The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-10-27

CONNECT PRESIDENT Wilson has wisely
admonished the American people 10
preserve an attitude Of the strictest
neutrality. 1t has been the fortune Of
that England. through her CON
trol of the sea, has been enabled
thereby to control the channels of
publicity through which news OF the
war reaches his country.
The Immense majority of the re-
ports of the war come to us from
English and French sources. Nir-
tually all of the poetry printed in our
newspapers is contributed by English
poets or by American poets who sym
pathlZe with England and France in
the titanic struggle. If we are to re-
main neutral. individuality as well as
nationality, let it be a neutrality OF
fact-the liberal sentiment of a fair
field and no favor. Before finally
making up the verdict the American
people need more light on the psyche
logy of the German situation at this
crucial moment n her national his
tory. The printing of the best Ger
man poems evoked by the war would
doubtless contribute toward that end.
One would also like to have at this
moment a clearer insight into the ra-
cial feelings which now animate the
Russian people.
One Of the most remarkable feat
ureS Of the present conflict is the ami
mostly aroused in the breasts of the
German people against the British
nation for declaring var upon Ger
many. 1t is the conviction OF many.
even now, that the Kaiser is not the
War Lord Of the f1amboyant poster,
but a man of peace, home-loving, do
meStlC in his instincts, more deeply in
tent upon fostering Germany'S indus
trial development than either her mil
itary or ava expansion. 1t is the
conviction of many even now. that
Germany did not desire this war. The
conviction left upon the conscious
ness of the impartial observer is that
Germany was profoundly surprised
and dismayed over England's declara-
ton of war.
Germany'S leaders in philosophy
and science, Rudolf Eucken and Ernst
Haeckel, declare that the whole Ger
man world of letters is today filled
with deep indignation and strong NOR
al wrath at the present behavior OF
England" in extending the present
war into a world war. The grea,
German dramatist, Gerhart Haupt-
Manu., whose plays have profoundly
moved peoples of all lands, ~asseverate.
that Germany has and has had NJ
hatred against France, and that wal
was forced upon Germany as a meas
ure of defense. WHO was t." he
dSNSp ia liz SOIlSPI1S ~ O11IlS ANU
this war? Who even whistled for tn
Monaghan, for the Jap, hat he should
come to bite viciouSly and in coward
ly wise at Europe'S heels 1t is will
great pain and bitterness hat I pro
nounc the word 'England.'"
Everywhere throughout Germany
among her citizens, in her army. tn
rising indignation Over England'S par
ticipation in the effort to crush Ger
~ NV 1@~ -~o1 nNtc Cro nl low
ing rivalry of Great Britain into a no
blast of consuming hatred. The Ger
man troops mad h~erculean efforts t
cut off, capture and annihilate tn
British army in France. and it Wa
the only by the most desperate effort
hat the British arr " escaped. Tn
individual soldier in the Germa,
army feel little animosity toward tn
French or the Russian soldiers, appar
emily, but they eagerly desire to NEE
and to crush in the field their deepl
hated foe the English.
In England the passions aroused b
the war have taken the form of cor
centrated hatred of the person an
F principles of the Kaiser, The respon
sibility for the war is laid at the doc
of the Kaiser and the PruSsian mil
:. tary caste. The noble rage of Eng
land is thus expressed in the lines {
William Watson:
At last we know you, War Lord. IO
that flung
The gauntlet down. fling down tn
mask wore.
Publish your heart, and let its pei
hate pour,
You that had God forever on you
= tongue.
: We are old in war, and if in guile W
are young,
. Young also is the spirit that evermOl
Burns in our bosom ev'n as heretofor
L Nor are these theWs Embraced, thes
nerves unstrung.
We do not with Gods name mai
Wanton play;
We are not on such easy terms wit
Heaven.
l. In the early weeks of the war g
d English friend, the editor of a repr
s sentative popular English masaZin
i sent me a copy of this magazine co.
tanning an article Condemning II
a Kaiser to the isolation Of banishmel