The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1917-10-27
NO PEACE WITH CNREPENTANT
MURDERS AND RAPTISTS

udH WuO COuuOucS iSiOHS Ii
himself guilty. The man who for
the sake of peace permits unbridled
sin to run rampant is a co-partner
with the sinner.
The community which for the
sake OF peace and the saving, per-
haps, of some lives in the effort to
suppress murderers and rapists,
permits them to go scot free in order
that there may be no possibility of
death Of the defenders Of law and
order, would be spurned by decent
men throughout all civilization.
There are times when none but
the most despicable coward, with a
soul shrunken until it has no re-
semblance to the Creator in Whose
image it was made, will be willing
to make peace.
Life IL a precious treasure. but
life allied to unspeakable crime
could only be unspeakable woe to- a
good man.
Life in the shadow of dishonor,
individual and nationals or life
where a man had refused TO face
dangers IN order to save women
and children. would be without
value.
The coward who dares not risk
his own life when by doing so he
might save another life has little OF
the Divine Of manhood in him.
For three years all civilization
has been outraged by a barbarism
such as the world had not known
1t is scarcely conceivable that amid
the dark ages of the past. when the
Huns OF old at their banqifet tables
drank from the skulls OF the en-
emies whom they had killed, could
men have been guilty Of more afro
cious crimes against women and
children, against honor, private and
national; against all that is sup
posed to have ennobled man since
the day when the breath of the
Almighty was breathed into him
than the Germans Of today.
For three long, weary years the
world has been suffering an agony
such as the angels OF Heaven never
looked upon before.
s For three Tong Years men have
given their lives, as a sacrifice upon
the altar of civilization in full rec
ognition of the DiYine statement
that greater Iove hath no man than
this, that man lay down his life
for friends
And now, after all these years of
suffering and agony, of world mis-
cry whichs no human tongue can
describe, which no human hand can
ever paiQtxathe barbaric and ruth
less outf3of the world seeks TO
find q way to keep its illAgotten
gains, to save its royal murderers
from the galloWs or the firing squad,
and talks OF peace.
The very suggestion of peace with
such unspeakable criminals woul
disgrace the individual or the ma
ton that dared to consider the dis
cussion of the terms of peace with
such a country, except that coun-
try had c0nditionally surrendered
and left to the victors the right I.
decide the fate of the royal muir
derers and outragers who are re-
sponsible for these years of untell
able and voiceless woe.
May God pity-if God can pity
such cowardice-any individual ol
any nation that would be willing
for the sake of peace, to parley
terms with such crimes!
Vain would be all the work q
civilization; vain would be ali thf
blood shed by the soldiers OF civil
zation on the battlefields Of Europe
vain would be the heroism of the
X millions who have died tina
civilization might live and wo
men and children be saved, and
y. vain would be all the teachings o
a all the ages If this nation should 70
u moment give consideration to th
.- effort of Germany to create a de
sire for peace on its terms.
Shall these dead have died il
vain?
Shall the millions and the tens o
millions of widows and orphans an,
loved ones, whose agony has beel
beyond all description. be withou
avail in this crucial time (which vii
settle the question as to whethe
civilization shall exist or die? :,
]. This is not simply q fight ''tt
make the world safe for democracy