Page:Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star.djvu/106

44 of the hour and should arouse in him the inflexible purpose to see that this war is fought through to a victorious conclusion, no matter how long it takes, no matter what the expense and loss may be.

Our first troops are now actually in the trenches; American infantry and American artillerymen are under fire; blood has been shed. Our sons and brothers have begun the trench life of wearing fatigue, of cold, of inconceivable hardship and exposure and of cruel danger. A few women at home suffer as much. Otherwise, no civilians outside the regions conquered by the Germans can begin to realize the terrible strain to which constantly increasing numbers of our soldiers will be exposed as additional divisions are trained for and put into the actual fighting.

We who stay at home must back up those men in every way. We must stand by and energetically support every effort of the Government to add to their efficiency and to back them up, including the sending over of constantly increasing numbers of soldiers to the aid of the men already there. We must back up the loans and taxes necessary in order to supply them with arms, munitions, equipment, food, hospitals. We must hold to the strictest accountability before the bar of public opinion any Government official responsible for needless delay, or for shortage in shipping, clothing, or material, or for deficient ammunition, or faulty gas-masks, or for any other shortage which exposes our men at the front to needless danger and hardship. We must