New-York tribune., 1917-07-30

Robert Lansing, Secretary of State. re-
minded 1,500 student officers to-day CT
the war aims Of the United States and
told them that the nation would owe :.
greater debt to the soldiers who
fought in this war than to those who
fought in the Revolution, because at
calls for more patriotism, more self
denial and truer vision to wage var
invader or defend ones home"
They would be fighting for world
peace, he said, for when the fight for
no wars Of aggression, and, if there
were no wars of aggression, there
/ would be ~ wars"
! They would be fighting against an
autocratic power ambitious to rule the
world, whose ambitions were betrayed
| by its disregard for treaties sld inter-
national Law. They would be fighting
| to free their homes and the home of
every person in the land from the
menace of invasion. of lost liberty.
! Not until united democracies had
overthrown the military clique that
ruled Germany would the German peo-
pie come to its senses, Mr.. Lansing
| declared
u. S. Will Be Prepared for Pace
He said, in part:
"Were all the people on earth able
to express their will there would be no
wars of aggression, and If there were
no wars of aggression there would be
no wars, and lasting peace would come
| TO this earth. The only way that
people can express its will is through
| democratic institutions. Therefore,
when the world is made safe for de-
mocracy-when that great principle
| preyails-universal peace will be an
accomplished fact.
"No nation of people will be fit
/ more than the United States for that
! time when il comes. But il has not yet
come. A great people, ruled in thought
| and word, as well as in deed, by the
most sinister government Of modern
| times, is straining every nerve 10 sup
plant democracy by the autocracy
which they have been taught TO wor-
! ship. When will the German people
awake to the truth? When will they
| rise in their might and cast off the
yoke and become their own masters?
| | fear that it will not be until the
physical might of the united democ-
| racies of the world have destroyed
| forever the evil ambitions of the mill
| tsry rulers of Germany and liberty
| triumphs over its iron enemy.
Evil Of German Rule Laid Bare
"The immediate cause OF our war
with Germany-the breaking OF her
| promises as 10 indiscriminate subma-
| rine warfare-has a far deeper mean
I a, = - ha-
| ing more evident as the war has
progressed. and which needed but this
act of perfidy to bring it home to all
| thinking Americans. The evil charac-
ter of the German government is laid
| bare before the world. We know now
| that that government is inspired with
ambitions which menace human llb-
| crty, and that to gain its end 1t does
| not hesitate to break faith, TO violate
! the most sacred rights or to perpe-
trate intolerable acts of inhumanity.
at needed but the words reported
to have been uttered by the German
| Chancellor to complete the picture OF
the character Of his government when
he announced that the only reason why
| the intensified submarine campaign
was delayed until February last was
| that sufficient submarines could not De
|
| tacks on commerce efficient.
| "Do YOU realize that this means, II
| it means anything, that the promises
to refrain from brutal submarine war
| fare which Germany made to the unit-
| ed States were never intended TO De
| kent: that they were only made IN
order to gain time in which to build
more submarines, and that, when the
| time came to act, the German promises
were unhesitatingly torn TO pieces'
! like other scraps OF paper!
No Doubt of German Rulers Evil
at is this disclosure Of the character
of the imperial German government
| which is the underlying cause of our
| entry into the war. We had doubted,
or at least many Americans had doubt
ed. the evil purposes of the rulers or
| Germany. Doubt remained no longer.
In the light Of events we could read the
past and sec that for a quarter Of a
century the absorbing ambition OF the
| military oligarchy which was the mas
ter of the German Empire was for
world dominion.
"The future Of the United States is
at stake. II any of you have the idea
that we are fighting others battles and
not our own. the sooner he gets away
from that idea the better it will be for
him, the better il will be for all of us.
Imagine German victory in Europe
| because the United States remained
| neutral Who, then, think you, would
be the next victim of those who are
| seeking to be masters of the whole
earth? Would not this country, with
| Its enormous wealth, arouse the cupid
ity of an impoverished though triumph
ant Germany? Would not this democ-
racy be the only obstacle between the
autocratic rulers of Germany and their
supreme ambition? Do you think that
they would withhold their hand from
so rich prize?
Wise TO Join With Allies
"Let me ask you, then, would il be
easier or wiser for this country, single
handed, to resist German Empire
| flushed with victory and with great
armies and navies at its command, than
| TO unite with the brave enemies Of that
empire in ending now and for all time
this menace to our future?
primarily, then, every man who
crosses the ocean 10 fight on foreign
! soil against the armies OF the German
| Emperor goes forth to fight for his own
| country and for the preservation of
those things for which our forefathers
were willing to die. To those who thus
| offer themselves we owe the same debt
4 that we owe TO those men who in the
past fought on American soil in the
cause of liberty-no, not the same debt,
! but a greater one. It calls for more