The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1918-11-28
Our Business With the Huns.

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settlement. That is the essential fact.
that needs to be kept in mind at this:
tremendous conjuncture Of affairs.
The kaiser gets out. That is some
thing that concerns Germany more
than it does US, according to Ger
many.s own contention, For the last
year nothing has 50 raised the pro-
testing ire, not only Of the Hohenzol-
Terms but of the German people, as the
suggestion that we had anything what
ever to say concerning the German
form Of government or the headship
of the German state.
OF course we never claimed the
right in question, beyond insisting
that before we could enter into re-
lations with Germany there must be
in that country government suf-
fciently authoritative and sufficient:
ly honest and respectable for us to
do business with. We had no mind to
make a treaty with anybody who re-
garded a treaty as mere scrap Of
paper.
Let us, however, take the Germans
completely at their word. 1t is no
business of ours who heads their
government. Very we'll. It is no bust
ness of ours, then, that they have got
rid of William the Damned and are
i trying to organize something that will
pass muster as a popular government.
That achievement does not altar our
attitude toward them. They did not
relax their drive against France in
1871 when Louis Napoleon was cap
tured and the empire was replaced
with republic. On the contrary, they
were more savage against the repub
lie than they had been against the
empire, and at the end exacted from
Theirs and Favre terms more harsh
than they would have required from
Napoleon Their old example and
their present contention alike deny
them the right to look for any favors
from us because of the Hohenzollern
abdication.
What is UNNECESSARILY more impor-
tant, our own interest and the interest
and welfare of the world point UNI
mistakably in the same direction. It
was always a foolish thing to pretend
that we were at war with the German
kaiser but not with the German peo-
pie. 1t was from the beginning axi-
omatic that the German people were
in one of three relationships to the.
war. They were with the kaiser in his
''aggressions and crimes, heart and
hand; or they were forced into it by
him against their will; or they were
deceived, deluded and tricked into it.
Our own conviction, based upon the
most authentic testimony of represent
tative Germans themselves, is that the
first was the truth. But we should
like to know which, if any, of the three
could relieve the Germans from be-
ing held responsible for the war? In
the first case, they were the kaiser's
fellow criminals; in the second, they
were his helpless tools; in the third
they were his dupes. Now when ma
ton of sixty or seventy millions per-
'mits itself to be bossed by one man, or
when nation which vaunts itself upon
being the most intelligent and best in
formed in the world, permits itself to
be deceived about q perfectly simple
and obvious thing, we deny that such
servility or such ignorance is valid
plea for immunity
This is the more to be emphasized
because it is already evident that a
persistent and impassioned effort will
be made, by the Germans themselves
and by their pacifst and bolshevist
sympathizers and agents here, to per-
suade US that they are now entitled
to consideration and clemency. It
will be said, it is being said, that now
that they have got rid of William the
Damned we ought to take them into
good fellowship again and forget all
that is past. Of course, the premise
is falsehood and the conclusion is
insanity. They did not get rid Of the
kaiser. He did not abdicate because
Of their wish or their demand, but be-
cause of Foch's guns, which were get
ting so perilously near that he knew
that it was time for him to get out if
he was to save his own skin. The Ger
man people are not entitled to one iota
of credit for it. And as for the other
point, why should a gang of crimi-
nails receive an immunity bath and be
welcome as good citizens just because
it's nominal leader has dropped out?
Let us have no such criminal fol-
ly. Our business is now with the
rank and file Of the Huns themselves.
We still have a personal account to
settle with William Hohenzollern, as
a personal and Individual criminal.