The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-06-20

v sWMASAf We uOlOE anu ulluef WHICH W
serve Is the emblem of our unity, GU
power, our thought and our purpos
as nation. 1t has no other characte
than that which we give it from ger
GRAFTON to generation. The choices ar
ours. 1t floats in majestic silenc
i above the hosts that execute thos
choices, whether in peace or in wal
And yet, though silent, it speaks t.
( alsspeaks to us of the past, of tn
men and women who went before II
and of the records they wrote upon it
We celebrate the day of it's birth; ant
from Its birth until now it has wit
MESSED a great history, has floated OF
high the symbol of great events, o
9 great plan of life worked out by I
great people. We are about to carr!
1t into battle, to lift it where it will
draw the fire of our enemies. W.
are about to bid thousands, hundreds o
thousands, it may be millions, of ou1
men, the young, the strong, the ca
pable men of the nation, to go forth
and die beneath it on fields of blood
far away-for what For some unac
customed thing For something fol
Z which 1t has never sought the fire be
fore? American armies were never be
fore sent across the seas. Why are
they sent now? For some new pur
pose for which this great flag has
never been carried before or for some
old. familiar heroic purposes for which
1t has seen men, its own men, die on
every battlefield upon which Ameri
cans have borne arms since the revO.
luton:
Plotted Against U. S. ="
These are questions which must be
answered. We are Americans. We in
our turn serve America, and can serve
her with no private purpose. We must
use her flag as she has always used
It, We are accountable at the bar OF
history and must plead in utter frank
ness what purpose it is we seek to
serve. 81 ---.'.. .-..~
1T is plain enough how we were
forced into the war The extraordinary
insults and aggressions of the imper
ial German government left us no self
respecting choice but to take up arms
in defense of our rights as free peo-
pie and of our honor as a sovereign
government. The military masters of
Germany denied us the right to be neu-
tral- They filled our unsuspecting COM
munities with vicious spies and con-
spiratOrs and sought to corrupt the
opinion Of our people in their own be-
half. When they found that they could
not do that their agents diligently
spread sedltion among us and sought
to- draw our own citizens from their
some of those agents
were men connected with the official
embassy of the German government it.
self here in our own capital. They
sought by violence to destroy our in
Autries and arrest our commerce.
They tried to incite Mexico to take
up arms against us and to draw Jap.
IN -~llto~ a hostile alliance with her
and that, not by indirection, but by
direct suggestion from the foreign Of
flee in Berlin. They impudently de-
MED us the use of the high seas and
repeatedly executed their threat that
they would send to their death any Of
our people who ventured to approach
the coasts of Europe. And many OF
our own people were corrupted. Men
began to, look upon their own neigh
bors with suspicion and to wonder in
their hot resentment and surprise
Wn0VACl JHClC SWoS oily community HI
which hostile intrigue did not Turk.
What great nation in such circum-
stances would not have taken up
arms? Much as we had desired peace,
1t was denied us, and not of our
own choice. This flag under which
we serve would have been dishonored
had1we withheld our hand.
German People Not Enemies
But that is only part of the story.
We know now as clearly as we knew
before we were ourselves engaged
that we are not the enemies of the
German people and that they are not
our enemies. They did not originate
or desire this hideous war or wish
that we should be drawn into it; and
we are vaguely conscious that we, are
fighting their cause, as they will some
ldGy see it, as well as our own. They
are themselves in the grip Of the same
sinister power that has now at last
stretched its ugly ,talons out and
drRwn blood from u.s. The whole world
issat war because the whole world is
in@the grip Of that power and is try
Ing out the great battle which shall
determine whether it is to be brought
under Its mastery or fling itself free.
The war was begun by the military
masters of Germany, who proved to
be also the masters of Austria Hun
gary. These men have never regard
ed nations as peoples, men, women
and children of like blood and frame
as themselves, for whom governments
existed and in whom governments had
their life. They have regarded them
merely as serviceable organizations,
which they could by force or intrigue
bend or corrupt to their own purpose
\ They have regarded the smaller
states, In particular and the peoples
who could be overwhelmed by force
rs their natural tools and instruments
of domination. Their purpose has
long been avowed. The statesmen of
other nations, to whom that purpose
was incredible, paid little attention;
regarded what German professors ex-
pounded in their class rooms and Ger
man writer's set forth to the world as |
the goal of German policy as rather
the dream of minds detached from