Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-16
GERMAN NATONALTSM
SCORED BY VORWAERTS
IN SUPPRESSED ISSUE
Copy of German Socialist
Paper Just r eceive d
Shows Why Kaiser's Cen
sor Confiscated Edition
With Anti-War Editorial.


An entire edition Of the vorwaerts, th'
caicial organ Of the Socialists in Ger
many. was recently conhscated by the
German Government The vorwaerts i
daily newspaper that speaks for Karl
Liebknecht and the Social Democratic
party known in this country as the So
ciaiist party
The other day Karl Liebknecht was
sent into the army because OF his anti
war speeches in the Reichstag. He will
not be permitted to address an audience
outside the chamber IN which he sits
BY vote OF the people, and as he goes
to the front IN Alsace he may be killed.
The reason why the Vorwaerts was
visited by the wrath OF the Government
Is disclosed in a translation OF the edl-
torial which was printed In the sup
pressed edition. II will be seen by this
edAorial that there exist in Germany
eome men who have ventured to question
the righteousness OF the present war,
and even TO critioise the German attitude.
How widespread may be the sentiment
this editorial reflects II Is impossible to
say, owing to the measures that have
been taken to prevent its expression.
TEXT OF EDITORIAL.
The editorial follows;
"Aian does not display all his strength
and all his weaknesses save IN excep-
tional situations. On the day of battle
certain giants fall. like rotten trees be-
fore the tempest The peoples like in
dividuals, reveal in times of crisis their
hidden virtues Of their unknown faillngs.
''The present crisis Is terrible.
Il shows us that the German people ia
stricken with malady which in the end
may prove fatal; and this malady Is jim
goism. Thus one names a diseased ma
tionalism which sees neither virtue nor
courage In any nation but its own, and
which has only insults and suspicion for
others
'Unhappily this disease appears to have
seized on the German people at a time
when the empire was in a particularly
nourishing condition. and il was in full
blast even before this war broke out.
JINGoISd is RAMPANT.
'When war was decided on there was
an eruption of jngoism of the most
feverish sort. Violent articles appeared
In the press. In the great cities inflam-
matory speeches were made and war
songs were ehanted. The confagration
was regarded as a fete. The campaign
was to be simple promenade to Paris |
and to st. Petersburg.
ITO argue the contrary was to risk |
being iynehed. AS soon as war was
actually declared the people Of other ma
tions were subjected to every Insult. We |
were honest Germans; our adversaries |
were brutal Russians perfidous Eng |
Iish,' 'insolent Serbs. The mob tore down
the signs of shops that bore few words
of English or French. As to who began
the war--we were the innocent lambs.
while the French. Russians and British
were the wolves of the fable. Those who
formerly had imputed to the Jews all the
faults OF our social state now discovered
In. England the cause OF everything.
FIRST VICTORY CELEBRATED.
AT the frst victory the flags appeared.
the bells rang, perfervid speeches were
delivered in public places. In the restaur- |
ants nothing was sung but Deutschland
Ueber Allies The public, hypnotized
rocked nothing of the death rattle of
the wounded on the battlefield, of huR-
dreds OF villages in flames, of thousands
OF people robbed of their belongings, of |
German families who waited with anguish
news Of their sons engaged in the combat.
Then one heard the atrocious details
OF the war In Belgium. The inhabitants
had fred on our soldiers. The BelgiRns
We're 'assassns.' savage beasts run-
worthy OF any consideration. They must
expiate their crimes by sword and FIRE.
No sone troubled to explain the uprising
q the Belgian people. Our perfervid
pAttiIls 'touiu not understand that a
people must lose its calmness on seeing
itself Unexpectedly attacked. its fields
laid waste. its towns and villages occu-
pied, its men sacrificed in battle.
SHOULD EXPECT EVILS.
Those who desire war ought to accept
the evils that it brings, To be enthnsias-
Tic for war and then to descend to petty
stories about dumdum bullets is simplv
10 grow besotted Our tingoes have
yelled, hundred thousand times since tbe
war began, The duty of every citizen is
o defend his country TO his last breath
Those poor wretches OF Belgium and
franee-have they done anything else?
Have they not defended home and father
and? If we acted thus. our conduct
would be heroic. On the part OF our ad- |
'ersaries It is rebellion and murder.
"Ahl Don't let US throw stones al !
lthers, We who live in glass housesl LET \
ia not look for the mote In our nelghbor's I
ye, but take the beam out OF our own /
y this way we shall make the first step s
oward rentente internationale and TO- I
gard peace. !
Let US understand, then, that we are s
ot merely Germans, French or Russians,
ut that we are all men, that all the
copies are Of the same blood and that
hey have no right to kill one another, but !
hat they ought TO love and help one an
ther. Such is Christianity. humane CON
uct Man does not belong 20 one nation
nly' he belongs TO humanity"