The Home Front Witch Hunt
A Kennewick newspaper editorial demands the public 'sift' out neighbors who refuse to support the war effort.
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.
The fence grows frail. The time is rapidly approaching when there can be no safety zone between the lines of loyalty and disloyalty. The man who thinks he can conceal his disloyalty in the preoccupation of his loyal neighbors is mistaken. Fathers and mothers, with hearts a-bleed, are not going to tolerate in their midst a man who refuses to give anything of blood or treasure to the war effort. Nothing for Liberty Bonds, nothing for Red Cross, nothing for Y.M.C.A. is going to be a hard record for any man to maintain. The day of separating the goats from the sheep is coming. In Waitsburg, a prominent citizen of German birth was arrested on a seditious charge, and in Colfax, the spotlight of publicity was turned upon several citizens, including the mayor, for refusing to support the work. There are records in this community that read: Nothing for Liberty Bonds, nothing for Red Cross, nothing for Y.M.C.A. The patient, earnest war workers cannot long live side by side with such men. The day of checking up approaches.
“The day of separating the goats from the sheep is coming nearer and nearer.”
This editorial captures the intense, often paranoid atmosphere of the American home front during WWI, where the pressure to conform and display public patriotism was used to target immigrants and dissenters. It serves as a stark reminder of how civic 'loyalty' can be weaponized against neighbors under the guise of national security.
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