Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-07-14
From the st. Louis Republic.

From the st. Louis Republic.
Thu German defense OF the practice OF
destroying merchant vessels OF neutrais
and belligerents by the use OF submarines
may be summed up in a single declara-
ton: we must do 1t to win"
If Paraguay or Persia said that we
might treat 1t with patience. Not so In
the case of a people whose honor roll for
the past 100 years reveals the names OF
the saint and martyrs, the prophets and
seers and sages who have made Germany
illustrious. Germany is not a moral In
FAINT, but a nation full-grown in con-
science and responsibility. We therefore
point out that the chief thing that differ
entiates the savage from the civilized man
Is his living by this very creed.
The savage knows no law OF combat; to
him combat means the negation of all
law. In personal encounter with another
man he will bite. tear out hair, gouge out
eyes-will. In short. do 1t to win." no
matter what ut" Is. In fighting on a
wider scale he e%nslaves. burns. initiates,
assassinates. as opportunity offers.
The thing hat makes the difference be-
tween the savage and the civilized man is
the perception of the fact that there are
many things worse In the realm OF prac-
teal results han defeat. The civilized
man accepts personal defeat by an indi-
vidual antagonist rather than adopt GER
tain practices in the rough-and-tumble
lighting of savages. His armies. his ma
lions accept defeat Mt the hands OF other
armies and nations rather than gain ad-
vantage at the expense of adopting the
tactics OF savages How strong is the
hold OF the law of war;" written m UNI
written, on the civilized man! Think OF
the men. called DULLES and r%uffians, who
have accepted defeat at the hands OF 9TH
er men when they could ave purchased
victory by giving up their standards OF
lighting fair" Think Of the nations that
have lost territory and even national life
while clinging to customs of warfare that
limited their action In important respects.
without q thought Of changing or disre-
garding them.
lawless Fighting Never Wins.
Now here energies a singular fact: that,
from the mere point of view of success.
the men that will do anything to win are
the men that lose; while those who hang
to the law. even in fight, win, and the
same with nations. It is a mere MINOR
place of all fighting experience that the
bully who bites and gouges IL no match
fights surrounded by a whole statute book
full Of rules: and that civilized men. even
when pittfully at a disadvantage with re-
spect to numbers and position, have beat
en- savages. The scientists apply what
they call the biological test" to a given
practice. which Is simply the determine
ton whether following 1t makes you die
sooner or live longer. The biological
test" applied to the i've method of
warfare 10 all against 1t. In the long run
the individuals and the nations that have
fought in absolutely lawless combat, bit
Ing. g0uging. assassinating, have passed
away and even their anne have been lost
from the record, while those who. when
they went into q fight. took the rules
of combat along. no matter how they
Bothered and incommoded them. have
won.
50 far true in this tina all civilization
has depended o the adoption Of rules Of
war. The history OF human culture is
eloquent on this point. At the start there
was no culture in the whole world except
where there was irrigation. and this for
precisely the reason we have been consid-
ering. The ditch imposed certain rules of
war. Where all crops depended on water
brought for miles through an artificial
HEA-NHeIEEHEEE