The Home-Front War Over Patriotism
A fiery editorial from 1917 defends a local lieutenant against armchair critics and challenges the town to support those enlisting for World War I.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
If this war is to be won by the Allies, the American people must become doers, not talkers. We have met with that spirit of criticism right here in our own town. There are some people who are very much worried for fear that Lieutenant F. R. Jeffrey hasn’t had sufficient military training to make a good officer. One man in the community was so wrought up over the war department’s fatal mistake in commissioning Kennewick’s city attorney that he made a special trip to Walla Walla to inform a superior officer of the lieutenant’s shortcomings. It may be that Lieutenant Jeffrey may not have had all the military training that he should have, but it occurs to us that there are some few captains, majors, colonels and generals who are probably more competent to judge of his qualifications than are the street corner sages in the lieutenant’s home town. Lieutenant Jeffrey has aligned himself with the doers; he has donned the uniform of his country. Until the talker is ready to follow his example, he should at least be patriotic enough to keep his mouth shut.
“There are a lot of things here at home to occupy our time and attention without our wasting time worrying about somebody’s qualifications as an officer.”
This editorial captures the intense polarization of the Home Front during the Great War, mirroring modern debates where political rhetoric often eclipses local civic unity. The criticism of an attorney serving as an officer reflects the era's anxiety over who was deemed 'prepared' for global conflict, a precursor to the debates seen in later mid-century draft controversies.
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