River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1917-06-21

In particular, and the peoples who
could be overwhelmed BY force, as
| their natural tools and instruments of
| domination. Their purpose has long
| been avowed.
The demands made by Austria upon
Serbia were a mere single step in a
| plan which cOmpassed Europe and
| Asia, from Berlin to Bagdad. They
| hoped those demands might not arouse
| Europe, but they meant to press them
whether they did or not, for they
| thought themselves ready for the f1naf
| issue of arms.
Vast Empire Planned.
Their plan was to throw broad belt
of German military power and political
| control across the very center of Eu-
rope and beyond the Mediterranean in
to the heart of Asia and Austria-Hun-
| gary was to be as much their tool and
| pawn as Serbia or Bulgaria or Turkey
or the ponderous states of the East.
| The dream had it's heart at Berlin. 1t
| could have had a heart nowhere else
| It rejected the idea of solidarity of
race entirely. The choice of peoples
| played no part in it at all. They ar
| IDENTIFY desired to direct their own af-
| fairs, would be satisfied only by undis-
| puted independence They could be
kept quiet only by the presence or the
| constant threat of armed men. The
| German military statesmen had reck-
| oned with all that and were ready to
tn hot
And they have actually carried the
| greater part of that amazing plan into
| execution! Look how things stand.
Austria is at their mercy. It has acted,
not upon it's own initiative or upon the
| choice Of it's own people, but at Ber-
| Inns dictatiOn ever since the war be-
gan. It's people now desire peace, but
cannot have it until leave is granted
| from Berlin. The SO-called central
powers are in fact but a single power.
Serbia Is at it's mercy, should it's hands
| be but for a moment freed. From
Hamburg to the Persian gulf the net
| is spread.
Why Berlin Seeks Peace.
Is it not easy to understand the eag-
tested from Berlin ever since the snare
was set and sprung? Peace, peace,
peace has been the talk of her foreign
| office for now a year and more; not
| peace upon her own initiative, but up
on the initiative of the nations over
which she now deems herself to hold
| the advantage. Through all sorts Of
nh hos 70 in a
sorts of guises, but never with the
| terms disclosed which the German gov
eminent would be willing to accept.
| That government still holds valuable
part Of France, though with slowly re-
laxing grasp, and practically the whole
of Belgium. It cannot go further; 1t
| dare not go back. 1t wishes to close
it's bargain before it is too late and 1t
has little left to offer for the pound of
flesh it will demand.
The military masters under whom
| Germany is bleeding see very clearly
| to what point Fate has brought them.
If they fall back or are forced back
an inch, their power both abroad and
at home will fall to pieces like
cure peace now with the immense ad
vantages still In their hands which
| they have up to this point apparently
gained, they will have justified them
selves before the German people; they
will have gained by force what they
promised to gain by it: an immense
expansion Of German power, an i'm
Af
trial and commercial opportunities. Ii
| they fail, their people will thrust them
aside; a government accountable to
the people themselves will be set up
in Germany as it has been in England,
| in the United States, in France, and
| in all the great countries Of the mod
ern time except Germany. If they sue
coed they are safe and Germany and
the world are undOne; if they fail Ger
many is saved and the world will be at
peace If they succeed, we and all
the rest of the world must remain
armed, as they will remain, and must
make ready for the next step Of az
erosion; if they fail, the world may
unite for peace, and Germany may be
of the union.
Seek to Deceive World.
The present particular aim Of the
masters of Germany is to deceive all
those who throughout the world stand
for the rights of peoples and the self
government of nations; for they see
what immense strength the forces Of
justice and Of liberalism are gathering
ont of This war
The sinister intrigue is being no less
actively conducted in this country than
in Russia and in every country in Eu-
rope to which the agents and dupes of
the imperial German government can
get access.
United States in War for Freedom.
The great fact that stands out above
all the rest is that this is a Peoples
war, a war for freedom and justice and
seIf-government amongst all the ma
tiCns Of the world, a war to make the
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