Belding Banner

When Will We Win the War

When every person from the age of 15 upward feels determined that we shall win.
When three women and a boy take the place of every farm laborer sent to the army,
When the erstwhile tramp, loafer bum, joy rider and rioting union workman are seen only at work under military guard,
When productive work and study balance each other in the schools,
When ball games are played only by men and boys whose tedious indoor work requires a weekly or monthly half day of outdoor activity,
When an able-bodied young man will be ashamed to stand behind a counter to sell goods which a girl, a cripple, an aged man or woman could do just as well.
When the roadsides grow potatoes and vegetables and the adjacent shade trees have benches where city and village residents who cultivate the crop may lunch and rest when needful,
When lakeside summer resorts are reserved for the benefit of city children, women clerks and assistants, factory girls, convalescents and aged or infirm people.
When the prospect of cold and hunger the next winter is so great that union working men dare not indulge in their annual May day strike, to end no one knows when.
When people quit complaining if Government regulations for the good of all happen to inconvenience them, deny them privilege of extravagance or correct their wasteful habits.
When people learn that a loaf of dark bread is more satisfying than the whitest possible, that plain food is never to be apologized for, that children have the best right to sweets, a reasonable amount, even if their elders must go without,
When a dime will buy a school boy or girl a lunch, a quarter will buy a meal for a working man and a dollar won't buy a rich man any more than he actually needs for his dinner.
When people work so hard they will not want to work or tear around the country on Sundays,
When retired farmers break off their habit of wandering down the village street to talk and joke with all they meet and go into the country to instruct and superintend inexperienced farm help, assist tenants on their own farms or lease an unoccupied piece of land and raise something for food.
When country-bred girls lease their menial tasks in town and go home to help mother make butter, raise more poultry, care for the garden, gather fruit, market such products as they are able to handle, or drive a team for father in emergencies,
When farm-bred city-men, if possible, give up their work in town for a steady, well-paid position on the farm: where a young man can save his wages without constant allurements to spend: where men with families may be sure of food. fuel. and shelter when city-dwellers are by themselves helpless to remedy extremely distressing conditions,
When President Wilson comes to understand that this is a war of Americans, and not Democrats, and that efficiency in office is more important than cheap politicians and ward healers.
When the allied nations have learned some very important lessons in preparation, co-operation and regulation which shall crystallize into permanent organization,
When Americans are willing to work as hard, save as carefully and live as plainly for a few years as European workers have had to do all their lives before this war.
When we all wake up to war's realities.
E. E. Whitney.
Tradesman.