The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1917-10-19


sentatives of the German govern
ment IN carrying on that propaganda; ;
and 1t is unfortunate for the country
and unfortunate for the senator from
Wisconsin that he has lent himself.
his great talent and his services, to
the PRONUNCIATION of the ideas. the
ories and desires of the kaiser.
Mr.. President, not only is it true
that the traffic in munitions, as con-
Quoted by citizens of the United
States with the respective belligerents
IN this war prior to our entry into
the war, was entirely consistent with
the law of nations, but it would have
been suicidal for the United States
to have estopped itself of the ability
to secure munitions from other coun-
tries in case of war with a foreign
foe by declaring the policy that citi-
zens of neutrals shall not sell, NUM-
tions to belligerents in time of war.
1t is well known that the United
States, at the outbreak of the war.
was one of the smallest manufac-
turers of munitions. 1t was well
known that Germany was the greatest
munitions-making country in the
world; and for the United States to
have lent itself to this German prop
agnada of forbidding the sale by
American citizens of munitions to
the allies would have been to deny
herself the right of self-defense in
case Of war with Germany.
Right to Travel on Certain Ships
Did Not Start War.
The senator talks about the liber-
ties of the citizen. The liberties of
the citizen are imperiled as nothing
else could imperil them in this con-
f1ict with Germany. The senator from
Wisconsin discloses either ignorance
or Indifference as to the true facts
when he says that this war was
brought about by a contention for
the right of American citizens to ira
vel on vessels carrying munitions.
The German government not only es-
tablished war zone 1,400 miles in
length, through which passes three
fourths of all the commerce of the
world, and declared that the United
States could not continue her COM
merce in that zone, Notwithstanding
the fact that the laws of nations for
a thousand years have made the open
seas the free trading grounds of all
neutrals.
Cotton Would Not Have Brought
as Much as Hay.
What language can characterize
the ignorance or the indifference to
truth that would place this country,
the soldiers in the field, the citizens
at home, under the infamous charge
of having gone into this war for a
trivial purpose, of having gone into
this war for the sole purpose or for
the principal purpose of vindicating
a questionable right? 1t was no ques-
tionable right for the American flag
upon an American vessel to be upon
the ocean. If American commerce
had been stopped, the conditions in
the United States would have become
appalling and Germany would have
been unable to arouse the sentiments
for pacificism which talk about the
war being unjustifiable and that it
ought to be terminated. If Ger
many had enforced her decree,
if American ships had stayed in
port as the kaiser expressly
said and the senator from Wisconsin
implicitly says, then bale Of cotton
would not have been worth as much
as a bale of hay; the value of every
American product would have shrunk
into nothing; prosperity would have
disappeared from the country.
Millions of Dollars Paid People
to Betray Our Flag.
They went to war in part because
it was the duty of this Republic to
protect our citizens in the enjoyment
of their peaceful pursuits, not on
the sea alone but in their homes.
Germany not only disregarded the