Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-04-06

same standards of conduct n OF re
sponsibility for WRONG done shall be
observed among nations and their gov
ernments that are observed among
the individual citizens Of civilized
states.
1--WE have no quarrel with the Ger
man people. We have no feeling to
wards them but n of sympathy and
friendship. It was not upon their I'M
pulse that their government acted IN
entering this war. 1t was not with
their previous knowledge or approval
1T was a war determined upon as
i wars used to be determined on in the
old, unhappy days when peoples were
nowhere consulted by their rulers and
wars were provoked and waged In the
interest of dynasties or Of little groups
of ambitious men who were accustom'
ed to use their fellow men a pawns
and tools.
self governed nations do not .fll
their neighbor states with spies or set
the course Of intrigue to bring about
some critical posture Of affairs which
will give them an opportunity to strike
and make conquest. Such designs can
be successfully worked only under Gov
er and where no n has the right to
ask questions.
Plans Are Guarded.
"Cunningly contrived plans of de-
| ception or aggression, carried, it may
be, from generation to generation, can
be worked out and 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 the nations affairs.
"A steadfast concert for peace can
never be maintained except by a part
nership of democratic nations. No
autocratic government could be trust
ed to keep faith within 1t or observe
it's covenants. 1t must be a league Of
honor, a partnership Of opinion. In
trigue would eat its vitals away, the
! plottings Of inner circles who could
plan what they would and render &C
count to no one would be a corruption
seated at it's very heart. Only free
peoples can hold their purpose and
their honor steady to a common end
and prefer the interests OF mankind to
any ldI1OW lIllCI SSN VI IllCll wv
Permanent Peace.
Does not every American feel that
assurance has been added to our hope
for the future peace of the world by
the wonderful and h%eartening things
that have been happening within the
last few weeks in Russia?
Russia was known by those who
knew 1t best to have been always in
fact democratic at heart. in all the Wit
al habits of her thought, in all the in
innate relationships of her people that
spoke their natural instinct, their hab-
itual attitude towards life.
"The autocracy that crowned the
summit of her political structure, long
as it has stood and terrible as was
the reality of it's power, was not in
fact Russian in origin, character or
purpose: and 10Y it has been shaken
off and the great, generous Russian
people have been added in all their
naive majesty and might to the forces
that are fighting for freedom in the
world. for justice and for peace. Here
is a fit partner for a league Of honor.
Spies at Work.
zone of the things that has served
to convince us that the Prussian auto
cracy was not and could never be our
friend is that from the very outset of
the present war 1t has filled our IN
suspecting communities and even our
offices of government with spies and
set criminal intrigues everywhere
afoot against our national univ
council, our peace within and without
our industries and u commerce.
Indeed It is now evident that its
spies were here eve before the war
began; and 1t is unhappily not a mat
ter of conjecture, but a fact proved
in our courts Of justice that the in
trieues 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 instigation, with the support, and
even under the personal direction Of
official agents Of the imperial govern.
ment accredited to the government of
the United States.
Designs Were Selfish.
Even in checking these things and
trying to extirpate them we have
to put the most generous inter
pretations possible upon them because
we know tnat their source lay not In
any hostile feeling or purpose Of the
German people toward us (who were.
no doubt, as ignorant Of them as we
ourselves), but only in the selfish de-
signs Of a government that did what
It pleased and told it's people nothing.
But they have played their part In
serving to convince us at last that that
e%ntertains no real friend
ship for us and means to act against
our peace and security at its conven-
Tha it means to stir up enemies
a gainst us at our very doors the inter-
cepted note to the German minister at
Mexico City is eloquent evidence.
U. s. Accepts Challenge.
w are accepting this challenge Of
hostile purpose because we know that
in such a 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 ac-
comp!ish we know not what purpose, ,
there car be no assured security for the
governments Of the world.
I'VE are now about to accept the
of battle with this natural foe
to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend ,
whole force of the nation to check