The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1917-11-26
THE INTEREST OF AMERICA
in THE GREAT WAR
Paris in Three Weeks, London In
Three Months, New York In Three
Years, Was The Accepted German
Program.
by Frank j. GoodnoW. J


those responsible for it were no
ready The day had not yet come
But in August, 1914, it was believed
that the hour had struck. A short
aggressive and successful war anC
the dream of centuries would be 6
reality. Paris in three weeks, Lon
don in three months, New York in
! three years was the accepted German
program.
That the Germans might thus
| dream of world domination We may
possibly comprehend. But that the
German people should be willing tC
/ resort to the practices of which they
! have been shown to be guilty in or
! der to realize their dream was hard
ly to be believed. They have, how
! ever, under Prhssian influence, adop-
i ted philosophy of life which makes
! it impossible for other nations and
! peoples to coeXiSt on terms of equali-
/ ty. The pride indicated in the claS-
! sic boast of Roman citizenship is al
most abject humility when compared
with the belief of the modern Ger
! mans in their superiority to other
! peoples. For the Roman was willing
| so long as his political power was
! recognized to permit conquered races
| to live in a condition of at least an
approximation 10 social and economic
! equality. The modern German, how
! ever, declares with contemptuous
! frankness all non-Teutonic civiliza-
ton to be unworthy of perpetuation
and announces his intention to dis
perSe its degenerate followers to
those parts of the earth where they
will least interfere with the spread of
Deutsche kultur. To him the Teu-
tons are the people chosen of God
to redeem the world. Those who re-
sist the will of God are guilty of
impiety and for them no fate is too
7 hard. With them no engagement
however sacred need be kept. No
means is too vile to resort to if it is
thought to aid in the accomplish
! ment of the divine purpose. Never
since the times of the Old Testament
has nation so despised it's neigh
! bors as do the Germans of this day
| and hour. We must go back to the
days of Assyria and Rome to find eX-
amples of such treatment of subju-
gated peoples as modern German
policy presents. Either Germany
| must be taught to see the error of
her ways or we non-Germans must
reconcile ourselves to become the
submissive slaves of German mas
! ters. The fate of Belgium and nor
thern France may well be ours.
But detestabie as the German phi
losophy of life is, no one can doubt
the triumphs of Teutonic efficiency.
Probably never in the history of the
human race has so large body of
men become capable of such efficient
action as has the German nation in
recent years. From a scientific point
| of view, from a military point of
view, from an economic point of
view, Germany has shown great
strength. Opposed by almost the en-
tire world she is still unconquered.
To teach her the lesson she must be
taught will require the devotion of
all the power of those allied against
her.
The non-German world is, then, lat
the present time confronted by an
adversary who combines unbounding
ambition and insufferable arrogance
with unexampled efficiency and I'M
scrupulousness without limit We
Americans, far removed as We are
llolil lHC SICllt VI NSl Iillit III 81 Vi
forts to realize her ambitions, form
an important part of the non-Teuto-
mic world. We must not lull oursel-
YES into security because of the re-
moteness of our geographical situa-
tion or the pacific character of our
purposes. The Germans of the pres
ent day despise our capacity, envy
our prosperity, and are not inclined
to comply with our desire to pursue
the even tenor of our ways in the
continents which we have colOnized
and developed
We have further in German pre-
tensions a direct attack upon the
kind of life which we have chosen to
live. Two characteristics have dis
| tinguished the modern European life
in which we have share. The first
is internationalism the second is de-
mocracy.
Internationalism is the solution
which we have been endeavoring and
successfully endeavoring to reach, of
the problems incident to the nation
al state. The most noticeable phe-
nomenon of modern European politi-
cal life has been the development OF
the national state. While the ideal
of the national state has been only
approXimated, while ali races have
not been politically organized and
while some races have found home
in more than one state, at the same
time the coeXiStence of number OF
politically sovereign organizations
has of itself been a denial of the idea
OF world domination.
lnternationaiism is the method
which has been adopted for regulat-
ing the relations of these separate
political organizations Rules OF
conduct have been generally adopted
to which all members of the family
of nations have in the past rendered
| obedience. The ideal of interna-
! tionalism has of course not been
completely realized, but enough pro-
! gress had been made prior to the
! outbreak of the present war to juStl-
| fly the belief that reasonable ap-
proXimation to that ideal would ulti-
mately be reached. No country per-
/ haps has in the past century contrib
! uted more to the realization of the
! ideals of intenartionalism than the
! United States. This country has al
ways stood for those principles the
| application of which would, on the
i one hand, lesson the probability OF
| the development of hostile relations
! between States and, on the other,
would offer means for the peaceful
settlement of such disputes as might
! arrive. Americas past history thus
| causes her 10 have a peculiar inter
! est in the further development oil
F, the principles of internationalism.
The maintenance even of the ac-
cepted principles of internationalisn
is, however, Inconsistent with the
conception of world control which is
at present the handspring of German
policy. That policy can not recognize
any such thing as equality among po
litical groups. All must be subordi
mated to the one great power. If
therefore, we are to hope for the
further development of an interna
tional life we must fight to the death
| German pretensions.
The second characteristic of mod
ern European life has been the devel