Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1918-03-29
PATRIOTIC ADDRESS
GIVEN BY REV. ECKBLAD AT eW
LUTH. CHURCH WAS 6PIEN-
DID ONE

Rev. A. T. Eckblad Of Superior de-
hvered stirring patriotic address to a
good sized audience at the Swedish
Lutheran church OF. this city on Thurs
day evening Of last week. Rev. Eek
blad, who is sent out 10y the state safe
ty commission, is one Of the best speak
ers that has appeared here. The meet
ing opened with the singing of Amerl-
ca by the audience and closed with The
Star spangled Banner.
To begin with Rev. Eckblad refuted
the charge that the scandinavians are
not loyal citizens and said that they
are the most loyal people in this coun:
try. Quoting great statesman ne saaq
that he had the profoundest respect TOT
the people who came from Europe to
this country and became naturalized
citizens. We who were born here had
no choice, he said, and there certainly
could be no question but that the Am
erican flag is the only flag for us, but
they left their mother country and
came to this land in search of freedom
and liberty.
The speaker said that the men Of ou1
government are daily criticised by some
who think they know all about how
things should be done, but he went on
to say that we can feel that we have
absolute confidence in those who are at
the head Of our government. We saw
many dark moments during the Revolu-
ton, the Civil war, the Spanish Amerl-
can war, but they were oaby play as
compared with the great strugS lie we
are now III, which. means the life or
death Of the principles of freedom and
liberty, SO dear to us. We must forget
the trivial things in life and get down
to business, he said.
Rev. Eckblad dwelled long on conser-
yation, which, he said, is so important
in winning this war. We are asked to
conserve because our Allies in Europe
have asked US to furnish them with
food and in addition to this we now
have a much larger army and navy to
care for. We must raise this year not
less than one billion bushels of wheat,
which is 4OO,0O0,000 bushels more than
we raised last year, but we are going
to make the goal. Everything hinges
on our doing our level best. It is bread
and meat that is going to win this war,
the speaker said To conserve, he said
that we should also lay aside all I'M
necessary habits, such as smoking,
chewing, etc., and put that money into
thrift stamps. TO help harvest the
crops the high school girls should don
the overalls an6 get out On the farms
when school is out, he said.
Speaking of the use of substitutes, he
said that people complain that they
must pay too much for them. This IS
due to the fact that the food commits
sion has not yet had time to adjus
these matters, and to the fact that
there are gamblers on food. "I have
full Confidence the speaker said,
"that Uncle Sam will get after these
profteers and bring them to justice.
These men are stealing at the price Of
human blood and are not worthy of the
honor of being American citizens.'
The speaker said that we have given
to the Red Cross, the Y. NJ. G. A., the
X. c., the Lutheran Brotherhood and
the other organizations that are carry
ing on wonderful work, but because
we have given once does not mean that
we shall give no more. We must keep on
giving and giving. He went to to say
that we should not buy more clothing
than is absolutely necessary and that
we should wear our clothing until it IS
threadbare. He urged the people to
buy bonds when the next issue is made,
the first of next month. He said we
should place America first, last and all
the time and we should invest in these
bonds so that America can carry on
this work for us.
In conclusion he said that the Stars
and Stripes have been unfurled "over
there' and some of our boys have al
ready paid the price. We shall not take
our flag down there until we have won
a permanent peace and the European
countries shall say that democracy shall
rule. Not until then will our mission
be over. Let us conserve and help the
boys come home triumphant. Let us