THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 59 



paid so much for their food stuffs, as in this country. 



My plea is not for the farmer alone, but for our 

 whole people. The underfeeding of the masses, and 

 the splitting into classes, because of alleged wrongs, 

 has been the beginning of the end of every republic 

 throughout the world's history. Until victory is won, 

 patriotic loyalty will not be found wanting in the 

 individuals of our producing or our consuming classes. 

 But if after peace negotiations have begun, discontent 

 among these two great classes, both wearied of war 

 and dissatisfied with the net results of their labor 

 and the unnecessarily heavy burdens placed upon them, 

 as compared with those of the mercantile classes, shall 

 clamor for a peace, " when there is no peace," and 

 demand that any cessation of war is better than its 

 continuance, forcing our Administration into a peace 

 that is not a complete peace, carrying with it perma- 

 nent and complete liberty for all peoples, it will be a 

 calamity to the race. In time of peace, our country 

 failed to prepare for war. Shall we repeat the folly 

 by failing in time of war to prepare for peace ? 



At present, when every good citizen is keenly alive 

 to the necessity and value of 100 per cent. American- 

 ism, it is an opportune moment to inaugurate and 

 press forward a movement in that direction. 



Mr. Roosevelt is quoted in a recent speech as sug- 

 gesting that foreigners unable to read and speak our 

 language should not be permitted to vote; that five 

 years' residence here should be the limit allowed in 

 which to acquire our language; and if not done within 

 that time, the foreigner should be forever barred 

 from becoming an American citizen; that after the 



