Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1918-12-05
TO DE-
MOBILIZE ARMY
Than OFFICERS
The CGcehloder, Like the Poor, is
With Us Ever and
Anon.
Trom collier's)

The suddenness-to most of us the
unexplained s~uddenness--of the Ger
mar collapse has left the world in Il
daze. Ii is hardly TO be expected that
the Government officers who have
worked in wal times and at war pres
sure can accommodate themselves ut
once to the new conditions. They thok
wan for eighteen months, lived war,
had no IDEAS tina not in the terms of
war, They are IN the habit of war MAX
ing, and it rs n hard habit to break
off. The strange powers granted to
Them, and only conceivable as a way
necessity, are not to be relinquished
easily. No one grudged them their au-
thority when the sharp exercise of au.
tthority was the urgent need of the
hour. The country accepted their
leadership gladly, because leadership
was essential to the winning of theEwar.
But it accepted that leadership with a
thoroughly competent understanding
Ehat the country itself Was doing a little
something toward the winning of the
war. The private in the ranks and the
| tllNtlIS wiz P't.t Iiip az vi bohp y
i his bonds or contributed to wal chart.
lies We're always conscious that they
were taking their share in this en-
erprise, that their personal reward
would be nothing and that they We're as
iecessary perhaps as Cabinet officers.
They glory in the achievement. 1t is
ardly possible that anything can ever
,,,,,o,, ,,,,o, .nrlir1 A snap; aoY NC ~ N TIrnI,@
pack With greater fohdness, The IN.
nimity of the people and their quiet
obedience to orders that directly al,
rected Their lives ans propeTty have
leen p worlds won9er. They have
completely confused the leaders OF
~liscontentr, who suddenly find their
professional means of livelihood taken
rom beneath their feat by the courag.
and sanity of the American public.
There could not have been a better
test of democracy than the war. And
$ the sobriety, intelligence and discipline
of the people IN the stress of war should
be a warning to political leaders that
e ,hese same sober, intelligent and dis
ditions to continue afteH the war is over
utlOllSlO COilllIlutg dlLeH ne Val Is ONGI..
S Golfers speaks this way because
u here is in the air the belief that am.
" 9itious public men hope to continue
: heir war authority in times of peace,
that departments and bureaus Of no use,
in times of peace will go on, that the
Government-through both Congress
and the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS attempt to
tr -, 49,. d! =. 4 ~, ~ i.
t for war purposes. We think the
public will not agree with this point
Of view. To give all you have to save
your country is one thing. To give all
you have TO some ~officeholders is
something entirely different. There is
to police Europe. The necessity is
not obvious. The dangerous nations
= If Europe perhaps could be best pOlieed
by their neigabors, whose safety they
1ave jeoparded for fifty years. No one
sould willingly take from our army
he enjoyment of conquest. 1t deserves
verything. 1t must have it's frolic to
S hearts content. But we guess that
he young men who faced the war so
.erenely and with such an incompara-
\ Die air of dealing with a matter of fact
will turn with the same c~oolness to The
difficulties of daily life,
The history of wars has shown ttiat
t is easier to dem6bilize IN arms than
/ is to d%emobilize the officeholders.
rhay are tenacious. Give them time
md they can create for themselves
:omething to do that appears like work
o the superficial observer. After that
t is impossible to get them out. IT
would lie mischievous if d consequence
T. Of one of our greatest achievements
hould he the saddling of a willing
md obedient people with an enormous
h permanent, bureaucracy and that The
e. aatural order Of things should meet
constant Government interference. TIle
a var has been costly. The unit il
~ 1nder a burden of taxes thai it11as borne
yith3 unfaltering courage. But peace
O s here, and the problems OF peace, the
I'D familiar problems. are at hand
REIMBURSEMENT OF conditions must be ac
sonipIished.f But Reimbursement cannot
n 20 brought about unless men in a1
hority cease thinking In terms of war.
We may have been too slow IN enter
Y ing the VIA, but " can hardly be TOO
3 swift In getting out of il. 4 atilei
Fl words, the whistle has sounded. Lets
4 SO to work.
II -~--
YOUNG WOMAN SHOT BIZ sUN-
L0ADEDn GEN. MOUNDS SERIOUS