Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1917-12-28

war IS to free mankind by enthronlng
Justice and brotherhood in the hearts
Of men everywhere. We are fighting
Germany in order to secure the per-
manent peace Of the world which is
impossible as long as the German mill
tary system is allowed to exist for
there can be no enduring peace until
further criminal aggressions against
the other nations by the German au-
tOcracy have been rendered impOSSi-
BILE. The same reason which impelled
us to enter the war must force us to
keep up the war until it's objects have
been accomplished, for an inconclu-
sive peace now would merely mean a
death struggle later on between Amer
lean ideals and an uncOnquered Ger
man autOcracy.
No Compromise Possible.
A truce now would be compromise,
and there can be no compromise be-
tween liberty and tyranny. A truce
now would be surrender, and surren-
der would be defeat. James Russell
Lowell wrote these words in the long
ago, and they come to us in the present
crisis with q new and deeper mean
ing:
Once to every man and nation comes the
moment to decide
In the strife Of truth with falsehood, for
the good or evil side. -:
Hast thou chosen, o my people, In whose
party thou shall stand.
Ere the doom from its worn sandals
shakes the dust against our land?
Careless seems the great avenger; his
tory's pages but record
One death struggle in the darkness 'twixt
old system and the word.
Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong for
ever on the throne,
Yet that scaffold sways the future. and
behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping
watch above his own.
List the ominous stern whisper from the
Delphic cave within,
"They enslave their children's children
who make compromise with SIM"
Before we entered the war Ameri-
cans had a right to be neutral as be-
tween other nations. Now that we are
in, no American can be neutral. The
American who Is neutral now is guilty
of treason to the Republic. The
American who is not for his country
in this war must be counted as against
his country. Whatever our internal
differences may have been. in such q
time as this we must be one people,
loyal to common country and devoted
to q common flag.
Must Support Armies.
Millions Of Americas sons have an
swered to the nations call. They
should have the full support of heart
and soul and spirit of all American men
and women, for, in the name of Amer
lea and in behalf Of America, they are
going forth to battle in order that
American honor may be sustained,
American freedom preserved, to make
the world safe for the common man,
and to make international justice SUI
preme. The Withholding Of slch sup
port by any individual or organization
is disloyalty to the government and
treason to the flag.
This is the supreme hour in the life
Of this republic and the world. A new
economic and social order is emerging
In every land and new international
ism is being produced by the blood
and suffering of mankind. The ending
of the great war, in the only way that
it can rightly end, will mark the be-
ginning of new epoch of world CO.
operation for the advancement of the
common good. The public will no
longer be the people of one section or
all 1t 4 t1,.a
principles of humanity will then be APP
piled between nations as they have
long been applied between individuals.
And why not? The inventions of the
past few years that have annihilated
time and space and brought distant
parts of the earth in touch with each
other have created new obligations in
the relations of the nations. The civ
ilized countries are nearer together in
point of time and communication than
were the states of this Union CEN
fury ago. No nation can live to itself
and for itself alone. The time OF the
hermit nation is past.
Rule Of Right May Come.
Men now living may see the day
when the world will be ruled by right
instead of might, by justice instead of
selfshness. Men now living may see
the time when the ideal of public right
will be supreme throughout the world.
Out of the black clouds of war that
now envelop the earth may come
greater realization of the necessity for
an international court of arbitration.
with power to enforce its DEGREES.
Then will dawn that day foretold Of
old, following the last great battle Of
the world when there will be peace on
earth and good will in the hearts Of
the children Of men. The mission Of
America is to educate the world to this
desired conSummation. To fulfill this
mission there must be loyalty and de-
votion to the ideals of America among
the people of America.
The democracy that we are fighting