Newspaper Page Text
Nov. 21, 191a.
the Christian ]
witness
(Excerpts from an article by Dean Bos
worth, of the Theological Seminary,
Oberlin, published in The North Am
erican Student, May 1917).
The great majority of the American
people '■ lieve that the time has come
when tl ' United States must enter the
war. The United States has entered the
war and the question is. How shall the
Christian witness in war bear his testi
mony in the great Christian Enterprise?
(1) In the first place, he bears his testi-
mony by fighting from a Christan motive
in the face of strong temptation to fight
from a lesser motive —by fighting for a
better world. He feels that by fighting
he will help to create a situation in which
the common fatherhood of God and the in
ternational brotherhood of all men will
find more perfect expression. The state
ment that it is democracy against mon
archy is j erhaps only part of the truth.
The present v. ar may turn out to be only
a large item in a great world movement,
the introduction of an era of internal rev
ohttu »< and class conflict that will include
all nations and more or less baptize all
nations in baood. v
We must not forget that entering the
war to secure a better world logically
commits us to the securing of a better
America. The establishment of the Christ
ian world ideal will involve changes m
our own land. It means the purifying of
American life from the gross social and
Industrial injustice of which we are this
day guilty. Prussia designates not simp
ly a geographical territory, but a disposi
tion —a disposition which is found in all
parts of the world and from which' the
world must be utterly purified—the dis
position of the strong to override the
wca.c. Our gross traffic in the daughters
of 'he poor, our unjust treatment of the
negro, the industrial wrongs inflicted on
those who have no effective, orderly
r mans of protest, are to be put away from
Amerii an life as this rising tide of the
less privilege classes surges on around
the world.
(2) The second note that sounds out
from the Christian witness in war is in
vincible love for the enemy in face of the
tempetation to hate him.
This brings us to the great paradox of
the Christian life —the Christian friendly
to the man whom he must regard as an
enemy, friendly to the man who has sot
himself resolutely against the good for
which the Christian man resolutely
stands. And yet it is this paradox that
is so clearly found among the central as
sertions of Jeusus:
Ye have heard that it was said. Thou
shalt love thy neighbor, ’ and hate
thine enemy; but I say unto you,
Dove your enemies.
The Christian witness in war asserts
himself resolutely against the enemy with
an invicinble good will. He brings all the
force of his being, physical and spiritual,
to bear against the enemy, with an un
failing good will. Force is absolutely
non-moral. It is no more good or bad
than is electricity. Moral quality appears
only in the disposition of the man who
uses force. Force may be applied to
the mutilation of the body, as it is by
the surgeon, or to the destruction of the
physical life, as it is by the executioner,
and there is no immorality' in the act so
long as the disposition of him who per
fo'med it is free from all ill will.
The Christian soldier, in friendship
wounds the enemy. In friendship he kills
the enemy. In friendship he receives the
wound inflicted by the enemy. He keepa
his friendly heart while the enemy is kill
ing him. His heart never consigns the
enemy to hell. He never hales. After
he has wounded the enemy he hurries to
his t.de at the earliest possible moment
with all the friendly ministration possible.
The Christian in war looks forward also
with an indestructible hope that some
time and somewhere he and his enemy
shall find common ground and move for
ward shoulder to shoulder in some great
enterprise of -God.
(?.) The Christian witness in war bears
his Christian testimony by' the daily' prac
tice of immortality in the face of death.
If the life beyond is to be vital reality,
we must conceive it in terms of that
which means most to us in the present
life. We look forward to a social im
mortally and not merely to an individual
existence.
We lock forward to the future life, not
as personal bliss conferred as a reward of
merit not to unalloyed happiness, but
rather to a new and larger opportunity
to work with others at great enterprises
for the common good—enterprises which
will present many perplexing problems
and lay heavy responsibilities upon us.
The truly Christian man, the man fit for
immortality, has long found his chief
satisfaction in working with other men in
al! possible ways and at any cost for the
common good. In entering the army, he
has put himself in readiness to make a
supreme sacrifice for the common good.
The Christian testimony’ to the Great
Enterprise is borne in war by fighting
for a better world in the fact of tempta
tion to fight from some lesser motive; by
invincibly' loving his'enemy 'in face of
temptation io hate; by the daily practice
of immortality in the face of death. What
is before us. we do not know. The
war upon which we have entered may be
over in a few months. It may, through
some unexpected shifting of world condi
tions, be entering upon a longer and
bloodier period than that through which
it has already passed. If it shall be
soon over God grant that the experience
ve are now passing through may teach
us. in peace to apply ourselves with all
the energy and self-sacrifice that we
would show in war, to the prosecution
o' the great Christian Enterprise.
Whether this great war be near its end
or still near its beginning, the birth
pangs cf a New Age are upon the world.
The call is for men and women with the
I ght of the New Age on their faces. This
iigh> is on their faces because Christ
their leader has shared with them His
vision of a day when all men in the day’s
work everywhere find in God their Fath
er, in all men of every race their broth
ers, and in human life the beginning of
immortality.
ISELIN REMEMBERS SOLDIERS.
J. Oliver Iselin, a wealthy New Yorker,
who has a magnificent winter home at
Aiken, sent recently to Walter Duncan,
editor of the Aiken Standard, a box con
taining 100 comfort kits, containing all
kinds of toilet accessories and sewing ma
terials, with a fine sweater. The articles
are to he presented to every boy’ who has
gone from Aiken to enter the service.
TRENCH AND CAMP
800,000 Penna. ’ Women Sign
Reports coming to the Pennsylvania
Committee of Public Safety from the
Food Administration show that more than
100,000 Pennsylvania women have pledged
themselves during the past few weeks
to aid in the conservation of food. This
brings the total past 800,000, and it is al
most certain that the million mark will
be exceeded.
