The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-06-20

4 IpOkn LOT L1eu lCGlNth- 4 nave EFC1
/ others Of them raise their glasses tc
the day when they would be at war.
And in every day OF every year Of
the twenty-five the Emperor has. by
/ his incendiary speeches, infiamed the
| public ardor for this potential war.
/ Men who proposed substantial ways
! OF peace were sncered at for their in
reference. When the working classes
Of the world began TO stagger under
the taxation for prospective war
/ about 75 per cent of the revenues
I OF all governments going into these
1 vpsted expendftures) the English cab
/ met proposed a cessation of further
I preparation for one year. but the En-
peror's answer TO this humane sug-
/ gestion was TO add four battleships
10 his feet and three hundred thous-
and men to his army, immediately
requiring France TO lengthen out her
term of service two years to three.
Your General Won Bernardo said:
/ Efforts to secure peace are extraor-
dinarily detrimental to the national
| health" The very professors in your
universities have helped instill into
the minds of your young men this
doctrine that war was inevitable. Co
ing far away from your great phil
osopher, Kant. who. in his Categorical
Imperative, has taught us all a new
golden rule. the national spirit of
Germany has been fed on the sensual
materialism of Nletzsche. on the un-
disguised bloodthirst Of General Won
Bernhard. on the wicked war dreams
OF Treitchske. and on the weak moral
ify of Won Buelow; and in every scrap
OF evidence that we can gather from
your Emperor, his children. his SOL
diers. hts Statesmen. and his pro-
I y. - . =
herself nation apart from the rest
Of the world and superior to It. and
predestined TO maintain that super
tority by war. In contrast to this mar
row and destructive spirit of national
ism, we IN America have learned the
value of humanity above the race,
80 that we cherish all mankind in the
bosom OF our country.
A Superior Creation,
And right here, dear Doctor
sohaper, may 1 say that the
statesmanship Of Germany has
been constructed upon one false
principle which is mainly respon-
sihle for all the woes that this Ger
man war has brought upon the world :?
Your military rulers have inculcated
| in the hearts of your people the be-
lief that the German flag must follow
| Germans In their immigration. Hence
/ you claim TO require colonies. Then
/ your Emperor tells his people that
! Germany is above all-have Won not
a song to those words ?--he teaches
them that they are above the rest of
| our poor humanity, and they believe
/ IT, Wen, there are, as have said
/ eight million Germans in America
who do not require the German flag
| in order TO insure their utmost felicity
II6aTn nfhar do
In Canada, in Brazil in Argentina. and
elsewhere around tho globe. always
safe and happy without the Gern1a n
( flag When Americans adopt other
! countries they do not carry our flag
with them. Is II not absurd and mis-
, chievous, then, 10 hold to the doctrine
that Germans henceforth must con-
TIME 10 live under the German flag.
/ wherever they GO? Is not the wild
! cream or -Germanism at the bot
tom OF this crime? Is there NOT n
higher desting. To he born nerhans
/ out of this war, that humanity Is
greater than any race, and that gov
ernments in conflict with that destiny
must perish7
| Then. again, your military class. de.
string TO hold the government in their
own hands are promulgattng the idea
lthat the common people Of Germany
are Incapable of what English and
Americans call self government. "Nc
people says your General Won Bern.
hardt is so untitled as the Germans
10 direct their own destinies" Well
I cannot help wondering what Tbs
IreckoninE will be between the German
people and their rulers when this wa,
is over There ts a fine line IN Bulwer's
play "Richelius." which fits this case.
On II men will play dark sorcery
with the heart of man, let them who
raise the, spell beware the ffend'"
These war dreams, this German sol.
ldar1ty, this Pan Germanisn. this
mendacious diplomacy. this policy OF
being armed to the teeth, this false
principle OF the state above the in.
diNduai, the still more fauacious sen.
| timent OF Germany above humanity
the contempt of your military rulers
for human life, their eager wish tr
destroy the whole body Of prosperit,
which marks the progress of mankind
ALI this has made the world afraid
lof you. Your fnsatiate spirit has ter.
rihed us all. Your General Staff have
even published a plan for attackins
America. If you beat down the Brit.
ish Empire. why will not our turn
come next?
And SO. at last, my dear Docto,
! AftleiPEi, We I1IlQ OfSeIESa% Sh0Ch@ ed
ashamed. and outraged that a. Chris
I tan nation should be guilty of thi.
criminal war When i say that We
hate this conflict and that we execrat Il
the German militarists who made IL,
am uttering the opinion Of the gre
majority of the American people, In.
cluding hundreds of thousands of oul
German American citizens. There was
no justification for It. Armed and
| defended as you were. the whole worlt
icould never have broken nto your Dor.
ders. And while German culture still
has something to gain from her neigh.
bors, yet tho intellectual progress
which Germany was making seemed
to be lifting UP her own people tc
better things for themselves and to an
| altruistic service to mankind You1
great nation fIoated it's ships in every
ocean, sold its wares in the uttermost
parts of the earth. and enjoyed the
good favor of humanity, because II was
trusted as a humane state But now
all this achievement has vanished all
this good opinion has been DESTROYED
! You cannot In f1alf-a4century regain
the spiritual and material benefits
which you have lost.
\ Germany to Respect.
| Oh. that we might have again n
! Germany that we could respect. a Ger