New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-09
AGAINST HUMAN LIBERTY
G ermany's Campaign Planned to
Bring About World Absolutism.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

menace has been assumed to be entirely
within. and education has been relied upon
TO eliminate the danger Recent events
plainly indicate that forces were being mar
shalled for an assault upon these ideals, here
as elsewhere. the impact Of which could
these plans succeed would shake the nation
from centre TO circumference, even though
the assault failed
Coincidently with the steady spread OF
these ideals among English speaking peoples
an antipathctical movement-but quite un-
Inspected and unappreciated by them mas
been gathering power. cohesiveness ana mo
mentum Another nation has had for lts
~oal the antithesis of the Anglo-Saxon ideal.
Where Anglo Saxons have unfolded step by
s,ep the principle of individual liberty, this
other nation, animated by opposing views
has come to idealize the unidealizable In
PLACE of the human they have erected
mental structure called the state clothing
this impersonal creation with more than
tvrant's absolutism. Instead of human I'D
erty and individual rights mans inallena-
ble rights. vide the Declaration OF lnde-
nendence-they have substituted machine
planned machine created, machine direo'eu
Iactivities-the negation of the individual
They have enthroned "invncbility' IT.
rcsistible momentum Of compact, gigantic
cohesion directed by one human will-from
whose units all individuality has been eradi-
Gated.
Having in a few decades achieved sucn
comnlete success at home, finding their own
people entirely plastic, readily moulded oy
ncessant drilling, having lured them with
goal which is the negation of idealisrn, their
country 10 dominate all mankind-to be
1.-THE world power"-individua rights have
been reduced almost to the irreducible MIMI
num- As nothing succeeds like success-,o
such thought-they felt that "the world is
nv oyster"-t was only matter OF going
on. True. even to them the task doomed
+ large. But intoxicated with their easy VIC
tory at home they assumed world victory
must surely follow. 1t was merely ques-
ton of bigger designs and more elaborate
plans. How could the deyotees of the god
efficiency" and the supergod "invncbility
fail? So they drank secret toasts TO The
Dav" when all should be ready to strike the
blow which would stagger and terrify hu-
manity. By one swift, annihilating onrush
they would crush their first victim-repub-
lican France to a pulp. Then with mighty
sweep they would attack the especial embodi-
r,ent of their hatred-Grcat Britain-the one
nation which had refused to bow the knee
70 Baal. and which to them personined their
enathema individual liberty.
Although unable to realize that when they
crossed the frontier into countries where
free institutions existed they would have to
deal With humans and not automata. with
men inspired by a great principle when
would sustain them under every stress al
though utterly incapable of seeing that
;, ,ampaicn 70 overthrow human liberty in one
country would so soon as its true nature
became evident fan into an enduring flame
the spirit Of liberty everywhere. they yet
.ensed something Of the opposition this
; scheme TO subiugate the world must arouse.
4 secretly planned. highly organized, minute
. ~ ramiicd. worldwide campaign to en-
lave mankind. To destroy free institutions,
was therefore projected and quietly con-
iducted. To its contamination every effort Of
Government must be directed. In the mean
time. pending the dawn Of The Day. all
must be lulled to sleep, or instigated 20 night
each other. neutrality" demanding that
they supply war munitions not TO one only,
but 10 both sides. while the smallest detail
Of the con ,piracy 70 establish universal abb
solutism was being worked out. Then when
, THE Day" did dawn each in turn would be
, first crushed and then assuilated. In the
case Of France not merely was this sudden
Blow to crumple up all opposition but they
now boast that it has put in their possession
three -fourths Of it's coal and iron resources
? and almost as large proportion Of its iron
, and steel manufacturing plants truly n
spoliation colossal in its magnitude. No
wonder that Belgium, the open doorway TO
b. these immense resources, was first butchered.
This menace 10 human civilization is
now revealed. The world now has the evil
dence that this quntessence OF the lust for
mower had ever as its goal world domination,
the universal subjucation of humanity. Ia
bern but lifted the curtain to those who were
rot absolutely blind Cumulative and ac-
cumulating evidence is presented that the
Ire7ources and energies Of this nation have
been employed for years in carrying out the
minutest details Of this world campaign.
Concrete foundations of immense strength
surrepttiously constructed in strategic posi-
tions in the "enemy's" country years in ad-
vance of the time of their contemplated use
are only the grosser forms Of this evidence.
Scores if not hundreds of thousands of
; persons were continually employed ferret
, ing out other nations secrets, and had long
, been assigned to definite tasks, to strike at
the appointed time the deadliest blows at
the heart Of the nations with which their
chiefs were forever processing eternal amity.
Probably thousands of millions of dollars
r worth OF munitions of war were secretly
= stored. so that at the drop Of the hat their
: first blow should stagger humanity and ter
, rify the immediate victim. The blow did
shock humanity, but 70 nothing like the de-
gree it would have done had the world then
comprehended the depth of the infamy of
the whole proceeding. Now all can see that
= it was coolly intended to be campaign of
? world terrorism
To be neutral is to be indifferent whether
human liberty or world absolutism is to pre-
1 veil ROBERT BAKER.
Brooklyn, June 2, 1915.
A Fight for Humanity.