Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1919-01-03
Two Kinds of
Allies
n
BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEoN
Of Tbs 1gnoaSss


were born IN the United States, th'
other In Italy. lie was one year ole
when his parents came TO New York
20 live. When Italy entered the wal
against her domlneering, exacting ally
three Of these bOys-all American sub.
jects-lCst no time In doing what
thousands Of other American boys al.
ready had done. Where the other thou
sands had cast their lot with the Ca
nadians, the French and the British,
as free-born Americans had the right
to do, these three young men set sail
for the land Of their father. and took
up the arms Of their forefathers
against the foe. They entered the
Italian army. They were volunteers,
not conscripts. Two OF them had
never even seen the land from which
came their father aud mother.
Then came the decision Of the Unit
ed States to engage In the conflict
on the side of civilization and hui
manity. This old Italian mother gave
her two remaining Americans TO the
army of the United States. They were
her youngest-one of them barely
eighteen-and they were as eager to
fight as their brothers had been. They
did not want to be drafted. They en-
listed as common soldiers, and went
away with the troops to France.
The old mother did not give up her
boys to the armies of Italy and France.
She gave them to the armies that
were fighting for the things dear to
them as Americans. They went as
Americans. not as Italians. No mat
ter what their father may have been
when he was a boy, these boys were
Americans. They loved the land In
which they were born, even as their
father loved the land In which he was
born. They believed In the land of
their birth and In its Ideals, as their
father and mother had taught them |
to believe. They did not go forth as
Adventures. but as soldiers with a |
principle behind them.
Difference In Mothers.
A German mother In Connecticut
city also had five sons of the fighting
age when the war broke out. They
were all born In the United States and
they were American citizens as their
father deliberately had made himself
by the processes of naturalization per-
laps before any one of them came into
he world. Two of these sons sue
.eeded in reaching Germany, and, like
he sons of the Italian mother, took
Ip the arms of their fathers native
and. No one win galnsay them the
light to join the kaiser's army. They
we're free-born American citizens, as
much so as the boys who went out
o fight with the Italian, the French
nd the Canadian forces, and It was
heir individual right to fight where
oever and with whomsoever they
lected. But when the United States
rent into the war. did the three re-
iainlng sons offer their services to
he country in which they were born,
he country which had enriched their
lther, the country which honored
herr by calling them citizens? They
I'd not. They were not Americans.
hey were Germans. The mother OF
he three young men openly declared
nat she would rather see them dead
y her own hand than to have them
Ike up arms against their kaiser!
The Fortunes of War.
But the fortunes OF war produce y
range conditions. The fortunes Of I
ar demanded that three Americans l
lould go forth and shoot two Ger +
ans. There can be no going behind !
lie fact that the instant the United '
tates entered the conflict these three 1
,ys automatically became the enc .
les of their brothers. Their brothers =
I'd gone out voluntarily TO fight with ,
e German armies. That was their :
cha. their privilege. They did so at n
10 time when their native land was a
a lined up against the kaiser. They 9
ected to face the baiiets that were :
med at Germany. just as those other \
,ys elected to face the shells fired =
Italy. But the two Germans went :
It TO fight for Germany because they =
ere Germans, because they We're not a
lowed to be anything but Germans. b
heir mother sent them out to die for :,
ermany. Was she willing to send the
her three out to die for the United
tates7 NOT she preferred to XIII :
lem with her own hands. The 1tal, =
n mother did not send her two re-
aiming boys to fight In Italy but In :
rance. They went as American SOL :
ers. They would have gone with the !
merican armies to fight against Italy y
the call had been from that direc' :
on. She would not have preferred y
XIII them With her own hands. =
In the great Civil war that throat J,
ned the existence of the United =
tates OF America back In 1S6i-6j :
rother fought against brother. Thou !
inds of young men came up from the :
onlhlaud and put on the uniform OF
ne. Their brothers. their cousins =
zen their fathers. were wearing the
ray. The Instances In which North
-n.born men went 10 fight with the
confederate armies are notably rare.