Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-07-11

to bow-Austria-H Hungary and Ger
many. And these two nations, with
an audacity almost sublime, are no"
proposing to put back on the dial OF
time all that has been attained by the
others with blood and agony. and
make those other peoples subservient
to their ambitions and to their "kul-
ture." And their method of accomplish
ing this great evil is by war.
Our Participation Justified.
Yes, by war, which Bernhard says
is the proper means of enforcing Or
der and power, the essentials OF an
autOcratic government, these two ma
lions expect to overthrow democracy
and fasten their ideas Of autocracy up
on the peoples. War is detestable,
war is horrible, war is murder on
large scale. 1t forces into action all
the most cruel and abhorrent elements
of our natures; it brutalizes almost
everything it touches. True, no doubt
it occasionally shows forth some COM
mendable characteristics, but the few
beautiful actions are so inconceivably
diminutive in comparison with the
evil done that it is an insult to intel
| ligence to claim for war merit because
of them. Bernhard has extolled war
to the skies both as biological and
Christian necessity, and three years OF
Germanic warfare has exhibited as
never before how hellish war is and
the Interpretation which Germany
places upon a just and necessary war.
However, war has come, and those
who have been ruthlessly and with
malice prepense attacked have either
to slavishly submit to arbitrary pow
er and wolfishness or rise and defend
themselves. We are at war. This is
not the time or the occasion to discus
the ethics of war. When the house
is on fire, when the wife and the child
have been barbarously attacked. it is
not the time to argue pacifistic ideas
and what might have been. But the
duty of the hour is to combat the
wrong to the bitter end and then see
that in the future those who have
idealized war and made it the fatal
instrument of their unholy ambitions
do not have the power to force it up
on mankind To inaugurate war as a
means of power and gain is wrong; to
defend against such aggression is not
wrong and may be, and in our case IS,
ABSOLUTELY right because necessary. /
firmly believe that even from Chris
tian point of view our entry into this
conflict is right; if did not so believe
I would not be here to speak to you on
this great occasion.
Forced Into the War.
Just for moment consider the
causes by which we were forced into
this war. 1t was not our seeking.
Many thought our president was too
slow in his thinking and action; he
laboriously sought to keep us from
this ENHANCEMENT. Many felt that he
was too cautious, too considerate of re-
suits; that he was for hermitiZing our
people The idea was abroad that we
were retiring people in time of dan
ger; that we were given over to the
accumulation of wealth, but that our
character, as people, was fabby, and
that our pacific ideas were those of
fear and not of reason and hope But
we did not initiate this war, that is
certain. We were distant from it's ac-
tivities. Yet we possessed rights
political, civil and commercial rights;
rights upon which were predicted our
hopes and our ideals, and we had the
moral and legal right to protect and
conserve those hopes and those ideals.
But these were impeached on sea and
land; our people were slain and that
dastardly, at times and places where
they had a right to be; our passage
ways through the path Of the seas
were illegally interfered with. True,
we could have refused to have gone
upon the seas, as was demanded by
those who sympathisized with Ger
many, but if we could submit to in
timidation in this direction we could
and would have to submit in other dir
ections. Where we're we to stop from
withdrawing from exercising our le-
ultimate rights? Promises were made
to us by Germany as to her actions in
reference to certain rights of ours
which had all the sanctity of treaties,
and were taken at their face value by
our president, but these promises were
broken with the same facile ease that
they were made. Good as long as they
helped Germany, bad when they in
terfered with her movements. How
could we place faith in the plighted
word of such an opponent; an oppon-
ent who laughs at treaties, denominat-
ing them AS scraps of papers?" Our
neutrality was sneered at by the junk
ers of Germany-the power behind the
throne-and we were denOminated
slackers and money-grabbers. Where
and when was our self-respect to as
sert itself or had we lost our self-re-
spect? The Germans blockaded Eng
L.,