The Robesonian., 1917-07-16
WHY WE ARE AT WAR
If the United States Had Not Enter.
ed the War it Would Have Been
Called Upon to Endure an Insuffer'

II the united StdtcS udu 1NOS IuIcA-
ed the War it Would Have Been
Called Upon to Endure an lnsuffer-
able Penalty
Charlotte Observer.
A couple of weeks ago Mr.. Archi-
bald Johnson, editor of Charity and
Children, rather surprised some of his
friends by asking the question, mani
festlv in some discomfort, as to "why
are we at war;" Mr.. Johnson, him
self, says they Seemed to be panied
at the position taken by Charity and
Children on this wretched war;" Judge
Robert W. Winston appears to have
been one of these panied friends, for
he has contributed to Editor John
sons paper an article in which he
undertakes to tell why We have gone
into the war. So we'll pleased was
Mr.. johnson with the judges letter
that he advises his readers to take
it in if they have to skip everything
else in the paper. We have not space
for the whole of Judge Winston's ar
ticlc, but the main points are worth
noting. Recalling that we Swallow
ed our pride" in knuckling to the Ger
man demand that Americans should
travel only in American ships, "gave
up our rights, wrote note after note
begging Germany not to make war on
our unoffending men, women and chill
dren, upon our commerce, and not to
violate the laws Of the sea-" he says
Germany's answer was to sinkBelgium
relief ships and even to torpedo Amer
ican Red Cross ships on their mis-
sion Of mercy; hundreds Of men, wo-
men and children, some sick, many
wounded, others dying, indiscrimin-
ately, and without warning, deliber-
ately and premeditatedly, not once
but time and time again, sent to the
bottom of the sea. "This," he says
"was the straw that broke the cam
els back. We fought Spain and lib
Grated Cuba because OF the tyranny.
cruelty and barbarity Of Spanish rule
Shall it be said that we will fight a
small tyrant but will run from a big
one? May the Germans, unmolested
break solemn treaties, overrun peace
full Belgium, destroy fair France
annex Serbia, outrage women, burn
houses and churches, terrorize little
children, and shall we not join the
police force and put down this terro,
which menaces the peace Of the world
for generations? This is our lega]
and moral justification. God knows
it is enough" If the United States
had not entered the war it would
have been called upon to endure ar
insufferable penalty. "We woulc
have been branded as towards by the
nations of the earth,'' says Judge
Winston. eve would have been dub
bed old Money Bags and China
would have outclassed u.s." 1t is not
all of life to live, but we would have
stayed out to save our bodies anC
lose our souls. We would have
been walked to the fact that Ger
many's conquest of England "was the
enthronement Of force and We woult
have begun to arm ourselves and ge
ready for the final battle between
civilization and savagery. Our boy:
would have left the farms for thu
camp and more money woult
have been spent on arms and mum
tions, on the pomp and ceremony o:
war than on internal improvements
education, food, raiment, charity ant
religion combined" Judge Winston
knows, and the world knows with him
that "the entrance of America int
this war will bring peace to the ma
tions and dethrone force" He feels
in giving the Benjamin of his fam
lily to the cause that, "this generation
had better face the trials Of the hou7
than postpone for our children ant
grandchildren to settle on a bloodiel
and vaster SCALE"