A Wartime Call to Conscience
A fiery editorial urges Kennewick residents to stop making excuses and contribute to the Red Cross war fund, arguing that personal sacrifice is a duty of citizenship.
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 slogan for the week’s drive should be: 'Something from Everybody.' If there are any who by reason of poverty cannot give they should so inform the solicitors frankly. Solicitors are frequently asked, 'What do you think I should give?' That is a question not for the solicitor but for you. If you wish to know what you should give, put yourself in the uniform of one of the boys who will soon be fighting for you in the trenches and then ask yourself what you would expect of the man back home. If you are an American citizen this is just as much your war as it is that boy’s war who may give his life or spend the rest of his days a helpless cripple. Don’t ask the solicitor what you should give, ask your own conscience. Don’t waste the solicitor’s time with senseless arguments about your scruples against war or about graft in high places. This isn’t a question of war. It’s a question of humanity. It isn’t a question of sending our boys to Europe. It’s a question of bringing them back alive.
“Don’t waste the solicitor’s time with senseless arguments about your scruples against war... This isn’t a question of war. It’s a question of humanity.”
This is a quintessential example of wartime social pressure. The editor's demand for 'something from everybody' captures the intensity of local mobilization efforts during World War I.
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