The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1915-10-21
o9eteroDs 9o(umn
ana J(ot;onoG JId&itary
J(ome S(otes
By James Sample
Member National Military Home, Tennessee

get by going to war? AS little as
the southern states of America. "a
place in the sum-" likr "our rights in
the territories, was wholly illusory
and misleading. That lone southron
could whip six Yankees with a corn
stalk" wherewith gullible minds at
the south were inflated, corresponds
to the German claim of "superhu-
man." In each case war began in a
fury of uncalculated passion. Blind
hysteria possessed the southern peo-
pie. The immense disparity between
the resources of the south and those
of the north was unconsidered. That
"the south was bound to win" was
the universal belief. Cotton was
king. Europe would be forced to in
tervene. In like manner Germany
set out to rush Belgium and reduce
Paris-Englands hands tied in Ire
land. and then after having overrun
France and overcome the French
to turn her resistless arms upon Rus
STA. 1t made pretty enough show
: ing on paper. But, as we have seen,
1.-The best laid schemes O. mice and
men gang aft aglee." England's
hands were not tied by Ireland. Bel
GUM resisted long enough for Eng
land to get there. The failure before
Paris marked failure upon the whole
theory in which the general staff in
Berlin had so confidently laid its
plan of campaign. The south was not
prepared for war as Germany-it had
no such fighting machine-but it was
better prepared than the north and
winning the first victories, was able
in spite of the disparity OF forces and
resources, to prolong the struggle
four years. AS late as 1864 nation
al convention, nominating General
Mcclellan for president, declared the
war failure" Throughout the
! succeeding presidential campaign Mr..
Lincoln was often in sore distress of
mind. Yet, at that very moment, both
! Gen. Lee and Gen. Johnston knew the
Confederacy had but short time to
live, whilst among the better ad-
vised among southern men it had be-
gan to be whispered that "the bottom
must soon drop out of the tub" And,
sure enough, after an example sur
passed in the early days of 1865, the
starved and ragged fabric of the Con-
federacy fell in a heap, a helpless
mass. you didn't whoop u.s." said
an old Confederate soldier, holding on
to the hand of Gen. Fred Grant, af-
fectionately, on the occasion of the
dedication of the statue to Gen. Ste
phen D. Lee in the national cemetery
at Vnksburg, you didn't whoop us
Tred-you jess wore us out" Some
thing like this will happen to the
kaiser alliance 1t is no more in the
books for Germany to win than it was
for the Confederacy to win. If Ger,
lmany could win the world would moi
be fit to live in. We can now easily
picture to ourselves what would have
followed the triumph of the soutf
and the establishment of Southern
Confederacy upon the North Ameri
can continent, leaving two exhausted
contestants to become the prey o
EuBopean intrigue, setting the clocl
of freedom back a century, and split
tting a noble union into perhaps
S dozen weak and warning fragments
r to repeat in the New World the mis-
n takes and misadventures Of the ole
i God may mean to punish, but not t
g destroy us, The Hohenzollern mus
s be hurled from his perch, the Hap'
!. burg driven from his lair-before tn
/ peace and freedom of Europe are SAT
l. against the Devil Kultur and Gospt
n of Frightfulness. Even as Napoleo
! went wilhelm must go. Even as tn
> institution of African slavery was
n bar to the Southern ConfedeRacy
4 the Medievalism of Prussia bar
c, Pan-Germany. But, let us not forg'
4 that the south stood out against til
" north four long years and with tn;
{, reminder, realize that the crushiI
W of the wondrous fighting machir
a. perfected during the forty years I
r scientific preparation, may take {
" long.
In