The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-04-05
THEY WILL SEE 1T THROUGH"

and determined as the day comes
nearer on which it formally will be
come one of the belligerents in the
worlds greatest war. There is a re
markabe absence of hysteria, few
orators are engaged in the useless art
of making the eagle scream" there
is no widespread fear of what may
happen either in the near or distant
future; but there is an undereurcent
of thouht which seems to mean that
the American people. drawn into the
war against their will and when the
war road was the only honorable one,
are going to "see it through"
There are men who by birth or
naturalization are Americans but
who are out of line with the ma
jority of Americans. OF these are
the pacifsts, who can see no excuse
for fighting about anything at any
time. Some of them must be con-
sidered as sincere; others are looked
upon with suspicion Their cry for
continued peace when the peace that
now exists is nothing less than a one
sided war rings with insinceritv The
reasons they give for desiring peace
are not such reasons as bring peace
or preserve it when once it is es-
tablished. The peace they seek for
the United States is that of the vic
tim, towards peace. They are not
many. but they are vociferous. Some
of them are in Congress and are ex-
rected TO try to block the measure
which the nation, in honor, must
take. They will not succeed. They
will but bring odium upon them
selves.
The great majority of the Ameri
can people. so far as the newspapers
reveal are of the opinion that there
is nothing TO be done honorably ex.
cept To make the one-sided war be
tween the United States and Ger.
many two-sided. War is a solemn
thing, and not to be entered upon
lightly Neither is it to be avoided
at the cost of the one thing all ma.
tons and all right-minded individuals
most revere. and that one thing is
honor. Honor is more than word :
it Includes happiness; in the long re
suit of time ii means security. pro.
gress civilization II was only by
progress from point to point of hon.
or that civilization evolved out of
savagery. II is only by defending
the principles of their honor that
nations endure. And it has been true
that largely by fighting have such
fundamental rights as that of self
government been established through
so many broad areas of the surface of
the earth. Wrong does not yield al.
ways to persuasion Ii respects
right when right is strong. 1t was
shot that was heard round the
world, and not pacifist's plea of
let there be no fighting, please"
Those in the wrong, if they be
powerful are ever ready to appeal
to the sword; shall those who are in
the right be put to the sword because
they think war is terrible thing :?
Is war in which one side does all
the killing and the other furnishes
all the casualties less frightful than
war in which the right stand up
Tor the right? In the former varie.
ty of war wrong aways wins; in the
latter right sometimes wins. II is
the duty and business of right to
wage war on wrong
In the war upon which the United
States is about to enter there can be
no sincere doubt as to which nation
represents right and which wrong.
The evidence offered in this regard
includes the victims of the Lusitania
and of the many other brave ships
sent down by erman ruthlessness.
The pacitist can see no excuse for
the United States to make war on A
nation which complacently kills
American women and children. To
such lengths has he gone that the
wonder comes as to what he would
do and say if unhappily one of his
loved ones should be sent to the bot
tom of the sea by German subma.
rine in an illegal attack upon mer-
chant vessel.
Peace is a word of more than one
meaning. That part of Belgium oc.
cupied by the Germans is presumably
at peace. No fighting is going on
there. There is no fighting in most
of Montenegro and Serbia and much
of Roumania. There is no clashing
of arms and shouting ar warcries