The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-06-07

4
has sacrificed, America must sacri-
! fice
Fellow citizens. you ana I must saeri-
| flee. The world depends upon America
today. There Is no nope for the world
1 If it caDflot be found in Us. The wonld
cannot look to the exhausted nations OF
Europe for relief in the hour of its di-
rest need. 1t must look to America,
4 America must feed the allied and neutral
world as well as furnish the forces that
shall ultimately win the war and assure
! to the world safe and democratic peace
This may, undoubtedly will, cost almost
/ infinite sacrifice. If it does we must be
] prepared to make it.
i There Is another characteristic of this
new age that is becoming prorninent;l il
! is the age of accomplishment of the inn
possible. We are doing things today that
| never have been thought possible before.
/ If anyone had said five years ago that
| National Young Mems Christian aSSocia-
4 raise $35, 100000, it would not have been
/ believed. And yet when they put. on such
| a campaign few months ago. they were
surprised, when they totaled their figures
| to find that they had secured $4,000, 900
| If any one had said five years ago that
| the Red Cross could raise 500, 900 in
one drive it would have been declared
4 impossible and yet you know when the
drive was launched the sum was speedily
/, oversubscribed; and now they have sue
cessfully carried through the second drive
for a like amount.
For time it seemed as if the U-boat
peril could not be overcome. When the
need of shipping on the Atlantic was
most desperate, the authorities dis
covered 26 steel ships on the Great
Lakes. They determined to bring them
down the st. Lawrence River and put
them in the coast-wise service releasing
| larger ships for the trans Atlantic serv-
ice. 1t was then found that they were
| too long for the Welland Canal and
-.l~s mot no
done But it could be done and was
done How? They built bulkheads down
through the center of the ships. cut Inc
ships in two, floated them through the
gether again in the ST. Lawrence and to-
day they are in service on the At
lantic.
Four months ago, ship-building experts
were writing Gin the leading magazines
saying that Americas ship-building pro-
gram could not cope with the U-boat
menace. And yet we know today that our
ship-building program lis meeting the
need, and every day that program ex-
pands. Moreover. we are today assured
that the Uboat is day by day losing it's
effectiveness through the diligence of the
allied navies and the invention of anti
submarine devices. The CHASTITY scheme
upon which the kaiser staked his greatest
hope has proved a failure.
This is an age of magnificent achieve
ment. And in this there is a radiant star
of hope for despairing war-torn world,
for it holds forth the promise that what
ought to be done can be DONE In this
promise is the assurance that we shall In
our nation accomplish some things that
we have scarcely dared hope could be.
and We are being taught day by day that
these things can and will come to pass.
We never would have thought five years
ago that Russia would at one stroke make
the nation dry. But she did, and now
we are assured that America must and
will hn IA
journalists, statesmen, both of America
and the allied nations, are saying that
our soldiers are the finest and cieanest
body of troops ever assembled under any
flag. We must keep them so. To do
that we must remove the most serious
menace to their welfare. the American sa-
loon. There is no longer any argument
about this. I am here to give you facts
and figures on the liquor traffic You
know them. But sm here to say that
we must win this war by safeguarding
the physical, moral and spiritual lives of
our soldiers, and our citizens, by purging
the nation of this most damnable curse
in the land today. And am here to say
that this can be done and will be done
in this age of accomplishment of the i'm
possible. Whenever you and | and the
citizenship of the United States show
President Wilson that we are back of
him on this matter, he win be rejoiced. to
Danish, with one stroke of his pen, this
criminal business from our land. 1t is
we as loyal patriotic citizens shall serve
notice on this great German ally that
from this day on he shall cease his activi-
ties within the borders of America. This
can be done; it must be done, and it will
be done.
This promise affords us also the hope
that a new era of justice and regard for
the rights of humanity is coming in. We
cannot consistently send our troops across
to fight for the rights of the suffering and
down trodden peasants of Belgium and
Northern France, and then permit the
humble laborer here at home to be OPP
pressed, down trodden. robbed and ex-
plotted by those who would be rich. In
this new age is coming the recognition
of the absolute interdependence of all
mankind. Then capital will know that
labor has its own most honorable place in
the economic scheme5 that it must have
a just share in the fruits of it's toll and
that it's rights must be religiousy safe
guarded. Then labor will know that
capital is the lifeSof industry, and is the
only hope for the security, peace and
prosperity of labor itself. And we shall
all learn that each one of us occupies an
important place in the interdependence of
mankind. Somewhere someone. perhaps
many are depending on me. Shall I fail
them?
A Canadian soldier who had returned
from the front with one leg, shot away
was asked to address group of workmen
who were about to call a strike. They
We're working for good wages in a fac
tory whose product was important to the
war. He said: 81 suppose you will want
to know how 1 lost my leg. We were
holding the enemy out Wonder in Northern
France against heavy odds, when our sup
plies began to run low. We could hold
the line only il achievements came. If
they did not come we would be compelled
to retreat We held and waited but they
did not come. In the retreat / lost my
leg, and scores of my comrades lie out
there under the stars because reinforce
ments did not come. But why didn't they
come? Because workmen back in the
factories that were making the supplies
we needed had called a strike. We were
depending upon them and they failed u.s.
comrades will never come back because
the men forgot that we were depending
on them. The world is depending on US
today we must not, we dare not fail.
And finally in this promise that what
ought to be done, can de done we have
the assurance that out of this desperate
conflict will come triumphant victory
This we believe because we have faith,
not in a. heather god of war. of greed.
of force. but in a God of justice. right
eousness~ and love- With llnwavering
! faith in our God. our divine Father, and
following the Sublime teaching of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we address
ourselves to this stupendous task,
matter how desperate the strug-
rest upon sur arms. the enemy of free
dom conquered. and the world made safe
for democracy
No Serious Damage by Fire.
An oil lamp igniting a curtain caus-
| cd small fire at the home of John