Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-10-16
IRIS NOT IRON.

was but flesh and blood and bone and
brain. It was a chain of men-men
With souls, and hopes and fears, am.
/. billions and cowardice, ingenuity and
slothfulness, erudition and ignorance
Christianity and degradation, high
ideals and selfish passions. 1t was
but human.
And being human, this Iron" line
discipline. spirit and determination
formed the key to its strength or
weakness. Opposing 1t was another
line. human too. Both were equipped
with the will to fight and with q
wealth Of the newest and most I'M
proved machines of destruction which
inventive genius has been able to pro-
duce under the urge Of patriotism and
necessity.
In strength these rival lines were
enual For weeks their spirit was so
nearly on par that neither foeman
moved forward nor backward save by
inches.
Physical inaction gave the mental
faculties an opportunity to junction.
and here and there among the single
links which, welded together, made up
the line of iron, conscience emerged
from its calioused crystals of bestial
conflict to ponder these words which
came from far across the ocean:
"The German people, if they would
regain the worlds respect, must
throw of the yoke of tyranny which
miIitarism and greed have fastened on
their shoulders
Uttered in Washington, this mes
sage made itself heard above the roar
Of guns in France and Flanders, above
the cries of peace" in Berlin and
Frankfort. It sent thrill along the
whole length of the iron line-a thrill
OF consciousness and individual
thought.
Then came the test, and the iron
g,bg1t.-cfgcked: snapped, began to
crumble. 1t is threatened now with
iisintegration. Another strategic
retreat like that which carried the
hattie front backward many miles
through frances wreckage, seems ln-
evitable.
dispatches from the scene OF yes
terday's sanguinary conflict say the
Germans opposition was less deter
mined than it had been before. They
seemed disorganized. one correspond
ent ESSAYS, Many surrendered while
others retreated.
THAT indefinable quality, morale,
seems to be disappearing from the
vaunted iron line" The Germans are
not beaten, but the spirit and sponta-
neity that carried them pell NELL
through Belgium and across half Of
France are lacking.
The old discipline is not dead. The
militarist teachings of forty years in
"a in
series Of defeats in invaded territory.
I Haig's battle is not won, but he has a
! great advantage in the fact that the
men he commands are tmpelled by the
fighting spirit, by confidence in their
ability to win and, greatest OF all, by
the knowledge that their cause is Just.
Right is mighty. OF all the axioms
In all the languages. none is more
faulty than might makes right"
Might is powerful, but right is power.
Might is invincible only when it is up
held by right.
After more than three years of war
fare, Germany's people-in the
trenches and at ,home-are losing
faith in the righteousness of the
cause for which they have sacrificed
happiness, countless lives, national
honor. wealth and in many instances,
self respect. The kaiser's bombastic
claims of partnership with the Diety
do not ring as true, even in German
ears as they did when the empire was
at peace and when its army was being
hypnotized into the belief that it was
invincible.
The spell is broken. The iron
line has cast OF its mental paralysis
and realizes that 1t possesses brain.
Defeat begets defeat. Wrong, lawless-
ness, debauchery. butchery, lust and
not must face a reckoning
The iron" line has found its con-
Oniono0. It 10 not irdn, after all.
n4e REST OF US.