The Prescott daily news., 1918-04-11
ARE YOU WORTH DYING FOR?
Am worth dying for? Not for

put DV NIT. wilson, ulSJlHSulSHee official of the Equitable Life Assur- ance Society, in addressing a commit tee of agents and citizens upon test of Americanism.
 Over 100000 American soldiers are in France. Some are dying and others are ready to die for the American people.
 A million and half men are under arms nj this country and on the high seas. Some are dying and others are ready to die that you and l may be free.
 Death is the supreme transition, of which we know little.
 What it is we do not know, when it may come we do not know. From beyond the veil no man has ever re- turned to tell us what is there; hence the mystery.
 And yet men, in the enthusiasm of youth and men in the calm delibera tion of maturity brave it and fight it and accept it, not for themselves, but that others may not meet it until they are full of years.
 But the soldier stops not to think whether we are worth dying for.
 Since the entrance of the United States into this war up to the present moment, what have you done that warrants your fellowman in plunging his body into hell of fire, in going down to destruction for you, for me?
 From the beginning have you real ized at any moment your duty and your responsibility?
 What today, when the scale is swinging between civilization and bar barism and maybe dipped to savagery for thousand years by the weight of feather, are you doing?
 What is going on in your own city, what is going on in Washing ton, what is going on in the capitals of all the states, in the forests, in the fields and in the mines?
 In Memphis it is dreary story of sordidness, of selfishness and mean ness. This city is oscillating between an expectant death list among sev- eral hundred Memphians who are aboard and the battles going on in the court house.
 And what is the struggle in the court house, and why a struggle in the courthouse? Unbridled gluttony for office, fees, political power, striving for place where big jobs and little jobs can be parceled out and where men can consume taxes and distribute moneys contributed to the city and to the county from the toll of people, to those who are fav- ored because they can carry ward, control a few votes, stuff ballot boxes or steal money by means of gravel contracts or get other money by ex- plotting the bodies and sols of weak lings, through various instruments of commerciaiized vice.
 The local spectacle is so sickening that it cannot be dwelt upon.
 Are these wretches worth dying for?
 Passing from a city to state one finds men stepping aside from things that are worth while and putting their heads together as to how they may continue to delude the people and hold their favor and keep themselves and their friends in office or in high station.
 Are these men worth dying for?
 In the capital of the nation we find large number who should be keep ing step with the war forces of this country, halting, caviling and cursing their adversaries in attempting to do things for the sole purpose of squar- ing themselves with those at home, who crawl on their bellies, but who vote.
 Are these men worth dying for?
 Pass from politics to business, and what do we see?
 Men demanding 300 per cent more than it was worth two years ago for a staple article of food and refusing to grow more of this food unless their demands are met.
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