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our friends. No game is allowed to be Bold in Washington* so what¬ 
ever town people get depends on themselves or their friends who 
are in a position to do a little shoot ng. Canvasbacks, mallards, 
bluebills, teal and goldeneyes have all been frequent visitors at 
our table, and in the language of the day, "We hav'nt done a thing 
to them* 
The utter misery and starvation of the world at large 
today is dreadfully distressing to me. And yet it seems to me that 
it is largely the fault of the people themselves. Germany, as a 
state* is a ruin, but as a people it seems to be in a way propper- 
ous, but the trouble seems to be in the monetary system and I can¬ 
not but think it is all a scheme of the government to dodge the 
payment of their debts. This idea that we should absolve Europe 
from the payment of the money advanced to it during^ and after the 
war is utter foolishness. If they would settle down to work they 
could earn enough^ to pay it in short time. I read a short time ago 
of a small stafce which proposed to spend more in the coronation 
celebration of a new king tha\ they owed us and yet they were beg¬ 
ging for a cancellation of their notes. Russia is in the hams of 
a gang of political bandits and should be left entirely alone if 
the heads of the government cannot be captured and executed for 
the wholesale murders for which they are responsible. It reminds 
me of an experience I once had with a neighbor of mine for whom I 
had lone a great deal- He took the pay for a job he had agreed to 
do and then repudiated the contract and when I remonstrated with 
him and told him I had done much for him when he was not in as 
good a position as he was then he answered, "Well, you didt do any 
more for me than you did for everyone else" This country went into 
the war and we denied, ourselves during its continuance and our 
help enabled them to do what they could not ac cmplish alone. We 
