Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1918-01-04
Why Germany Will Be Licked
Message Christmas Good Cheer That is Appropriate
On New Years Day

BY BRAD STEPHENS


know further reasons why most Ger
mans are cowards2 Cross out every
thing that has been written so far!
When before in modern times and in
modern warfare have white men with
an open Bible done such things as the
Germans have been doing for the past
three years9 The shooting of Captain
Fryatt and of Edith Cavell; the she'll
ing of open boats; the outraging and
oftentimes the torture in the public
square of little girls under ten and
twelve years of age in every town they
have occupied; the rape and deporta-
ton of Belgian and French women by
the thousands: the bombing of cities
and towns and hospitals by airships;
the murder of Red Cross nurses; the
sinking of hospital ships; the shooting
and bayonetting of women and chill
dren; the looting and burning of
homes; and the systematic devastation
of all territory which they have once
held and been forced to evacuated
Will brave men do these things at
the bidding of any king or kaiser9
"Cruelty springs from weakness, !"
said Seneca. That partly explains the
trail of outrage and murder that fol.
lows every German army-the weak
ness in the character of the German
people; that claimir~ love and affection
for the wives and children of their
own family iresides, they show none
for the weak and the helpless of q
fallen foe; that making much of the
Christmas ceremonies in the Father.
land, they have revealed nothing of the
Christmas spirit in their dealings any
where with the rest of the world. But
the thing that most adequately explains
their record, the blacklist so far in the
history of mankind, is the fact that the
heart of Germany is rotten.
But we might have known before
hand, from the shabby regard in which
they hold their own women, and their
virtue, what the ideals of the family
Preside amounted to in Germany.
The Kaiser elected his own mother
from the home where she had passed
the happiest years of her life when he
became king His jokes and salacious
stories concerning the virtue of wom-
en- are notorious throughout the courts
of Europe. Once he was brought to
book. On board of one of his battle
ships one day he passed a scurrilous
remark about young woman, who
CHANGED to be the cousin of young of.
ficer who was standing near by. The
young officer felled the Kaiser with a
blow But the young man had to com,
NIT suicide to save himself from court
martial and firing squad.
Such is the condition of servitude in
Germany! No man can defend the good
name or virtue of a woman against the
Kaiser or any officer in the German
army or navy. There is no chivalry
in German militarism. An officer can
pull a shop girl or stcnographer into
an alley and outrage her, and neither
her father, her brother, nor anybody
else dare say word in protest And
pushing women off the Sidewalk, into
the street is everywhere recognized as
one of the prerogatives of Herr Lieu.
tenant or Captain. Where these ideas
prevail concerning womanhood, can any
one wonder why 33 l-3 per cent of the
births in the great cities of Germany
were illegitimate before the war. What
will the percentage be after the war is
over?
But Colt NIT Uns in Germany reck
ons not with virtue in their women
legitimacy in their children, honor in
their statesmen, faith in their generals
in keeping the Articles Of War, or man
hood in their Kaiser.
Out on the Western front this Christ
mas there are soldiers who have all tn,
ideals in their hearts that German eff
ficiency, German militarism, and Ger
man Kultur have ignored. They have
been schooled in the traditions of de
mocracy. They haven't been fed up OF
lies. Their histories, their biographies
and their religion have not been doc
tored to fit the ambitions of a preda
tory ruling class, or of a paranoiac ant
predatory king. They fight fair ever
against BLACKBOARD foe.
"What' s your religiona" asked ,
French officer of poilu who had jus
performed an act of signal bravery.
MY religion" said the poiln, "i
that kind of religion that looks Coz
in the eyes"
And so America, and England, ant
France, and Italy, and all our soldiers
look God in the eyes in this grea
struggle.
Can the might of the Hun prevail
With all of the advantages Of MAJ
power and gun power against them, tn
soul power of the French poilu and tn
British Tommy held the Germans bacl
at the Marine, before Calais, and q
Verdun. And soon now, added to on
soul power, we will have the man pow
er and the gun power, too. What the
will be the answer to God from Gen
manyi
Courage to face cold steel revert
back to the ideals of the family fire
side, and of the Family Fireside Con
mencement which we celebrate this 25t
Of December. And thank God, there ha
been plenty of this kind of good coul
age in our family ideals. 1t alon
brought us through times darker b
far than the present hour, from Magn
Charta and the Bill of Rights to tn
Declaration of Independence and on
United States Constitution. 1t wi
continue to carry us through, as lon
as there are a majority of us who sti
remember the history of our countr
and the ideas for which it stands
that compact in the cabin or the Ma,
flower; the bloody footprints of OF