Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-05-23
GERMAN NATIONAL
DEPRAVITY SHOWN
Leading Business Men, for Pri-
vate Gain. COnspired With the
Kaiser to Conquer the World.
(From the Manufacturers Record.

Germany, after years or prepara-
ton, deliberately entered upon
war to conquer the world. Its lead
ing business men were repeatedly
called into consultation with the
kaiser, and in consideration of the
promises made by him and the
military leaders OF Germany that
they would be able to loot the
world and enormously enrich them
selves If they would uphold the
kaiser's proposed war. these men
literally sold their souls to the
devil, and for personal profit
pledged their hearty cooperation
in a war which they knew would
mean the death of millions of sol
diers. in a war which would mean
sorrow and woe such as world had
never known. They entered into
this unhoIy compact with a dis
tinct promise from the kaiser and
the military clique that within one
year from the beginning of the
war they would be able to reap
the enormous profits which were
promised to them, and dominate
the trade of the world, as Germany
proposed to dominate the nations
Of the earth.
In all human history there is no
record so damning and damnable
Of a nation which definitely COM
mitted itself to murder, to Outrag
ing, to pilaging, to all the horrors
of a world war, for the individual
profit of its business men and the
aggrandizement of its military
power
This is the blacklist story in hu-
man history. It indicates a degree
of moral depravity of the whole
nation which found a fitting eX-
preston in the fearful crimes in
Belgium and France upon women
and children, upon churches and
cathedrals, and upon all civiliZa-
ton wherever the accursed army
of these free-boOters and hooters
and outrages and would-be world
conquerers have marched.
And now that these murderers
and outragers and world robbers
and looters find themselves baked,
and realize that civilization is
greater than barbarism, that honor
is greater than dishonOr, that an
enraged and outraged world is
making impossible the carrying
out of their plans for highway rob-
berry and murder, plans deliberate
ly entered upon after years OF
study, efforts are being made in
many directions, through pro-Ger-
guised ways, to raise the cry of
peace; and here and there sugges-
lions are seen that the kaiser was
forced into this war by Prussian
militarism, hoping in this way to
create a sentiment in favor OF saw
ing him from the gallows or the
firing squad.
It behooves every hOnest-hearted
man and every good woman on the
face of the earth to set their faces
against this peace Propaganda, and
to vow before man and heaven that
there shall be no talk Of peace IN
til the armies of the aIlies-and
this, of course, means our armies
with the other allies-have march
ed through Germany and Austria
and by their presence have proved
to these nations that right is great
er than might; that righteousness
is greater than unrighteOusuess
that the heaven of prosperity based
on integrity and honor is better
than the hell created by the base
ness and the vileness of Germany
in which all of its people, from the
kaiser to the lowest of its peas
lOoting the world, for their indi-
vidual enrichment, and the domin-
alton of the world under German
rule.
Any man in this country, or in
that of our allies, who thinks peace
on any other terms than the IN
conditional surrender of Germany |
and its allies. who thinks peace eX- /
cept on the basis of death to those /
who have brought this fearful war
upon the world, who thinks peace |
upon any other basis than a pen
atty through the indemnities i'm !
posed upon Germany and it's allies |
which will tax to the utmost of /
their ability for generations to /
come, will be a curse to civiliZa- |
ton and prove himself to be with |
out moral backbone, without hon !
esty and integrity of character. It /
matters not where the suggestion /
OF peace without penalty may ap-
pear, it matters not in what devil |
Gus ways it may crop out in church |
circles, in political circles, in news |
papers or in public life-he who |
yields to the thought of peace, ex- !
q no
eous destruction Of Germany's |
power, and the righteous punish |
ment of the criminals who have /
blackened the earth with their
crimes, is a weakling, a coward in /
thought and in act, and is indeed /
a pro-German, and should be /
spurned by every man who regards /
honor and integrity and woman
hood.
This country needs now to drive |
home into every mind in America |
the conviction that there should be
no peace except peace dictated b> |
America and its allies in Berlin
and Vienna and Constantinople; /
and that this peace shall only be
considered when these countries
have been beaten TO their knees.
when they sue for peace on our
terms. of the death penalty for the
leading criminals and an indemni-
ty in money which to the extent
that money can be made to do so I
will repay to Belgium and France
and Servia and Roumanfa and |
Italy, all of the wreck and ruin
which has been wrought; and /
which shall repay to England and