The sun., 1914-09-27

Consider. on the other hand what we
| should suffer II we were to lose. All
the troubles of the last ten years would
be with us still, but in greatly exag-
| gerated form. A larger and stronger
Germany would dominate Europe and
would overshadow our lives.
Her coastline would be increased her
| ports would face our own, her coaling
| stations would be in every sea, and her
great army, greater then than ever
would he within striking distance OF our
shores To avoid sinking forever into
| the condition of n dependency we should
be compelled to have recourse to rigid
compulsory service. and our diminished
revenues would be all turned 10 the
needs OF self-defence.
Such would be the miserable condi-
tion in which we should hand on to- our
children that free and glorious empire
which we inherited in all the fulness or
its richness and its splendor from those
| strong fathers who have built 1t up
What peace OF mind. what self-respect.
| could be left for us in the remainder
Of our lives? The weight OF dlshOnor
would he always upol our hearts. And
yet this will surely be our fate and our
future IL Ave do not nerve our souls and
brace our arms for victory.
No regrets will avail. no excuses
viii help. no after thoughts can prohs
Us. II ia now. now. even in these weeks
and months that are passing, that the
final reckoning IL being taken. and
when once the sum is made up no fur
ther effort can change 1t.
what are our lives or our labors. our
! fortunes or even our families. when
| ...I. 80 A..
great mother of us all? We are but the
| leaves of tine tree. What matter If we
| futter down to-day or tomorrow 50
| long az the great trunk stands and the
burrowlng roots are firm? Happy the
man who can die with the thought that
/ in this greatest crisis of all he has
served his country to the uttermost; but
who would bear the thoughts of him
who lives on with the memory that he
! had sh!rked his duty and failed his
country at the moment Of her need?
| There IL a settled and assured future
| II we win There is darkness and
trouble if we lose. But If We take a
broader sweep and trace the meanings
of this contest as they affect others
than ourselves, then ever greater, more
glorious are the issues for which we
fight.
| For the whole world stands at a turn
| ing point of it's history and one or other
of two opposite principles. the rule Of
the soldier or the rule of the citizen,
mus, now prevail. In this sense we
fight for the masses of the German
people. as some day they VIII under
stand. to free them from that formija-
BILE military caste which has used and
abused them spending their bodies in an
unjust war and poisoning their minds
by every device which could inflamc
them against those who wish nothing
save to live at peace with them.
We fight for the strong, deep Ger
many of old. the Germany of music and
of philosophy, against this moastrous
modern alteration, the Germany of
blood and of iron, the Germany from
: which. instead of the old things OF
beauty, there come to MS only the rant
of SColding professors with their final
5 reCkonings, their welt-polltik and their
goddess theories of the superman who
stands above morality and to whom all
humanity shall be subservient.
Instead Of the world inspiring phrases
of Goethe or "A Schiller, what are the
words in the last decade which have
! been quoted across the sea? Are they
r not always the ever recurring words Of
: wrath from one i'll balanced man.
strike them with the mailed fist
! Leave such name behind You as
Attila and his Huns Turn your
/, weapons even upon your own flesh and
= blood at my command" These are tho
messages which have come from this
pcrversion of a nations soul.
But the matter lies deep. The
Hohenzollcrns and the Hapsburgs have
used their peoples as great land
, owner might use the serfs upon his
, estate. 1t was and is. their openly
EXPRESSED theory that they were IN
their position by the grace of God, that
they owned no reckoning 10 any MAJ
, and that kingdom and folk were com
ritted for better or worse to then
charge.
. Round this theory Of the Dark Ages
, there gathered all the forces of the
, many courts of the empire, all th'
, nobility who make so huge class II
| Germanic countries all the vast army
p to whom strict discipline and obedience
were the breath of life. all the Office
h,.ders of the state. all the purveyor'
, Of warlike stores. These and their like
p were the natural setting to such cen
| trail Idea,
d court lllllufllN' lhi ~ N'''N'F'''' ''''
. | teaching at the schools and universities
? and so the growing twig could be bent
. | But all these forces together could no
70 have upheld so dangerous and un
e natural "a theory had il not been for tn
n | influence of "A servIle press.
= "IIow that press was managed how
81 | the thoughts of the people could b
n turned to the right or the left with th
q I.samc precision as a platoon of Grena
n diers. has been shown clearly enouGl
d IN the memoirs of Bismarck. Puhlt
opinion was poisoned AT its very roots
r The average citizen lived in false at
o | mosphcrc where everything was dis
torted to his vision.
lie saw his Kaiser not as an essen
r italy weak and impetuous man with
o dangerous encourage who were ever a
u his ear but as Germany personifed, al
u angel with flaming sword, beating
J. back enVlous assailants from the he
u | owed fathcrland. He saw his neigh
!, bors not as peaceful nations who ha
" no possible desire to attack him bu
. on the contrary lived in constant fea
- IF him. but as a band of enrious an
~ truculent cOnsprators who could onl
-, hc kept in order by the sudden STAN
i the jackbuot and the menacin