We stand to make or abide the event, and it is better to shape the event than to accept it. With a will to win, we shall shape and not accept the outcome. Alan Seeger's spirit must be the spirit of America.
Spartan mothers must know that their sons go out to take the one chance, as Seeger thought it, in ten, and in so going make conditions and prospects better for the American republic.
There is no avoidance of the difficulty. It is upon us. We can have, now, only what we win, and we cannot think of accepting what another nation has imposed upon us.
Not having the will to accept defeat, to pay tribute, to meet a conqueror's terms, to hear the sound of his feet in our streets, and to accept the humiliation of his presence, we must have the will to win.
We must realize that this is a war of sacrifice for an end which must be attained. There cannot be a failure in it without a debasing humiliation, which would cause the children of another generation to wonder why they had to be born of such poor stock.
There can be nothing but victory in the prospects of the American eagle. It must be as strong when peace is declared as it is now, when war is being entered. — Chicago Tribune. 