shot down by the German guards. All this
releases the German soldier from the deadly work that breaks the nerve,
and unfits a man to go over the top. That means that the German soldier
can fight eight hours, and have sixteen for rest and recreation.
But over against this German army fighting eight hours, with the deadly
work wrought by several million of impressed servants and slaves, stands
the Allied army. But our men after eight hours of active service must
then begin to dig ditches, fill shell holes, repair bridges, clean the
mud from the wagons, bring up the munitions, and this deadly work for
eight hours, added to their eight hours of active service, means only
eight hours for sleep and recovery, while the German has sixteen hours
off duty for recovery and sleep. The Allies keep their treaties, and do
not ask a German prisoner to fight against his brother. The Allies obey
the laws of right and wrong, but the Ten Commandments are a great
handicap in time of war. Is there any one who supposes that six million
of Allied soldiers, working sixteen hours a day, are as fresh and as fit
as six million Germans, working only eight hours a day? That is why the
situation is so perilous. Fortunately victories are not won by muscle
without but by the soul within. The sense of justice in the heart lends
a form of omnipotence to a youth. In a moral universe, therefore, we
must win. The great problem is, how to carry on until we can get another
million Americans across to France, with full equipment, and fifty
thousand aeroplanes.
"OVER HERE"
VI
1. The Redemption of a Slacker
Out on the Ohio River there is a large steel town. During the last few
years many foreigners who have the Bolsheviki spirit have crossed the
ocean and found work in the great shops and factories. Little by little
the foreign newspapers have developed the spirit that has now ruined
Russia, and is here under the American name of the I. W. W. movement. In
this steel city was an anarchist, with real power to move the mobs. The
mere mention of the name of Carnegie or Rockefeller was to him like
waving a red flag in the face of a bull. In the evenings it was his
custom to climb upon a box at the corner of the street, close to a
little park, and tell his hearers that all the wealth in the rich man's
house was created by the workman's muscle. He made no allowance for the
inventor, for the organizer, for the risks taken by the man who built a
facto
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