Gunnison news-champion., 1918-03-15
AM l A SLACkER?
c. S. n. S. News Letter:

STACKER is hated word; for who
in these times would do less than he
can to win the war. All admit that
winning the war is the chief business
of the hour. There has been much
talk about it Good theories as to
what you and ! can do to hasten the
event Of vifory have been promulgat-
ed Manyio iof these theories have been
subscribed to and have even taken the
form Of laws that must be obeyed. We
know definitely some things, at least,
that We can do We are traitors IL
we fail.
Shall it not be our policy, therefore,
TO talk less and do more7 Mr.. Hoover
is trying to conserve the food neces-
sary to the saving of democracy. We
believe that the government is right
in making as stringent as necessary
the rules controlling the production,
exchange, and consumption of food,
coal, and all other products essential
10 the victory for right.
How shall | know whether | am 4
Stacker? In the first place. am liv-
ing TO eat or eating to live? If | am
not Stacker, an ordinary portion of
good wholesome food will satisfy me.
] shall not find IT necessary to indulge
myself, even occasionally, in sixty
cent steak or pork chop if plenty of
nutritious, wholesome beef has been
given me on meat days, even If it has
been boiled in a pressure cooker or
roasted, rather than fried in grease or
butter. II | am not a Stacker, shall
eat Victory bread not only on wheat
less days, but on all days, provided
that the bread is well-made and whole
some.
II ! am not Stacker, | shall not
sneak sugar and candy; shall not buy
wheat bread and crackers to hide in
my wardrobe until wheatless day;
shall, on the contrary, become person
ally responsible and altogether reason
able and honest in my observance of
the letter of the law and the spirit too.
II ! am not a Stacker, | shall wear
my old hat as long as it is reasonable
to do so. ! shall not be ashamed to
wear last springs millinery again this
spring. The money that ! save in this
economy, being the product of genuine
sacrifice, | shall invest in Red Cross
work or in loan to the government.
] realize that much of the money which
! have customarily spent on myself
has profited me nothing, and now / see
as never before, that might have put
il into circulation for the cause of hu-
manity. II ! am not Stacker, shall
from this time on put my earnings and
my income to appropriate uses.
A Stacker may lend money to the
government; but he will boast or
scold about it. A Stacker may know
what ought to be done by the Junior
Red Cross, but he says, LET George do
it." A Stacker usually discovers that he
must have more and better food to eat
than is allowed the average man;
otherwise he finds himself less capable
of meeting the demands of the days
work. A Stacker is ready to do war
work, but not before he has done all
that he can for himself. A Stacker
must crafty not merely all his needs,
but his whims as well. Ask him
about it, and he will justify himself
by explaining that he has always done
this way. He is a Stacker by habit.
A Stacker has slogan; it is, Myself
over all'-it reminds one of another
slogan in a foreign language. A
Stacker is just any spoiled, selfish,
greedy conceited individual who lacks
the power and the will to conceive how
this day demands careful unselfish-
ness, studied temperance, rigid econo-
my, unstinted service, and enlightened
sympathy. A Stacker greets you
with frigid exterior, scowl, a sigh,
or a pout. He frightens you almost in
to the conviction that his personal
claims are infinitely more urgent than
the needs of the soldiers in the
trenches or the refugees of Belgium
and France.
A Stacker "gets on the nerves" of a
fair-minded man and patriot. There
is something repellant in the continu-
Gus cloud of injured ego that sur
rounds the Stacker. In these days when
mothers and wives, all over the world,
are giving all that they have, when the
young men of the nation are dying
gloriously that the future of the race
may be saved to civilization; when in
the cyclone of destruction and fiendish
carnage glorious youth is being con-
sumed as in a maelstrom-the Stacker
for his meanness is the very essence of
the repulsive.
God grant that l may not be a
Stacker.
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