Mondovi High School - Mirror Yearbook (Mondovi, WI)

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THE HIGH SC HOOF- M IRROR has Germany done in Poland? Systematically starved the population as the easiest and cheapest way of getting rid of a people whose lands she coveted. What has Germany done in little Belgium? Plundered her fields, burned her buildings, destroyed her property, tortured and murdered her women and children, deported and enslaved her men. The stories of Belgium, Servia. Russia. Poland and Armenia show the extremes to which Germany is willing to go to attain her ends. And can we expect less? By what strange metamorphosis of the Hun warlo ds would you expect treatment more humane? Could you expect justice for a people that has dared to stand between civilization and the lust of war-mad German Autocracy? Do you imagine that Germany would hesitate at coming into Mondovi and systematically starving our people, ravaging our women and children and destroying our property, if practice of such deeds would serve her purpose in ever so slight a degree? Truly. America is fighting because “The Right is More Precious than Peace” and indeed America could not do otherwise and be true to the ideals of national honor. But America has an immediate issue at stake and it behooves us to realize at once that right now. “Safety First”, is a potent slogan for us and one to which w e must feel as honor-bound to answer the call of duty as “The Right is More Precious than Peace.” Until now we have looked upon this wrar as something far aw ay and a thing apart; something that did not concern us very materially. True, our boys have been leaving. but wre have comforted ourselves with the thought that they w ere only gone to Fort Sheridan or to Camp Grant for training. that it wrould not be necessary to put into practice; that our allies' greatest need was food and supplies and that—well, many things could happen before the boys w ere actually sent to France, and that the battle fields were far, far away. But now, the great armies of France and England are meeting those of Germany in the titanic struggle of all history. Our sons and our brothers are either in France or are being hurried there with the utmost speed. American divisions are over there fighting bravely in the struggle. Hang ng upon the wrall in the assembly room of our high school is a service flag with twenty-seven stars. Upon this flag are represented the graduates of our school who are now in the service of our country. In some communities some of these stars a e beginning to change to gold as a symbol oJ the fact that some noble American boy has made his last supreme sacrifice for America and for us. There are those here tonight, whose son or brother is in France Friends, is it altogether impossible that we of Mondovi may be called upon to change some of our stars to stars of gold? The American boy who goes to war gives up his position which means so much to his future, or leaves his little business which probably has just begun to show promise of success. He severs home ties; turns aw'ay from home comforts; leaves behind parents, wife and friends. He faces the difficulty of being obliged to begin life anew when he returns; of losing all the advantages which years of hard work would have won for him. He faces the possibility of coming back incapacitated from earning a living, and of being dependent upon his friends or upon charity. He meets bravely the fact that he may never come home. Facing these things he goes to France to fight for us. who remain safely at home—and when the moment comes for him to go “over the top ’ he GOES. What will he think? How will he feel? if we complain because we are asked to make a few sacrifices for him—sacrifices so insignificant when compared with what he is doing. What can we do to justify ourselves? What are we doing9 We are told by those who know, that the dark days of the war are upon us. Premier Lloyd George of England admits very frankly that the situation is most critical and calls it “the darkest hour of the war.” In mild language but language which hurts our national pride, he pointed out that America had not yet come up to the fullest expectations. Dean Davenport of Illinois University coming directly from the authorities at Wash-ngton. and speaking for them, recently told a representative Buffalo County audience at Alma, that the cause of German success in the great Italian drive in nineteen- hundred-seventeen. was that the Italian soldiers were hungry, due to the fact that the

