Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-05-16
THE POISON GAS
OF PROPAGANDA

The widespread belief, fostered
partially by German influences but
largely through thoughtlessness,
that when we went to war with
Germany the propaganda against
this country, in some automatic
fashion. ceased to exist, is a doc
trine so false and vicious that it
must be destroyed before we can
ever hope to face the enemy with
confidence or self-respect.
On that fateful day when we
ranged ourselves against the Ger
man empire her leaders in govern
ment, in war and in commercial
| life knew that the death knell of
military autocracy in the world was
struck, but for one single weapon.
What is that weapon?
After nearly three years of an
exhausting struggle, with an accu-
mulated burden of debt the very
terms OF which stagger the mag
ination, the sky of German hopes
was suddenly darkened by the over
whelming shadow of this giant of
the west. with potential resources
for waging a war far greater than
those of any other nation on earth
one hundred millions, fresh for
the struggle, so fortified in money,
in men, in intelligence and in spirit
that the bloodstained butcher OF
Europe, in that moment, realized
the doom of his ambition unless one
single thing could save him. What
is that thing?
Hidden in the mutterings Of an
archy; in mysterious" factory
fires; in explosions; in the destruc-
ton of foodstuffs; in seditious
speech; in sneers at the efforts of
those who are honestly trying to
help; in the fomenting of laSnor
strikes everywhere; in the financ-
ing of the propaganda of the l. W.
w: in the incomprehensiblec chang
| ing of plans for war construction
work; in the whole crawling mass
of so-called pacifism; in the at
tempt to divide the nation over the
subject of universal military train
ing; among the foul nests of Prus-
| Sianized professors in our universe
| ties; in the distortion of history
! through the school books which
| shape the minds of our children;
| in the columns of every brazen
Zeitung and Abendpost in the coun-
| try; in all the pathways
| of Americas life this one last hope
and weapon of the enemy testers
and thrives.
Italy withstOod it, through the in
dOmitabIe spirit of her people. Ire
land withstood it. Sweden, the Ar
gentine and Chile are partially en-
quilted by it. Finland withered be-
! fore it. And Russia fell like a rot
ten log under its spell.
Here in this land of ours is not
only Germany's last opportunity for
! her work of deadly propaganda but
her best opportunity. For, with our
| cOnglOmerate and only partially as
| simulated people, she can find, and
/ has found, wearing the protective
mask of American citizenship, tens
| of thousands of her creatures to
whom her word is law-among
! whom there exists no sense of 10y
! atty to the country of their adop-
ton, no atom of devotion for the
flag they have sworn to protect.
| What shield can we interpose
against this weapon?
| Only one thing-the constant
| watchfulness and devotion of every
| loyal man and woman, and the de-
/ termination that we shall do what
! we can to match, in love of our in
| situations and our country, the spir-
| it of those hundreds of thousands
| of ours who are over the seas to-
! day facing the shells and the gas
and the horrors of physical war
For we at home stand face to face
with a danger that may shed the
| life blood not of the body but of
! the soul, that may rend not the
| physical flesh but the spiritual tenn
pie which has been reared, to the
! glory of God and the hope of the
world. on foundation stones that
| the sons of freedom of every race
and creed have laid with sublime
| faith through the labor of a thou
| sand years.
Watch and pray. But let us
watch increasingly. and strike IN
| erringly, whether the object of our
! just vengeance faces us in the
| trenches abroad or seeks to poison
! our morale at home.-Providenc
| Journal.