Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-12-02
WHO IS GUILTY.?

: : nj WHO is GUILTY?
~$s,ooThe German government, it, seems, is quite anxious
Inc TX the responsibility for the war. The Entente Allies
( or , been asked to name a neutral commission to ex-
~, = fe all secret documents, to take evidence and to put
npanblame where blame belongs. At the same time, Will
anna Of Hohenzollern, poor. misguided, Hl-treated
stober ture, exculpates himself and convicts Bethmann-
IA speweg, the vacillating chancellor who said that the VIC
OF in of Belgium was wrong and who admitted that
sckhoman pledges to America in the Sussex case were not
f.y vn in good faith. Poor William was hustled away TO
nth Iway, he says, where he could play among the fJords'
: SECT csBethmann -Hollweg and the mihtarists could get the
1t tn under way. Innocent and wonderful are this Ger
i the government and this crinsing coward! Great
ssidelorists, too!
s tn, neutral commission? The Allies need none. The
I ~ nnence is all in, the verdict rendered. Germany is con-
e, and-guilty as charged in the indictment. All that
i M is the passing Of sentence; soon that will be
ny Y, and Germany will begin her long period of repair
aptern. Germany knows that she is guilty; she knows
This her ex-emporer is guilty, but, more than anything
niger, she knows that her people as a whole are guilty.
aes One need not go back very far to prove Germany's
whit. The causes of the war, it is true, spring from ma
AZ problems and ambitions that are very, very old,
ftcles one need go back no farther than the Potsdam con-
I, fevnce of July 5, 1914, to prove Germany's guilt. -le
rtanble thing was planned there-Austria's ultimatu1m
- the invasion of France.
n The murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir TO
Hapsburg throne, on June %, 1914, gave the Hohen-
frns and the Hapsburgs the excuse they needed.
nzip's bomb fired the powder that long had been
pared for the great European conflict. This was Aus
D As problem, but, steadily and thoroughly, had Ger
by been preparing for just this day, and Austrla's
>blem became hers, Austria's ultmatum hers. Be
d the maze of Balkan events. Of Turkeys machina-
is in Europe, of Austria's difficulties stood Germany,
d fling for her chance to strike out for her place in
sun" waiting for her Mittel- Europa, which, in the
. faded away in the mirage Of dead hopes.
le' Germany, fearing a breakup Of the Triple Alliance
81 Heore many years, demanded war, and war she got.
a yG infamous Potsdam conference fixed the details;
y the presentation of the ultimatum and the declara-
\ is Of war remained.
Z n The Teutonic government at first denied the Pots
"a conference, but the German ambassador to Con-
,atinople, who attended the meeting, told both the
ian and American ambassadors to the Ottoman gov
sf@ment of it. A Dutch newspaper correspondent re-
it at the time.
y NJ Prince Lichnowsky, last German ambassador to
So at Britain, gives further evidence of Germany's guilt.
his confessions, which resulted in his banishnent, he
y. I'VE encouraged Count Berchtold to- attack Serbia,
lough German interests were not involved and the
JH-ger of a world-war must have Been known to us.
IL eAher we were aware Of the wording of the ultimatum
| completely immaterial.
4IlI|| During the time between the 2srd and soth Of
EL !, 1914, when NJ. Sazonow emphatically declared that
@H would not tolerate any attack on Serbia, we rejected
ia British proposals Of mediation, although Serbia, un-
Ia Russian and British pressure, had accepted almost
~ whole OF the ultlmatum, and although an agreement
III ut the two points at issue could easily have been
sIs ched., and Count Berchtold was even prepared to con-
f I himself with the Serbian reply.
4a ION the soth of July, when Count Berchtold wanted
3a Come to terms, we sent an ultinatum to Petrograd
l5 rely because Of the Russian mobilization, although
stria had not been attacked; and on the s1st of July
declared war on Russia, although the car pledged
sl word that he would hot order a man to march az long
negotiations were proceeding-thus deliberately de-
6E ,yins the possibility Of a peaceful settlement"
8I Germany might we'll spare her pleas for a neutral
tE mission, for none is needed. If she wants to help
9 hish the guilty, she should follow her cowardly Hohen-
Il serns and hand him over to the Allies.