The Marietta journal and courier., 1918-02-08
FLYERS AT THE FRONT
ARE BADLY HANDICAPPED

Hardly day passes but there is
some fresh illustration of the ina
bility on the part of government to
buy with money something essential
for war preparation. We are now
discovering that there is not linen
enough in the world to cover the
aeroplanes that the allies are pro-
ducing. The English government has
just decidede that at least 10000
acres of English soil must be devoted
to the production of flax, instead OF
food. That government is making
terms with the farmers, which will
lead to the planting of that crop.
The illustrations are endless of the
fact that there are not labor and
materials enough to produce the
things that the people want and the
things that government wants. There
are two ways of helping solve the
problem. One is to speed up produc-
ton and industry. The other is to
cut down unnecessary consumption.
By the latter method every one can
put himself in an effective way in a
front trench. Every one can make
sacrifices that will be reflected in a
quicker and better equipment of ar
mics. The progress that can be made
by speeding up production can be
exceeded many fold by the effect
which can be produced by a whole
notion making up its mind really to
help win the war The difficulties of
equipping the army would be easily
cut in half if every individual in this
country would recognize his respon-
sibility in helping to equip the army,
his responsibility to get On without
demanding new things he can get
on without, and by SO doing leave a
greater amount of labor and material
to produce the things the govern
ment must have.
Every yard of linen that is bought
from today on puts the buyer in di-
rect competition with the Aeroplane
Board in equipping the fleet of aero
planes which we hope to put over the
German lines. That should be very
plain to every one when it is known
that the need of linen for aeroplane
production exceeds the total stock
there is in the world. But the same
rule applies in almost every direc-
ton that we turn.
There can be only two reasons why
men should not see in their personal
expenditure their individual response
bility for equipping the army. One
is a belief that a fully equipped
American army is not going to be
necessary; that the war will be won
by our allies, or it has already been
won by the exhaustion of our enc
mics. There is little in the situation
upon which to base such belief. The
other reason must be that people be-
lieve that there are labor and mate
rals enough to produce everything
that they want for their individual
uses and everything that the govern
ment must have. Absolute blindness
to what the total is when you add
two and two is the only excuse there
can be for believing there are labor
and material enough for the indivi-
dual comforts and military needs of
the country. The man who is not
prepared to economic today either
believes there is no necessity for mill
tary preparedness or he will not look
in the face of the plainest facts in
regard to industrial capacity. The
government has provided the easiest
possible road for the individual to
turn his personal sacrifice into pa
trotic aid-save and buy War Savings
Stamps.