Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-10-07

WAR
(From Mothers Magazine)

49, T- No.
peace was at hand. Our hearts had
thrilled with the belief that man was
about to achieve universal brother
hood in Christ. But, in q twinaklline
the eye, the great Christian ma
tions OF the Old World unloosee the
hellish dogs Of war, and all Europe
is a sea OF blood.
Why should such things be? Who
is to blame? These are the two ques-
lions on every tongue. Each OF the
warning nations blames the other.
Each shrives its own conscience with
a defense tina thas at least some rea-
son. Each calls on God to witness
that its quarrel is just and that the
victory OF its arms will be to His
glory. What are the facts?
The :A,.s,rial. archduke, heir to
Francis Joseph, was slain by seryiaann q.
assassins' on Servian territory, under
circumnssrances Warrantlng suspicion
thai nlgn Serylan officials had gull
ty knowledge OF the plot. Austria de-
manded investigation, full and free.
Seryia displayed intention to make
the investigation a farce. Austria de-
clared war. Russia. under covenant to
protect the autonomy of Seryia, de-
clarreedd war upon Austria. France,
only a few years ago practically de-
spoiled OF a vast African territory fby
Germany, naturally wentto the assist
ance OF Russia, her only great ally
on the continent Of Europe, ana.
made common cause against Ger
manic expansion, which Russia fears ear
along the Black Sea. while France
breads it on her northeastern border.
Germany entered the fight t pre-
vent Austria being driven back by
Russia, and Slavic power from ad-
,yrancing toward western Europe. Ger
many and England and France had
agreed by treaty to regard Belgium
as neutral territory, and her soil sa1e
from invasion. fGermany's first move
was to violate this treaty England
immiml e9diately declared war upon Ger.
many. The whole OF Europe was
ablaze. It seems as though it might
all have been. avoided, But could 1t!
Let US suppose a parallel case.
suppose the German crown prince
had been assasassinated in Mexico, IN
der just such circumstances as the
Austrian archduke was slain in serv--
ia. and Mexico had refused to puh-
ISL the slayers. Suppose IL the
Kaiser, lacking other recourse, 9 o'
throw an army into Mexico, = seek 'eh.
satisfaction by subjugating the coun-
tr,y. What would happen? The Unit
ed states, committed to the Monroe
doctrine which opposes the en lsr faa' n
lei Of any European power in Amer
ia. would be forced to intervene. we
should have war with Germany, Just
as Russia was forced into war WITH
Austria, to prevent encroachmenrt IN
Servia. a%$
poor little Belgium Is most I |, be
pftied Of all the warning nations her
INV course was to remain neutral,, to
refuse to permit German troops 10
cross her borders, and, when the
Kaiser insisted upon violating h rH5
neutrality, to defend that s ~neutrallty
IFEI2e 4EaN - gJtlr rEtNlEF+ rE-t.T,Er EsEsE 1t@%--EtH ia
with tile sword,
We are mot excusing war. We Pc
l,eye war is wrong. But we mustrnot
forget that, even il Germany, Russia
and Austria were republics, there IS
racial and historic ground Tor dille sr
nee. ana territorial quarrels nave
been frequent. serYis has some tight
to feel resentment at the promptness
81 Austria in alnnexing territory Which
i esBa.lkan,i allies took from the TURKS lun4a
and which Seryia had good reason 70
to hold. Austria = a grteesaltI0
state Of many nations some or Wnom
are In little sympathy with Haps-
burg rule, and would strongly incline incline
to cast in their lot with seryla, 60
Vol can understand why Austria
viewed the rise Of seryia. with alarm.
Austria encroachment on Serv1a
was vas not calculated, either, to appease
Russian anxiety, which could ara
view with satisfaction a proceeding
which might be considered h flrs1
step to extending Germanic control
to the Black Sea. Germany could
hardly be expected to sit still n let
a slav alliance make mincemeat OF
Austria. and drive westward, to cut
off Germany from egress to the soutn
which Is NOW possible throughAustrla
Belgium has always been the battle
ground Of Europe. The object OF the
neutrality treaty was to make war
more difficult, by closing this inter
national battle-ground to the other
nations. Englnd can plead with con-
siderable justification that she was
warranted in declaring war when Ger
many violated the neutrality OF Bel
GUM. France a reasonably assert
that Russia's claim to her support
was binding; she has the further mo
tive that in the campaign she may
find opportunity to revenge herself
for Germany's high-randed conduct in
the Morocco affair,
Even Japan has some excuse. IN
demanding that Germany surrender
Kiau-Chau to Japan to be eventually
transferred back to China, she is
treating Germany exactly as the kai-
ser treated Nippon after her war
with China nearly twenty. years ago.
On that occasion Germany forced ia
pan to give up Feng Tien by the very
simple process OF issuing just such
an ultimatum as Japan recently serv-