The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-10-19
THE WAR IN EUROPE
The Claims of Race and the Rights
of Man

ou III EuiopCS HlotOly 10 ICpculluS IL
self: by the force of arms a race is
seeking to establish the prominence
of its claims. Probably the Germans
feel that in this they are morally
justified. Be that as it may, the pre-
vailing sentiment of the world is that
their claims are opposed to the larger
rights of humanity. Three neighbor-
ing races are fighting these Teutonic
pretensions by force of arms, and it
is an open secret that the neut al
peoples have no sympathy for her
cause. To most observers this con
fiict appears again to be an assault
upon national honor, upon personal
liberties, upon the administration of
real justice, and upon the attainment
and maintenance Of the future peace
of the world. Napoleon, Atilla, Gaze
sar, ArtaXerxes and the rest are not
TO be compared with William II; he is
in class all by himself. The issue,
however, is the same. The suffering,
death, cruelty, destruction, and DESC
thtiOu lnOluCIl W lut Di CSOlu6 VI
this race-claim is so conspicuous, so
clamorous for our attention, that we
are apt not to see the greatest fact
which is today before the Id this
is contest between the claims of a
race and the rights of man.
II ought not to be necessary for
any American to preface what he
may have to say upon this subject, by
assurances of high regard for the Ger
man people, and his appreciation of
their great accomplishments. One
feels that TO try to make acknow-
Judgement of the debt of mankind to
German scientists. musicians. litera-
tours, philosophers, and all their com
pany, is more than superfiuous; it is
almost impertinent. Likewise to af-
firm a high regard for the vigorous,
wholesome minded, warm-hearted
German people, or to express the al
lection feltfor many individuals whom
the average American counts among
his most valued friends, it quite UNI
necessary. These things are well
known. The present feeling in Amer
lea is not against the German peo-
pie; it is against the German system,
the German program, and the Ger
man Government. Let our Teutonic
friends never forget that All that
here follows rests upon that assump-
ton.
The Kaiser, the Chancellor, and
Germans of less note have been sur
priced that the German cause has
lacked American sympathy They
think that in some way, they and
what they are maintaining by force
OF arms are not understood here
Let them be sure that they are very
clearly understood that is just the
trouble. Paternalism, militarism,
caste-rule, secret diplomacy, and the
like, are most well understood here.
They are precisely those things from
which our fathers freed us. Hatred
for them is instilled into every Amer
lean schoolboy. When the boy,
grown to manhood in these days, now
sees them bringing forth their fruit.
then he appreciates as never before,
the real meaning of Lexington and
Yorktown. The American observes
that England learned her lesson on
those American fields; and France al
so, through her Waterloo and her Sc
dan, has come to respect human
rights; but Germany has not yet
found them out. Now in her self as
surance and her vast power she is
the oppressor. Such, | take it is the
Americans view OF the situation. lie
may be mistaken, to be sure, but
nothing much less than this can &C
count for the extraordinary manimi.
~ OF opinion in America today. Ii
there has been any other subject up
on which the metropolitan and other
influential press of the country, bar
ing the German papers, have been of
one mind, or one upon which il Is
80 hard TO hear in house or street,
but one opinion expressed, have
never known IT, Mention vivisection.
bodybuilding. olives, the saloon, the
Apostles Creed, the senatorship. and
men differ. Mention the war, and to
the support OF Germany you shall
find difficulty in mastering cor
porals guard. Why? Because the
German program goes counter to that
which is bread in our bone. The Kai
ser, the Chancellor. the university
men, the theOlogians. and the other
advocates OF the ideals of Germany
rs manifested by the war. have a
quarrel with Americans. but not pri-
marily with humble and uninfluential
persons like most of us. Their quar-
rel is first with Washington, Jeffer-
son. Hamilton. John Marshall. Web
ster, Lincoln, Lee, Grant and those
who have followed in their steps
For this reason one smiles to hear
these noisy accusations that we are
led by an Anglicised press. that we
are stirred by commercial jealousy.
that we are not informed OF the Ger
man side, Why we are Americans:
enough said.
Coming down more definitely TO
nothing the basis Of Americas objec-
ton, we may observe that il is not
that German ideas are different from