The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1918-04-05
Council Defense
War Address
fsrrs
To TenneSSednS

The following statement from the
state council of national defense was
read this morning by Judge j. T.
Mcknight at the opening of the patri'
otto rally at the New Grand theatre;
The United States is now involved
In 1.-THE gravest crisis of its history.
The time has come for the people to
know the facts. The situation must
be stated in the plain, naked truth.
There are millions Of easy-going'
complacent Americans, to whom the
war as yet has had no real meaning,
who have not realized what this war
1meahs. These must be reused. They
must be made to realize that their
Hives, their liberty and happiness are
/ at stake. They, must be. given to
understand, that whether this war is
won or lost, depends upon their real
ization of their personal responsible
ity and whether they are willing OF
not to make the necessary sacrifice
4 to save themselves. This war is a
life death struggle for the safety
and existence of ourselves and for
the benefit of free people everywhere
The situation is critical in the ex'
treme, and we should know 1t. 1t is
time for facing facts instead of fight
ing on illusions.
j, Forced into war by. Germany, who
violated our rights as sruthlessly as
she did those Of Belgium, we are
fighting a war of selfdefensei We
are today in peril. We are fighting
to defend our wives and children. from rom
the defiled hand of the German, We
are fighting to protect our homes
from, the beast who knows no mercy.
We are; fighting to preserve the insti-
.tutions we love, the, liberty we, cher
ish, the freedom So dear to us. I'LL
We are fighting in France, because
we shall be smitten in America, and
If unsuccessful in this struggle, we
shall no longer be free men, but the
slaves of the most merciless and brut-
al taskmaster the world has ever
known. Our peril is great and only
our courage and determination can
avert it. 1t is not from glory, honor
or rights that we fight, but for lib
erty, (which no good man loses, but
with HIS lift" =, Il. ,54
The rmp,aagg magnitude ni1 de-, Of the task we
have undertaken i is ar appalling ,|ll Viz Meyer
in history .hhaYe nations undertaken a =, 50
great task. Allied nations are
maintaining millions Of soldiers in
Fthesfie]a ,apd must , raise many mil mil
Hons more. bnQ s resources ngst BE be
poured out; PVT e ipdqlstrees finances fsfnc
and institutions be crippled and our
seamss, s scared Nth s sqrrogw VA saosue1
s@e Fslsaaasds GsF y esaiygmgblssss fgg9 qnR
FsheaIsussian front. are travelling, by
Fthe hundreds of thousands toward our
men on the west and the the greatest
Stream 'off ali is ,gathering;. RE time
sSd seditiSeus! ts Talk has ' pass
sa4.ThasS l tine for action Is II HAND, %
fhioIW' as, President Wilson says: we
are fighting as. truly for the, the liberty
and self-goyernment of the United
states IS IL the war Of our, own Rev
Foldtfon had to- be fought over again,
and every man in every business in
the United States must know by this
time that his whole future lies in the
balance" 1t is our lives, liberty,
property and happiness that are at
stake. If any man has an idea that
we are fighting others battles, not
our own, the sooner he gets away
from that idea the better it will be
for him and the the better it will be
for all OF us.
The: immediate duty Of the United
States, i, to. send men and resources
TO the battlefields Of Europe to help,
France and Great Britain win the
war before their strength is exhaust
ed and the, war brought to America.
It, is our, plain duty. to fight in self
defense. and for and, with our friends
while we have them, and to the end
that there may be an end to ali war
forever, , AZ 4
We should get it out Of our heads
that the only way in which we can
save ourselves is to serve as soldiers,
for to save the soldiers all who are
left must serve at home. This will
be long war, and against the mil
lions of men that Germany is now |
massing on the western front, cur
of men must be opposed. We
must prepare for days, weeks, months
and years Of struggle, of suffering |
and of sacrifice, the like Of which the
world has never seen. This is life
and death struggle which we have en-
tered, determined to establish once
for all that government of the peo-