The Leader Enterprise And Press

MAKE LOYALTY THE ISSUE

The hour has long since struck when there can be but two classes of people in this country—Americans and anti-Americans. There can be no such thing as neutrality. Every citizen is either for or against his country. The government is calling on every man, woman and child within our borders to declare themselves, and the call can no more be evaded than could the call to the ranks. Uncle Sam has no intention of unduly oppressing any person. Nevertheless there is a war to fight and win, a cause to be battled for to a triumph, and in this every person's services are called for and must be given to the extent of that one's ability.

The hour has struck when we must separate the sheep from the goats—the loyal citizens from the parasites and leeches. Ten million of our people are already enrolled, but this is only about one-tenth of our number. These ten millions are enrolled in the arms-bearing division, but there is an arms-furnishing department to be manned and financed, as well as all the other sinews of war, and to this task the other ninety million are called.

We sometime ago arrived at the certain knowledge that the world is at war for a principle and every human being in this country MUST either accept or reject that principle. Once and for all we must determine whether or not man shall be a free agent or the puppet of a petty tyrant. Once and for all we must determine whether a people shall choose their own allegiance or be subject to the call of royal butchers who would feed them to the Moloch of war purely to further their own lust for power.

And in the determination of this mighty question every person of ordinary intelligence among us will be recorded on one side or the other. As we have stated, there is no middle ground—YOU, reader, are either American or anti-American. This is YOUR home, and its safety is menaced. YOUR services are demanded, and you can no more evade the call than you can evade the issues of life and death.

We repeat, we must separate the sheep from the goats. Every community should label its entire citizenship—loyal or disloyal—as the case may be.

And in this melting and remoulding process, race or nationality should have absolutely no weight whatever. The loyal American of German blood or nativity should be as warmly welcomed into the ranks of the country's defenders as the purest-blooded American among us. On the other hand, the slacker should be so aligned, it matters not if his ancestors came over in the Mayflower or if his fathers fought the British at Bunker's Hill.