Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-01-19
Davenport Woman Sees Army of Kaiser
On March Through Helpless Belgium
Kasers "Fr;scher. FrohGcher Krjeg" Kills An of Her
Sympathies for the Fatherland, She Says.

are not, If our loyalty is of the forced,
grudging and unwilling sort, and not
matter of loving liberty, then We
are fools to try to hide it, for the peo-
pie will surely find US out, and Justly
infiict their righteous wrath upon US.
That sort of patriotism is too much
like the morality Of the man who does
right not because he wants to, but
only because he must The patriotism
that is born of fear of punishment
for treason is thing beneath con-
| tempt.
| Either we are right or we are wrong.
/ Either we believe in the war or we
don't. There is no middle ground. The
people have no patience with the man
who perches on the fence. 1t is not
enough to get off the wrong side-we
must get on the right side, stay there
and fight there.
The only patriotism that will pass
muster now is that which believes in
its very soul that our country was
wholly right in going into this war
and that we had absolutely no other
choice left That our entry into this
war was righteous altogether and that
we would be ours and towards if we
had for one minute longer allowed
poor bleeding France to stand between
us and the devilish design Of the
Hohenzollern dynasty to devour the
world.
A patriotism that does not stand
willing and ready to devote its last
dollar, its last drop of blood, in devo-
ton TO the cause of the allies in this
war, is a sham and a farce, and I'M
worthy the name.
If, after all that has been said in
, press, pulpit and public forum, man
, has not yet come to know that for the
past 40 years in poor, benighted Ger
many a military autocracy, militant
aristocracy, has purposely, persistent
; ly and perseveringly poisoned the
minds of the people, all the way from
the cradle to the grave, with the dew
ilish ideas that might makes right
that soldering is the supreme end OF
, man, that force alone must rule, that
, weakness and helplessness are the
, only national crimes, and the lust O!
+ conquest the only holy religion worthy
a a peoples devotion, then the case Of
, that man is indeed hopeless, fol
!, though he may be fool and Ounce
he at least is no patriot.
, He is poor patriot indeed who does
' not believe in his very soul that this
! is holy war. For strange as it may
sound, it is a war against war-a wal
waged to wipe the war-lords from of
the face Of the earth-a war to b.
i fought for no private cause, no par
n ticular people, no one nation, but TO,
q humanity itself. For humanity and fol
6 a great principle The principle tina
= a man the world over shall love hi
| neighbor and not lord it over him
: Or, as another patriotic German-Amer
:, lean has we'll said, 1T is a great con
q f1ict between the old order of privileg
and pride and the new order of servic
and cooperation conflict to lift tn
curse of kaiserism from off humal
life, to establish an everlasting peac
on earth among men of good will, to
usher in that gracious day
e When men shall turn to war no more
d And peace abide from shore to shore
d When states shall be ruled by kindl
If thought,
n And sword and spear be held 70
naught;
n And evermore among US dwell
II The reign of Prince Immanuel!"
e Yours truly,
lie LOUIS BLOCK.