The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-06-07

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posterity. n
We are in an age so new that we have
not yet learned to characterize it, though
some characteristics are beginning to
stand out In the fist place we are in an age
without precedent. AS a nation we are
out upon an uncnartered sea, way off from
Snore, without chart or compass, with no
beacon light to guide us into a safe har-
DOR. There are no standards of the pa st
adequate to measure the obligations of
: To-Day What we as citizens must do,
what our nation must do in this uncertain
hour cannot be determined by the stand
ards of yesterday. These have all been
swept into a past forever gone. To meet
the emergencies of this hour in in
dividual. national and international life
we must establish new standards, stand
ards never dreamed of before as measures
of our obligations.
Fellow citizens, we may thank our
God, with the profoundest gratitude,
that, in this uncertain hour we have to
guide the destiny of this nation, a man
like Woodrow Wilson, who stands pre-
eminently the foremost statesman of the
world Before our entrance into the
war, when the statesmen of the allied
nations were hoplessly disagreed it was
President Wilson who with matchless
skill and in clear cut unmistakeable terms
defined the issues of the war. 1t is
President Wilson who has been ell along
and is today the foremost advocate of
peace. For long he hoped that peace
might come without involving America
In the war; now he is determined that
lasting peace shall come by making war
until the world shall be made safe for
democracy" He has been severely crit
icized for long delaying the entrance of
the United States into the conflict. But
my friends, I believe that was one of the
master strokes of his sta tesmanship. We
are a peaceful people. We have never
rushed blindly and precipitateiy into
war. Before the Spanish American war,
when the relations were straioed be-
tween the United States and Spain, there
were many who savagely attacked Fresi-
dent Mckinley for his delay in calling
upon congress to declare war. But Me-
Kinley was right; and it was rot until
the Maine was blown up in Havana bar
Dor that the time had come for dec
laration of war; I am glad my country
has ever exemplfied the teaching of the
great Master when He said:
whatsoever shall Smite thee on thy
right check. turn to him the other
The infinite patience and forbearance
shown by President Wilson in the face
of the bitterest criticism and the strongest
pressure on the part of the radicals at
home and in the face of the severest
provocation by the enemy, is one of the
finest things in all the record of his
constructive craftsmanship. This makes
it possible for it to be said without CON
tradiction, and for it to be accepted by
all the nations of the world. that Amer
lea entered the war with the highest,
hottest and most unselfish motives that
ever impelled a nation to take up arms.
have said we are in an age without
precedent We are in the first world war.
Never before have we even conceived
that such a war could be- Eighteen ma
tons, including the most powerful gov
ernments of the world, representing
three-fifths of the. human family and
like proportion of the land area, are in
volved in this struggle.99 1t is estimated
that upwards of 35e00.GO0 have been
killed. wounded or taken prisoners thus
20,OOO.O00 still under arms. The battle
lines have stretched from the North Sea
to the Persian Gulf. The most tremendous
battles of the worlds history have been
fought. The gigantic proportions of the
conflict stagger the mind. There are no
standards by which to measure this vast
struggles
Moreover we are engaged in conflict
with an enemy unparalleled in his con-
summate arrogance, his Unsuitable greed.
his unprincipled cunning, his ghastly,
brutality his nercifess atrocities. He
calls himself the super he is the
super-fiend. We are in conflict with
a friend sent his lying, sneaking, coward
" emissaries into all parts of our coun-
try to SOW sedition, to stir up strife, to
foment plots against the safety and Sc.
curity of the nation. These were not
only secret agents. but the accredited
ambassador himself was guilty of these
outrageous and unprincipled acts OF
enmity against the nation. We are hght-
ing an enemy that regards sacred treat
les as only SCRAPS of paper; an enemy
that stopped to incite q ne1ghbor anu
friendly nation to take up arms against
u.s. an enemy that impudently denied
neutral nations the use of the high seas
End repeatedly sunk our ships and de-
stroyed our citizens when we attempted
to use the seas in accordance with the
rights guaranteed by international law:
We are fighting an enemy that mas NOT
stopped short of the most outrageous bar
barities ever perpetrated even by the.
most savage tribes. This super-fend has
rIithlessly trampled over PROSTATE Snd
Belgium, destroying her cities
and villages. plunderipg her people, rap
ing her women. tearing asunder her
families. deporting her men and stronger
women, and making them toll in mines.
and munition factories in Germany. rms
hell-monster has taken helpless old men.
priests women and children and marched
them before his advancing armies as
screen. From the sky he has ralned
death and destruction upon helpless nom
combatants, and upon the hospltals Iiiien
with sick and wounded. Upon the sea he
has sunk hospital ships. neutral pas
senger ships and shelled unarmed life
boats. He has used every known method
of barbarous warfare and mas deVlseo
others even more hellish than the world
had yet known. He has lied. robbed,
pillaged. raped, murdered. Such is the
enemy we fight. the unparalleled monster
of the ages. There are no precedents
for a. conflict with an enemy like this.
There are no standards of yesterday
by which the individual citizen may meas
ure his obligations for today In the
peaceful days of yesterday the average
citizen thought he had fully discharged
his obligation if he lived a fairly clean
life, cared for his family, was decent
neighbor, tended carefully to his business
OF job. made a little money! voted at
elections, paid his taxes, and contrlbuted
n little to benevolence and the churcn.
But that self centered standard of citl-
zenship will not do for this age.
There are three words that sound the
key note for the new age we have just
entered. They are Activity, Unselfishness,
Sacrifice.
The true American citizen of today
benevolent onlooker while world history
is being made He must be vital part
of the moral, commercial and political
interests of the community and the ma
tion. He can no longer rest quietly at
home and allow the morals of the COM
munity to be controlled or guided by
few officers of the law. He must know
conditions and if they are not right see
that they are made right, and whenever
the loyal citizenship of any community
undertakes that. moral conditions will
be right. In this new age the true citi-
zen must become a vital part of the ma
TONS political 1ife The average man
government and must put that knowledge
to definite use Every man must become
q politician, in the best sense in that
he will use his skill. his knowledge. &C.
cure the best possible government In
community, state and nation. He must
.