Evening journal., 1918-05-01
INTRODUCTION

Those who are not with us are against
us. Never before In human history has
the choice Of man and nation been as
sharply refined as It is today The fu-
ture OF mankind depends upon this
choice. There have been earlier crises
out OF which human fate proceeded in
new directions; but the contestants In
those conflicts understood only obscure
ly, II at all. the ultimate stakes for
which they were fighting. We can plead
no such ignorance. We know the is
sue, and whittier it leads.
Those who are not with us are
against US. On which side do we stand 2
As Americans, we assume that we stand
for civilization. That Is our inheri-
tance. What do we mean by civiliza-
tion? Surely not mere comforts, aston
ishing improvements in invention, or
even the great discoveries Of science
which affect only the body and not the
soul Of man We mean the recognition
OF Justice, a keener sensitiveness to
mercy, an undying devotion to liberty,
a quickened conscience which makes US
shrink from doing unto anyone that
which we should not wish him TO do to
us. There are the ideals OF civilization
and this is the spirit in which alone
il can flourish. Erudition, though its
books were piled higher than the Tower
Of Babel. does not constitute IT, nor
does ability TO make great cannon. or
chemicals, or military engines; much
less Is the proof Of civilization TO be
found in the power to convert millions
OF men into mere machines, unfree,
shorn Of humanizing emotions, ablectly
ohedient TO the will, however wicked,
OF the despot who owns them
II al the beginning OF the atrocious
war, civilization and barbarism had
stood embodied In forms revealing the
very nature OF each, there can be no
doubt as to which we would have
chosen. But the majority OF mankind
lack imaginatiOn-that quality which
penetrates to the heart and essence; the
majority live only on the surface, lie
OF two dimensions, without depth. And
in this case many influences worked
deliberately to blur or hide the nature
OF the antagonists The Prussian agents
ever here and our native apOlogists Tor
Prussia were greatly helped by the TACT
that. as a people, we are not cruel ana
that we do not lie. The average Amer
lean had never dreamed that creatures
wearing the shape OF men could con-
ceive. much less commit, such horrors
and bestialities as were devised IN cold
blood by the German General stan. so
our people heard with mingled shock
and incredullty the first accounts Of
Hunnish atrocities. 10 took a long time
and repeated denominations before we
came to believe the truth.
Meanwhile the German propagandists
increased doubt here by brazenly de-
claring that the stories OF ctrocities
were concocted by their enemies; and
when this impudence began to fail tnem
they proclaimed that, After all, war
| is war; and they ransacked history
I for instances Of cruelty perpetrated by
other races. including ourselves In carl
/ ier times In mendacity, too, they i0unu
ms as easy 20 deceive as children are by
la iuggler's tricks.
Little by little, however the evidence
/ that the German policy Of atrocity was
premediataied became too strong to be
refuted even by their sly disaVowalsl
We were forced to realize that the slay-
ing of innocent civilians, the ravishine
OF women, the burning Of towns, the
bombardment OF Libraries and cathed-
rails. the wholesale massacres, the starV-
ing. enslaving and exile Of entire popu-
Ilations were not due TO such outbursts
OF bloody passions as sometimes black
en- warfare in civilized countries, but
were deliberately ordered and carried
out with all the boasted thoroughness
Of the German General stan. And as
this awful revelation Of flendlshness
broke upon us, we began TO perceive
that it was only a part, the necessary
product. Of a system for conquering the
world and reducing It 70 slavish sub
mission to the House OF Hahenzollern
II.
The book which follows gives the
best possible statement OF the princi-
pies by which Prussian monarchs an.
ministers were governed, Of the World