Evening journal., 1917-03-03
Down to the Dregs
(From the New York TribuneJ


who were not foes and were guilty OF
no offence save that they lived in the
same world with the Germans and
by existing interfered with German
purpose
We are going to war with Germany
ultimately. exactly as the people Of
native village will ultimately go out
TO kill a tiger We are going to war
with Germany for the same reason.
We have sacrificed the opportunity OF
going TO war for principle-we are
In the position OF the same villagers
who attack the tiger only when he has
refused TO take the tribute offered
IN the shape OF animal flesh. Since
the German tiger is a man-eating
tiger, we shall have 10 fight him.
Nothing is more certain.
Ultimately only one OF two ideas
can prevail in the world-the Ger
man idea or the idea OF tho rest OF
mankind the ideal OF civilization or.
the ideal OF the jungle. Neutrality is
farce. and American neutrality has
been a bitter and a shameful farce
since the moment when the crime OF
the Lusitania first gave to Americans
clear illustration OF the German
mind and tho German policy.
1t is useless now to criticise those
who, in control OF our Government.
failed to give us that moral leader
! ship which we should have followed,
which we sought. The blame for
what has been will be apportioned be-
tween Mr.. Wilson and the American
people by another generation, which,
however heavily it condemns the Pres
ident, will not let his Fellow country
men off lightly
But what is essential now is to face
the fact. We have submitted to muir
der. we have fed our sons and our
daughters TO the German tiger, and
his appetite has increased with the
| feeding. We have sacrificed most of
all the rights for which our ances-
/ tors fought when they. we're as weak
as we are now strong. From the
] Lusitania to the Laconia the his
tory runs evenly. The destruction of
American property and lives at home
has now been supplemented by the
disclosure Of the effort of Germany to
involve us in war with Japan aud
trouble with Mexico.
One recalls today. as on all recent
days, tho words of Cicero, How
long, o Senator3g Must we await a
new murder? Has there been taeit
agreement that when the number of
assassinated Americans reaches some
agreed figure-and God knows it is
already high-then we shall take
arms? Does Mr.. Wilson SO distrust
his fellow countrymen-not without
some reason-that he feels that only
browning tragedy will avail?
Our dead lie on all the shores of
the seas. The little Irish villages
along the coast of the Channel are
beginning to have American annexes
to their cemeteries Hundreds of
Americans are in enforced exile in
Europe, abandoned by their Govern
ment and forsaken by their country
men. Our ships hide in our own
ports; Americans abroad are the OBJ
jects OF pity; charity, contempt, as the
case may be; those who go down to
the sea in ships 60 under the shadow
OF the assassin and without even the
sustaining thought that government
will honor what it did not protect.
We are going to war with Germany
/ because It is not possible to live in
/ the world with a nation pr0fessiong
and practicing German ideals and not
! fight Today, as on all days since the
morning of the Lusitania, the mass Of
! his fellow countrymen would follow
Mr.. Wilson If he would only trust
them and believe in them enough to
act, if he would only lead instead of
cropping, not after the light. but after
1 that national sentiment which always
responds TO brave appeal and never
to timid search
For thirty-one months we have been
neutral in the struggle between civil
lization and barbarism, between hui
mainly and brutality We have pre-
tended that the slaughter Of our fell
: low cOuntrymen was accidental, that
the massacre of women and children,
not a few American. was uninten-
tional; we have taken counsel with
our fears until self-defence has come
to seem unwarranted provocation and
voyaging under the American colors
at sea a reckless challenge to another
nation. And what have we escaped =?
Have we even avoided that sense Of
humiliation which makes the mere
Iexistence OF many Americans a night
mare now?
We are going TO war with Germany
because sooner or later we shall be
unable TO escape war with a nation
whose international policy is that Of
the man-eatlng tiger VIII not the
American people perceive, will not the
. President now directly lead them to
the perception of the fact that peace
Is impossible, and always has been
impossible, since Germany adopted the
policy OF assassination and accepted
the doctrine that there was no right
but German right and that the Ger
man army was its prophet?