Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1918-09-19
AS a Nation Thinketh.

OeTHlany mas taugnt US tnat II hakes
all the difference in the world what
a man believes. BY doing so this ma
ton has knocked in the head forever,
thinks the Christian Work New York;,
the oft-quoted maxim, at makes no
difference what a man believes; only
his actions count" The Germans have
shown with cruel plainless that "a man
will act as he believes, that his deeds
are direct expression of his faith"
The kind of god that they profess to
worship in cited as the direct certifica-
ton of their acts Of cruelty. This is
often pointed out, and the writer in The
Christian Work, probably DR.. Frederick
Lynch, again calls attention to the fact
that the Kaiser's God is only mag
niied Kaiser"-"more like Father OF
Jesus Christ" The result is natural:
"During the whole four years Of the
war the Germans have lived the faith.
They have acted just as people will,
must, always act who hold this faith.
They have been hard, cruel, relentless,
merciless, and as savage as their gods.
Power, is their one ideal because God
is power, not love. Never has there
been a more perfect illustration Of the
absolute power Of belief over action;
as man believes so will he act.
1t makes no difference what one
believes Every act Of the German ma
ton since the war began and including
its inception has been the most direct
expression Of a creed, a creed that has
always produced just exactly the kind
Of action in which Germany INDUCES.
This creed has just been published by
the New York Peace Society in a
pamphlet called The Greed of the
Huns entirely in words quoted from
Germans themselves, even the title. Qt
should be remembered that it was the
Kaiser himself who first designated the
German soldiers as Huns in his
famous speech to the Army sent to
punish the Chinese at the time Of the
Boxer rebellion.) Prof. Charles H.
Levermore has summoned up these
various German utterances, coming from
such men as Frederick the Great, Won
Clausewitz, William H., Moltke, Treit-
schke, Lasson, Bernhard, Bethmann-
Hollweg, and the War-Book of the
German General Staff, in the following
sentence:
"'Article Second.-The State posses
ses unlimited sovereignty, and is not
subject to the moral restraints that
should govern the conduct Of individ-
uals; therefore, in warfare any barbar-
ity conduct which is thought to promote
or insure the assumptions of aggressive
power is permissible and justifiable.'
"This doctrine, exprest perhaps even
more epigrammatically by Prince Won
Bulow in a speech in the Reichstag,
'For Germany right can never be a
determining consideration has been
instilled into the German people from
the kindergarten up. 1t is the creed Of
militarism, and military training in
Germany is directed to the mind as
much as to the legs. For four years
now we have seen a great people the
willing tools of such crimes and barbar-
tiles as the world has never known: the
invasion and raping of Belgium, with
cruelties piled upon cruelties; the in
vasion and wanton devastation Of north
ern France; the introduction of the most
helliSh devices into warfare, such as
gases and burning oils; the sinking OF
ships full of non-combatants and wo-
men and children, and manifestations Of
satanic glee over their fate (medals
were struck over the drowning Of wo-
men and children and distributed all
over Germany; the practise of piracy
upon the high seas, sinking ships Of
neutrals in all directions and all places
so that no ship of any nation is safe
anywhere in the world; the dropping Of
bombs on children playing on the beach;
the deportation of civilians Of Belgium
and France as slaves of all whom they
conquered; the spying upon everybody
in all nations; while guests of nations
secretly plotting to destroy them; at
tempting to stir up strife between
friendly nations that Germany might
profit by their quarrel; finally, the al
most unbelievable, deliberate sinking
of hospital ships; the practise Of any
kind of crime as nation; the lack of
any conscience; the inability any longer
to distinguish between right and wrong;
the indifference to the judgment Of the |
whole world; the calm, purposeful
descent to the level of the wild boar,
gorng his way to his prey. Every civ
ilized man has been wondering and ask |
ing, How can any nation sink to the |
level to which Germany has sunk, do |
the unutterable things that with her |
have become a daily habit? The an
swer is written across the skies: Hold |
such a creed as the Germans hold and |
you will do the things the Germans
do"
II this is thought TO be unjust to
Germany the writer asks why other |
nations, protesting another creed, act |
otherwise:
"Can you conceive America sinking |
to the level of originating a world-war |
Of plunder and carrying il on as beasts |
and devils? No, because our creed is |
that a nation is bound to live in the |
world just exactly as a Christian gen.
A. I:,.a. 1: - A., -