The Pensacola journal., 1914-12-21
VOX POPULI.
PROF. SEEL MAKES A BET
AND WINS A NEW HAT

with your mighty arguments. [ knew
you could do it, that is why I asked
you to- Crushed defeated, annihilG4ed,
just like the mighty pro-allies' press
here and abroad have done almost
daily to the German armies since the
beginning of the war. "25,0o0 Ger
mans killed in battle etc. ad in
finitum.
I am sorry. however, that you did
not so further in your arguments,
because as convincing l consider them
they have not stopped that contro-
versy as yet. In the first place my
friends claim that you could not have
had any knowledge of the Kaiser's
plans. and therefore could not possibly
claim that the work of his armies
has been down to date an absolute
failure" / suggested that perhaps
you were in possession of some conf
Dental messages from the Kaiser but
they refuse TO believe me. Can you
not enlighten them on that point?
But, then you say that the German
army lis further today from the thing
which we assume the Kaiser set out
to do, than it was three months ago"
You should have said, we know
and should have proved it. It would
have made things so much easier for
me. Because my friends say, how can
a man prove a thing an absolute fail
ure when that thing is only assumed.
That paragraph about the devasta-
tion of Belgium, of a part of France,
and of Russian Poland. etc, was
especially to my liking. Because it
proves what barbarians those Ger
mans are a heart. They could just
as we'll wrap some cotton or other
soft substance around the projectiles
of their rifles and howitzers and
avoid a whole lot of damage. But
no, they have the heart to shoot 20
kill and to batter down any fortress
or city or village that harbors the
enemy. My friends have the nerve to
tell me that no war could be fought
without terrible devastation. A little
weak, I am ashamed to confess,
wanted to tell them that for instance
the battleg rounds of the civil war
were left Veritable paradises but they
cited a certain General Sherman and
then / did not know what to answer.
Admitted, they say, that the Germans
are responsible for the devastation in
Belgium, France and Poland, devas-
tation absolutely inevitable at such
fierce war, they say that the one
who started this war would have to
lbear the entire responsibility when
Clio once gets started on the history
of this war but that the Kaiser was
not the responsible party! What do
you think of that? Furthermore, they
try to prove it. For instance, they
quote a certain article which appeared
in the London Daily News on Au-
gust 1st, three days before England
openly declared war on Germany-"the
aValanche"-so was written in this
editorial-"trembles on the brink and
a touch may send it shattering into
the abyss" A touch, too, might have
locked it to the brink.
"At this moment" continued Mr..
Gardiner, the author of the edito-
rial, "our fate is being sealed by hands
that We know not, by motives alien
to our interests, by Influences that if
we knew we should certainly repudi- !
ate The peace of every land, thG |
happiness Of every home in Europe, |
the very bread by which we live, hang
at this moment upon the will of one !
man. the Car of Russia. 1t is he |
whose hand is on the avalanche |
A weak man, superstitioUs, under the |
influence now of inhuman philoso- |
piers, like Pobiedonostseff of Mesh |
kershtsky, now of mystics and charla- |
tans, like PHILIPPE and Rasputin, who |
decorates his Black Hundreds on the |
of their massa cres and holds |
half of Europe in the grip of me- |
diaeval depOtism-is he the man whom |
the free peoples of France and Eng |
land can trust with their destiny? |
The question is for us. For |
though the Gear has his hand on the |
hand on him >
There was never any sympathy in |
with Austria. England was drawn into
the war by her secret understanding !
with Servia's patron, Russia, made in
the vain hope that with the assistance
Of Russia she might eventually crush
Germany. The dangers of
this alliance had been repeatedly
pointed out to the British people, and
IN his eleventh-hour cry of warning
Mr.. Gardiner hurled them again at
he British government in these
words: IF then, we have neither
with Servia in the quarrel,
nor a traditional interest in the aims
IF her master in the Balkans, why !
should we go to war? Is it because |
We wish the Russian civilization to
1verwhelm the German civilization
There is not a thinking being in this
and who. competent to form judg-
nent, would not repudiate such a |
nonstrous thought If we crush Ger
many to the dust and make Russia
he dictator of Europe and Asia it
will be the greatest disaster that has
,ver befallen western culture and civil
ization. 1t will be a reaction to bar
triumph of blind super
tition over the most enlightened IN
elIectual life of the modern world"
Doesn't this prove concIusiveIy that
he German Kaiser was the insti-
,ator? Because we must not believe
What the British press had to say ]
,efore the war. Only what they and J
heir allies in this country have to say'l
low is the whole truth, and nothing I
,ut the truth. Whatever reaches I
lere in the form OF news or expIana-