WAR SPIRIT IN AMERICA.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14860, 6 September 1918, Page 4

WAR SPIRIT IN AMERICA.

SUPREME CONFIDENCE IN

VICTORY

VALIANT PATRIOTIC EFFORTS.

(Specially written for "The Colonist"

by 0. L. 0. Smith.)

One niu,st be right in America to fully realise the immensity of effort, the determination of resolve, the supreme confidence in the nation's capacity, and under it all a sober realisation of the. imperative necessity to win the war. Yes, and once here one sees that the game as as good as won. It is probably no exaggeration to say that-most colonials land in America just a wee bit prejudiced against the general outlook in the States, an outtook which always contains "U.S.A." in bold capitals. Being here, however, and getting a clearer idea of the American temperament and character makes the confidence of the people in themselves a very minor matter of complaint. My first admission to my challenging prejudice was that the Republic ■surely must be in this war right down to the uttermost dime. The streets were teeming with soldiers—and soldiers (I can't help saying it) having the neatest uniform 1 have yet seen amongst the belligerents. The French have the most striking uniform, the Australians and New Zealanders the most solid and serviceable, the British Tommy qu.ite the worst, and the Americans the neatest. All the infantry wear .slouch hats, close fitting tunics, riding breeches, and canvas leggings. The men themselves are a most prepossessing body, just like the ."old originals" we sent away from the colonies. They are a lighter type than the New Zealanders not so powerful in the knee, thigh and shoulder—but wiry like the boys from the other side of the Tasman.

Contrary to all my expectations, there was an absence of vain-glory about the people and the soldiers. Win —rcertainly ' they were going to, win. Their confidence knows no bounds. But there is no tendency towards the idea that the Germans will collapse as soon as the boys from the U.S.A. get into holts with them. They appreciate the fact that they are just getting* under weigh, that a long'and hard struggle confronts them, and that the men who have carried on the heavy battling of the last four years have not a great deal to be taught in the art of making war and carrying on. The average American—l ignore of course the exceptions we have in every midst—candidly acknowledges the fact that he has a great deal to learn in the art of bloodletting and destruction, but his fixed notion is that once he has learned it there are no troops that can beat the "Sammies" in putting it into practice. Really they are jolly smart boys, and one can't watch their bearing and their 'drill without a feeling of satisfaction that they are with us.:' The discipline amongst the States' troops is stricter than v, oujd naturally Ije expectedjn so democratic a country. There is none of the freedom between officers umi men wo so often encounter in the colonies, and which, suiting our temperament, makes for good suiuiering in the field. There are obviously more privates than officers to be seen hert» — riving expensive automobiles, occupying "boxes at the theatre, and dining in fcli© best hotels, but nevertheless the punctilious recognition of rank is very noticeable. The methods of inculcating discipline are in keeping with the thoroughness with which the States enters the conflict. The conscientious objector occupies no part in the national landscape. His jportion is an inexorable 21 years' hard" labour, without the option of changing his mind. Last week in one of the Southern States two coloured soldiers molested a girl. Next day, after a, court-martial, in the presence of ten thousand men drawn up in parade order these men were duly hanged in public as an example to those of similar inclinations. Naturally the methods have a, salutary result, and crime amongst the. soldiers is rare. The entire army is teetotal. The severest penalties await any indiscretion in-."the"way of giving a man m uniform any intoxicant at .all. I have never seen a soldier drunk in these

parts. The war laws governing the people are equally strict. Wheatless days in the midst of glorious harvests were rigorously observed. To economise when dearth surrounds1 everybody, as in England, is" natural, but economy in the midst of plenty for England's and Prance's sake surely calls for our approbation. I was told by one of the [ managers of a large wholesale ware- ' house, Balfour, Guthrie and Co. ,(& ' Scotch firm), that the Eastern States sent all their wheat to Europe, the West sent all it had to the East, ana the West lived on what it imported from Australia. Another phase of the national discipline is the prevention of empty and ignorant charges against the j army or the nation's efforts. In Los | Angeles recently men who thought to j question the behavour of certain nurseb in France were arrested with commendable expedition and dumped in gaol as enemy propagandists. If you .have nothing good to say, keep quiet here, because if you open your mouth in captures criticism or obloquy any staunch American will immediately lay an -information with the police, and then it is the gaol or the internment camp for you.

The development of a sound public spirit, as well as the development of organisations for the raising of funds, is undertaken with remarkable minuteness. Every such movement is termed a drive, and nothing could be more aptly descriptive. When collecting for the Red Cross the country is parcelled off into areas. Each area.has a director, each director a capable staff, each staff an army of trained shock troops— mostly women. There is no escape; the money is necessary; it must be obtained, and the collectors will stop at nothing short of turning a prospective victim un_side down and shaking his specie, out of his very pockets. The campaigns are conducted with a feverish excitement,; a display of the national! flag, parades of troops, newspaper pro- j paganda, meetings, stump f^pches and I a general "go for your' .life atrcos-j phere" which would leave an English-! man. in pained surprise, but which do"sj the trick over here, and does it; thoroughly. ■-""■{

At present the nation is in the throes°f,a savings stamp drive {nth*' interest of the lied Cross. This ia scheme for raising'money amongst the' tLAAh° h * have "ever seen equalled, liie stamps were issued in January at 4 dollars 12 cents each. They increase S?oM InJ?™^> 1923, they are re, tTfH at 5 <^rs-wkich is-equiva-lent to 4 per cent, compound interest npnnT °ngln l al Pur<*ase- The poorest People , can lend their money to the Government by this means, and can, if t ley require the capital, obtain, it with tne interest due on giving ten days' notice to the local port office. Prac*SmiX tjl%^loLs ntry w giving the suiplus af xts earnings over its expenses to the Government in this wav 1 am writing from a big lumber centre wherein are found all nationalities— tales, Finns, Adrians, Italians, Portuguese,^ and even Germans; Such is public feelieng that- practically every one of those men takes war'savings stamps every month. .As I Sil y } everything the nation does is ■ characterised by thoroughness—-even to the lynehings. President Wilson ! found occasion recently to speak very j firmly on the subject of mob action in certain Southern States it had become the custom, to set off duly authenticated cases of atrocities on American troops by reprisals on Germans of known Fatherland leaning Masked bands cultivated the habit"ot waiting on such on moonlight nights and festooning - them to convenient trees. A reprehensible habit certainly but indicative of the feelings of the people in the States towards the disciples of kultur.

lunally the feeling in America, may oe summed up as on© of supreme conftdence, but not "cock-sureness." There is a profound admiration and veneration of France, ajast growing goodwill and respect ivr England, and cordial .acknowledgment uf wliat Britannia has done for the Alik-s. President Wilson, has the nation at his back. The menace of the emmiy alien has been absolutely swampod ,i>y the tidal wave of patriotism, which is strong enough to engender the conviction that even if the impossible happened and her Allies were _ destroyed, America would still hgijt implacably on with a sublime confidence m her ability to destroy the enemy of democracy.