The daily commonwealth., 1919-05-02
D1a / KEEP BOYS
OVERSEAS LONGER
THAN NECESSARY
VICTORY NOTES WILL SPEED UP
THE HOMECOMING AND KEEP
THEM FIT MEANWHILE.
MILLION ON OTHER SIDE
Just as Much upkeep Expense Now as
During the Days Of Hos
tiEitieS.

We're going ever, we're going
over" Do you recall how that song
rang in the streets Of every Amnri-
can city short year ago. We had
been singing it for months then. All
eyes were turned toward Europe.
There were times when it seemed that
the war was SO near that We ought
TO be able to hear the drumming and
the drumming Of the guns up Cam
brai way
And we won't be back till it's over,
over there" Maybe you recall that
as sung by great masses of men in
khaki standing at ease in the street
or an open square? Or that train load
of youngsters from the Far West who
came through your town one dav last
summer, bound for the front that was
far and far away? They were singing
it, too, as they leaned far out of the
car windows as though hungry for the
sight Of the great America they were
leaving in their quest for the Great
Adventure.
Well, it's oyer, over there. It has
been a long time since a hostile shell
WifIliSA ILL OuSSu tllS DIR over al AllclI
can lad crouched in fox hole" And
yet-it hasn't been so very long as
men count time. Scarcely long enough
to take recruit and fit him for trench
duty. That is how near the war is
to us yet.
And there are over million Yanks
still in Europe. Considerably more
t1on million Thcy- aI Of 0A0
miles away from home, from the old
job, from the old familiar scenes and
places.
The point is that a man who dies in
an army hospital in Europe is just as
dead as though he had been killed at
Verdun. He is just as much Of loss
to America. To his family and his
loved ones the anguish is just as deep,
the sense of loss just as heavy.
While They Wait
The families Of these men want
them brought back home. They want
them safe and sound and back at their
own firesides. And don't forget that
the government of these United States
wants them back, too And it is bring.
ing them back just as fast as poss ble,
just as rapidly as ships can be put
into service. Every transport that
comes home is crowded with just as
many men as it can possibly accomo.
date.
All this costs money. It cost money
to raise these men into an army, to
train them, to send them over and to
maintain them for the day Of the bat
tie. And now they are trying to keep
them in health and in condition dur
ing the time of waiting for the trans
ports. No expenses are being spared
to send them back to America sound
in health and in mind and to their
dreams and their hopes.
4 sreat big part OF the VictCry Loan
viii be spent in this job. A few GEMS
at least from every dollar that you are
lending the government tuIs time will
SO toward the expenses of keeping
some American soldier boy in Europe
fit, and bringing him down to the
transport and hauling him across the
blue water
You will not care to meet the man
who has been across, who is unreason-
ably delayed in getting back to the
states. Eut there will be delays and
such incidents as England saw awhile
back when the weary Canadians lost
patience with the slowness Of de-
mobilization
We want nothing like that to spoil
the record of the country It will
be well to remern Der all these things
when the man with the blanks for
the bond subscription calls
Les help to bring them back Let
is see to it that not a man will be
kept on the other side an hour longer
than he might have been had we all
done our duly in the matter of raising
this Victory Liberty Loan.