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THE HIGH SCHOOL Ml It H O b VALEDICTORY. By Jacob P. Lee. fulfill the wish Of a few g.eedy, unscrupulous. military leaders who have for the past OCR DUTY AS AMERICANS The morning of the twenty-eighth day of June 1914, dawned upon a peaceful, prosperous and happy civilisation. Peaceful, for only a few months before the peace conference had met at The Hague in a mighty assembly and assured us that we were in no danger of war. Prosperous, because throughout the world, regardless of race or nation, there was international commerce. Happy, because it seemed that the inseparable bonds of love and fellowship had united civilization as one people. But with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on the 28th of June, a dark cloud appeared above our horizon. With the demands of Austria and the complications involved, the cloud loomed greater. Instead of the calm of peace, prosperity, and happiness, there were mutterings. threatenings, severing of family ties and sad farewells. Suddenly the storm broke on the first of August, and is still raging in all its rury; while today Europe staggers in a loathsome scene of death and devastation. For nearly four years Europe has been drenched in blood; youth in its splendor, in its glory and in its gallantry has been fed to the furnace of war. A few mocking efforts fo.-peace,, a sudden shifting of armies and navies, the instant throttliug of newspapers, and then the terrible crash. Treaties became scraps of paper, necessity supplanted justice, even God was claimed as a partner in the evil and the wanton work of destruction Today Europe sees herself in murder and devastation; she sees her fertile fields to;n with steel and saturated with human blood, her harvest destroyed, her industry and commerce paralyzed, her schools and churches demolished, her treasury depleted; while starving, wretched millions pray for bread and yearn for peace. Now, we too, have been thrust into this terrible carnage. America's youth is being hurled into the jaws of death. Our wealth is being used to p'erce the hearts of our fellow-men. simply because Militarism has made its last and final assault on Democracy. Why is Germany waging this world war? The Germ: n people are fighting today to fifty years controlled and Prussianized the German government to the.r own ends, and who now seek world domination to secure for the Kaiser a place beside Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon. We are fighting because Right is More Precious Than Peace.” We are fighting for liberty to do and to think as we feel, while allowing others the same right, without fear of any kaiser bringing war and sorrow to us over again. We are not fighting because we hate the people of Germany, but because the world cannot, as President Wilson wisely said, be safe for Democracy as long as a few men can force battle and death on all mankind. Concretely, so far as our immediate future is concerned. Germany seeks the capital of the United States to replace the enormous wastage of her own resources. Germany has spent over thirty-five billions of dollars in the prosecution of this war. But this does not constitute her entire expenditure. Since the beginning of the war there has been a constant and increasing deterioration of her railroads, public roads buildings and factories. The fertility of her soil has become exhausted and her supply of live-stock sacrificed. Germany kno vs that she cannot look to England. France or Russia to make good this wastage. It has become very clear at present that Germany can never hope to pay her war debt, nor to restore her wasted pioperty. The. efore. she looks with eager eyes upon the United States as the last great source of capital to repair her roads; to replace her buildings and factories; to restore her soil and flocks; to pay off her outstanding war bends; and to provide the money and the material to renew, re-establish and re-entrench her military machine, and thus make her. in very truth, the ruler of the world. Is there any pacifist so foolish as to think this is mere fancy—that once she has us in her power she will do other than to feed to us unrelentlessly the grudge and the resentment she feels toward us for refus'ng to acquiesce in her nefarious plans? What

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THE HIGH SCHOOL M I R It O It Italian Government was four days behind with food and supplies. He also suid that the fi od Kit nut on in England and France is critical; and that If the English and French armies are crushed, it will be due to the fact that we have failed to get to them in sufficient quantities the food which they so sorely needed to keep up their morale and to enable them to do their best. He further pointed out the fact that wheat is very scarce and that it is now the duty of every one to give up all wheat and Ho ir v. hicli can possibly be spared, and to cause it to be shipped to France at the earliest possible moment. We have reason to congratulate ourselves upon the fact that Buffalo County is beginning to show evidence of a realization of her obligation and duty. At the call of a committee, practically all excess wheat and flour in the county was started for the At-lant c seaboard. Buffalo County, too, has an enviable record in the last Liberty Loan drive. In this drive Mondovi subscribed more than three times her quota. Altho we are justly proud ot our record in these things, we must do more, much more. Does the government suggest the use of less wheat? Let us then take bread from our own tables. Does the Red Cross Society or Young Men's Christian Association ask for help? Let us then give to the point of sacrifice. We must back our boys at the front. We must obey the call of our nation. We mat cultivate all available land We mii.it not make it a question of hew much grain to sow, nor what to sow in o-der to secure the greatest returns for selfish uses; but one of how much we can sow and what we should sow in order to keep an abundant stream of the necessary food stuffs and supplies pouting .nto France and England to support our men ad their brave allies. Our task is to win the victory. All classes of people must work together for that end, and in thus doing we are not only maintaining our national honor but are maintaining democracy. General Leonard Wood says: “We are only at the beginning now. My word to you is save everything you can, p; oduce everything you can, do everything you can. deny yourselves everything you can, and we will make the world safe for Democ;acy.” A peace must reign, in which no nation can march to po er and supremacy over right, and not until then can civilization unite the peoples of all the world in bonds of fellowship. Classmates, the time has come for a last and Anal farewell. We are gathered here tonight for the last t.me as students of the Mondovi High School. And to-morrow we go forward to build our life histories. We are entering this career at a time when our nation is in a critical position, critical because “Right is fighting against M.ght”, so let us as departing seniors start our careers right by “Fighting for the Right.” To our principal. te chers, board of education. and citizens of this school community, we owe a deep debt of gratitude for the opportunities they have given us. Some of us had planned to continue our education, some lo take up our life's work at once. But whatever plans e have entertained in the past for our future, let us dedicate ourselves and our lives to the great task which confronts us and our country, and render such aid as we are cap. ble of giving. And may it please God to allow us very soon to make our life plans anew, in a world ridded once and forever of a nation or a power capable of bring ng disaster tc its peace SAUTATORY. The American Red Cross Bv Mina Fleiscliauer. Citizens of the community, memod.r. of the faculty, and students of the Mondovi high school. In behalf of the class of 1918 I wc'come you most cordially to our Com-ni' nejment Exercises. We wish to express o iv sincere gratitude to the parents and teachers of the school, to our school board, and to the community who. by their ready and valuable suppo:t and kind sympathy, have made it poss ble for us to celebrate this occasion of the graduating class of 1917-18. At this time 1 have chosen to