East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1921-05-30

Continued from page -
From wandering on foreign
strand?
II such there breathe, go, mark him
well.
For him no minstrel raptures ; yell.
| High though his titles, proud =, name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can
claim,
Despite those titles. power, and pelf,
| The wretch, cuncentred all in self,
| Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubIy dying. shall 80 down
To the vile dust, from whence he
sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.
The Purpose Of America
War Is useless, II we draw no lesson
from II. The greatest lesson Is that OF
copsecration. Conservation to n high
ideal or to a worthy cause.
lie who says, or infers, that those
Americans who placed their all on the
altar Of their country, to obey its
slightest and every command, went for
the sorbid purpose of protecting just
the material possessions Of their land,
that there was not in the minds and in
the heart Of those men and Americans
generally a bigger ideal--the sustain
ing Of the principles Of liberty, equality
and justice in the world which we
openly and avowedly enlisted for-not
only belittles the Great Spirit of Am
erica, but traduces our very purpose.
He gives the lie to the very pledge of
our faith.
He defames the unselfish crusader
spirit. which not only spread Ameri-
canism abroad, but made us respected,
reverenced and even sainted as ma
tion by the helpless and little peoples
Of the old world.
What Was Fought
1t is true we were fighting Germany,
but we were fighting something great
err stronger we were fighting the
things Germany stood for, We were
fighting an organized state of mind.
Imperalist, the old order of Europe
again. We fought not just because il
was an American menace, but because
ii was world menace and still is. We
can no longer be isolated.
This same force Of greed and power
alien or domestic, may make its in
Roads in any land. and when estab-
lished. and concentrated enough it be-
comes that same organized state OF
mind. 1t is this and its propaganda
we have to fight. 1t is the subtle en-
emies which make for war It is this |
great idea which John McRae felt !
when speaking for the ilustrious dead |
he coinciled:
Take up our quarrel with the foe,
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch be yours TO hold it high
II yc break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though peoples |
grow
In Flanders fields.
Civilizations Torch
The torch we hold today is the
torch OF civilzation--thrice famed
with Liberty. Light and Justice.
You men came back--only part OF |
some of you came back. Many of us |
came back whole in body but we could |
not gather up the strings again some |
how This is but natural reaction |
of war through the cessation of hos
tilities. The purpose even seems to
have been taken away. and nothing
left in its place. The true civilian pat
riot, at home, who backed us Loyalty.
and did his bit, felt it too. But what |
got under our skin was the fellow who |
made use of your absence, who made |
-se of the war. who made use of his |
country, and the very blood of his own |
to swell his Golfers and |
grow fat-1ho war profiteer; then
here was the Individual who did IT |
solely 10 save his own hide. the slacE- |
er: t"n names about which too much |
'diuu cannot ever be thrown. These
are indeed men without country
They have sold their birthdight for
mess Of pottage.
Their too, there vas the feeling on
he rart Of many toward the man Or
he woman who had kept the home
Tres huruIng. fUt seemed all to, 500,
o forget Some d:d. But in most Of
hose cases they did not. The mst
lid not tell you see. But they are the
Lanv who did and who backed you
oyally till it hurt
Unpersonal Service Needed
But the point | want to make is this
Men of the American Legion. You
vent in tue cause of your country and |