The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1918-04-06
WHY WE ARE
AT WAR WITH
GERMANY
BY
EPHRAiM DOUGLASS ADAMS
Executive Head, History Depart
mont
Leland Stanford Junior University

"The object Of this war is to deliver
the free peoples Of the world from the
menace and the actual power Of a vast
military establishment controlled by an
irresponsible government, which, having
secretly planned to dominate the world,
proceeded to carry out the plan without
regard either to the sacred obligations
Of treaty or the long established prac-
tlces and long, cherished principles Of In
power 10 not the German people. II is
the ruthless master Of the German peo-
pie. =. II is our business to see to
world is no longer lett to Its handing"
President Wilson, August 27. 1917.
THE GERMANS AS A CHOSEN
PEOPLE
The foundation cause Of this war is
Germanys firm belief that she alone
has the right to direct the progress of
the world and to exploit Its resources.
For the last thirty years the military
autocracy Of Germany has seen to 1t
that this belief was taught in the
schools, and today that autocracy is
reaping the benefits Of blind obe-
dience to It's will. German political
writing of recent years is full of the
idea that the German people is Gods
chosen people, destined to impose its
'Kultur' upon all other peoples"
"The German soul is the worlds
soul, God and Germany belong to one
another" Germany is the center of
Gods plans for the world" 1--WE hope
that great mission will be allotted
to us Germans and this Ger
man mission is: to look after the
world" Germany is chosen, for her
own good and that Of other nations
to undertake their guidance. Provi-
dence has placed the appointed people,
at the appointed moment, ready for
the appointed task"
"The German people is always right,
because 1t Is the German people, and
numbers S7,000,00O souls" "Kultur is
best promoted when the strongest in
dividual Kultur, that of q given ma
tion, enlarges its field of activity at
the expense Of the other national Kul.
turs." "The attempt of Napoleon to
graft the Kultur of Western Europe
upon the empire Of the Muscovite
ended in failure. Today history has
made us Germans the inheritors Of the
Napoleonic idea" "The further we
carry our Kultur into the East, the
more and the more profitable outlets
shall we find for our wares. Economic
profit is of course not the main motive
of our Kutur-activity, but 1t is no un-
welcome by-product." Our belief is
that the salvation of the whole Kultur
of Europe depends upon the victory
which German 'Miitarism' is about to
achieve"
These quotations are but few of
hundreds of like expression, and the
last one cited is from "a manifesto
signed by thirtyfUe hundred German
professors and lecturers. Reduced to
simple terms, the German belief at the
beginning of this war was: God di.
rects Germany. Civilization advances
only by c0mbdts between Kulturs in
which the stronger and God-directed
one has the right to prevail and must
prevail. The immediate and present
object is to make cur Kultur prevail
In the East Gin 'MuscovyD, and in ac
complishing this we shall also gain
economic advantages. This Is the first
step In our world domination"
Where does America stand In this
theory of a chosen people? America
denies that theory; she denies that
God has chosen any one people as
His own; she asserts rather that there
are many civilizations, each with its
own merits and defects, and that to
each must be left the working out OF
its own problems
We Americans are unable to under
stand, or sympathize with, people
who conceive Of themselves as chosen
people, chosen of Coda people to
whom all things and actions, however
inhuman or brutal. are regarded as
permissible. even holy, because Of
faith In their superior mission and
civilization. To us such a belief Is
direct evidence, not of leading, but
Of tagging civilization.
/ ule ucEmdu Iucdi, WueH eApTesSeu
merely in theory, even though taught
in Germany for the last thirty years,
stirred but Indifferent interest in other
European nations. In this war Ger
many has revealed in the application
Of her theory lust for world power
at the expense of other peoples, lack
Of good faith, brutality that have
stamped her theory as involving a re-
turn to barbarism.
By the application Of German theory
we were forced, unwillingly, to go to
war. But today we know that there
was no escape from war between two
contradictory ideals. Germany's eco-
aomic objects are many and large
they will be pointed out), but the basic
,ause of this war was the German ideal
Of dominant nation. That ideal,
by Germany's own challenge, is on trial
in arms. Against 1t we must prevail,
or We shall perish.
This In the first Of a aeriea of ten