4
*
THE INDEPENDENT
AND THE DEWEY WORLD
v OL. 14 No. 40 Bartlesville. Washing-ton County, Okla-, Dec. 20,1918    $1.50 Per Year
rum THE BOYS' THOUGHTS
HOMEWARD. SAYS FOSDICK,
ASKII6 COOPERATION
Waatilrifton. — (Special.) — Just be-
f*»pe leaving f*f France to luiwiin-
l»*t»d the demobilization actlvltln ol
tluiac organizations which recently
t«K>k part to the United War Work
Campaign, Raymond B. roadlck.
Chairman of the (Vmitnlsalon on Train*
Iur rump Activities, was Interviewed
with regard to the preaeut situation of
our oventeas forces.
“The problem presented by the
gradual demobilisation of more than
two million men three thoiiMind mllee
from home Is one which will tax all
our soda) resources." aald Mr. Fos-
sick. “It Is above all a morale prob-
lem, and It must be faced as such, with
tha full co-oi*cration of families and
friends here In this country, If It la to
be solved successfully. Kvery one who
has a son, a brother, must help.
“While the war was on our boys
were fully occupied; they were still
filled with the spirit of adventure,
looking forward rather than back.
Now, however, the fighting Is at an
“®«L They are going to remain, moat
of them, many months doing work
wfelcb will be neither excltlnjc nor
particularly Interesting. They will get
lonesome, bored and terribly home*
sick.
“The $170,000,000 raised In the re-
cent United War Work drlva la to be
used precisely to bridge over thla pe*
rlod by providing recreation and
amusement. But no amount of mere
money expended In such a way will ba
enougfc What these boys really want
Is nor diversion, but human Interest
and a^mpatby. These things express-
ed In letters from home will warm
their bcerts and create a home at-
mosphere around them, even while
they are aoaent from the family circle.
“Such letters may ba a very neces-
sary sheet anchor to windward In tha
«aae of some boys The thought of
some one waiting for tSem, counting
on them, will, more than anything
else, make them hold hack nnd think
twice before plunging Into situations
which might mean harm and unhap-
piness for them.
“We have rulsed the cleanest army
In the world. We huve kept It dean.
We hope to bring It back as clean and
strong as It was when It left us. But
while we believe our soldiers will
stand the present test—the hardest of
all In some waya—as bravely and
successfully as they have stood every
other test of their manhood and en-
durance, tt Is our duty to give them
all the help we can.
“This, as I hnve said, can best be
rendered by means of letters which
will begin now, at once, not only to
satisfy their home longings, hut to
turn their thoughts from tasks already
accomplished to the long years of life
ahead of them."
HOME FOLKS MUST HELP.
Washington.—(Special.)—The War
Department Commission on Training
<'ainp Activities has hit u|»on an Im-
portant nnd entirely uew idea In the
"Lett era-from-home" plan just aa-
nottneed.
Pull the hoys through the moat try-
ing period of their service by writing
the right kind of letters, letters full of
the home feeling, the mot tier feeling,
This appeal Is made to mothers, fa-
thers, sisters and sweethearts by tbs
War Department It ts hoped that mil-
lions of Inspiring letters will be wiiti
ten the week of December 18, desig-
nated as “Letters-from-home" weak.
Pulpit and press are co-operating ts
make a great success of the plan.
•uotestlen for Mother** Letter.
Son of Mine:
They’re sending yon borne to me el
last Through all Jhesa months of
waiting and longing I’ve been wearing
a star for you aad bolding my head
high and thinking wonderful thought!
about yon. Pve watched you through
ocean mists and dreamed anxious
dreams Tan, and cried a little, too,
but* not whan people could sea.
And now yoa’ra coming bums Oh,
It seems too good to ba true. I’ve just
read your letters again. They say so
much more than you aver thought
when you wore writing them. Just
happenings—that’a all moat of the
things you wrote about were to you.
But to mo they aald you were facing
the blggeet thing In life, facing If
bravely, as I should want my son to
face It Ton were offering your body
and your soul for a thing bigger than
you or me or America.
When I wrote to you 1 tried to
write cheerful, encouraging letters,
because I did not want you to go into
battle feeling that 1 was holding you
back from the big aacritics It’s only
now, when the fighting la over, that |
can let down a little and be Just your
mother. Just the woman who loves
you better than anything else In the
world and le so glad to know you're
coming back to her that she doesn't
care who sees her cry.
Perhaps for some of the boys who
have stood with you ao finely through
these trials the fighting Is not yet all
over. The fighting I mean la that be-
tween a man and hlmaelf, and for
many of them this will be the hardest
battle of all. During the long days
and evenings of waiting before they
can start for home thoughts will creep
into their minds which will be hard to
resist. There will be times after all
these months of action when the long-
ing for change and for the companion*
ship of women may lead them Into as-
sociations which will spoil their home-
coming and canse them ahame and hu-
miliation, and even perhaps make
them unfit to receive the love that
awaits them here.
