The Washington herald., 1917-06-15

nation. II has no other character
than that which we give II from gen
Grafton to generation. The choices
are ours. It floats IN majestic silence
aoove the hosts that execute those
choices, whether in peace or In war.
And yet, though silent, It speaks 10
us-speaks to US Of the past, OF the
men and women who went before US
and of the records they wrote upon
IL. We celebrate the day OF its birth;
and from its birth until now it has
witnessed great history, has floated
on high the symbol Of great events,
of a great plan OF life worked out by
= great people. We are about to
II viii draw the IRE Of our enemies.
We are about to bid thousands, hun
dreds Of thousands, IL may be mil
lions. of our men, the young, the
strong. the capable men of the ma
tion. 70 go forth and die beneath It
For some unaccustomed thing? For
something for which 1t has never
sought the IRE before? American
armies were never before sent across
the seas. Why are they sent now?
For some new purpose, for which this
great flag has never been carried be-
fore, or for some old, familiar, heroic
purpose for which 1t has seen men,
its own men, die on every battlefield
upon which Americans have borne
AEul5 SlnC6 LnG ENGNOluLlOua
These are questions which must pc
answered. We are Americans. We in
our turn serve America, and can serve
her with no private purpose. we must
use her flag as she has always used
IT. We are accountable at the bar
Of history and must plead in utter
frahkness what purpose 1t Is we seek
TO serve.
II is plain enough how we were fore
ed into the war The extraordinary
insults and aggressions Of the I'm
perial German government left US no
arms in defense Of our rights as a
free people and Of our honor as
sovereign government. The military
masters Of Germany denied US the
right to be neutral. They h!isd our
unSupectinE communities with VI
cious spies and conspirators and sought
to corrupt the opinion Of our people
in their own behalf. Whenthey found
that they could not do that, their
amongst US ard sought to draw our
own citizens from their allegiance
aHd some Of those agents were men
connected with the official embassy OF
the German government itself here IN
our own Capital. They sought by vio-
lence to destroy our industries and
arrest our commerce. They tried 10
incite Mexico to take up arms against
Us and to draw Japan into a hostile
alliance with hery-and that, not oy
indfrection, but by direct suggestion
from the foreign office in Berlin. They
inpudently denied US the use Of the
high seas and repeatedly executed
their threat that they would SEND
"a. their death any of our people who
yentured to approach the coasts OF
Europe. And many Of our own peo-
PIE were corrupted. Men began 10
look upon their own neighbors with
suspicion and to wonder in their not
resentment and surprise whether there
was any community in which hostile
intrigue did not lurk. What great
nation in such circumstances would
not have taken up arms? Much as We
had desired peace, it was denied US,
and not OF our own choice; Ihls
hag under which we serve would have
been dishonored had we withheld our
hand.
But that is only part Of the story.
We know now as clearly as We knew
before We were ourselves engaged that
We are not the enemies OF the Ger
man people and that they are not our
enemies. They did not originate or
desire this hideouS war or wish that
we should be drawn into 1t; and we
are vaguely conscious that We are
fighting their cause, as they will some
day see it, as well as our own. They
are themselves in the grip Of the same
sinister power that has now at last
stretched its ugly talons out and
drawn DlOOO Us 4AiC "AACL~
world Is at war because the whole
world Is in the grip of that power ana
Is trying out the great battle which
shall Determine whether 1t is to be
brought under its mastery or fling
itseh free.
The war was begun by the military
masters Of Germany, who proved to be
also the masters OF Austria-Hungary-
These men have never regarded ma
tions as peoples, men. women, ana
children Of like blood and frame as
themselves, for whom governments eX-
listed and, in whom governments had
their life. They have regarded them
merely as serViceable organizations
which they could by force or intrigue
bend or corrupt to their own purpose.
They have regarded the smaller states
in particular, and the peoples VINO
could be overwhelmed by force. as
their natural tools and instruments OF
domination. Their purpose has long
been avowed. The statesmen of other
nations, to whom that purpose was in
credible, paid little attention.; regarded
what German professors expounded IN
their classrooms and GelIlan writer's
set forth to the world as the goal Of
German policy as rather the dream OF
minds detached from practical AFFAIRS,
as preposterous private conceptions Of
Germa~ destiny, than as the actual
plans of responsible rulers; but the
rulers of Germany themselves knew
all the while what concrete plans,
what well advanced intrigues lay back
Of what the professors and the writer's
were saying, and were glad to go for
ward unmolested. filling the thrones
OF Balkan states with German princes,
putting German officers at the service
of Turkey to drill her armies and
make interest with her government,
developing plans of sedition and rebel
lion in India and Egypt, setting their
T., ha nd ado hV
Austria upon Serbia were a mere sin
gle step in a plan which compassed
Europe and Asia, from Berlin to Bag
dad Tney hoped those demands
might not arouse Eprope. but they
meant to press them whether they
did or not. for they thought them
selves ready for the final issue Of
arms.
Their plan was to throw a broad
belt Of German military power and
political control across the very
center Of Europe and beyond the
Mediterranean into the heart of
Asia: and Austria-Hungary was to
be as much their tool and pawn as
Serbia or Bulgaria or Turkey. or
the ponderous states of the East.
become part of the Central German
Empire, absorbed and dominated by
the same forces. and influences that
had originally eemented the Ger
man states themselves. The dream
had its heart at Berlin. 1t could
have had a heart nowhere else! 1t
y rejected the idea of solidarity of
race entirely. The choice of peo-
pies played no part in it at all. 1t
contemplated binding together ra-
cial and political units which could
be kept together only by force
Czechs, MagyarS Croats, Serbs, Ru-
nanians, Turks, Armenians-the
proud states of Bohemia and Hun
gary. the stout little common
Wealths Of the Balkans, the indom-
table Turks. the subtitle peoples of
the East. These peoples did not
wish to be united. They ardently
desired to direct their own affairs.
would be satisfied only by undis-
puted independence. They could be