The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-24

mind: vast consuming egotism and
an absolutely material philosophy.
| Vanity and materialism have worked
\ out Babylonian conceit and a Baby
| lonian Futhlessness. At every crisis
| Germany reasons thus: German civili-
| zation is not merely the greatest civil
| Hzation in the world, it is the only
| civilization in the world. The second
| proposition is that to spread that civ
| ilization in the world is the chief end
of man; to deny it, to oppose it, to
question the shining superiority of an
| other civilization, to hold that another
! civilization is even tolerable, is a
| moral infraction which deserves exter-
| mination. Keep the fact always in
| mind that this is not the kaisers cult
| alone, that this is not the creed eX-
| clusiveIy of the military feudalism of
| the junker class, but that this doctrine
| is the handspring which has held Ger
| many together for three years of bitter
| hardship; has made Germany walk
thru death at Verdun, behind the
stupid crown prince, sniling; has
made Germany send the best she
breeds to the shambles without wine
ing; has made Germany stalk unques-
tioning thru famine which is cutting
off the old people in windrows as a
scythe and is whitening the babies like
! a plague.
Blunted Moral Sense.
Monumental conceit for German
civilization and a moral sense blunted
to accept any deed which would seem
to help that civilization. these are the
keys to the interior situation in Ger
many. They unlock the German heart
and reveal its depths of spiritual
degradation. And yet strangely
enough this very knowledge of the
German heart must acQuit Germany
of the national cruelty, the barbaric
blood-lust, the unspeakble Wickedness
with which she is accused by the
world. Germany is not wantonly cruel.
She is merely scientific in her warfare
scientific without mercy, scientific
without the restraining Christian con-
science which has bound humanity to-
gether in certain accepted conventional
kindnesses more or less for thousand
years. Germany has abandoned the
common restraints upon barbarism
which the human civil conscience has
erected during the Christian era. Ger
many knows instead of these re-
straints only military necessity. The
military conscience has replaced the
civil conscience in Germany-not
merely in Junkerdom but thru the ma
ton. The small group of protesting
German paciffsts does not affect the
actual conduct nor the accepted be-
liefs of the nation
So exactly does this theory of GeFZ
man egotistic ruthlessness fit the facts
Of the so-called German atrocities that
for a moment these atrocities, not as
the mad deeds of a blood craZed ma
ton. but as the scientific policy of
logical people unrestrained by Chrls-
tian prohibitions against injustice ana
cruelty. Belgium. for instance. bleach
cd under. the rule of frightfulnesS-
Now frightfu1ness was not an nm
pti1se Frfghtfulness was all calmly
thought out years before the war and
set down as an article in the manual
of the German army otiscsF ne !.
clause commanding frightfulness is
not duplicated in the manual of any
other army officer in the world And
germany before the war decided that
friehtfulness was the best noliey-
So the German army officer was
prepared for it. ana an ~ iE5 r vi %
the Belgian outrages from the hague
Is responeible for the story that ne mas
never heard of an authenticated case
of attack on any Belgian woman not
committed by a German offlcer. Inc
nrivate soldiers did none of that. And
whv was it done? one asks The an
syer is not that the officers were
drunk. The answer is that Germany
demanded frightfuIness. first to ouell
the civilian POPULATION second to snow
Holland and Denmark and Scand1na-
Wan neutra1s what would happen to
nation which opposed German CIVIL
zatioh in war.
Shock at Explanation.
Mr.. Herbert Hoover. who lived in
Belgium right after the orgy of rapine
and plumber and nurder that came
during the first six weeks of the war,
once declared that the world would be
worse shocked at Gerruany's explana-
ton ard justification Of the Cutrages
than the world was shocked by the
outrugeS themselves And Germany's
explanation was terrible. Germany
admitted the cha rges, but declared
49,
necessity! The scientific military con-
science was dominating Germany.
Germany did not revolt; tl1c words
belgian Ttrocities'' in Germany mean
the dreadful things the Belgian civ
ilians did To the German my. The
history of the rast three years IL neu-
trail countries near Germany We'll JUS
titles Germany for inserting the
frightfulness clause in her army Off
GERS manual As a scientific plan to
keep northwestern Europe at peace
the Belgian atrocities paid well; but
they brought England AND America
into the war. The military conscience
did not have forward squint into the
reaction of frightfulness on the world,
because the insane vanity of Ger
many had ignored the rest of civiliza-
ton.
Again let us consider the enslaving
of the Belgians and the inhabitants Of
Alsace and northern France Ger
many during this month has issued an
official statement admitting the en-
slavemert of Alsacian girls, but deny
ing that more than per cent were
under II, and explaining that only a
few of them were in the firing zone
The enslavement Of the people of Bel
gium and northern France has been
publicly justified in Germany time and
gain. as a military necessity It's ex-
istence has not been denied
Torn From Their Homes
When one says hundreds of thou
sands of French people, the poor and
the rich, the ignorant and the culti-
waited alike were forcibly torn from
their homes and families in France
and Belgium and taken in slavery to
Germany to work in German fields
and mines and factories, one is not
eXa operating the number. And the
stream of broken h11rna nitv coming