Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-01-16
Prussianism Is Foe of All
Civilized World Says Kahn

3 an bonored name here, and those who
= b)re it have ever done their full share
r foI the common veal, in the works Of
' pcare no less than in every crisis of
the nation IS histoI~ / ct us do what in
US lies TO preserve the names we bear
in honor and good standing amongst ouf
fellow citizens.
-! believe thai we must speak out,
because our voices may reach the ear
and the conscience of the German peo-
pie when no other voices can, and be-
cause they will reach the ear of its
rulers. These, / know, counted upon the
moral, if not the actual, support of the
German born in America, to the extent
at least CT preventing our joining in the
war, and now, when we have joined,
they count upon that support to agitate
for an inconclusive and .unrighteOus
peace.
81 believe that we might speak out to
convince our native-born fellow citizens
that our fundamental conceptions of
right and wrong are like theirs, that the
taiDt of Germany Is not in the blood,
but In the sys:e of rulership, that we
are With them and Of them wholeheart-
edlA, single-minIedly and unreservedly,
be cause If we failed in conveying to
them that conVIc tion in the hour of our
common country IS stress and trial there
would ensue the calamity of a spiritual, !
if not an actual, breach between them
and us which it would take generation
to heal.
Cancel Lies In Germany's Vitals
"There are some of you, probably, !
who will still find it hard to believe
that the Germany you knew can be
guilty of the crimes which have made
it an outlaw amongst the nations.
"But do you know modern Germany !
Unless you have been there within the
last 25 years, not once or twice, but at
regular intervals; unles you have look
ed below the glittering surface of the
marvellous material progress and
achievement and seen how the soul OF
Germany was eaten away by the viru-
lent poison of Prussianism; unless you
have watched and followed the appal-
ling transformation of German mental
.ity and morality under the sinister and
puissant influence of the priesthood of
power-worship, you do not know the
Germany of this day and generation.
cit is not the Germany of old, the
land of our affectionate remembrance.
1t is not the Germany which men now
of middle age or over knew in their
youth. 1t is not the Germany of the
first Emperor William, a modest and
God-fearing gentleman.
sit is not the Germany, even, of Bis
marck, man of blood and iron though
he was, who had builded a structure
which, whilst not founded on liberty,
yet was capable and gave promise of
going down into history as one of the
greatest examples of enlightened and
even beneficient autocracy; who, in the
contemplative and mellowed wisdom of
old age, often warned the nation
against the very spirit which, alas, came
to sway over it, and against the very
war which that spirit unclaimed. f.
"The Germany which brought upon
the world the immeasurable disaster of
this war, and at whose monstrous deeds
and doctrines the civilized nations of ,
the earth stand aghast, started into def
mite being less than 80 years ago. |
can almost lay my finger upon the date
and circumstances OF IT'S ill-omened ad-
vent.
Americas Reasons For War Given
"America is not waging war OF
or hatred, Notwithstanding /
all the injuries and measurless provo
cations we have received. The divine
lesson which 1000 years ago, on the
was given to the people of
the earth, still holds good as to the only
safe lodestar for the guidance of the /
world. We have lighted fire to purify,
not to burn at the stake. :
nation antarnH q aftpT i
having maintained infinite forbear-
dangers and the most intolerable provo 5
cations, and from motives as pure and {
IS high as the great blue dome of heaven :
America is that nation. We seek no re- I
ward whatsoever of a material nature.
"We seek no place in the sun = to
use the German Chancellor S term-ex- !
cept the sun of liberty, and that, we
10 not seek selfishly, but to share with &
all the world. I
"Ameriea is incapable Of hating an
entire people, but we do hate, we are I
fighting and we shall fight with every !
ounce of our might, the spirit which
has power over the people of Germany !
and which, if it were to prevail-as,
1nder God, it never will--would destroy
liberty, justice and democracy.
cit was not the people of Great Brit
ain which America fought in the War Z
of the Revolution, but the spirit and
he ruling caste which then held sway :
over them. America fought then for an
deal and for liberty and independence,
md sacrificed blood and treasure and :
suffered and endure and won. And so it 4
will be now.
Prussianism Agalnst Americanism
"The spirit of Prussianism and the