The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-14

the great autocracy and read her rec
 ord through the war. And we found
 that record dannaEble. With a fanatica1 faith in the destiny of Ger
 man ku1tur as the system that must rule the world, the Imperial govern
 ment's actions have through years of boasting, double dealing, and deceit
 tended toward aggression upon the rights of others. And if there still
 be any doubt as to which nation be-
 gan this war, there can be no uncer-
 tainty as to which one was most pre-
 pared, most exultant at the chance,
 and ready instantly to march upon
 other nations-even those who had
 given no offense. The wholesale dep relations and hideous atrocities in
 Belgium and in Serbia were doubt less part and parcel with the Imper-
 ial governments purpose to terrorize
 small nations into abject submission for generations to come. But in this
 autocracy has been blind. For it's record in those countries and in Po- land and in northern France, has giv- | en not only to the allies but to liber- al peoples throughout the world the conviction that this menace to human liberties must be utterly shorn of its power for harm.
 'For the evil it has effected has ranged far out of Europe out upon the open seas, where its submarines in defiance of law and the concepts of humanity have blown up neutral vessels and covered the' waves with the dead and the dying, men and women and children alike. It agents have conspiredi against the peace of | neutral nations everywhere, sowing | the seeds of dissension, ceaselessIy en- deavoring by tortuous methods of de- ceit, of bribery, false promises, and intimidation, to stir up brother na- tions one against the other, in order that the liberal world might not be able to unite, in order that the auto cracy might emerge from the war "Al1 this we know from our own experience with the Imperial govern 1 ment. As they have dealt with Eur ope. so have they dealt with us and l with all mankind. And so out of these
 years the conviction has grown that until the German nation is divested Of such, democracy can not be safe.n Not Hostile to German People One thought which you should keep always in mind is the clear dis, ttnctlon between our attitude toward
 the German people. The President
 said in his speech of June IA, 1917: We are not the enemies of the 1eIIiidu peOpIe ana they are not our enemies. They did not originate or desire this hideous war or wish that
 we should. be drawn into it; and we
 are vaguely conscious that we are lighting their cause, as they will some day see 1t, as well as our own They
 are themselves in the grip of the same I sinister power that has now at last.
 stretched it's ugly talons out and
 drawn blood from us.''~s Every American soldier in this war
 fights for objects dearer to all of us
 than life itself-for freedom and
 democracy, for the safety of our own
 homes and families for the honor of
 our country. You will think often of
 these objects during your period of
 training and after you actually enter.
 the trenches. The morey ,ou think
 about them, the greater will be your | pride that you are one of those first; l chosen to defend them.
 The world must be made safe for democracy"