The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1917-10-05

| -~ e"os e"e OHhteu OtaCeS IS not in
1t to make the world safe for de-
mocracy" is declared by Lord North
cliffe, head of the British war mis-
sion. in plain spoken article, entitl-
ed What America Is Fighting For"
to appear in the October issue of
Current Opinion Magazine. Lord
Northcliffe takes issue with President
Wilson and refutes stock argument
OF the veiled pro- German press in
stating that "if this country had
meant to take up arms in defense of
British or French interests, or in the
interest of Belgium, or in order to
spread democracy, it would not have
waited until April, 1917. If its aims
had been commercial, it would have
been in the war long ago. The mo-
tive which brought the United States
in was not sympathy with any other
nation, was not desire for gain, was
not an abstract fondness for democ-
racy as opposed to autocratic gov
ernment; it was self interest, self
preservation, self-respect. The Amer
ican people are not fighting to make
the world safe for democracy, but to
make the world safe for themselves. {"
The only way to do this, Lord
Northcliffe asserts, is to make Prus-
sia admit that her theory of a Hate
which has no conscience, a state Which
can do no wrong, is out of date.
"The German people," he adds, "have
been purposely deluded into the be-
lief that they are defending them
selves against those who are set upon
crushing them out of existance. a
design which nobody but a lunatic
would conceive or imagine possible
of execution. Austria fancies that
she went to war to defend herself
against Russia, the truth being that
she was used as cat's-paw by the
Hohenzollern gang. Bulgaria is still
under the delusion that she will gain
the reward promised her by Prussian
junkerdOm for her treachery to her
-Slavs.
even among the Allies there exist
misconceptions as to the causes and
aims of the struggle. A number of
English people still fancy that Britain
could have kept out of the conflict if
Belgium had not been invaded. These
people are still unable to understand
that Prussia's object in forcing war
upon France and Russia was in order
to clear them out of the way and be
able to attack England and. in course
of time, the United States, with a
good prospect of success later on.
"In Russia the pro-German propa-
gandists have infected many with the
crazy notion that the new republic
has no interest of it's own to defend
against Germany, and only remains in
the war for the benefit of France and
Britain. l have even heard French
people speak as if their country took
up arms for the purpose Of regaining
Alsace and Lorraine, whereas we
know that France would never have
brought upon the world the frightful
calamity of war for selfish aims.
"Here in the United States l am
told, and l have discovered proof for
myself, that there are people deluded
by German and pro-German propa-
gandists into supposing that this is
commercial war; 1t is not very easy
to make out exactly what these people
mean by that expression. So far as |
can learn they suppose that the cause
of the war was commercial rivalry,
and that the combatants are each
seeking to gain control of the worlds
markets"
1t is at the British Empire that
fingers are pointed when there is
talk of this being a commercial war,
Lord Northcliffe complains, and
asks: "What would have been the
good of Britain going to war with
Germany in order to secure markets?
AS soon as she had secured them,
they would have been open to Ger
man as freely as British trade. The
German vice chancellor, DR.. Helffe-
rich, has asserted that Great Brit
aims object was the economic op-
preston of Germany How could
Britain oppress any nation economic
ally so long as she allowed the trad
ers of all nations to compete with
her own traders upon equal terms?
"The peoples of the British EN-
pire did not want war. They had moth
ing to gain from war. They were
They were attacked.
Whether Prussia had invaded Bel
gium or not, Britain would have been