Evening journal., 1917-09-12

2. You have sanctioned the levying
Of huge monetary assessments against
helpless victims Of your aggression,
and the holding Of civilian hostages
as a guarantee Of their payment.
3. BY that silence which means con-
sent, you have encouraged the theft Of
private property from the homes Of
noncompliance in countries which you
have invaded: and this burglary has
not been confined to the ranks, but
has been openly practlced among high
ranking officers Of your army.
L. You have outraged civilization by
a system Of organized destruction Of
property which represented NO con-
ceivable military advantage, in the
course Of which some Of :he worlds
choicest historical monuments have
been deliberately and Systematically
destroyed.
3. You have cruelty broken down
those humanitarian safeguards which
civilization throughout the centuries
has carefully built up around the nom
combatant population Of war-ravaged
countries; for you have persistently
dispatched your aircraft to attack nom
fortified cities from the sky, and you
have not hesitated TO send your ships
Of war to lombard sea-coast pleasure
resorts, which had not. and which you
We're ,voii aware did not possess any
coast fortiflcations or any form Of
coast defence whatsoever.
G. You have gone back into the re-
mote past, to the centuries antedating
all civilization, for your inspiration In
rowling and sending forth at the head
Of your invading baitallons the long
buried monsters Of frighthlness and
terrorism. The story Of this s8vagery
is written large upon the plains Of
Belgium and France, and a searching
analysis Of what happened in the early
days Of this war has convinced the ma
tions which are lcagued against you,
ourselves included that the rape, ar
son, plllago and executions of that
. black page Of your military history
wero not due 10 an ignorant and ex-
cited soldlery, but received undOubted
eanctlon In the highest military quar-
ters.
Z. Also. in your deliberate revival
Of the worst horrors OF ancient war
fare. you have not hesitated 20 resort
TO the seizure and carrying on as
bOndsmen Of the nOn-combatant popu-
lation.
s. Lastly, while you were carrying
upon your lips fair phrases about the
freedom OF the seas" you have en-
deavored In your ruthless submarine
warfare to establish upon the seas a
tyranny Of intimidation and bloOdshed
which Is unparalleled In all history for
It's magnitude and fury. AS a close stu
dent Of naval history, you know full
we'll that it has ever been the proud
boast OF the naval service, that its
fierce and dashing valor has been tenn
pered by a noble chlyalry. II has been
eserved for you 10 blacken this fair
ecOrd by a wholesale slaughter of I'M
Tending men, women and children, for
which not even the crimes OF Morgan
or Captain Kidd provide a parallel.
Thus have you proved during the
past three years that, for yourself and
those who Immediately surround and
advise you, there is mo longer any in
tern0tlonal law; and It is largely be-
cause we, among the other free peoples
OF the world, believe that the princl.
pies Of International law were never
so binding and their safeguards never
so urgently. called for. as now, that W.
have Joined that great league OF civil
. llzation, whose object 10 Is to vindicat'
these principles by making this worlC
OF ours safe for democracy" for al
time TO come.