Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-04-05
TO ask questions

Cunningly contrived plans Of decep-
ton and aggression, carried it may be,
from generation to generation. can be
worked out anu kept from the light
only within the privacy of courts or
behind the carefully guarded conf
dences of a narrow and privileged
class. They are happily impossible
where public opinion commands and
insists upon full information concern
ing all the nations affairs.
steadfast concert for peace can
never be maintained except by a part
nership of democratic nations. No au
tocratic government could be trusted to
keep faith within it or observe it's COW
enants. 1t must be a league of honor,
partnership Of opinion. Intrigue would
eat its yitals away; the plottings
of inner circles who could plan what
they would and render account to no
one would be a corruption seated at
It's very door
Only free peoples can hold their
purpose and their honor steady to
common end and prefer the interests
Of mankind to any narrow interest Of
their own.
Does not every American feel that
assurance has been added to our
hope for the future peace of the
world by the wonderful and hearten-
ing things that have been happening
within the last few weeks in Russia?
Russia was known by those who knew
it best to have been always in fact
democratic at heart, in all the vital
habits Of her thought, in all the init
mate relationships of hD<' people that
spoke their neutral instinct, their ha-
bltual attitude toward life.
The aut0cracy that crowned the
summit Of her political structure, long
as it had stood and terrible as was the
reality Of its power, was not in fact
Russian III character. or purpose, and
It now has been shaken off and the
great, generous Russian people have
risen in all their naive majesty and
might to the height Of he forces that
are lighting for freedom in the world.
for justice, and for peace Here is
nj partner for a league of honor.
Intrigued Against National Unity.
One of the things that has served
to convince us that the Prussian an
tocracy was not and could never be
our friend is that from the very outset
of the present war it has filed our m
suspecung communities and even our
Off1ceS OF government with spies and
set criminal intrigues everywhere afOOt
against our national unity Of counsel,
our peace within and without, our in
dustries and our commerce.
Indeed, it is now evident that its
spies were here even before the war
began; and it is unhappily not a mat
ter Of conjecture, but a fact proved
trigues which have more than once
come perilOusly near to disturbing the
peace and dislOcating the industries Of
the country have been carried on at
the fnstigatiOn, with the support, and
even under the personal direction of
ment accredited to the government of
the United States.
Even in checking these things and
| trying to eXtirpate them we have
sought to put the most generous in
| depreciation possible upon them, be-
cause we know that their source lay.
! rot in any hostile feeling or purpose Of
| the German people toward US (WhO
were, no doubt as ignorant of them as
we ourselves Were), but only in the
selfish designs Of a government that
| did what it pleased and told its peo-
pie nothing.
Would Act at Convenience
| But they have played their part in
serving TO convince us at last that the
| government entertains no real friend
| our peace and security at its convent
ence. That it means to stir up enc
mics against US at our very doors the
| intercepted note to the German minis
ter at Mexico City is eloquent eyi-
| dence.
We are accepting this challenge of
hostile purpose because we know that
| in such government, following such
| methods, we can never have a friend
| and that in the presence of its organ
| lied power, always lying in wait TO &C
cOmplish we know not what purpose,
there can be no assured security for
the democratic governments of the
world.
We are now about to accept gauge
of battle with this natural foe to lib
| erty and shall, if necessary, expend the
whole force of the nation to check and
nullify its pretensions and its power.
We are glad, now that we see the
| facts with no veil or false pretense
about them, to fight thus for the ulti-
mate peace of the world and for the
| liberation of its people, the German
peoples included: for the rights of IA
uons great and small, and the priv
tlege of men everywhere to choose
their way Of life and of obedience.
The world must be made safe for
democracy. Its peace must be planted
upon the tested foundations of p0lit-
zeal liberty.
we desire no conquest, no dominion.
We seek no mdemnities for ourselves,
no material compensation for the sac
ritfce we shall freely make
We are but one Of the champions of
the rights of mankind. We shall be
satisfied when those rights have been
| made as secure as the faith and the
freedom Of nations can make them.