Note to readers – Sauk Valley Media reprints editorials from the past as a regular Monday feature. The following editorial appeared in the Gazette on March 14, 1863.

Let us use our power

The Conscription Act gives the president [Abraham Lincoln] ample power to raise men sufficient to crush every vestige of the rebellion the coming season, and in our opinion, he should use that power to the extent of calling out at least 500,000 men immediately, and use all and every means he can command to overwhelm the traitors.