Mexico Missouri message., 1918-08-29
Why We Fight
No. 2
Because Cermany's Law Is the Law
of the jungle and Her Doctrine
might Is Right"
BY CLARENCE L. SPEED
Secretary of the War Committee OF th'
Union League Club of Chicago.

we are Ut WdT Will NSEluhhJ OS
cause Prussia dominates Ger
many, and from the days Of Freder-
lex the Great, Prussia's law has been
the law of the jungle, her doctrine
"Might is Right" and her policy, In
dealing with other nations, one of rob-
bing the weak and terrorizing the
strong. Germany has grabbed terri
tory and exacted tribute from her
neighbors, and finally, her greed be-
coming greater, has looked out over
more distant lands, and has commit
ted herself to q policy of world domi-
nation which menaces the continued
free existence of every nation which
will not submit to her will.
Germany's policy is not an acciden-
tai one. 1t has been carried out with
remarkable singleness of purpose
from generation to generation Of
Hohenzollern rule from the time
of the Great Frederick until to-
day. Germany's atrocities are not
accidental. They are q deliber-
ate, we'll thought out part Of this
Hohenzollern policy, which was to
ponents, not only by fighting and de-
feating their armies but by killing,
torturing and terrorizing the civil
populations.
The German rulers committed them
selves to the doctrine of the survival
of the flttest., Through generations Of
teaching they made the German peo-
pie believe that they, and they alone,
were the fit.
We have the words of the German
rulers and German warriors and Ger
man leaders of thought for all Of this.
More than that we have the perform
ance Of German officers and German
armies In conquered lands to prove IT.
Let's start with Frederick the
Great in presenting the evidence
This monarch, who earned his SOU
briquet through despoiling his neigh
bors, rather than through any real
qualities of mind which he showed
said, In letter to his minister, Rad
twill:
eff there is anything to be gained
by it, we will be honest; If deception
is necessary, let us be cheats. On'
takes what one can, and one is WRONG
only when obliged to give back"
This philosophy, applied to presen
conditions, means that Germany wal
right when she took Belgium, and will
be wrong only If she is not able t.
hold it.
From Frederick the Great to Bis
marck is long jump in the matte
Of time; but we find the Prussian pol
icy unchanged. Speaking before tn
military committee Of the Prussia
Chamber of Deputies in 1862 Bi;
marck said:
mot by speeches and resolution
Of majorities are the great question
Of the time decided, but by iron an
blood"
Then, with blood and iron, Prussi
went out and despoiled Denmark
territory in 1854, beat and robbed Au
tria in 1866, and finally, in 1871
brought France to her knees and too
her richest provinces.
Here is what the present kaiser tol
his troops when, in 1900, they WEI
about to depart for China to put dow
the boxer uprising:
"Use your weapons in such a wa
that for thousand years no Oh
nese shall dare to look upon GermG
askance. Be as terrible as Attilla
Huns"
Coming on down to the present WI
we find a German minister accredite
to neutral state far across the sea-
one which one would think should
free from the entanglements of wor
politics-writing home to his COVER
ment, in state paper, advising tt
sinking of two ships from this neutr
nation, in such manner that no tra
be left Dead men, he believed tt
no tales.
It was Baron Luxburg, minister pleI
potentiary to Argentina, who wro
this amazing dispatch on May 10, 191
81 beg that the small steamers Or
and Guazo which are neari
Bordeaux be spared II pos
BILE, or else sunk without trace
ing left"
This telegram was intercepted in t
United States and published. 1t sc
a thrill of horror around the world
Chancellor Won Bethmann-H Hollweg
true disciple of Frederick t
Great, Bismarck and his royal mast
In a public speech on January 81, 10
he said:
"When the most ruthless methC
are calculated to lead US to yicto
swift victory, they must be employe,
So they were used, and are bel
used today. They include sinking
hundreds of neutral ships, the burnt
Of cities, the deliberate devastati
of the fair lands Of France, the ravi
ing Of women, the enslavement
workmen and the murder Of little cl
dren.
Horrors such as these are told in
tail. in "The Prussian System" by f.
WaIcott who. for long time. was