LETTERS TO THE EDITOR,
[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.]
A VOICE FROM AMERICA.
[To THE ERMA Or me "SPECTATOR:1 note in one of the magazines that some nom Hattie has been swanking wound over there and saying our Army has cores over to win the war. Just the same as the last .sccontul of sager kicks the beam when the grocer weighs out an order. Just as the last pint makes the barrel of water overflow. That is all.
Believe me, my dear Editor, the people at large in this coputry are not obsessed with the idea that American met are going to outdo the men who stopped Germany's drive on Paris, who held either of the fronts during that terrible first six months. We are hoping and believing that our boys will not make as ashamed, that they will do their share, pot shirking any part of their duty, but there is no feeling that they are going over the top to show Great Britain or France how to do it. As well claim that the last cut of the scythe makes the hay harvest, the last lump of coal in the firebox generates the steam, as to say we are going to win the war. I suppose, if the truth were known, that that chap who said that is by now heartily ashamed of his swank. Rot, and this is the hope of the nation, I do believe that the boys from the States will lift as hard on the load, in proportion to their numbers, as any body of treopa alive to-day. We would he ashamed to see anything less than their best, and, by all that's good, we will not. The men and boys who go from the United States to the battle- ground are going with the feeling that this is our fight, no matter if the German propagandists are saying it is not. They are going with their hearts set on doing their bit, and doing it well. Hohensollern Bill is no friend of theirs, Anti they intend to eon. vjnee him that he is parsons non grata with theme. They will do it, do pot fear.
There is one consoling thought that comes to me in the midst of all this butchery, and that is that this war is giving the people of the world a better knowledge of personal values. Do you suppose that the " Tommy " and the " Poilu " and the " Sammy " can fight side by side and not he filled with xesfiect for other's virtues ? Can the Aimee, the Canadian, and the Yankee avoid a certain.aniount of fraternisation P No. Every day spent shoulder to shoulder in beating down the Potsdam Devil brings better and more complete knowledge and respect for the MPH at the right or left who hold the line with us, and that alone is a force that Kaiser Bill never figured on. It Is a force he will have to face after peace has been declared. It is impossible that the
men who litereetond together against hint can ever be used by him as foils again)* each other. That means- a ball and chain for his leg eternally. Our President has said that we are not fighting the German people, and the German papers repudiate the idea, saying they are one. Very well, then let them take the other fact to their bosoms if it is any comfort, and we will fight the whole nation, forgetting our former idea that there might be some decent ones among them. Will that make them any happier ? Cold comfort, I call it, when at their own request we are impelled to withdraw part of our belief in possible decency in their peoples. I do not believe the Saxon would like to be lumped with the Prussian brute that way. Perhaps the Press Censor believes for all. Well, here is hoping that when the decision is given it will hold to the end of time) No more Hohenzollern rule or intrigue to curse life.—I am, Sir, be.,
Los Angeles, Cal., October Slot. E. E. HARRIMAN.
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