There are doubtless those who sometimes ask themselves, though they may deem it the part of wisdom not to ask others, “Even if the Germans were to win this war, what difference would it make anyway?” Well, just for the sake of argument, suppose that our European allies had been forced to sign a separate peace and that Germany, thus left free to give us her undivided attention, had landed an army on these shores (which she could do with comparatively little trouble, the military experts agree) and held a portion of our Eastern seaboard. And suppose that one evening a column of men in gray came tramping into the little town where you live--Quincy or Tarrytown or Plainfield or New Rochelle, which it doesn’t matter. And suppose that the first thing they did after establishing themselves in your town was to arrest the mayor and a score or so of the leading citizens--some of your closest friends, members of your own family, perhaps, among them--and lock them up in the jail or the town hall. And suppose that the next morning, when you start down town, your eye is caught by a notice tacked to a tree. The notice, which is headed by the Prussian eagle, reads something like this:-- PROCLAMATION In future the inhabitants of places situated near railways and telegraph lines which have been destroyed will be punished without mercy (whether they are guilty of this destruction or not). For this purpose hostages have been taken in all places in the vicinity of railways in danger of similar attacks; and at the first attempt to destroy any railway, telegraph, or telephone line, they will be shot immediately. THE GOVERNOR