The Colorado statesman., 1918-03-16
Armstrong And
World Freedom
Continued From Page l.

Suppose John Smith meets John Rob
inson on the street and shoots him
through the heart and he is hailed into
court under indictment and then he
pleads: II am not guilty. John Rob
inson knew, because ] wrote him let
ter and told him that if he come down
into the street in front of his house |
would shoot him. 1 am not guilty; he
is-of contributory negligence, that he
came down in the street and met the
bullet, the presence of which ought to
have been anticipated" How would
that plea sound in a court of justice?
So, having violated the rights of our
citizens, and therefore our rights, what
was our duty? What is a government?
A government is corporation of
which we are all members, to which
we render the duty of support, of SER
vice-military and civil the payment
of taxes, help of every kind; and we
receive from that corporation, as a
quid pro quo otection-protection as
between ourselves, preservation of the
rights of each as against the invasion
of a foreign country. On the hign
seas, on the deck of an American YES
sci and under the American flag,
man is as much within the jurisdiction
of the United States as if he stood on
the shores of Virginia; and when a
nation-a foreign nation-invades
those rights by sending him to the
bottom and killing him, there is no
other course for the United States to
demand reparation for violating them,
an to see to it that in the future the
rights of other citizens are not SINH
larly violated.
No other path was open to us. Ger
many not only admitted that she had
killed our citizens under circum-
stances that, of course, we must call
murder, but she announced that she
intended to murder other citizens
anyone who might assert his right to
use the common highway of nations
and go into that part of the high seas
which Germany, without right and
with an assertion of world domination,
had fenced off against the other ma
tions.
If this had been Venezuela we
would have sent a message demanding
reparation and security against fur
ther violation; and every man, woman
and child in the United States, Sena-
tor La Toilette, pacifists, conscientious
objectors, and unconscientious objec-
tors would have approved the action.
What is the difference between that
case and this? None in principle, only
in fact; and that fact is that Germany
is the greatest military power in the
world and Venezuela is not
/ Therefore those who oppose war in
this instance, who object to the draw
ing of the sword to which Germany
forces us if we would defend those
rights, would put us in this situation:
that we are in favor of the utmost sac
rifice to protect our rights and those
of our citizens against a nation if she
is little enough and weak enough so
that we can whip her with one hand,
but if she is a great military nation,
resistance to whose aggression re-
quires war and sacrifice, then we will
waive those rights because they are
technical only. That appeals to no one
with a sense of duty as an individual
or as a government.
President Wilson was criticized for
the long delay in asserting those
rights That question we pretermit; it
is past. We are neither Republicans
nor Democrats now. We are Ameri-
cans in supporting the President in
this righteous war.
So we find ourselves in a war for n
cause for which in no scintilla, need
we apologize, need we defend, need we
explain. We are in the war because
we could not help it. We are in the
war from no jingo spirit. We are in
the war from sense of duty as a
country and from ous sense of duty as
a nation of the world. What were our
traditions in the Revolution? What |
those in the Civil War? What was the i
position We won in the world? A ma
tion upholding justice. What if now
we finch and do not meet the issue!
Continued Next Week.)