Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-17

tSOntinueu.D
The four allied powers have been
! obliged to take up arms to defend
justice and the liberty of national
evolution. The glorious deeds of our
armies have in no way altered their
purpose. We always maintained the
firm belief that our own rights and
justified claims in no way control
the rights of these nations.
The spiritual and material prog
ress which We're the pride of Europe
at the beginning of the twentieth
century are threatened with ruin.
Germany and her aliies-Austria-
Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey
gave proof of their unconquerable
strength in this struggle. They
gained gigantic advantages over ad-
Nersaries superior in numbers and
war material. Our lines stand un-
shaken against ever-repeated at
| tempts of their armies.
The last attack in the Balkans
has been rapidly and victoriously
overcome. The most recent events
have demonstrated that further con-
tinuance of the war will not result
in breaking the resistance of our
forces, and the whole situation with
regard to our troops justifies the ex-
| pectation of further successes.
IF, in spite of this offer of peace
and reconciliation, the struggle
should go on, the four allied pow
ers are resolved to continue to a
victorious end, but they disclaim re.
sponsibility for this before human
ity and history"
Was ever an offer of peace and
reconciliation" couched in terms
more apt to prolong hostilities?
| This proposal was given to the
world on December IL, 1916. 1t was
! followed within a few days by q
note from President Wilson to the
belligerent powers suggesting thai
AN early occasion be sought to cal
out from all the nations now at wal
| such an avowal of their respective
views as to the terms upon which
the war might be concluded and
the arrangements which would be
! deemed satisfactory as a guaranty
against it's renewal or the kindling
of any similar conflict in the future
as would make it possible frankly
| to compare them"
The Kaiser's answer to this sin
cere effort of a neutral power to
briFg about the peace which he had
! endeavored to make his people be-
lieve' he was so anxious to secure
| was the resumption of the ruthless
/ submarine campaign!
| The German people accepted the
! kaiser's protestations at their face
: value; the rest of the world will
judge him by his acts.
CHAPTER XVIII
While the German people have
always been in thorough accord
with the Kaiser's ambitious project
which is so significantly described
! by the popular slogan: "Deutsch-
! land uber alles!" when the great
war, which was to achieve Ger
! many's aims, commenced, it came
almost as much as a surprise ia
the Germans as it was to the rest OF
the world. They knew it was newt.
able and they looked forward eager.
ly to Der Tag" but when it arrived
the hustle and excitement, not to
say panic, which developed through
! out Germany was so pronounced
that in some cases it approached the
ludicrous.
Obviously the people were kept
in ignorance of the plans of their
war barons in order that hostilities
| might come as a. complete surprise
to them and give color to the gov
ernments contention that the war
was forced upon Germany.
So little thought did we give to
the complexities of the political sit
| uation that on Friday, July 81, 1914,
my wife and 1 started off on a motor
| trip, We had heard so many rumorg
of war within the previous ten years
that we saw no reason why AMIGA
, BILE solution should not again be
found as it had always been before.
On our way out the Charlotten-
burger Chaussee we passed the Kai-
ser and the Kaiserin driving to Ber-
lin from Potsdam at about sixty
miles an hour and there were other
indications of activity, but we at
| tached little importance to them.
At the Golf Club, where we
stopped for our clubs, we were told
by the steward that the soldiers in
all the barracks in that vicinity had
been moved several days before
nearer to the borders to make room
for the reserve troops who would
be modified on the following day.
Old Hermann, the steward, was
usually pessimistic and we put little
credence in what he said.
When we reached Potsdam, how
ever, and saw thousands of tons of
coal heaped up between the railroad
tracks which were ordinarily kept
clear, we realized that preparations
for war were being made in earnest
|