New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-07-30

| 11ApIO DdDIS, DuI let nj" VINO OOuOIS
remember that the improbable, yes,
the impossible, has been happening in
this war from the beginning II you
had been told prior to August, 1914,
that the German Government would
! disregard its solemn treaties and send
it's armies into Belgium, would want
only burn Louvain, would murder de-
fenseless people. would exort ransoms
from conquered cities, would carry
away men and women into slavery,
would, like Vandals Of old, destroy
some of history's most cherished
| monuments, and would with malicious
purpose lay waste the fairest fields of
| France and Belgium, you would have
! Indignantly denied the possibility
! You would have exclaimed that Ger
| mans. lovers of art and learning.
would never permit such foul deeds.
Today you know that the unbelievable
has happened, that all these crimes
1 have been committed, not under the
impulse of passion, but under official
orders.
Iron Crosses for Nurderers.
! Again, if you had been told before
| tue war that German submarine COM
manders would sink peaceful vessels
| or commerce and send to sudden death
men, women, and little children. YOU
would have declared such scientific
brutality to be impossible. Or. If YOU
had been told that German aviators
! would fly over thickly populated cities
I scattering missiles of death and de-
structlon. with no other purpose than
| to terrorize the innocent inha bitants,
! you would have denounced the very
| thought as unworthy of BELIEF and as
q
! God help us, these things have come to
| pass, and Iron Crosses have rewarded
| the perpetrators.
But there is more, far more. which
might be added to this record of I'M
deliverable things which the German
government has done. I only need to
mention the attempt Of the foreign
office at Berlin to bride Mexico to
make war upon us by promising her
American territory. It was only one
of many intrigues which the German
government was carrying on in many
lands. Spies and conspirators were
sent throughout the world. Civil dis
cord was encouraged to weaken the
potential strength Of nations which
might be obstacles to the lust of Ger
many's rulers for world mastery.
Those of German blood who owed al
legiance to other countries were ap-
pealed to to support the Fatherland,
which beloved name masked the mill
tary clique at Berlin.
Some day I hope that the whole
tale may be told 1t will be an
| astounding tale, indeed. But enough
has been told SO that there no longer
remains the shadow of a doubt as to
the character of Germanys rulers, of
their amazing ambition for world en-
p1re and of their intense hatred for
democracy.
1.-The day has gone by when we can
| measure possibilities by past expo
riences, or when we believe that any
physical obstacle is so great or any
moral influence is so potent as to cause
the German autocracy to abandon it's
mad purpose of world conquest
'Jt was the policy of those, who
plotted and made ready for the time
to accomplish the desire of the Ger
man government to lull into false Sc
curity the great nations which they in
tended to subdue, so that when the
storm broke they would be unpre-
pared. How we'll they succeeded you
know. But democracy no longer
sleeps. 1t is fully awake to the men,
ace which threatens it. The Ameri-
can people, trustful and friendly.
were reluctant to believe that i'm
perialism again threatened the peace
and liberty Of the world. Conviction
came to them at last and with it
prompt action. The American nation
arrayed itself with the other great
democracies of the earth against the
genius Of evil which broods over the
destinies of Central Europe.
Americas Inspiration.
No thought of material gain and
no thought of material loss impelled
this action. Inspired by the highest
motives American manhood prepared
to risk all for the right. 1 am proud
or my country am proud of my
countrymen 1 am proud of our ma
| tional character. With lofty purpose,
with patriotic fervor, with intense
earnestness, the Americai democracy
| has drawn the sword, which it will
not sheathe until the baneful forces
of absolutism go down defeated and
| broken.
Who can longer doubt-and there
have been many who have doubted
in these critical days-the power OF
that eternal spirit of freedom which
lives in every true American heart?
my friends, I am firmly convinced
that the independence Of no nation is
| safe. that the liberty of no individ-
ual is sure. until the military despot-
ism, which holds the German people
in the hollow of its hand, has been
| made important and harmless for
ever. Appeals to justice. to moral
obligation to honor, no longer avail
with such a power There is but one
way to restore peace to the world
and that is by overcoming the physi-
| cal might of German imperialism by
force of arms.
For its own safety, as we'll as for