The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-06
WHAT THE VICTORY or GERMANY
WOULD MEAN To AMERICA.

(l3y Casper Whitney of the Nisiiantesl
Professional nacihsts. / W. W's and
others-incuding some of our senators
of the virtual agents ~ the kaiser
among Us. shout In seditious speech
that this N not our war. that we are
but fighting the battles of others that
Germany hnd no thought Ia modest Us.
that we are outside the ambitions of
Prussian milltarlsm or entangl,snen.
with the Pan-Germanic vision.
Not many months ago | returned
from year OF relief work behind the
German lines In Belgium. northern
France and Poland, and throughout that
ncyer.,o-beforgotten experience I heard
and saw more than enough Ia Indicate
tho potentin! Pan-Germanic program of
a triumphant Prussia
America win pay FOR this war: such
In a word was the substance OF what l
heard with my own ears from the Ger
mans with whom one time and another
came into contact. officers ON the
front threatened IL when an especially
amlable q humor after some debate OF
the much belabored American ammuni-
chants In Germany hlnted Il: profess
sional men in and out OF Germany pro-
phecied IT. not always In the reckless
heat OF argument or In anger, but as
the deliberate statement OF accepted
faith and rooted conviction.
The millions upon millions OF marks
which this. To Germany, unexpectedly
long war has cost-Germany plans To
exact from us when the victory is se-
cured which her rulers profess to be-
lieve certain. and which the German
people. obediently trustful. do believe
% be assured.
Bismarck told Germany that they
could make war pay larger dividends
than business"-and war and the cease
less and consummate preparation for II
became forthwith n national industry.
Realizing coal and iron. of which she
had comparatively little, 10 be, through
ships and guns and plate. prime factors
In her proposed adventure and the es-
sence of manufacturing life. of which
she had almost none--Germany set out
to obtain the required materials on the
approved Bismarckian plan.
In 1864 she stole Schleswig -Hostein
from little Denmark. seized n coking
coal province from distracted Austria
two years later; and in 1870 despoiled
France OF Alsace-Lorraine containing
the then biggest iron deposits in Eu-
rope.
In 1911 the world heard of the dis
covery of immense deposits Of iron in
Morocco-and within a month German
warships anchored Off that coast. Later
"A few years came another notable dis
covery of iron i'm the extensive basin OF
the Erie in northeastern France cross
ing into Belgium: and I'm 1914 when the
Hun hosts poured over the Belgian from
tier they headed straight for Liege and
the Verdun supported Brie.
To possess in its entirety this vast
deposit is one, and perhaps the most
tenable explanation OF the sacrifice of
thousands upon thousands of soldiers
in the repeated and terribly expensive
German endeavors to silence Verdun.
Now we are seing another desperate.
costly effort by the Germans to retain
Belgium's big coal field, Lens, from
which the British are slowly but surely
driving them.
Thus always the struggle for the raw
materials of ships and guns and plate
with which. won by conquest of arms,
Germany seeks to further obey Bis
marck's behest to make war pay larger
dividends than business"
| recall the rising rage with which /
was wont to hear the autocrat officer
stridng his room and raising his voice
with every stride, declaim, ''the Bel
glans should not have the sympathy of
America. We would not have harmed
them if they had let US pass through.
We offered to pay them well to let US
pass. But the stupid swine refused.
How dared they oppose the soldiers of
the kaiser,''
We have learned in these three terri
bic years the German purpose and the
German means. 1t is to help set the
world free of such domination that we
have come into this war; and upon the