
with the vast accumulation Of allied
material built up through more than
three years Of the kind of pressure
which we are experiencing today. We
cannot he blind to the urgency; we
cannot resist the plea.
"Our hearts. our reason said Kip
ling recently to the people OF Folk
stone, "every instinct in us that lifts
us above the mere brute, shows us
that the war must go on. Otherwise
earth becomes hell without. hope.
The men, the ships. the munitions
must 20 forward to the war and be-
hind them must come the money
without which nothing can move.
Where our hearts are there must our
treasure he also"