Evening star., 1917-06-05
.MR. LANE EXPLAINS
WHY j. S. IS AT WAR
Secretary Of Interior Says Nation
Is Fighting in Self
Defense.

| e6>seAA9
l. Defense.
Why the United States is fighting Ger
many was explained by Secretary Lane
night, made especially to those who
have not seen clearly the reasons for
the country's call upon its young men
today. when more than ten million men
are at the registering places through
out the ma tion.
America is at war, Mr.. Lane said, in
self-defense and because she could not
keep out; she is at war to save her
self with the rest of the world from
the nation that has linked itself with
the Turk and adopted the method of
world bow before policies backed by it's
| organized and scientific military sys-
tenn.
Why are we fighting Germany" Mr..
| Lane asked. 1.-THE brief answer is that
ours is a war of self-defense. We did
not wish to fight Germany. She made
| the attack upon us: not on our shores,
but on our ships, our lives, our rights,
we held to a neutrality that made US
| apologists for things which outraged
mans common sense Of fair play and
humanity.
Could Not Keep Out.
"At each new offense-the invasion Of
Belgium, the killing of civilian Bel
gians, the attack on SCARBOROUGH ana
mines in neutral waters. the fencing
off of the seas-and on and on through
| the months we said: This is war
| archaic, uncivilized war, but war! All
bility; man has come down to the
| primitive brute. And while we can
| not justify we will not intervene. IL Is
| not our war!
| could not keep out. The invasion OF
Belgium, which opened the war. leo 70
| the invasion of the United states oy
slow. steady. logical steps. our SYM nf
self-interest. Our love OF falr ar, play
| ripened into alarm at our own peril
| I'VE talked in the language ana IN
the spirit of good faith and sincerisy, ti1 Wy
discovered that our talk was constrniedd a1ied
as cowardice And Mexico was called
upon to COW US. We talked as Inen
would talk who cared alone Tor peace
and the advancement or their :o"aarad own a
terial interests, until we. discovered
! that we were thought to be naIloh oi
mere money-makers, devoid OF all cnar.
| acter-until, indeed, we were toio tnaI
we could not walk the highways OF tne .
world without permission OF a Prusslan n
| soldier; that our ships might not san
without wearing a striped uniform OF
humiliation upon narrow pain VI ha.
| tional subservience. We talked as men
talk who hope for honest agreement,
not for war, until we found that the
| treaty torn to pieces at Liege was but
| the symbol of a policy that made
| agreements worthless against pur-
pose that knew no word but success.
War to Save America.
"And so we came into this war for
| ourselves. 1t is a war to save Amer
lea, to preserve self-respect, to justify
our right to live as we have lived, not
as some one else wishes US to live. In
the name of freedom we challenge. with
| ships and men, money and an undaunt-
ed spirit, that word 'verboten' which
| Germany has written upon the sea and
upon the land. For America is not she
name of SO much territory. 1t is liv-
| ing spirit, born in travail, grown in
the rough school Of bitter experiences,
a living spirit which has purpose and
pride and conscience-knows why 1t
wishes to live and to what end, knows
how it comes to be respected Of the
| world, and hopes to retain that respect
by living on with the light Of Lincoln's 8
love Of man as its old and new testa-
| ment.
| 'It is more precious that this Amer
lea should live than that we Americans
should live. And this America, as we
| now see, has been challenged from the
a power that has no sympathy with our
purpose, and will not hesitate to de-
| stroy us If the law that we respect, the
rights that are to US sacred, or the
set will to make this world bow before
her policies, backed by her organized
and scientific military system. The
world Of Christ neglected but not a
| rejected Christ-has come again face
to face with the world Of Mahomet, who
willed to win by force.
Why We Fight.
with this background Of history and
in this sense. then, we fight Germany:
Because of Belgium-invaded, out
ragged, enslaved, impoverished Belgium.
cardinal Mercier. Translated into terms
Of American history these names stand
for Bunker Hill, Lexington and Patrick
Henry;
Because of France-invaded. desc
Grated France, a million Of whose heroic
sons have died to save the land Of La
fayette. Glorious, golden France the
preserver Of the arts. the land Of noble
| spirit; the first land to follow our lead
| into republican liberty;
| Because Of England-from whom
came the laws, traditions, standards Of
life and inherent love of liberty which
we call Anglo-Saxon civilization. We de-
| feated her once upon the land and once
upon the sea. But Australia. New Zea-
land, Africa and Canada are. free because
Of what we did. And they are with us
! IN the fight for the freedom Of the seas;
| Because Of Russia-New Russia She
must not be overwhelmed now! Not
now. surely, when she is just born into
| freedom. Her peasants must have their
| chance; they must go to school to WASH
tngton, to Jefferson and to Lincoln, un-
til they know their way about in this
new, strange world, Of government by
the popular will, and
! Because Of other peoples, with their
rising hope that the world may be freed
from government by the soldier.
we are fighting Germany because she
sou ght to terrorize us and then to fool
US. We could not believe that Germany
would do what she said she would do
upon the seas.
children coming up out of the sea where
has never asked forgiveness of the
world!
! I'VE saw the Sussex sunk, crowded
| with the sons and daughters of neutral
| nations.
I'VE saw ship after ship sent to the
bottom-ships of mercy bound out of
! America for the Belgian starving
ships carrying the Red Cross and laden
| with the wounded of all natfons-ships
| carrying food and clothing to friendly,
harmless, terroriZed peopleS-ShipS fly
| ing the Stars and Stripes-sent to the
bottom hundreds of miles from shore,
manned by American seamen. murdered
against all law, without warning.
Germany's Promise Broken.
| 1--WE believed Germany's promise that
| she Wol,1d resnact the neufra1 fac md