The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1918-04-11
AMERICANS AND
TRUE DEMOCRACY
Dollars Are Needed as ExempIifi-
cation of Spirit.
TIME TO BUY LIBERTY BONDS
Citizens Must Lend Their Financial
Assistance to Government to For
ever Eliminate Effects Of Ger.
manys Influence.
BY GEORGE E. BOWEN
of the Viqilantes.

In the main, il cannot be said of
America that she is without her Amer
leans, or that the faith and service II
the mass is un-Amerlcan in spirit.
Dollars do not always so with IL
mocracy, but when informed, inspired
and enlisted they can be mighty useful
to it.
There has been a mistaken idea in
certain sections of America that dol
lars, according to the number of them,
spelled "aristOcracy."
They don't. That is an imported
idea. And that it is perishing in the
land of its origin, witness the war and
the CONSERVATION of the few aristO-
Gratis, both external and inbred.
There have been, possibly are, a
few external ariStOcrats in America,
who, in a moment of excessive vanity
measured their social Importance by
the size of their material fortunes.
The war erased that absurd notion,
almost with the first blare of the
trumpet.
Millionaire Privates in Ranks.
There are millionaire privates in the
ranks Of the American army and navy
who have renounced all the prestige
of fortune for the privilege of comrade-
ship.
In the crucial test humanity was
first, last, and all the way between.
Men are more than money. The outer
veneer has been quickly shed. The
man has emerged.
What he thought was his pride, in
days of social and financial triumph,
he finds was but a cheap and trivial
plaything. Now, his real pride is q
thing of purpose, power and dignity.
Before the war is over, dollars that
hid in aristocratic secluslon or vaunt-
ed themselves in ostentatiOuS power
are going voluntarily and humbly to
join the forces of democracy.
After the war they are going to de-
velop a system of popular redistribu-
ton relieving the old congestion whose
fevers broke out in many forms of lux
ury and extravaganza incompatible
| Win uulNelSuI cOuleHlueuI.
The only aristocracy America wants
or needs Is of the heart and of the
mind.
The shoulder touch of men on the
march or in the trenches has welded
this feeling into u living creed, a saw
ing faith.
The escutcheon of American man.
hood may be either a splash Of Bel
gian mud or splotch of German
blood.
Drawing True Men Together.
In place Of the dollar crest will be
the sign of the courage test.
There was lot of sound democracy
in the old millions for de-
fense, but not one cent for tribute"
Therein is the basic principle Of re-
Sistance Of Prussianism. That prin-
ciple is drawing all true men together
1t is putting service above self. 1t is
asking America to take the gold Of
vanity and pour it into the cause OF
humanity.
The spirit of democracy is the only
vital, uncOmprOmising thing in hui
man world.
It laughs at dollars and dynamite
and royal degenerates.
The America annointed of this spirit
is at last to carry it forth to a perish.
ing world.
And the despised American dollar
shall, with the courage, generosity
and chlvalry of American manhood, be
the instrument of salvation.
The day of contribution is at hand
. Where Is your dollar?