You, dearest boy, are Just aa human
aa your comrades, and feelings like
these may come to you too. I don't
ask you to crush them. They are nat-
ural. and they only prove that wur has
failed to dry up the well spring of
,your emotions. I ask you only to rec-
ognize them when they come and to
control them with the fine strength
y.iu have gained while fighting for the
,ideals and principles of America. Just
remember that many Joyous year* of
life ore ahead of you and that the risk
of spoiling them and the love that will
fill them Is too tremendous to run for
a abort hour of seeming pleasure.
Many of the hoys who will come
home with you have no mothers to
write to them. Some of them may
think that no one cares what they do.
But somebody does care. America
•■ares. And the girls they will marry
some day care.- And, oh. the difference
tt will make In their lives If they will
lust remember that there Is always
somebody, always!
Help them to remember. Help them
to come home clean and fine. I ain’t
let them spoil everything now. They
hnve been so splendid. If you think
tills letter will help them give It to
them. If they have no mothers let me
be their mother until they have come
back and taken the high places that
await them here. Tell them to write
to me. How 1 should treasure their
letters!
And, of course, you will write to me.
Juat aay that you understand—that
you know why I have wrltteu this let-
ter. Then I can wait months—yes,
even years—knowing that you will
come home to me as fins and dean aa
you were when I aunt you sway to
comp so long sgo.    MOTHER.
Marriage License
Ki'cy (jarsrc ‘ Newton Tex 34
Kffiic Felton    Bartlesville    20
Fred Lee Wills    ”    22
Pear* Cline    "    18
L Villicana    Bartlesuille    24
Trenidj Ruis    ”    19
RK Thom is    Catiey    19
Ethel Hayhurst    ”    20
Applications far Dirirce
5I49 Elmer Smith
vs    >
Iva Smith    divorce
5145— Jennette Keys
vs
Raymond Keys divorce
5146— T S Bly
V8
Rosa Bly divorce
5141—Daisy D Stewar t
vs
James E Stewart. divorce
5151—Ellen Cherry
vs
Albert Cherry
5152 E Ray Overlees
vs
Calheryne G Ovcrlees divorce
Wiba utf tke Net him Treacher
The wgr is now over.
Presumably we ire again in the
enjoyment of our constitutional
rights 8 veral things may now
be diesusseu which it wa» patri-
otic to suppress at long as the
conflict raged.
Mr Wilson now declares that the
war was a holy war, a righteous
war, a war f<if the preservation
of liberty; ai>d he is correct and
everybody agrees with him But
if the struggle of the allies was
a holy and righteous one, it
wg* so before we got into
it; it was so from the
beginning. The great crime of
the ages wa* launched and inno
cent Belgium attacked; and the
struggle for iiberty and justice
and righteousness b.gin right
then.
Yet after the great crime had
beea committed and after the
struggle for liberty and right
eonsness had begun and white
the holy struggle seemed des-
tined to fall, Mr. Wilton issued a
proclamation directing the Am.
erican people to be neutral in
word and thought. Here was a
struggle begun to make the
world safe for democracy and bu-
maniti, and Americans were or-
dered by President Wilson to be
neutral, not merely in deed but in
word and thought. The country
was not, ofcourse. prepared for
"M, The ueuaMi»rmai declara-
tion of neutaality would have
peihaps been excusable. But
Mr. Wilson was oot content with
that. We must not take sides in
the war for the preservation of
humanity; we must not speak in-
dignant wo ds; we must not have
indignant thoughts; we must not
let our sympathv go out to the
stricken Belgium. Mr. Wilson's
eloquent and persuasive; the
the moral judgment of the coun
tiy was f *r the moment paralyz
ed; and bemstoff must have re
joiced. But if moral America as
a whole was for the moment stun
ned, confused and paralyzed by
the vehemence of the President
words, all individual Americans
were not. For the very next Sab-
bath, a Methodist minister in
Topeka arose in bis pulpit and
prayed as follows:    “Oh Lord,
Thou knowest that if this Ger-
man kaiser, his office! s and war
lords, shall all be slam tomorrow
we shall rejoice and Thou wilt
net be sorry." A holy war had
been begun; the Methodist prea« h
er realized it at once; the blunted
moral sense of the astute politic,
ian admonished us to be neutral
in word and in thought.
Months went by and the Lusi-
tooa w is sunk and Mr. Wilson
talked about being “to pn*u 1 to
fight." Too proud to fight!—in
a war for the preservation ol
democratic institution*—a war
for the preservation of things fir
m re precious than even human
liberty! Too prond to fight?
Two years went bv and Mr.
Wilson went t* the country and
askeri for re-election Why? Be-
cause he had krpt us out or war.
What kind of a war? A holy,
jnst a> d righteous war, a war
for the j»re eryation of human
liberty and decency. When he
asked us to re elect him because
he had kept us nut of war. did hr
know what kind or war it was?
