The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-09-25
Plots Against Nation While
AtPedce Recounted;; Reveal
Why Kaiser Control Must Go

4
nations. Slowly, but steadily, with
the development of modern clviliza-
| ton, there had grown q recognition
of the principles Of humane inter-
course between nations which should
control their actions, all having In
view the maintenance of established
and recognized principles to insure
right conduct by nations, the proven
ton OF wars for inadequate causes,
the protection of small nationalities
| from the aggressions Of the great
and strong, and the minimizing of
the rigors and unnecessary cruelties
of war, when war, despite all efforts
to avert IL, should occur. To the
maintenance of this law Of nations,
a scrupulous observance of treaty
obligations is essential. No nation
can rely upon the engagements OF a
power which wantonly violates It's
written contracts.
Case of Belgium Cited.
The independence and perpetual
neutrality Of Belgium was reeogni3-
ed and guaranteed by the signator-
les to treaties of 1889, including AUS
tria and Prussia; it was confirmed
by treaty between Great Britain and
Prussia in 1870.
When, therefore, Germany deter
mined upon the violation of this
neutrality at the beginning of Aug
ust, 1914. because a more convenient
way into France lay across Belgian
territory than elsewhere, although
her secretary of state admitted TO
the Belgian minister that Germany
has nothing with which she can re-
preach Belgium; the attitude of
Belgium has always been beyond re-
proach"; when the German ehaneel-
| I0V. &c g..
| ton, stated to the reichstag: we
are now acting in self-defense. Ne
cessity knows no law. Our troops
have occupied Luxembourg and have
possibly already entered on Belgian
soil. Gentlemen, that is a breach Of
| information law. When these things
! occurred, Germany in effect declared
war against international law and
the civilization which rests on law.
This was accumulated by Bethmann-
| Hollweg's reply to the warning Of
the British ambassador in Berlin,
that Great Britain was bound by the
same treaties with Germany to pro-
| tect the neutrality of Belgium and
that, should Germany persist I'm her
announced intentions, Great Britain
would find it necessary to interpose
with arms to protect that neutrality.
Bethmann- Hollweg protested that
such step was terrible to a degree.
aust For Scrap of Paper"
Just for a word, neutrality" he
said, "a word which in war time has
so often been disregardsd: Just for a
scrap Of paper, Great Britain was
going to make war on a kindred ma
ton, who desired nothing better than
to be friends with her."
The issue was made clear as day
by Sir Edward Goschen's account Of
the closing words of the interview:
He held Great Britain rsspon-
sible for all the terrible events that
might happen. l protested strongly
against that statement, and said
that, in the same way as he and Herr
Won Jagow wished me to understand
that for strategical reasons IL was
matter Of life and death for Ger
many to advance through Belgium
and violate the latteF's neutrality,
so l would wish him TO understand
that 1t was, so to speak, a matter
of life and death for the honor of
Great Britain that she should keep
her solemn engagement to do her
utmost to defend Belgium's neutral
ity, if attacked. That solemn COM
pact simply had to be kept, or what
confidence could anyone have in the
engagements given by Great Britain
in the future?'
Word "Honor'' UnavaiIinu,
The word honor awoke no re-
Spouse in the mind of the German
chancellor. His government already
had resolved upon a course of action
foreign to any thought of honor or
sense of responsibility to plighted
word. When the German hordes
swept over the fertile plains and busy
towns of Belgium, honor and ma
tional faith were Frustrated in the
dust and Germany became an out
law among the nations of the earth.
No one who reflected upon the his
tory of the United States, or upon
the future relations between organ
ICED governments, from that moment
could have doubted that sooner or
later America would be. arrayed in
arms against the success OF a cause
the attainment of which would have
resulted in a reign of anarchy in
the world, instead of the mainten-
ance of peace and order. But events
followed one upon the other in such
rapid succession, that reflection upon
their meaning, their tendencies, their
inevitable result, was we'll nigh i'm
possible. Then, too, IL was not
thought that Germany, prepared
though she was for war to the most
intimate detail could be a match
for France, Great Britain and Rus
STA combined. So America held her
breath and waited. The heroic Bel
CLANS chose the alternative of death
rather than dishonor. They barred
the way of the German invasion into
France just long enough to give the
armies of France time to mobilize
and the little regular army of Eng
land time to cross the channel.
Teutons Baked Of Prey.
Then the Teuton invasion rolled on
to meet at the Marine a defeat like
to that which the Saracen invasion
met at Tours a thousand years be-
fore, and to fall back baked of it's
immediate prey. From that day the
end was certain, although long,
weary years Of warfare may be re-
quired before 1t is reached. The hero
ism of the little unoffending coun-
try, whose only crime was its de-
tense of that neutrality which its
invader had pledged its own national
honor to observe, met with no gener-
osity in that heart of that assailant
Instead, the German government in
stituted, and for over three years
has continued, a systematic course
of conduct towards the Belgian ped
pie unriYalled in the pages of his
tory for pitiIess feroeity, tyranny
without compassion, and scientific
brutality. Only GeTmany's ally, the
Turk, in his dealings with~the un-
happy Armenians, can be likened to
the German in Belgium. A people
who proclaim themselves the most
intellectual nation in Europe and
whose system Of efficient conduct of
dominated as "KuItur." has written
a new chapter in the history Of hum
an tyranny,
Germans Adept In Cruelty.
The restraints Of law, the con-
siderations Of honor aid the dictates