River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1919-02-13
THE K|NSH|P OF THE
new AMERICAN
Aims and Ideals of the United
States and Canada Win
Soon Be Signed.

The war is over, peace will soon be
signed, the fighting nations have
sheathed their swords, and the day of
reconstruction has come.
What of it!
Hundreds of thousands of men. TAX
en- from the fields of husbandry, from
the ranks of labor, from the four walls
OF the counting house, and the con-
fines of the workshop, taken from them
to do their part, their large part, in
the prevention of the spOliation of the
world, and in the meantime removed
from the gear of common everyday
life, will be returned, only to find in
many cases old positions filled. the
machinery with which they were for
merly attached dislocated.
Are they to become aimless wan
derers, with the ultimate possibility
of augmenting an army of menacing
loafers? If they do it it is because their
ability to assist in laying new founda-
tons, in building up much required
structures. is underestimate. Men
who have fought as they have fought,
who have risked and faced dangers as
they have, are not of the caliber likely
to finch when it comes to the reStO-
ration of what the enemy partially de.
stroyed, when it comes to the recon
struction of the world the ideals Of
which they had in view when they took
part in the great struggle whose Divine
purpose was to bring about this re-
construction.
Injured to toll, thoughtles Of fatigue,
trained in initiative and hardened by
their outdoor existence they will re-
turn better and stronger men, boys
will have matured and young men will
have developed.
They will decide of themselves lines
of action and thought, and what their
future should and will be. On the
field of battle they developed alertness
and wisdom, and they will return with
both shedding from every pore.
Action was their by-word and it will
stand them in good stead now that the
din Of the battle no longer rings in
their ears, or the zero hour signals
during their entire existence.
But if they return to find their old
avocation gone, their places filled, the
institutions with which they were con-.
nected no longer exist, new walks of
life and employment must be opened
to them. 1t may be that the counting
house, the factory, the workshop will
have lost their attraction. The return
ed soldier will look elsewhere for en-
ployment; within his reach there is al
ways the rward-to-the-Land" ne
cessity. In this lies the remedy that
will not only take care Of multitude
Of those who may not be able to return
to their former occupations, whose de-
sires are not to do so, whose health
prohibits them from indoor life or
whose outdoor habits from the past
one, two, three or four years have
given them such taste and desire
for it that confinement would be I'M
bearable. Farm life will thus appeal
to Them and the indications are that it
will be taken advantage of by thou.
sands. 1t means much to them as well
as to the Continent of America that
provides the opportunity to the world
at large, and to the stricken and fam
ished nations Of Europe, who, not only
today, but for years to come, will re-
quire the sustenance that can only
largely be supplied by the United
States and Canada. By following the
pursuit of agriculture the returned
soldier will continue the cause he SO
greatly advanced when fighting on the
field of battle. Both countries have
undeveloped areas yet open to settle
ment.
There is little need here to direct