St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-03-14
REV. MARTIN GIVES
STRONG SERMON ON
AMERICA AND WAR

America and the Great War deliy-
cred before a large congregation in
Grace Methodist church Sunday
morning, Rev. George A. Martin utter
ed a scathing arraignment of Ger
many and her methods: said he be-
| lieVed the day of the pacifist was past
insofar as the issues with Germany
were concerned; gave as his belief
that the time had come when every
American citizen should drop the ny
phen, and irrespective of race, color,
creed or party stand behind President
Wilson, and said in conclusion that he
believed there could he no permanent
peace until Germany was defeated.
Mr.. Martin said in part: 1.-TWO years
ard seven months have come and gone
since the greatest war in the history
Of the world began. During this pc
riod the United States as a govern
mont has maintained its neutrality. In
| letter and spirit it has sought to hold
with equal discrimination England,
! Germany, France, Russia, Austria and
! Turkey. The pursuit of this policy
has called forth from its millions of
citizens the heartiest commentator
! and the severest condemnation.
| Between these two extremes there
| has been a large number of citizens
who have been reading widely, OBJ
i serving shrewdly and thinking deeply.
| They have been moved by neither ig-
! norance, prejudice nor passion. The
| judgement they have reached, and the
! convictions they cherish have matur-
| ed through slow and careful pro-
/ cesses.''
Mr.. Martin went on to say that he
! l.,
| tempts to excite public opinion" but
was convinced that the highest well
! fare of my country and the greatest
| interest of humanity demand public
utterance, and I take opportunity to
say What / believe
The speaker then took up the first
division of his subject. First, be-
lieve that irrespective of race, color,
creed, or party every American citi-
zen should stand by President Will
son in his appeal for an America uni
ted in feeling, in purpose and in union
of duty, of opportunity and of SER
| vice."
Taking up consideration of the cri-
teal period of the country's history,
the speaker assaulted the senators who
| recently held up the Presidents bill
in the closing hours Of the Gath ses-
sion of Congress. saying They have
! made for the present the country
helpless and contemplate in the sight
of the world Repudiated by their
| colleagues scorned by their fellow CT
items. condemned by their own states
| they are reaping what they deserve.
Secondly, 1 believe the time has
come when every American should
drop the hyphen. All Of us of for
eign ancestry We trace our Inca ge
back to all the countries of Europe.
Our ancestors near or remote chose
this land as their land Possibly we
chose it ourselves. Here we live.
Here we have builded our homes, here
we find employment. Here we share
equally all the rights and privileges,
opportunities and blessings Of a free
country.
"As long as our country was neutral
We could take sides with the Teutonic
powers or the allies but now that we
! have come to the parting of the ways,
and are longer neutral there is only
one honorable course: To stand by
our country and proclaim, I am an
American.
''rhirdly, I believe the day of the
pacifist has passed so far as the issues
! with Germany are concerned. The
common and preferred meaning of the
word is one who prefers peace at any
price.
Il am a lover of peace but I will
not be a door mat for every soak who
chooses to wipe his feet on me. Ger
many has used this country for door
mat long enough. If we have any
sense of honor, of justice, and of right
we will challenge her ubiquitous pol
icy with arms if necessary. 1 believe
we have come to that place where
We should say to Germany, you have
sunk enough of our ships, and muir
dered enough of cur men, women and
children, spied in our cities, plotted,
and destroyed ships and all the time
| pretending to be friendly even while
| you were diabolically plotting to Sc
cure an alliance with Mexico and Jap
| an. We have unmasked your hypo-
| crisy. We have laid bare your de-
ceit. There are some things infinitely
worse than war and one is peace with
a murderer"
In closing, Mr.. Martin said: "'The