Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-06-12
Why We Fight
Because Germany's Law 10 the Law
of the jungle and Her Doctrine
might Is Right"
BY CLARENCE L. SPEED
Secretary Of the War Committee Of the
Union League Club Of Chicago.

We are at war with Germany be-
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.
bling 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 slngleness 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 a deliber.
ate, well thought out part Of this
Hohenzollern policy, which was to
break down the resistance Of her op.
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 fittest. 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 a letter to his minister, Rad.
twill:
'If there is anything to be gained
by it, we will be honest; II deception
is necessary, let US be cheats. One
takes what one can, and one Is wrong
only when obliged to give back"
This philosophy, applied to present
conditions, means that Germany was
right when she took Belgium, and will
be wrong only If she Is not able to
hold 1t.
From Frederick the Great to Bis
marck Is a long jump in the matter
Of time; but we find the Prussian pol
icy unchanged. Speaking before the
military committee of the Prussian
Chamber Of Deputies In 1862 Bis
marck said:
"Not by speeches and resolutions
Of majorities are the great questions
Of the time decided. but by iron and
blood"
Then, with blood and iron, Prussia
went out and despoiled Denmark Of
territory in 1864, beat and robbed Aus
tria in 1866, and finally, In 1870,
brought France to her knees and took
her richest provinces.
Here is what the present kaiser told
his troops when, In 1900, they were
about to depart for China to put down
the boxer uprising:
use your weapons in such way
that for a thousand years no Chi
nese shall dare to look upon German
askance. Be as terrible as Attilla's
Huns"
Coming on down to the present war
we find q German minister accredited
to q neutral state far across the sea-
one which one would think should be
free from the entanglements of world
pOlitics-writing home to his govern
ment, in q state paper, advising the
sinking of two ships from this neutral
nation, in such a manner that no trace
be left. Dead men, he believed tell
no tales.
1t was Baron Luxburg, minister pleni.
potentiary to Argentina, who wrote
this amazing dispatch on May 10, 1917:
Il beg that the small steamers Oran
and Guazo which are nearing
Bordeaux be spared If posi-.
BILE. or else sunk without trace be-
ing left"
This telegram was intercepted in the
United States and published. 1t sent
a thrill of horror around the world.
Chancellor Won Bethmann-Hollwegi Is
a true disciple Of Frederick the
Great, Bismarck and his royal master.
In public speech on January 81, 1917,
he said:
"When the most ruthless methods
are calculated to lead us to victory,
swift victory, they must be employed"
So they were used, and are being
used today. They include sinking Of
hundreds of neutral ships. the burning
Of cities, the deliberate devastating
of the fair lands of France, the ravish-
ing of women, the enslavement Of
workmen and the murder of little chill
dren.
Horrors such as these are told In de-
tail in 1.-THE Prussian System" by F. G.
Walcott, who, for long time, was en-
gagged In behalf Of America in trying to