Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-17

insults and aggressions" does not tell
the Whole story. Our motives for
war go even deeper. Not only. our
rights and self-respect, but our lib
erty and safety, are involved. Speak
ing on July 20. 1917, at the officers
training camp at Madison Barracks.
n. l., the Secretary of State said:
The evil character of the German
government is laid bare before the
world. We know now that that gov
ernment is inspired with ambitions
which menace human liberty, and
that to gain it's end it does not hes
itate to break faith, to violate the
most sacred rights, or to perpetrate
intolerable acts of inhumanity
Let us understand once for all that
this is no war to establish an alb
stract principle of right. 1t is a war
in which the future of the United
States is at stake
The record out of which grows our
deep conviction that 1t is necessary
at once to put a curb on so power
ful and INSCRIPTIONS an enemy is
set forth in an official publication
How the War Came to America
Judging the German government
now in the light of our honest at
tempt to keep the peace, we could
see the great autocracy and read her
record through the war. And we
found that record damnable. .
| With a fanatical faith in the destiny
of German kultur as the system that
must rule the world, the Imperial
governments actions have through
years of boasting, double dealing,
and deceit tended toward aggres
sion upon the rights of others. And
| If there still be any doubt as to
which nation began this war, there
can be no uncertainty as to which
one was most prepared. most ex-
ultant at the chance, and ready in
stantly to march upon other nations
even those who had given no Of
fense. The wholesale depredations
and hideouS atrocities in Belgium
and in Serbia were doubtless part
and parcel with the Imperial govern
ment's purpose to terrorize small ma
tions into abject submission for gen.
erations to come. But in this auto
cracy has been blind. For it's record
| in those countries, and in Poland and
! in Northern France. has given not
only to the allies but to liberal peo-
| pies throughout the world the con-
viction that this menace to human
! liberties must be utterly shorn of its
| power for harm.
For the evil it has effected has
ranged far out of Europe-out upon
the open seas. wherS Its submarines
| III uOlldnte VI law anu the COICSplS
| of humanity have blown up neutral
vessels and covered the waves with
the dead and the dying, men and
women and children alike. Its agents
have conspired against the peace OF
neutral nations everywhere, sowing
the seeds of dissension, ceaselessly
endeavoring by tortuous methods on
deceit, of bribery, false promises
and intimidation, to stir up brother
tv1e-k he Nkh IN ~
der that the liberal world might no
be able to unite. in order that the
autocracy might emerge from the
war. IEsN
"All this we know from our ex.
perience with the Imperial govern.
ment. AS they have dealt with
Europe, so have they dealt with us
and with all mankind. And so Out
of these years the conviction has
grown that until the German nation
is divested of such, democracy car
not be safe
Not Hostile to German People
One thought which you should
keep always in mind is the clear dis
tinction between our attitude toward
the Imperial German government
and our attitude toward the German
people. The President said in his
speech of June IA, 1917:
We uIe bOl lllC SlitiiAlSS VI lhe
German people and they are not ouI
enemies They did not originate OF
desire this hideous war or wish tina,
we should be drawn into it; and we
are vaguely conscious that we are
fighting their cause, as they will
some day see it. as we'll as our own
They are themselves in the grip OF
the same sinister power that has now
at last stretched its ugly talons out
and drawn blood from U.S."
Every American sold1er in this wal
fights for objects dearer to all of us
than life itself-for freedom an6
democracy. for the safety of oul
own homes and families, for tn,
honor of our country. You will
think often of these objects during
your period of training and after
| you actually enter the trenches. The
more you think about them, the
greater will be your pride that yor
are one of those first chosen to de,
fend them.
"The world must be made safe fol
democracy"