Norwich bulletin., 1917-06-13

state which makes them collectively the enemies of humanity. That is the real distinction between tho German government and the German people. It, is the distinction between persons acting as indyiduals under one code of thics and acting as members of a state
 under an entirely different code of thics, code which, without any ex- aggeration, puts might above right. Contrasts Political Philosophy.
 The contrast between the German political philosophy and ours is so patent as to be obvious to all The Declaration of Independence put
 among the rights of mankind; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Germany puts the power of the state above the happiness of the individual.
 When we formed an independent gov ernment. we gave our reasons out of regard to "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind" Germany de- fies the opinion of mankind and sets up her own doctrine of might in oppo- sition to them. Our idea Is the great est good of the greatest number. Ger many's Is Deutschland uber allis.
 There is 8 parallel between the enc
 my that we are fighting now and the enemy that we were fighting at the time of the Civil war The southern CTS as individuals were warm hearted, hospitable, friendly, but in the course of time they had become committed to the institution of slavery which the rest of the world had come to regard as barbaFous. The greatest men of the southern states, such as Wash tngton and Jefferson had worked for and advocated tho abolition of slavery but the southerners of n later genera tion thought that it paid. Their pe- cuniary interests were involved. and statesmen like Calhoun actually ideal ized the institution, just as many Ger mans idealize their own institutions and what they call their "kultur." If 14 |. ~4.vA war. they would have proved their point, at any rate for many years to come. and if Germany succeeds in this war, she will prove. in her own opin
 ion at least. her point. She will prove that her institutions, including her philosophy of the state are superior to ours, and she will drive the matter home by exacting the greatest dam ages ever exacted from conquered country by ruthless conqueror. The indemnity of $1,000,000, 900 exacted from France as a crushing penalty, in 1871, will seem like a drop in the bucket compared with what Germany will exact from us. The Panama ca nal cost us about $300,o00.000 That would be one of the smallest things that Germany would exact as the price of her victory The facts indi- cate that Germany went into this war as an investment, for she started in with. the plan of paying her expenses by loans, in the firm expectation that she would get it back from her con- quered enemies. She has doubtless made a much bigger investment than she ever dreamed of making in the beginning, and if successful, will ex- act as her profit corresponding in demnity. It is not necessary to sup pose that Germany captures a part of the territory of the United States or even that she helps Mexico get back the states which we have built up and organized and for which we paid Mexico in the beginning. A mere in- demnity payable in cash or bonds or bills of exchange would make each one of us a taxpayer to Germany. This Is not imaginary. It is simply what Germany has done in the past and what her political philosophy tells her will now be demanded by her own code of ethics in the future. We have been slow in waking up. We have been slow in moving. believe that we have been criminally slow, but there is no use in crying over split milk. The problem of the day is to make up for the past It is to pay our (Continued on Page Ten, End CoI.)