Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-06
TRUE MEANING OF WORLD WAR;
WHY ALLIES MUST CONQUER
Madness of German Autocracy and Amer
icas Greatest Danger Pictured by DR..
Butler, With Plea for United Action

be new movement forward; each
time the march of progress went
little farther on. until. nnally, after
100 years, the end for which the French
revolution had been undertaken was
achieved.
The present Russian revolution has
we have Witnessed had their beginning
twelve Years ago in the great strikes
and political developments of 1909. Al
that time an American Interested IN
the Russian people and in the deNeI-
opment 'of their political history hur-
ried to Russia to watch the reEoiutlon;
, He visited Count Tolstol. ana ne tola
TolStOi that he had come from Amer
lea to see the results of the revolution
in Russia. Toistoi said to nm, 10
home and come back fifty years from
now and those results viii nave begun
to appear" What we are witnessing IN
Russia today is only what must always
happen particularly among an inpreS
sionable people new to our western
ideas OF thinking and of our pohtlcai
institutions, when the force that has
held them together is suddenly broken.
They become the prey of formulas, OF
theories. of empty phrases, ana uhder
the guise of progress they ran 70 Wpl
ship for a time at the throne Oh ma
anarchy which is the most powerful
foe that liberty has ever had in all ms
tory But they. too, will learn, and one
of these days the parallel between the
Russian revolution and the fSehch rev
great Slavic people, with their part TO
play in the world and their mission 10
fulfil, will find their way out through
tins political maze which now CON
fronts them on to the clear, hlsh
ground of established democracy.
Germany's Hidden Forces.
But there is another side to the
picture, and one which Immediately
u irrh
mand has made up its mind that it
cannot win this war by military force,
and therefore, it is now endeaVorlng
to win II by breaking down the unity:
the integrity and the moral force OF
the allies; by undermining them IN
Russia by seeking to undermine us in
the United States, and by hlllng france
and Italy at this very moment full OF
their foul and deSpicabie agents. w NAT
they cannot accomplish on the field OF
battle they are endeavoring to accom-
plish by the use of money, by the use
of spies, by the use of messengers to
stir up the disseminated, the unhappy
the unfortunate, the chronicaliy dls-
treSSed and the unemployable. Where
ever in this world today there is an
outburst that tends to paralyze the
national effort or to weaken the ma
tionai will of an allied nation the
chances are five to one that the cause
is to be sought in Berlin. These are
new weapons of war. Like the sub
marine on the sea. they are under the
surface. They fire their torpedoes
without announcement ard without
discovery. and they take care to fire
chiefly at the defenseless and the I'M
armed. These are the weapons that
are being used IN this country today.
They are the weapons chiefly respons-
ible for the complete collapse of the
Russian opposition to the German army
and the German navy. Should this un-
derhand power be successful, it will
/
armies and the navies of Italy and of
! France. That is the significance of the
demand which is made by every Amer
I lean patriot that we ourselves should
not wait upon our going. but should
at once denounce and suppress every
outburst and evidence of sedition in
this land. Whether it be folly. whether
it be wrong -headednesS, or whether it
be the result Of enemy influence it all
comes 70 precisely the same thing 1t
aims to weaken our effort; it aims to
prolonG this war until exhaustion shall
end it in a draw 1t aims to break up
the harmony of the allies. to excite
among them suspicion. rivalry, discon-
tent. lack of cooperation. 1t was
said at the beginning of this war that
time was on the side of the allies
time is on the side of the enemy
The enemy is under a single COM
mand. highly organized. obedient,
moving directly to definite ends. The
earth. They are free peoples. demo-
cratica1ly governed. not easily organ
lied and unified. Therefore, every
months delay increases the opportunity
for the enemy to weaken or to disrupt
US.
We must not keep our eyes alone
upon the western front, upon the east
ern front. or upon the submarine losses
These are the military happenings of
this contest. but they are only the hap
penings which take place out where
they can be seen. We must keep our
eyes on the evidences of things and in
f1uences working underground. We must
keep our eyes on the men in high place
or in low, in official position or out of
1t. who are in conscious or unconscious
association to defeat the purpose of the
! United States in this war. It will
not do to keep our eyes merely on
general terms, on formulas or on laws
We must keep our eyes on individuals
and not fear to speak their names A
little more courage. little more def
niteneSS, u little more specific pointing
of the finger and of the hand will help
shorten this war.