Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-11-12

american Federation of Labor
Ladies and Gentlemen: | esteem
II a great privilege and real
honor to be thus admitted to your
public councils. When your exec
utlye committee paid me the COM
piiment of inviting me here glad
iy accepted the invitation because
1t seems TO me that this. above all
other times in cur history. is the
time for common counsel for the
drawing not only OF the energies
but OF the minds of the nation to-
gether.
i am introduced to YOU as the pres
ident OF the United States, and yet |
would be pleased if you would put the
thought OF the Office into the back
ground and regard me as one of your
FELLOW citizens who has come here TO
speak not the words of authority. but
the words Of counsel, the words which
men should speak to one another who
wish TO be frank in moment more
critical perhaps than the history of
the world has ever vet known.
Il think that in order to realize just
what this moment Of counsel is, it is
= |
ourselves Just how this war came
+ about and just what it is for Its
roots run deep into all the obscure
soils of history, and in my view this
is the last decisive issue between the
, old principles of power and the new
! principles of freedom
Germany Threw Firebrand.
THE war was started by Germany.
S Her authorities deny that they started
| Il, But | am willing to let the state
ment ! have just made await the ver-
| dict Of history And the thing that
Z needs to be explained is why Germany
Q started the war Remember what the
y position of Germany in the world was
: las enviable a position as any nation
has ever occupied The whole world
I stood at admiration of her wonderful
q intellectual and material achieve
p ments, and all the intellectual men
n of the world went to school to her.
Her men of science had made her
Q industries perhaps the most competent
q industries in the world, and the label
n made in Germany was a guarantee OF
good workmanship and of sound ma
q terial She had accSSs to all the mar
~ kets of the world and every other mar
who traded in those markets feared
Il Germany because Of her effective an6
4 almost irresistible competition. Sh6
> had place in the sun.
e why was she not satisfied? Wha
. did she want? There was nothing il
"A the world of peace that she did no
V already have, and have in abundance
n You have one part of the answer
" to the question why she was not salts
70 fed in her methods of competition
( There is no important industry il
Germany upon which the government
has not laid its hands to direct it
re and, when necessity arose. control il
N THE methods of competition whicl
s. the German manufacturers and ex
he porters used under the patronage ant
AZ support of the government of Ger
a many were the same sorts of cOmpeti
II ton that we have tried to prevent b,
lg law within our own borders If the
n could not sell their goods cheape
es than we could sell ours, at profit t
r themselves, they could get a subsid
~ from the governmeF which made
rs impossible to sell them cheaper, any
I'd how; and the conditions Of competi
TO ton were thus controlled in larg
ne measure by the German government
p itself But that did not satisfy tn
en- German government.
~ Dream of World Control.
e "All the while there was lying be
he hind its thought, in its dream of til
future, a political control which woul
enable it in the long run to dominat
the labor and the industry of til
/. world They were not content wit
success by superior achievements
they wanted success by authority
=. suppose very few of you have though
!" much about the Berlin-to- Bag dad raj
way. The Berlin-t to- Bagdad railwa
was constructed in order to run tt
49, threat of force down the flank of ii
industrial undertakings of half a do
en- other countries, so that when Ge
m man competition came in it would N
be resisted too far because there VIZ
! always the possibility of getting &c
q man armies into the heart of III;
do country quicker than any other a
do mics could be gotten there Look
L the map of Europe now. Germany,
IN thrusting upon us again and again Il
discussion of peace, talks about wha
lai Talks about Belgium, talks aho
lis NORTHERN Frame talks abou+ A1sac
me Lorraine. Well, those are deeply i
me teresting subjects to us and to thel
inc but they are not talking ABOUT Il
ri. heart of the matter.
va Take the map and look at it, &c
many has absolute control Of Austri
MO Hungary, practical control of t
Balkan states, control OF Turkey, co
troll of Asia Minor. | saw a map
-. which the whole thing was printed
lch app opi ta'e n.HSh enT zinc 10Y a
an, the black stretched all the way ffc
rat Hamburg to Bagdad--the bulk of &c
man power inserted into the heart
.or the world If it can keep that, S
has kept all that her dreams confer
rbe plated when the war began. If S
can keep that, her power can distu
the world as long as she keeps il
- always provided, for | feel bound
put this proviso in, always provid
the present influences that control
German government continue to &C
troll 1t.
re- Freedom Is Not Plan.
~ Il believe that the spirit of freedt
1as can get into the hearts of Germa
=, and find as fine a welcome there
II can find in any other hearts I
sest the spirit of freedom does not s
ith- the plans OF the pan-Germans. Pow
me- cannot be used with eoncentrai
nci- force against free peoples IL 1t is US