Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-03-19

brothers shooting at DrOtn0FS.
Duprez continued do you suppose
those poor devils of Germans want to
kill US? Do you suppose this is their
war? Do you suppose we should ever
have come hunting each other over
these fair hills and valleys if we had
come to know each others thoughts
if we had had the sense and the cour-
age to unite ourselves, to work to-
gether for the cause of man?
do you think this sort of thing is
going on forever? Some thought 1T
was going on forever away back in
1888 In the name of God, are We go
ing to lose the gain won by the sacri-
fees of our ancestors in the cause of
human freedom? Are we for all time
going to be fooled by the silly shibbo-
leths of country and flag and patriot
ism?
ITO die for three strips of bunting
sewn together! For a boundary line
that hasn't even river or range of
mountains or any other kind of an ex-
cusei For a sentiment that enables
your masters, blood-sucking vampires,
to keep you huddled in your pens, to
be plundered and plucked at their
will! If you want to die
They were all silent now-even
Martineau, as Duprez took another
step toward them, his head lifted high,
his eyes blazing with the fire of his
spirit, his face grown almost majestic
and Godlike under the Transforming
power of his idea.
Il have brought you here to pre-
pare you to die for a cause-for the
greatest of all causes-for the cause.
The brotherhood of man! 1t is COM
ing. The way is prepared. But lit
tie while and such a war as this will
be impossible.
'"The armed hordes will no longer
move at the command of tyrants.
Germans, French, Austrians, Russians,
English-aIl alike will refuse to kill
one another at the will of a few
shrewd and self-seeking schemers
who play upon the folly and the Gre
dulity of the masses. The masses!
L
der factories shall be idle, and the
warships shall rot at their piers, and
the bayonets shall be turned into"
He was interrupted for a moment
by the much nearer tumult of the bat
tie that was raging beyond the hill.
But he smiled in a kind of triumph.
'"They are dying yonder-for moth
ing-for worse than nothing. | tell
you that the world of men needs only
the inspiring uplift of great ex-
ample l have thrown down my rife.
/ ask you to throw down yours.
We shall wait for our brothers to
come and find us. We shall not re-
sist Ne shah bo tried by court
martial and shot at dawn, in the
sight of the two battalions, who will
see for once what real courage may
achieve.
I'VE shall set our great example
before France and before the world.
If we must die let us die for some
thing worth our lives, our reason and
our souls. Let us die for the great
cause of peace and humanity-for
the brotherhood of mani No more
militarism! No more butchery Of
peoples! No more tyranny"
With the last words he drew from
an inside pocket of his coat a small
volume, worn and ragged from long
study, turned to a well-worn page,
and began to read:
stDo mi fi ic tho rI11inO
classes, a sentiment natural and
profitable; for us it is a FOOLS trap.
The nation is for them kindly moth
err; for us it is a stepmother, a
shrew who detests and persecutes u.s..
1--WE are well aware that if war
should break out between France and
England or Germany, it would be but
the capitalists of each country cudgel-
ing each other for the markets of the
world. If we have to risk our lives,
we should risk them not to defend ma
tionalities, but rather to found the
socialist nation that we already carry
in our brains
.sHerve," cried Tillier, as he raised
his rife and flung it on the ground.
The name was repeated here and
there; and another rifle-two, three,
four-slipped from 1oosened fingers
and dropped into the dust or were
thrown down like Tillier's
Eyes, Herve, our great teacher, our
prophet. Listen!'
And while the roar of the battle
grew steadily nearer, on the other
side of the hill, he read:
Flags are only emblems. They
have no value beyond what they seem
to represent. There are thousands of
flags that no longer stand for any
thing. And countries! What are they?
Every country or nation, so called, is
composed of two groups of men-the
few seated at the loaded table and the
mob begging for the crumbs. A
country of the present time is nothing
but monstrous exploitation of man
by man. Behold your country that