Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-17
LESSON NO. 2S
WHY WE FIGHT

preceding Lessons: /. Your Post of
Honor. 2. Making Good as q Sol
dier. 3. Nine Soldierly Qualities.
4. Getting Ready for Camp. o.
First Days in Camp. 6. Cleann-
ness in Camp. Z. Your Health. s.
Marching and Care of Feet. 3.
Your Equipment and Arms. 10.
Recreation in Camp. IL. Playing
the Game. 12. Team work in the
Army. Is. Grouping Men into
Teams. IA. The Team Leaders. 10.
Fighting Arms of the Service. 16.
Staff Branches of the Service-1.
II. Staff Branches of the Service
II. is. Army Insignia. 10. The
Army System of Training. 20.
Close Order Drill. 21. Extended
Order Drill. 20. Guard Duty. %.
Getting Ahead in the Army. "a.
Army Courtesy. 25. Discipline and
Respect for Colors.: gS. some
of the Service.)
Every American knows the causes
of our war with the German govern
ment. Yet this course would be in
complete If it did not contain brief
review of the events that finally
forced us into war, when at last
there remained mo other means of
defending our rights"
The soldier of an autocratic Kaiser
may fight best when he understands
least of the true meaning of the war.
To tell him the facts would be to
chill his enthusiasm. But the citizen
soldier of a democracy is entitled to
know for what purposes he enters
the struggle. He fights best when
he sees most clearly why he fights.
The resolution of Congress declar-
ing a state of war (Apr. s, 1910
expresses the immediate cause in
these few words:
THE Imperial German govern
ment has committed repeated acts of
war against the government and the
people of the United States of Amer
ica."
Chief among the acts of war were
attacks by German submarines on
American ships and on unarmed
merchant ships of other nations car
rying American passengers. Vessels
of every kind " said the President in
his address to Congress on April 2,
1917, whatever their flag, their
character, their cargo. their desti.
nation, their errand, have been ruth
lessly sent to the bottom without
warming and without thought of help
or mercy for those on board, the
vessels of friendly neutrals along
with those of belligerents. Even hos,
pital ships and ships carrying relief
to the sorely bereaved and stricken
people of Belgium, though the latter
were provided with safe conduct
| through the prescribed areas by the
German government itself and were
distinguished by unmistakable marks
of identity, have been sunk with the
same reckless lack of compassion ol
| of principle The present
German submarine warfare against
commerce is warfare against man
kind"
German Insults and Aggressions
There were other acts of hostility
in addition to the submarine warfare
In his Flag Day address delivered al
Washington on June II, 1917. the
| President summed up the events
| that brought on war as follows:
"It is plain enough how we were
| forced into the war. The eXtraordi.
nary insults and aggressions of the
Imperial German government left us
no self-respecting choice but to take
up arms in defense of our rights as
! a free people and of our honor as q
sovereign government. The military
masters of Germany denied us the
right to be neutral. They filled ouI
unsuspecting communities with vi
cious spies and conspirators and
sought to corrupt the opinion of ouI
people in their own. behalf. When
they found that they could not dc
that, their agents diligently spread
sedition amongst us and Sought tc
draw our own citizens from their
allegiance-and some of those agents
were men connected with the officia
embassy Of the German government
itself here in our capital. They
sought by violence to destroy our in.
dustries and arrest our commerce
They tried to incite Mexico to take
up arms against US and to draw
Japan into a hostile alliance will
her-and that, not by indirection
but by suggestion from the foreign
office in Berlin. They impudently de.
MED us the use of the high seas anC
repeatedly executed their threat tha'
they would send to their death any
of our people who ventured to ap'
proach the coasts of Europe"
Our Liberty and Safety Involved
Yet even this list of "extraordinar!