In 1913, the year before the great con
flict opened, France produced 146,000,000
bushels of wheat. In 1914 this had drop
ped to 128.000,000 bushels. In 1915 only
101,000,000 bushels could be raised, and
in 1916 the output was 97,000,000 bushels.
This year the production of wheat was
pitifully' small; only 66,000,000 bushels.
France has sent word that if the Unit
ed States can spare her an additionaL
66,000,000 bushels she will somehow man
age to get through the year.
Food Rules in Pennsylvania
Following the announcement that food
retailers guilty of profiteering face the
prospect of having their supplies cut off,
Horvard Heinz, food director of the State
Public Safety Committee and Federal
food administrator of Pennsylvania, to
day issued a summary of the federal food
regulations which control all phases of
food handling.
The three principal objects sought by
the government are:
1. To limit the prices charged by every
licensee to a reasonable amount ever
expenses and to forbid the acquisition of
speculative profits from a rising market.
2. To keep all food commodities mov
ing in as direct a line and with as little
delay as practicable to the consumer.
3. To limit as far as practicable con
tracts for future delivery and dealings in
future contracts.
UNITED STATES ARMY
Officers* Shoulder Marks
General Lieutenant Major Brigadier Colonel
General General General
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Lieutenant Major Captain First Second
Colonel (Silver) (Gold) Lieutenant Lieutenant
Collar Devices of the Arms of the Service
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All General Adjutant Inspector Judge Advocate Signal Engineer's.
Officers StaS Officers Gen l's Dept. General’s Dept. General s Dept. Corps Corps
Artlkry ArtUUry Con«‘ ° r^ e
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Aids to Aids to Aids to Chaplain Infantry Infantry Indian
LieuL Gen. Major Gen. Brig. Gen. Hiillipiue Scouts Porto Rico Scouts
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Army Officer’s Col- Army Private’s Col- Dental Officer Recruiting West Point All Armv Troops
lar Device Arrange- lar Device. Arrang- Corps US. Reserve Service Cadets Right side of
merit went Co Hat
Army Hats, Hit Cords, Etc..
Campaign Hat Army Button Steel Trench Helmet Officer’s Cap Device Private Soldier's
with colored cord worn by American Soldiers worn on garrison cap in Garrison Caw
knowing Branch of on the French Front Place of Private with Sen ice
berV!Ce Service Emblem Emblem
Chevrons, Non-Commissioned Officers
Regimental Regimental Battalion Color First Mess
Sergeant-Major Supply-Sergeant Sergeant-Major Sergeant Sergeant Sergeant
y ance Corporal,
Corporal on Pro-
Troop. Battery or Stable Sergeant Corporal bation Before Receiving
. Company Supply Sergeant Sergeant Corporals Chevron
Specialty Marks
~_WhfijMfflrwgiHM Casemate Observer
w. nt BKBSBMmB Electrician (First Class)
Engineers Chief Master * Master Gun Coast Plotter Coast
Coast Artillery Mechanic Electrician Gunner Commander Artillery Artillery
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Gunners First Figure of
’’ 1 ... n I .... Class Coast Merit Coast
Mechanic Mechanic Wagoner Bugler Cook Artillery Artdlery
Fame: Saddler
PRAISES Y. M. C. A. CAMP WORK.
Editor Evening Ledger:
Sir:—Just a few lines to tell you that
our Philly boys now in encampment at
Camp Hancock. Augusta, Ga„ are certain
ly delighted with the methods the Y. M.
C. A. is employing in entertaining them.
Gee, but your tent gets lonesome and
dreary at times, and when you wander
into one of the Y. M. C. A. buildings, how
you are greeted by a cheerful Y. M. C. A.
secretary (every one of them seems to
have a never-fading smile), and the en
tertainments for the amusement and bet
terment of the men are simply great and
go a great way toward taking away that
lonesome feeling which will come over a
fellow every now and then.
The Y. M. C. A. has benefited me and I
know has done the same for others, and
our Philly boys should not hesitate one
moment in making the fact known to the
people at home.
JOSEPH C. GERSHEN,
Hospital Corps,
Thud Regiment Depot Brigade,
Camp Hancock.
Augusta, Ga., November 9.
SURRA SOME TENOR.
Signor ohnj H. Surra, of the 112th In
fantry Band, is some tenor soloist, and
has made quite a hit with his comrades
as well as with the people of Augusta.
Mr. Surra is an Italian, and has all the
warmth of Italian temperament. He has
studied voice and his singing shows it.
At the recent convention of the Wom
en’s Federated Clubs of Georgia in Au
gusta, Mr. Surra scored a great success.
He sang “The Sunshine of Your Smile”
in faultless style, and for an encore gave
Oley Speaks’ “Morning,” in which the
great range of his voice was given ample
scope. The audience demanded another
song and the popular “Somewhere a Voice
Is Calling,” was given with rare expres
sion. His breath control and phrasing,
coupled with his artistic interpretations,
stamp him as an artist of wham any band
or regiment should feel proud.
Lord Northcliffe, the famous British
publicist, recently said:
“I can truthfully say that the war can
not be won without the Y. M. C. A.,”
and this opinion is beginning to be shared
by high officials of the Allied govern
ments.
Articles From You
Wanted by Trench
and Camp
The editor of Trench and
Camp desires all Camp
Hancock soldiers to con
tribute to this paper.
Poems, short articles on
some special phase of camp
life, human interest stories,
jokes, will be accepted.
Photographs will be wel
comed, also cartoons.
Get Busy! Send Today!
Leave at any Y. M. C. A.
Building, addressed to
Trench and Camp.
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