Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-20
BY WALTER WELLMAN (copyright, 1879

IAN Copyright, 1919
From that moment the world war has been nothing
else than a mighty and well nigh unanimous struggle Of
civilization to free itself Of the blight Of the old super
stition that Force is Its master. s#
At first the vast portent Of Americas moral leader
ship and capitalization of the hopes of the world was
not everywher perceived. Even now many do not see It,
many are skeptical. many think this war nothing than a
war OF the olden type, the spohs to the victors as long
as they can hold them.
Great movements in the minds and wills of huge
masses of men work slowly. They are not spectacular.
They do not make pictures before the eye, are slowly
recognized and understood. The eyes Of the multitude
at death-grip. they see not the greater, more powerful
more majestic movement going on in the souls Of the
peoples who make the armies and for whom the armies
are only fists for the moment in vigorous action.
But gradually the great underlying truth is being
slowly perceived, more and more the world grasps the
deep. true meaning Of the combat. The triumph is not
far off. Soon Americas gift to humanity will be as per-
naanently fixed in the institutions of our new civilization
as the end Of private war, Of feudalsn, Of slavery. of
torture, Of wars over religions, of the divine right of
kings to exploit the common herd.
War is the last of the great monstrosities Of bar
barrie superstition to go, but it's hour has struck.
At this juncture. with the end in sight, the prize
almost in our grasp. Americas high mission nearing the
goal, there come many voices demanding a quick ending
Of the war, a peace by compromise, a truce.
Whose voices are they? Lovers Of peace. haters Of
war, haters of militarism. So are we all. But these agt-
tators who come to washington by the hundreds and send
their letters and kilograms by the tens Of thou
sands till they have succeeded in making some little I'M
preston. what actually is it they ask Z
They want a quick ending of this war rather than
wait a little and end~all war. They are SO much in love
with peace they would. have it for a short time rather
than for all time. They so much hate militarism they
would coax the tyrant to stop for a. time his grim work
on condition that he may retain his throne Of tyranny
over mankind with leave to resume the grim business
whenever he sees fit. They are so much panied by the
the surgeons to STOP with t. job half finished leaving
the virus intact to break out again with enhanced viru-.
lence in the near future.
These misguided pacifsts who love peace but are
unwilling to fight for 1t against the great stream Of Amer.
lean opinion, which holds the prize within view as too
precious to be jeopardized by any temporary expedients
or compromises.
Today the. only place in the world where militarism
survives formidably both in body and spirit is in Ger
many. It survives there because the fortunes Of the
dynasty and the ruling class are bound up in it. because
the minds Of the masses have been poisoned. %@5
II the outcome leaves the masters of GermanySWhos
are guilty of the crime Of this. war still masters able to
go on mesmerizing. oodwinkingssssdupi sssthaR Gernaans
people,, militarism VIII remainSrooted there, the&war will
have been fought in vain. S aasass%S 49, SaS#
If militarism survives as the essence, Of Teuton. pow
er 1t must survive everywhere, even in Arnerica-there
will be no choice.
It is not for me to preach, to moralize. My business
is to give news. But this is the great news Of the hour
dS l gamer 1t II the highest and best informed circles
at this capital.
1t. is the news Of the day that America is now the
hope of the world; that we have shown civilization the
one way out Of the desperate dilemma; that this way
will come as soon as the German people recover from
their madness, cast out the masters who have missed
them. become convinced their only hope Of salvation lies
through abandonment Of Force and seeking a new fellow
ship with the world about them on a basis Of mutual
peace and security.
It is necessary to beat, crush, overYhelm German
military power till the people who have had blind faith
In It, who support 1t and stand morally responsible for
1t before the world, become convinced it is futile, a lost
cause. a thing the world of today will not have, a thing
the German nation, mo other nation, can now or ever
make go.
In the judgment Of every public man whose opinion
IS based upon knowledge of the world and Of the condi-
tons Of the, moment nothing but the heavy hand Of de-
eat and disaster can bring the German people out of
their strange obsessfon. Reason is lost upon them. 1t
does not reach them. Nothing reaches them but the con-
seriousness Of failure, Of a world united against them,
fear for their future.
The harder and faster America makes her physical
power felt the sooner will come the success Of her moral
leadership, the smaller will be the cost to our country
IN men and money, the smaller the cost to all the peo-
pies caught in this maelstrom OF militarism. Every day
saved in reaching the end is a day of mercy. It depends
upon American energy, unity, swiftness. whether the
days Of mercy are to be many or few.
Nothing could be better calculated to retard the res-
toration Of sanity in Germany than news that America
was considering a compromise.
Our nation has gone half way toward acbtevaner+ az
its mission. and now the sentimentalists would have us
stop and let 1t all go to ruin.
To stop now and parley with Prussianisin would be
fatal. To compromise with the masters of Germany
would leave them in power, and with them tase system
or which they are the embodiment, which cannot 20 till
they go. Ruinous It would be IL America were to pause in
the business Of crushing and take to negotiating with
the evil thing 1t is our mission to destroy.
XOCITIES we'll here. but VASTLY is better. vas
arcYYrrsEmrrN silly had died before the war. 80 the
ENEU message told us that Bucharest won-