The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1920-11-12
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The following entitled 81 Am
An American" taken from the
Sioux City Rotary Punch is worth
reading and thinking over. To be
an American is a greater privilege
than some of us realize. Read
this over and then ask yourself
Am | an American ? "
was pilgrim seeking place
was Catholic in quest OF freedom Tor
my faith.
! was Protestant fleeing a persecution
could no longer bear.
was a Jew, an outcast, carrying the
burden of centuries of unrepose.
was political zero with no function
to serve.
l was Mind, kept unschooled lest my
knowledge set me free. y
was a Man, made in the image OF
Creator as other men are, but bending low
before the power Of a fellowman.
And so l left the land of my fathers, to
begin again in a strange wild land.
| came to America. -m-.
did not come to build castles. These
were the badge Of kings who said that God
had appointed them to be keepers OF the
riches | produce. 1t was enough for me
that should live, they said. / did not
believe that.
began to build a new, free home in
the wilderness.
Presently induced, compelled the en-
trained soil to share its bounty. !
| contended with wild men.
In 1776 fought and bled to hold the
yU;nninu so hardly earned
In the sixties l fought and bled again
to free myself Of old world wrongs and keep
the new nation whole.
Thus made America.
And America made me-a new man,
still Catholic, still Protestant, still a
Jew, but first an American.
No longer a nonenity, but man bend
ing only in the voluntary servltude OF
mankind.
America has given me an opportunity,
the goldern wand which has transformed
me from chattel TO the peer of any man
on earth.
Am great enough, strong enough to
keep what have made?
Have | builded better than knew?
Do realize now, that America con-
tains the inspiration and the purifying
principles for the world?
Does American liberty mean anything
in particular to me?
Is it more than a mere nation of people
conceived in the freedom-loving thought
of hundred nations, builded of human
desperation and kept whole by the will
and determination of the noble incentive?
Will | earnestly work, willingly give
and gladly sacrifice to save my America
and thereby save the world?
Yes am an American.
There is a shortage of school
teachers and it isn't to be wonder
ed at when we know that around
10000 school teachers have drop
ped out of the work to enter into
more lucrative work This isn't
to be wondered at when we know
that ditch diggers have been get
ting more money than school
teachers. In the reconstruction
period about to come upon us, this
matter of pay for brain work will
have to be adjusted or we will have
few going into work which requires
long preparation.
The freight rates have in
creased, but reports from the car
service division of the American
Railway Association show that
freight shipments are holding their
own. Express rates have increased
but it's so hard to get freight cars
that many are sending bulky mat
ter by express. Passenger rates
have gone sky high but more peo-
pie are going to Florida and to
California this winter than ever
before. A raise in rates has no
terrors for the American people.
France has lived next door to
Germany a good many years and
France is suspicious all the time no
matter what Germany says. She
doesn't want Germany to get away
with the world war too easily and
to make it possible for Germany
to pay big indemnity quickly
looks to France like a dangerous
policy for France is fearful that
a Germany that could pay up right !
off might be powerful enough to
grab. a slice of the world agaid.
The high cost of living has put
a crimp into all our pocket-books. |
But before we get to plying our
selves too much we better remem-
Der that the people of the United
States paid over three hundred bill
lion of dollars for Injuries last year.
We can't have been down to rock
bottom even so.
Cuba has caught the European
fever and declared a moratorium
for fifty days. But the question
comes of how those who cannot
pay their debts today can pay their
debts fifty days from today when