New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-28

Tor tnem.
The German has elevated the German
interest and the German purpose above
all that civilization has acquired in the
centuries. He has proclaimed IN advance
If the present war that German necessity
was above law, and he has practlsed TINS
doctrine on all the fields of battle. Wher-
ever German armies have gone there have
been atrocities and brutalties, not those
Of war merely, but those organized, care
fully and scientifically planned butcheres
which are the lasting expression IN blood
of the meaning Of Germanism in the world
to-day.
The German method and the German
ideal are old. Frederick the Great did IN
Silesia what William II is doing IN Bel
eium. At the end Of the war he Kept
Siesia. and this encouraged his successors
10 new acts Of equal immortality. For near
" two centuries the German idea, first
Prussian. has marched from one war TO
another to accomplish the purpose OF all
Germans, the domination Of Europe and
the mastery Of the world.
When the German people have resumed
the control Of their own government, wheh
the German people have renounced the
policies and the purposes Of their rulers
then peace may come without the despolia-
ton Of Germany as peace came TO France
in Napoleon's time and left the France
of the Ancient Regime undisturbed. But
if Germany can remain as she is, II the
German rulers can bring back from this
last terrible war of conquest new Sile-
STA. new Alsace- Lorraine, new Schles-
wig. then we shall have new wars until
that time when at last the German idea is
crushed in the blood and slime Of final
defeat.
All that civilization means remains at
stake. Nothing has yet been decided as
to the momentous question raised by Ger
many in the first week of August, 1914,
when she sent the vanguard of hosts into
Belgium, TO burn. to STAY, to ruin a nation
because it stood between Germany and
purpose and dared to defend Its honor
and it's independence. Those who hred
Louvain and sank the Lusitana rule Ger
many: they remain faithful to the spirit
of these crimes, and while this condition
endures peace is impossible for long and
peace now would be a crime against pos
terity.
Half a century cannot have completely
obliterated in the American mind the mem
ory of the great decision, the greatest
decision of our national history. Democ-
racy on this continent, perhaps IN the
world. was saved because the simple, loya
roen and women of that brave time faced
the new sacrifice and performed their ter
rible duty without flinching No one who
has heard the story of those days from the
lips of those who were alive then can fail
to realize how great, how crushing were
their grief and sorrow, how hideous the
war that they wiled should continue.
To-day the vast mass of the men and
women of France are facing the same
tragedy with the same grim determlna-
ton. Their hearts are torn as were the
hearts of American men and women, but
their wills remain mistaken, because there
is in the men and women of all races nc
bility in the presence of the supreme hour
which conquers all that is selfish, all that
is weak. By this alone nations live and
races survive from century to century.
This war was born of German determi-
nation to crush all that came between Ger
many and world domination. 1t was pro-
voked after long preparation, it was pros
ecuted with fiendish brutality which en-
dures to the present moment and with each
succeeding month gives new proof of Ger
man spirit and German methods. 1t can
only end when this German spirit is ex-
orcised, whether it ends at the Rhine or the
Spree, whether in 1917 or 1927. 1t can
end only in one way, because to believe that
it could end save in German defeat would
be to believe that we were witnessing the
end Of all that makes for sweetness and
light, for human happiness and human as
piration in this world
To-day, as yesterday and all days since
August, 1914, Belgium is the sign man.
ual of German purpose The spirit
that was revealed in Belgium is spirit
with which there can be no compromise
end no accommodation. All this the men
and women of France and Britain see and
realize. They, like our fathers and moth
ers, have made the great decision. They
will endure to the end. Can we afford,
with our history and the example in our
minds of those who gave us liberty and pre-
served our country for us, to contribute in
the slightest measure to the burden of suf-
fering and grief which is the share of
those who have wlled that whatever the
cost, the German spirit shall not endure TO
bring new horrors and new tragedies to-
the generations that are to come?