Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-04-01
WHY WE ARE
AT WAR WITH
GERMANY
EPHRAIM DOUGLASS ADAMS
Executive Head, History Depart
ment
Leland Stanford Junior University

the free peoples Of the WorId from the
menace l;,r. and the actual power Of vast
military establishment controlled by an
irresponsible government, which, having
secretly planned to dominate the world,
proceeded to carry out the plan without
Of treaty or the long esta blIshed prac-
tiees and long g-cherished principles Of In
ternationai action and honor; This
the ruthless master Of the German peo-
PIE. u 10 our business to see to
It that the history Of the rest OF the
world is no longer left to It's handling"
President Wilson, August 27, 1917.
THE MATERIAL AIMS OF GER
MANY. q
Germany believes that she has the
right to dominate the world. Her
militaristic autocracy believes that
this war is step toward such world
domination, but that German demands
for the present may rest satisfied with
substantial gains in Europe. For years
German political writing has been full
of the terms Of peace" after a war,
and today those terms remain unal-
tered. The Russian negotiations have
served to prove that what has for a
long time been public opinion, is now
official opinion. The quotations will
show this.
First, the more general purposes:
If we come victorious out Of this war,
we shall be the first people on the
earth, a rich stream Of gold will pour
over the land" Expansion Of our
power both East and West, If possible
also oVer seas; political and military
domination combined, indissolubly con-
nected with economical expansion, this
Is our war aim" "The territory open
to future German expansion must ex-
tend from the North Sea and the Bal
tic to the Persian Gulf, absorbing. khe
Netherlands and Luxembourg, Swift
zerland, the whole basin of the Dan
ube, The Balkan Peninsula and Asia
Minor"
Second, the immediate aims: sour
relations with Turkey have drawn us
into this war, g.. the Bagdad
Railway must be extended by US to
the open sea, even to India itself"
Belgium must remain under German
domination there exists no
better line of attack for the German
army in a future war with France"
whom 1t is necessary ito weaken to
such a degree that she can never again
be dangerous to us" "Will anybody
believe that we will hand over the
lands which we have occupied in the
West, on which the blood of our peo-
pie has fiowed?" I'VE are not an in
stitute for lengthening the life of
dying states"
@But it is on Poland and Western
Russia that Germany has all along
fixed her eyes. eve ought not to
let fall the sword from our hand be-
fore we have assured our future. Our
eastern boundaries must not remain
where they are" "Livonia, Kurland,
Esthonia, have been for more than
seven centuries sister-countries united
through German traditions. 1t is true
Germans do not yet represent 10 per
cent of the inhabitants; but their char
actef filters through the whcls." Let
us bravely organize great forced mi
gTGtioRS of the inferior peoples Pos
terity will be grateful to us. We must
coerce them! This Is one of the tasks
of war. Such forced migrations may
appear hard, but 1t is the only solu-
tion. The inefficient peoples,
discouraged and rendered Indifferent
to the future by the spectacle of the
superior energy of their conquerors,
may then crawl slowly towards the
peaceful death of weary and hopeless
senility." The writer of this was here
viewing especially the nor-Germdn
populations of South America.
How is America interested In the
European political and territorial re-
suits of this war? Well, first, we are
at war. Germany believes that peace
now, on the terms she outlines, means
a Germany victorious. That means
continuance Of military autocracy in
Germany-a continuance of an aggres-
sive policy-a continuance Of German
faith in its special destiny to rule the
world.
Against that German ideal we are
fighting. But we are also fighting
to save the Americas from the "nert
step" in German Imperialism. In the
first year of the war, the one great
fear expressed by German officers was
that long war in Europe would
cause America to wake up" Wake
up to what? Not to the need of
American participation In the war.
The German officers thought America
negligible for this war. But they did,
and do, fear that America would
awake to the danger to herself, her
ideals, her institutions, her interests,
and that being awakened, Germany's
ae9t step in world domination would
be harder than the present one.
There is no hope Of a changed Ger
establishing those peaceful
and friendly relations which should
international conduct - if
Germany gains her objects, or any
part of them, in this war. She has
set her heart upon certain mdteridI
objects. We must see to it that she
does not gain them Then her first
step blocked, we may hope that her
people may awaken from their dream
Of empire. We fight for a world peace,
yes; but we also fight for self-pres-
srvation, and our best chance TO save
is this present moment
Eo0.
-Ls. i A.. -...-I e . ~.-;.. - A..