Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-09-25
SENATOR A. l. kREUTZER
Answers Claims Made by Anti-Americans
in Stirring Address, RepIete
With Patriotism

auspices Of the Wisconsin State De
Tense League, which is desirous o
| bringing certain matters of vital in
terest before the people Of Wisconsin
| Mr.. KreutZer made an extensive ar
gument against claims made by sucl
organizations as the Peoples Peac,
| Councils, the disloyal press and in
| dividuals in communities who are no
( in sympathy with the war because o.
Kreutzer was at Mellen on Tuesday
evening; at Ashland on Wednesday
evening and was called by wire tt
come to Medford Thursday evening
which request he cheerfully complied
with. He was greeted on each
occasion by large and enthusias-
tic audiences. Next Thursday even.
ing he will go to La Crosse, by
request, to deliver the address at the
county fair, to be held in that city.
His address is replete with new
thought, and stirring in it's patriotism
1t should be read by everybody, and
the Pilot gives it in full to it's readers
Never in the history of the world
has a free people of more than a
hundred million in number been call
ed upon to decide the future destiny
of the whole world. 1t is a tremen-
dous responsibility involving all the
lives and all the property and all
the happiness of all of the people in
this United States That there should
be much confusion and grave concern
and doubt in the minds of our people
is not surprising, in fact it would be
surprising if it were not so.
The only way to meet this great
responsibility and to solve this tre-
mendous problem is to be a united
people in thought and in action, lay
ing aside all our prejudices and all
our doubts and all hatred in our
hearts, if we have any against those
who may not think as we do, and in
the spirit of the Master bind up each
others wounds and bear each others
sorrows while we are seeing this
thing through. l am giving of my
time and energy to this end, so /
appeal to you, my fellow citizens, that
you, for an hour this evening, suspend
your judgments on the merits or de-
merits of this question, and with an
open heart and mind grant me the
privilege of a heart to heart talk,
and see if We cannot get to a COM
mon understanding and during this
great crisis go hand in hand as
neighbors and friends, regardless of
race or creed, giving to our gov
ernment our loyal support and deep
est sympathy and thought, that this
terrible war may be brought to a
speedy end and that the principles
for which we put upon ourselves this
great responsibility may be estab-
lished now and forever ON the earth.
No Thought of War
Up to the summer of 1914 the people
of this country had come to the
belief, amounting almost to con-
viction, that the world would never
again see a great war such as the
Napoleonic wars, or the war of the
the assurance of military and naval
experts, that under modern conditions
no army or navy could withstand for
period of six months the destruc-
ton that would be visited upon it and
that under modern conditions q bat
tie between opposing armies would
result in their mutual annihiliation
People were further assured by the
great bankers and financiers of the
country that it would be impossible to
finance awar for one year; that the rate
of destruction of property and wealth
and productive power would be sc
great that no country could procure
the funds and financial power with
which to prosecute a war for any
considerable length of time. Natur-
ally peaceful and law-abiding peo.
pie, isolated geographically, the pol
icy of this government for more than
century having been the traditional
one of non-interference in European
politics, our people had put aside al
thought of war and had made nc
preparation therefor worthy of con.
sideration, and, when in July, 1914
Archduke Ferdinand was murdered
and Austria declared war upon Servis
and Germany commenced the invasion
of Belgium, and for many Ions
months thereafter, our people regard
ed the European war as something
with which they were not immedi
| ately concerned. The calculations o.
military experts and the prediction:
of bankers and financiers, statesmen
| diplomats and politicians, have al
been set at naught and today the wal
| is in its fourth year and we in Amer
| lea have been drawn into this, thu
greatest of all wars known to history
| The people of this country, the great
est of all democracies, have abandon
! ed their traditional policy, have re
versed their convictions as to tn,
| duty of a people to defend itself, an,
| has allied itself with the othe
| democracies of the world in a strug
gle which will determine, no doubt
for centuries to come, whether tn
principles set forth in the Declara
tion of Independence shall govern tn
| political growth and development o
the people of the world, or whethe
the doctrine of the divine right o
kings shall be once more firmly es
tablished in the governments of Eu
rope.-in other words whether tn
| world shall be more democratic o
shall become more autocratic.
This sudden reversal of our tradi
tional policy, this change from
peaceful, Industrial people to a pee
pie engaged in the prosecution of
great war, has produced much be
wilderment in the minds of the pee
pie. 1t will do no good to ignor
the fact that a great many peopl,
loyal and patriotic, believe that ou
entrance into the war was unneces
sary and not justiiable. They ac
here with blind inSistence to tn
traditional policies of our govern
ment, ignoring the vast change i
conditions. particularly in means
communication and transportatio
which makes New York nearer I
London. Paris and Berlin today, tha
was London to Paris one hundre
years ago. Financially, commercial