172 W I S C 
Wisconsin horticulture 
Published Monthly by the 
Wisconsin State Horticultural Society 
12 N. Carroll St. 
Official Organ of the Society. 
FREDERIC CRANEFIELD, Editor. 
Secretary W. S. H. S., Madison, Wis. 
Entered as second-class matter May 
13, 1912, at the postoffice at Madison, 
Wisconsin, under the Act of March 3, 
1879. 
Advertising rates made known on ap- 
plication. 
Our Country. 
This issue of your paper is a 
radical departure from our estab- 
lished policy and the editor asks 
that it be received in the spirit in 
which it is sent. 
I want you to forget gardens 
and gardening for just one day, 
July 4th, 1917. 
Lay aside all thought of work, 
of business and devote the day 
to study and reflection. 
Take down your history book 
from the shelf, a school book will 
do, and read again of our struggle 
for freedom through all the years 
from 1776 to now. 
Read of Washington and Lafay- 
ette, of Perry, Lincoln, Grant and 
Lee. 
Read again the story of Dewey 
at Manila Bay and then reflect 
for a time on what it all means. 
It may be a revelation to most 
of us. The privileges we enjoy, 
liberty of thought, liberty of ac- 
tion, all the blessings of a free 
land have been accepted by us as 
of course without thought of the 
sacrifices of those who have gone 
before us. Men have fought, suf- 
fered and died in defense of 
things that we esteem so lightly. 
We are free not because of any- 
thing we have done ourselves, but 
because of what others have done 
for us. 
“What do I owe to my coun- 
try and how can I pay the debt?’’ 
0 N S I N HORTICUL 
SPECIAL EDITION 
Will you on our National Day 
ask yourself this question? The 
answer to that will be the answer 
to the other question, “why are 
we at war?” 
Frederic Cranefield, Editor. 
What is the War About? 
Ask those high in authority and 
you will be told, — “To Make the 
World Safe for Democracy,” or 
again; “To Destroy Autocracy.” 
These are fine, high sounding 
phrases and when analyzed in the 
cold light of reason are found to 
be tine. But the man in the 
street and on the farm has little 
time and less desire to analyze 
and philosophize on the why and 
wherefore of it. He wants a plain 
and concise answer in terms that 
will satisfy his reason and his 
conscience. 
In my opinion we are at war 
with Germany because that pa' 
tieular brand of savagery known 
as German “kultur” does not suit 
us at all. We don’t like it a lit- 
tle bit, it’s a garment that won’t 
fit a free people no matter how we 
may alter it. 
The general indictment I make 
against Germany is her “kultur,” 
a bill of particulars of which will 
be found in another column. 
England and France are also 
countries of free peoples and as 
neither one can conveniently use 
“kultur” they are at war against 
it. They have fought for three 
years and have been unable so far 
to subdue this hideous monster. 
Now lest this “kultur” be im- 
posed on us we have set about to 
finish the job. That we will fin- 
ish it there is no doubt. It may 
take three years more, millions of 
men and billions of money, but 
finish it we will and in a satisfac- 
tory manner. — F. C. 
T U R E July 4th, 1917 
Pacifists. 
Pacifists may be divided for 
convenience into three groups : 
In the first we may place that 
chief high priest of the cult 
Bryan and a few others whose 
sole aim is publicity for them- 
selves. This class amounts to 
only a small fraction of the whole. 
Second, cowards; third, trait- 
ors, about equally divided. 
Pacifists, since the declaration 
of war, accomplish their aims 
mainly through certain congress- 
men. 
Congressmen easily fall into 
two classes, statesmen and men- 
afraid-of-their-jobs. The ratio is 
about 1 to 99. Place the figures 
to suit yourself. Of one class we 
have nine from Wisconsin. Time 
may show that we have a third 
class, viz., traitors. It so hap- 
pened at the beginning of the 
Civil War when a dozen or more 
Congressmen when impeached. 
Pacifists and cowardly con- 
gressmen are dangerous, some- 
what more so than rattlesnakes 
because the poison of pacifism is 
a slow poison. — F. C. 
Slow Acting Poison. 
A few days before the declara- 
tion of war the State Department 
at Washington disclosed one of 
the most astounding acts of 
treachery ever known among civ- 
ilized people. 
This, in connection with other 
disclosures, plainly showed that 
for two years or more a well or- 
ganized force of poison-experts 
had been at work throughout the 
length and breadth of the land. 
Read the extracts from the speech 
of our loyal senator in another 
column so that you may under- 
