Page:Harris Dickson--The unpopular history of the United States.djvu/172

The Unpopular History of the United States beings — folks like you and me and wives and babies.

We are too deep in this war, and are going to make a business of it. It takes soldiers to fight battles, preachers to preach sermons, and jawsmiths to wrangle before justices of the peace.

We've got to turn out soldiers. I want my boy in khaki to be just a little better than any boy that our allies can send — better trained, better equipped, a better shot and better paid. I can't bear the idea of sending a single brave lad over there into a deadly peril that he knows nothing about. That's rank murder, as old Light Horse Harry said.

I have been trying to make you understand the difference between soldiers and raw recruits. A raw recruit is of no more use in the trenches of France than a left-handed blacksmith in a watchmaker's shop — strong and willing, but liable to smash things. [154]