The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-16


 them once or twice. Russia is far, far
 from happy.
 I cannot believe that any sane person not in German pay can wish the United States to become as Russia is today,
 but that is exactly what will happen 1T
 we listen to the German agents and put our hands down now. Let me put it nest
 simply. The great body of Americans be-
 lieve today, as they should, that our combined existence depends on our own military preparation. A small, noxlous 1 body of German agents and purhlnd peace lovers are crying, Put our hands I down! Put our hands down!" Suppose | l listen to the cry and begin crying the 1 same words. ! am added, to their num- | Der. ] cry Put our hands down. Put our hands downi' You listen to me and are added to the number. You echo the cry. Suppose the majority of Americans | come to that same way of thinking The | majority rules and we do put our hands down. We stand with our arms hanging. our faces exposed, and wait. For what? | No doubt the German agents will he l satisfied and pack their trunks and go
 home to Germany. Merry thought, Hardly.
 We have seen what the German
 agents will do; they did it before we entered the war and they would do it I if we backed out of the war. They | prejudice, and stir up national resent ments. Having gotten us out of the | war against Germany they would try | to get us into war with France Italy or England. They would no longer be peace rropagandists but war propagandists, because we would be unarmed and easy victims. They
 would create civil war if possible. They would use German money to
 throw us into the state poor Russia finds herself in today. Then Germany
 would strike defenseless South Amer !, ica.
 IL is my honest belief that Germany ] has had for many years two alterna- i tive plans for conquest From Berlin she has drawn two lines, one to the l southeast through Salonil1i and to the orient, the other to the southwest ! through Spain to South America. She l hoped England would do the Weber, ! Fields act and keep her hands down While German armies stunned France | and then should leap on the orient and grasp vast dominion there. 1 England did not keep her hands down. She is not entirely a fool. That plan l failed. It seems hopeless now. 1 The other plan Germany will try the ! moment she makes peace and gets her l breath. if her agents can persuade u5 ! to keep our hands down.
 | I don't like war and you don't like war. We have every reason to be q peaceful people. We have vast terri 1 tory, the most fruitful and productive
 in the world; and warlike peoples have
 always been those living in barren | lands or who have been cramped into
 scant quarters. It is never necessary 1 to preach the doctrine of peace to IAmerica, because the natural state of America is peace. America does not and never has gone to war except to l avengef insults that have become un- l bearable or to protect herself against 1 maFauders. When the great, wise,
 peace-loving American people declare war there is a reason for it, and a req
 son that affects the honor or the safe- {! ty of the nation.
 l Germany has insulted and injured | us in a maner no decent people can 1 stand. She has flouted our rights and l she continues to do so. She was a men,
 ace to our existence before the war I began and she has become a greater menace with each day her troops have been in the field. Her navy Is practi- 1 cally intact; her people debt ridden. 1 For half 3 century she has been tho | one warlike nation of the earth. What will Germany do if we keep our hands l down when this war ends? What
 would you do if you were warlike idtloiit CdrelcSS ol rlSulS ol OlHeFs 1 isee BelgiuIn!) and craving territory? :? l You would give slap in the face 10 l the fat fool with his hands down and you would leap on South America and
 wrest from it the cost of the great l European war
 1 Germany is not our worst enemy. l With our fists up we can take care of | Germany. Our worst enemy is here. 1 He is the man who asks us to put our 1 hands down and stand like a silly sheep until Germany is ready to | strike.