Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-09-14
WE We ARE NOT AT WAR WITH BULGARS
BUT ARE SEF,STYLD HUNS SAFE
WITH THEM HERE AS GERMAN ALLIES?

(By Henry Dwight Sedgwick Of the
V~igiIantes.) Ia
We are a peaceahle people. After
the Civil war there was a universal
hope that we should never go to war
again; but Cuba lay at our doors,
plotted, m-treated, making her path
etc appeal to American chiyalry I'M
American justice, and we regarded,
war az a lesser evil thai a ear hard->
ened to the suffering of others,
Against that war neither pacifsts MOI
German Americans made ob1ecuon'
they had no Spanish sympathies.
The Spanish swar was soon ended,
and once more we hoped that Amer
lea would never go to war again. But
our hopes were too sanguine. A great
country In the center of Europe had
waSed wonderfully strong during for
.ty years .of peace. In 1870 Germany
and France were equal in population
and riches. In 1914, the German
population was 10 millions. the
French 3S millions; German com
merce amounted to Ave billions OF Ndol-
lars, French to three: the
German merchant marine was double
that of France; German agricultural
oduce wheat, rye, potatoes, In spite
Of an inferior soil, was % per cent
to SO per cent greater than the
BY peaceful means Germany was rap
idly acquiring a very great, even a
guiding. influence in III worlds al
fairs. The German government, now
ever, remained a government of the
warrior, caste. bred upon the Prussian
tradition that might makes right; at
its head was an emperor, who declar-
ed that he ruled by divine right, and
that his army vas the o on which
his empire was built. n great ma
ton, and especially its intellectual
leaders, became drunk with success
and s~eif-love; boastful and truculent,
It pressed upon it's neighbors. until
the peace of Eprope gave way at its
weakest point. Germany thought n
saw her. way clear to dominate Eu-
rope, and, dragging Austria with her.
dashed over Belgium. In order to deal
knock out blows first to france anu
then to Russia. :
We were a~stounded. We admired
Germany, her music, her science, her
scholarship, her universities and
schools, her municipalities, her indus
try, skill and success, We could not
believe that Germany was so utterly
In the wrong as her enemies said. But
little by little we were forced to be-
ieve III First the allies published the
story of their diplomatic efforts to pre-
. vent the war, but Germany pub
lished her correspondence with Aus
trta; then came report after report
Of murders, devastation and pillage in
Belgium and France; then followed.
one after the other, lawless sinkings
of American vessels, the torpedoing Of
the Lusitania, the drowning of Amer
lean women and children, the intrigues
and plots in this country, the insulting
order that American ships should keep
off a great part of the high seas, and
finally the plan to involve us in war
with Japan Inc Mexico.
Even these Insults n injuries did
not push us directly into war, but
they opened our eyes, and we learned
q lesson. That lesson was that a Prus-
sian, feudal, military government,
with a kaiser by divine right at its
head, will act in accordance with its
nature; that, in order to fulfill Its am
bition, It will burn and pillage cities,
devastate fields and orchards, that 1t
will order priests shot, oma raped.
laborers deported, that 1t will tear up
treaties, sink innocent travellers BY
sea, and seek to COW nations into sub
mission by terror. With such an i'm
i psrtal government, supported by the
rnightiest army that has ever existed,
no democracy infthS world is safe.
Slowly, reluctantly, we faced this al
formative: either we must submit to
the divine rights Of an emperor who
bids his soldiers act like Huns, or we
must fight for Jul own right to exist
So. slowly, reluctantly. we decided tc
fight.
II we cannot overthrow the Prus.
sian military ~aristocracy and its en-.
peror now, not only England. France
italy and Russia. but the United States
also must keep armed to the teeth
and with national military prepared.
ness moulding our national life, re-
shaping u honored institutions
breaking down u old ideas. oul
democracy, as we hoped to see it, will
be impossible. A military nation can,
not be run by the methods of a tow1
meeting, it must be run by despoti'
methods. We shall be obliged tt
economic and scrimp on schools, hos
pitals, asylums. Fairgrounds, institu
tions Of research. to refrain from al
activities which, sprung from a sens
OF human brotherhood, make the live
OF the mass of men more worth Will
to themselves and to others. Armorie
and arsenals will be the school house
for young men,; ammunition plant
will be their laboratories; rifle an
bayonet drill will take the place o
ball and boating.
For the sake Of our children W,
must stop all that wickedness AM
folly now. We must fight till the Ger
man government has passed out of tn
hands of the feudal aristocracy an
their supporters, into the hands of tn
German people.
It was a clear understanding Of tn
matters at issue and Of the immens
consequences to our future and to tn
future Of the world. that has urge
us at last side by side with England
France, Russia, italy, Belgium an
Serbia. May God defend the right.