Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1917-06-22

| INTO IL, ana we are VASuely Conscious
that we are fighting their cause, as
they will some day see 1t as well
rs our own They are themselves
In the grip of the same sinister power
that. has now at last stretched Its ugly
talons out and drawn blood from US.
The whole world is at war because
the whole world is in the grip Of
that power and Is trying out the great
battle which shall determine whether
1t is to be brought under its mastery
or fling itself free.
The war was begun by the military
masters OF Germany who proved to
be also the mastrs of Austria'lun-
gary. These men have never regard.
ed nations as peoples, men, women,
and children OF Ike blood and frame
as themselves. for whom governments
existed and in whom go' ernments he'd
their life. They have regarded them
merely as seryieeabe organizations
which they could by force or intrigue
bend or corrupt to their own pur
pose. They have regarded the smaller
states, in particular and the peoples
who could be overwhelmed by force
as their natural tools and instruments
Of domination. Their purpose has
long been ayowed. The statesmen
Of other nations to whom that pur
pose was Incredible. paid little at
tention; regarded what German pro
fessors expounled in their classrooms
and German writer's set forth to the
world as the goal Of German policy
Us rather the dream Of minds detach {.
ed from practical affairs, as prepos
ferrous private conceptions Of German
lestiny than as the actual plans OF
responsible rulers; but The rulers Of
! Germany themselves knew al the |
while what concrete pla" what wei /
advanced intrigues lay back of what |
! the professors and the writer's were
aging. and were glad to 20 forward
unmolested, filling the thrones of Bal.
kan states with German princes. put
| ting German officers at the service
| Of Turkey to drill her armies and
make interest with her government
developing plans of sedition and re-
bellon in India and h ypt setting
their fires In Persia. The demands
made by Austria upon Seryia were
mere single step in 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
hey did or not for they thought them
selves ready for the final issue of
arms.
Their plan was 70 throw broad
belt Of German military power and
political control across the very centre
" Europe ana beyond the Meiiterran'
can into the heart OF Asia and Austria
Hungary was to be as much their tool
and pawn as Seryia or Bulgaria or
Turkey or the ponierouS states Of
the East. Austria-Hungary indeed
was to become part Of the central
German Empire absorbed and domi,
mated BY the same forces and in
auences that had or ginally cemented
the German states themselves The
dream had its heart at Berlin. i
could have had a heart nowhere else
Ii rejected the idea of solidarity Of
race entirely. The choice Of peoples
played no part in It at all. It con
templated binding together racial and !
political units which could be kept +,
together only by force.-Czechs Mag
vars. Croats, Serbs. Roumanians !,
Turks, Armenians,-th proud states
Of Bohemia and Hungary the stout /.
title commonwealth of the Balkans
the indomitable Turks, the subtle !
peoples of the East These peoples
did no wish to be united. They ar
IDENTIFY desired to direct their own
affairs would be satisfied only by I'M
disputed independence. They could
be kept quiet only by the presence J,
or the constant threat of armed men
They would live under a common
power only by sheer compulson and
await the day of revolution But the
German military statesmen had reck
oned with all that and were ready
to deal with It in their own way.
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 its own initiative or !.
upon the choice Of its own people /,
but at Berlins dictation ever since :,
the war began Its people now de- /,
sire peace. but cannot have II until 4,
leave is granted from Berlin. The :,
so.called Central Powers are in fact i,
but a single Power Seryia Is at its y
mercy should It's hands be but for =
a moment freed Bulgaria has con- :,
scented to its will and Roumania is :,
overrun The Turkish armies. which :,
Germans trained, are serving Ger Il
many, certainly not themselves, and =
the guns OF German warships lying a
in the harbor at Constantinople re- h
mind Turkish statesmen every day :
that they have no choice but to take !,
their orders from Berlin. From Ham /,
burg to the Persian Gulf the net is !
spread. =
Is 1t not easy to understand the Il
eagerness for peace that has been q
manifested from Berlin ever since the a
was set and sprung? Peace, v
peace, peace has been the talk of her I,
Foreign Office for now year or more; n
rot peace upon her own initiative, but
hpon the initiative of the nations over h
which she now deems herself to hold =
The advantage, A little of the talk has =
been made public, but most OF 1t has y
been private. Through all sorts of I,
,hannels 1t has come to me, and in all 4
sorts OF guises, but never with the a