“Which is better for a young man _who can never hope to travel on his own account_: to enlist in the Marine Corps for four years ... where he will be able to see a great portion of the world and perform a loyal duty to his country,—or, to _drudge away on the farm, in the shop and various other places, for from ten to fifteen hours per day in all kinds of weather_, and at the end of the month or better still, of four years, not have as much clear cash to show for all his hard and wearisome labor as he would have, had he enlisted?... he [the enlisted man] is always _clean_.” There you have it, young farmer, young mechanic: the Government throws it right into your teeth—the sneer that as a _wage_-earner in the shop and mine and on the farm, you are cornered; that with all your toiling and sweating you will always be a “dirty-faced tender-foot” living humbly around the old home place, never having opportunity to see the world you live in; that you can not even hope to travel on your own account, simply because as a _wage_-earner you don’t _own_ enough of “your” country—you can not get ahead far enough financially—to enable you to do so. If you want to see the world you will have to join the butchers in the service of the rulers. In its effort to tease and trick you aboard its great warships, into the “armed guard” work, your own Government makes fun of your humble income and taunts you for always staying around home like a “sissy boy.” The Government also tells you that your face is dirty and that a military man’s face “is always clean.” The Government’s advertisement just quoted is like the sneer at the soldier’s poverty by that elegant aristocrat, Ralph Waldo Emerson:[119] “Where there is no property the people will put on the knapsack for bread.” Think of ten million five hundred thousand trained strong men in five European countries ready to leap into the trenches at the word of command. ‘In a war between the Dual Alliance and the Triple Alliance there would be over ten million men under arms, thus:[120] Germany 2,500,000 Austria 1,300,000 Italy 1,300,000 France 2,500,000 Russia 2,800,000 ——————————— Total 10,400,000’ These would not so much be tricked to the trenches as they would be forced to the trenches. Emperor William of Germany at Potsdam, in November, 1891, addressed the young men who had just been compelled to take the military oath. He said: “You are now my soldiers, you have given yourselves to me body and soul. There is but one enemy for you, and that is my enemy.... It may happen that I shall order you to fire on your brothers and fathers.... But in such case you are bound to obey me without a murmur.”[121]