Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1917-06-15
Why is i. S. Fighting Germany?

Washington, June 4.-On the eve
OF war registration day, Secretary
Lane made speech before the Home
club OF the interior department Mon
day night in which he addressed a
word to those who have not seen
clearly the reason for the country q
call upon its young men and in
ringing sentences answered the
question, why are we fighting
Germany" Mr.. Lane said in part !:
VIII, are we fighting Germany?
The brief answer is that ours is a
war of self-defense. WaGiaa no. not wish
to fight Germany. She made the
attact upon us; not on our shores, but
On our ships, eur lives; our rights, our
future. FGr two years and more
we held to a neutrality that made us
apologists for things which outraged
mans common sense of fair play mad
humanity.
At each new offense invasion
Of Belgium, the killing Of civilian
Belgians, the attack on Scarborough
and other defenseless towns, the lay
ing of mines in neutral waters, the
fencing off of the sea-and on and on
thru the months we said: This is
archaic, uncivilized war but
war. All rules have been thrown
away; all nobility; man has come
down to the primitive brute. And
while we cannot justify we will not
intervene. 1t is not our war;
Then why are we in it? Because
we could not keep out. The invasion
of Belgium, which opened the war, lee
to the invasion of the United States
by slow. steady, logical steps. Oul
sympathies evolved into a conviction
of self interest. Our love of fai,
play ripened into alarm at our owr
position.
Held as towards.
We talked in the language and the
spirit of good faith and sincerity, as
honest men should talk, until we dis.
covered our talk was construed as
cowardice. And Mexico was called
upon to COW us. We talked as mer
would talk who cared alone for peace
and the advancement of their owr
material interests, until we discovered
that we were thpt to be a nation OF
mere money makers, devoid of all
character until, indeed, we were told
we could not walk the highways OF
the world without permission of q
Prussian soldier: that our ships might
not sail without wearing striped
uniform of humi iation narrow pa tn
of national subservience. We talked
as men talk who hope for honest
agreement, not for war, until we
found that the treaty torn to pieces
at Liege was but the symbol of a
policy that made agreements worth
less against purpose that knew nc
word but success.
And SO we came into this war for
ourselves. 1t is a war to save Amer
lea, to preserve self-respect. to justi-
fly our right to live as we have lived,
not as someone else wishes us to live.
In the name of freedom we challenge
with ships and men and money and ar
undaunted spirit that word ''verbot-
ten" which Germany has written upon
tho CON md upop tho Iapd
Living Spirit.
For America is not the name of so
much territory. 1t is living spirit,
born in travail, grown in the rough
school of bitter experience, a liv ne
spirit which has purpose and pride
knows why it wishes to live and to
what end; knows how it comes to be
respected of the world, and hopes to
retain that respect by living on with
the light of Lincoln's love of man as
its old and new testament.
1t is more precious that this Amer
lea should live than that we Ameri-
cans should live. And this America,
as we ow see, has been challenged
from the first of the war by the strong
army of power that has no sympathy
with our purposes and will not hesi-
tate to destroy us if the law that we
respect, the rights that are to us
sacred, or the spirit that we have,
stand across her set will to make this
world bow before her policies, backed
by her organized and scientific mil.
itary system. The world of Christ