The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-05-09

the flames Of war burst forth, SO that
men see each others white faces by
the red glare that blazes down from
the midnight sky while their ears are
deafened by the roar of mighty can
non. Every humane impulse is gone
and satanic cruelty reigns supreme
Women and children are murdered,
ported as slaves or driven like beast
to the forest. The civilization of
thousand years with twenty centuries
of Christianity vanished over night.
Trembling on every lip, the question
is is it armageddon? find that
armageddon means the great destruc-
ton, the final conflict, the Judgment
of God. 1t may be that America is
now taking her place on that great
field of armageddon foretold in holy
writ and dimly seen by poet and
painter where the final battle shall
come between error >and truth, and
in which mans immortal soul final
ly conquers his brute nature. 1 do
not know but these are grand and
awful times, something colossally
good or colosssrlly evil is bound to
come to such tremendous upheaval.
Wherever l go, whether in the quiet
of my farm or on busy Wall Street,
people that something Of appalling
magnitude must happen ere long. A
mystical sense Of impending trouble
has hung over us like dark shadow
ever since the Lusitania went to her
ocean grave. This universal feeling,
half doubt and half fear, this wistful
peering into the future, this vague
dread of the unknown tomorrow is at
once warning and a call from God
for action. 1t is easy to see now that
it would nave been better for this
country to have gone to war when the
Lusitania was sunk We would have
at least been prepared now to de-
fend ourselves. No sensible man
wants war, for two years President
Wilson has used every means to avoid
war, but Germany has repeatedly
broken her promises and while pro-
Japan and Mexico to attack and dis
member our country A Mexican
army officered by Germans filled with
lust and love of plumber, and threat
ening Texas with the fate that came
to Belgium, and FraIce. Congress
has spoken for the people. There is
no room for divided allegiance. We
had British Tories during the Revo-
lutionary war. One third of all the
colonist were Tories in 1775. They
raised regiments, joined the British
and ioyously shot down their own
neighbors. They organized the In
dians and brought them down to scalp
the white settlers in Pennsylvania
and New York. l believe the great
mass of Commandments are loyal
to the United States and that the Ger
man Tories who are organizing in
Mexico will meet the rate they de-
serve. The man who proves traitor
to the country that has given him
shelter from old world oppression
will hand a legacy of infamy down to
his descendants, that will last longer
British Tories of long ago. I ap-
prove the attitude of President Will
son and I am in favo rof the United
States raising an army of at least
two million men for self-defense, and
making our navy second to none. l
am ready to do my part and make
such sacrifice as I am called upon for
| believe that this is fight between
militarism and democracy. The soul
of Rome lives today in Germany. The
very title Of kaiser comes from the
word Caesar. The spirit which that
name represents was born in Rome
20 centuries ago. 1t swept over the
earth then and no country failed to
pay Roman tribute. All roads led
to Rome. The same mliitarism again
threatens the world: under the lead
crship Of modern Caesar it is hurl-
ing its power in every direction. 1t
has organized the Mahouetan world
and threatens the United States with
Japan and Mexico. If the kaiser was
merely man his power would long
ago have crumbled, but he is more
than man, he is an adieu. The ideal
Of imperial Rome was law and un-
questioning obedience to lay. Ju-
Illus Caesar was it's embodiment How
like German Kultur, with the kaiser
as its ideal The materialism of Rome
finds its counterpart IN the rational
ism Of Germany. At stated periods
this grim spectre of Caesar stalks
forth with its dark shadow of militar-
ism and deluges the earth in blood,
before it skaters its strength against
the ever growing spirit of democra-
cy. Napoleon was a real Caesar,
born in great revolution without
its mighty forces aboat him. He
hurled his armies across the Rhine
and the Danube into the very heart
ol RUSSIA. us pan! .erS pore the
name of Napoleon, not France, just
as the lcgions of Caesar bore his name
not Rome. The uttcrancc of the kali
ser claiming that he is responsible
not to the German people, but to God
alone is the same spirit. Napoleon
seized France by the throat and led
her where he would Three million
of her sons laid down their lives at
his command. For twenty-five years
his armies marched to and fro max