Did he or didn't he? It is a fair
question. If he d dn’t know,
then he it a mere politican and
rhetorican If he did know—
wliai then?
He had kept us out of war and
he had kept us unprepaied for
war. Two years of buchery bad
g--ne bv and he had net yet dis
covered what kind of a war it
was; and be had done h't little
beat to pr v n» the peop e frem
discovering. He had told them
very solemnly to be neutral in
*ord and thought!
Eventually, of cou> te, the mor-
>1 ease of the people tiiumphed
Wilson was driven into tr.e war.
And then, and not until then, he
discovered what kind of a war it
was and very eloquently he begin
to describe i .
It took \fcil on three yetrs to
discover what the Topeka Metho
dist preacher and E E. Martin
of the humorous Life and thou-
sands of others discovered in a
moment, namely, that Germany
had been guilty of the most bid
ecus crime of history and that
the Allies were engaged in the
most disparate and the mod
righteous ouse that human be
mgs ever laid down their lives
for,
And Mr. Wilson reaps the glory
and the Methodid preacher goes
on about his busines !—Kansas
City Journal.
New Isit if War Strap Straps
According to a statement re
cently made by Secretary Mc-
Adoo the Treasury Department
lias determined upon the issu-
ance of a new series of War Sav-
ings Certificates and Stamps to
be placed on sale early in 1919
and to he known as the series of
1919. The new - series will not
mature until January 1923, or
one year later than the present
series It is therefore to every-
one’s interest to purchase all the
Stamps possible during the
month of Lecember. in order to
benefit by an early maturity.
The new War Savings Stamps,
blue in color, bearing the head
of Benjaman Franklin, the apos
tie of savin*#, and of former
Postmaster General is in prepar-
ation The new stamps will be
placed on sale early in 1919.
The Thrift stamps and Thrift
Cards now in use will be contin
ued and will be exchangable into
the new Series of War Savings
Stamps payable January 1, 1924.
in the same way as the exchange
has been made during this year
into the series of 1918 War Sav
ings Stamps.
ftn’tStaf Ora
$50,000 Ftr Cress Atlaitic Fight
The London Daily Mail has
cabled the Aero Club of America
through the Royal Aero club of
Great Britain that the Daily
Mail cross Atlantic flight for a
$5b,000 prize is now under the
regulations previously agreed
upon and it is expected the flights
may be made in the near future.
It’s no use waiting for your
ship to come in unless you have
sent one out.
A Baltimore business man of
German decent knowing Ger
many and the German i^eople
for manv years, ha» within the
last few days said that the
whole German people are laugh-
ing in their sleeves as they see
the effect which their appeals for
mercy are having on this coun-
try. He knows the German peo-
P'e. He says the Americans do
not. He is of German decent
and intimately in touch with Ger-
man life, and he voices the * iey
of intelligent men and women
everywhere who. knowing Ger
many, know that the entire Ger
man race upheld the war, gloated
in it so long as success seemed
certain, rejoiced in the hope of
looting the world, cared not that
the women and children of «Bel-
gium and Franoe and other in-
vaded countries were treated as
never were women and children
treated before in human history.
Now these ringing, hypocriti
cal liars, these looters and rob
bers and highwaymen, these
deep-dyed, villianous murderers
are rolling thier eyes to heaven
and asking far sympathy, and
yet not one single word of peni-
tence has come out of Germany.
Not a single word has been ut-
tered by German men or women
which indicates any sense of
sin or shame nor have Germen
women srpreasud any ragvet tor
the horrows infliected upon th e
people of France and Belgium
and Italy and Serbia and Poland
by their brothers and husbands
and sons.
These unrepentant criminals
appeal for sympathy—sympathy
for themselves, not for their
victims. Such is the appeal of
German women who so loug as
Germany was victorious on the
battlefield made no effort to stop
the war in order to relieve their-
suffering. but now that they have
been forced to stop by the Allied
police of civilation and are to be
brought before the bar of jus
tice, they are like hypocrits
pleading for sympathy and mer-
cy. Sympathy for such a nation
would be on a par with sympa-
thy with the devil himself. The
devil could not possibly surpass
Germany in seeking to use the
livery of heaven for the purpose
of doing the work of hell
America should not slop over.
L^t it not waiate any neurotic
sympathy upon a nation which
now seeks by hypocracy and by
lying to win through maudlin
sympathy the victory which it
lost on the battlefield-
Cm N#t But Fun Aitra$tfe
In New York waterfowl may
not now be taken with a rifle in
the forest preserve counties or
on Long Island. New Jersey has
made it unlawful to hunt from
an automobile, or by aid of lights
carried thereon. An act of the
Virginia Legislature imposes on
game wardens the duty of kill-
ing dogs found destroying sheep.
Rhode Island has made a distinct
advance in game protection by
prescribing for the first time a
bag limit of not more than 15
game birds in possession.