The Robesonian., 1918-07-25
IT DOES NOT BOTHER HIM.
University News Letter.

"The war amt botherin' me. It's
none of my business. Maybe them
Germans will sink lot of ships but
they amt my ships, and maybe they'll!
bomb a few Yankee towns along the
| loast, but we won't never see any
Germans around here. If they'll let
me alone, I'm going to let them alone.
No, amt going to buy any war
stamps, reckon"
These are the words of a good man
honest and upright in his little way
of life. We say that of him because
we know him we'll. He's well-to-do
farmer, whose life is lived far from
the maddening crowd Indeed, lAe
could not be more alOof and remote
from this sorely troubled world y
ours, if he lived on the tail Of Halley's
comet.
He knows that he is getting four
time as much for his cotton as he got
in the fall Of. 1914 when this world
war began. three times as much Tor
his tobacco, and twice as much Tor
his corn and wheat, poultry, eggs and
butter; but he thinks these fine prices
are all in the natural course OF events.
That the war we are Waglng against
Germany has anything to do with the
high prices he's getting for his farm
products does net occur to him for
moment.
And 50 he really is not bothering
about this war The fighting S too
far off. He has TO Sons of draft age
and he is sure that he and his 9'e
safely beyond the reach Of it. Ard
so they are, let US hope-Eannon,
shells, and poison gases cons1deIeG.
Not even an S0-lnile gun is ever likely
to destroy his home.
Nevertheless he is in this war,
whether he realizes it or not. Get
ting him to realize it has been our
very hardest job during the drive OF
Natioral War Stamp Week.
What He Cannot Realize.
This man and many another ike
him is never likely to realize that the
war is related to him personally and
directly. unless Germany wins. Then
the farm products we are now ship
ping abroad will be left to rot on the
farmers hands at home here, and the
prices he will get for his crops Will
drop to nothing-or nearly so, as
thav did when war was declared.
i Cotton sold around SIX cents IN 1914
! Is when war broke out in Europe. The
farmers all remember the panic ano
hardships of those days. And cottor
would not sell for more than that nov
if the navy of America and her Al
lies were not keeping the sea lane:
open.
The Kaiser said that if American
would stay out of the war he'd let u
send one ten-thousand ton boat wee
through the submarine zone. The
four and a half millions bales Of cot
; tor we send to Europe annually Woult
net get across the seas in a hundred
: wears at that rate. And the sam
thing would be true Of our tobacco
meat. and wheat.
7 Instead of lying down to the kal
ser like q coward, we said we'd sen
S across the sea as many ships as w
pleased. And we are dong that yer
a thing. These ships are now takin
Y fifteen hundred million dollars wort
of farm products abroad.
5. That's why the supply at home
: scarce ard the prices high.
r, That's why the farmers are gettin
good money for everything they hav
l. to sell.
It The Big German Bully.
=, How long would a farmer allow
big bully to stand in the middle Of tf
road and say to him, You shan't go
$. market but once a month and the
only in a light spring wagon? N
longer thar he could reach arour
q f.: his old shot gun. You can be SUI
lee 3e that TIE farmers are no coward
u sut TIE big German bully is out
a sight and they have not all learne
z, yet that they are being bullied.
ia How mucn will the Germans give tt
e. farmer for his cotton and tobacco
d We lose this war?
= And talking about taxes, how mu.
u taxes will the farmers pay when &c
many calls on US for fifty billion DE-
lars with which to pay her war debt
On yes, the farmers are in this We
IN whether they know it or not
Ia If we win they will be the first
o. profit; but if we lose they will pe t
f. first to feel the pinch of hard times