The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1918-11-22

Tor IN tne Mignty ofu9Sie IN
Which Democracy Triumphed
over irresponsible Auto
cratic MlIitarisn.
BY EDWARD W. PlckARD.
Autoeratlc militarism. imbued with
an OverpOwerlng greed for world
domination, started the Great War.
Democracy inspired with decency
and common sense, ended IL.
"All wars are commercial" Is say
Ing that is true of all modern wars,
The greatest war of all time, just end
ed, was no less so than Others, for
though it was made by the military
class Of Germany, il was for the bene-
it of commercial Germany. for the
conquest of the trade of the world.
Ever since the defeat of France In
1870 and the formation Of the German
empire the ruling classes of Germany
had been asslduously preparing for
the mighty struggle that began in
1914. Secretly Mt times, with braZen
frankness at others, they laid their
plans, built up their mighty military
machine. extended their espionage sys-
| TEN to all lands with the aid Of the
! business houses and the diplomats,
Though warned by more than one stu.
dent of affairs, the world in general
ignored all this or looked on it as
merely boastfulness and legitimate
trade competition.
Germany's plan was nothing less
than an enormous conspiracy to es.
tablish what the conspiratOrs knew as
'Mittel Europa" dominion extend
ing from the North sea to the Persian
gulf. AS preimlnares, German
princes were placed on thrones Of
middle Europe wherever possible, and
financial relations were established
that gave Germany virtual control
! over the coveted countries Then the
Hun autocracy impatiently awaited
THE Day"
Excuse Was Ready-Made.
Merely an excuse was needed to
precipitatc the conflict, and this was
afforded on June IS, 1914, by the as
sasslnation of Archduke Ferdinand, of
Austria and his wife in SarajevO, BOS'
mia, by Il Serbian. That this crime
was inspired to serve as preteXt is
evidenced by the fact that everything
was prepared a few days in advance
for putting the German military ma.
al, In AnGfpin IInHnF
tlers from Berlin, made demands on
Serbia to which no Self-respecting ma
ton could submit, and on July 2S de-
Clared war on its neighbOr. RuSSia, as
ally of and sponsor for Serbia, mo-
bilized its armies at once, despite the
protests of Germany whereupOn the
kaiser declared war on Russia.
France, being in offensive and defenS-
i've alliance with Russia, was COM
PEELED to mobilize, and the kaisers
armed forces got into action at once.
The course of events so far had been
fOreseen by the German high COM
mand and 1t was in accordance with
it's prearranged plan, which was to
crush France by swift advance on
Paris, and then to turn about and
make an end of ItuSsias military re-
siStance.
On August German troops entered
France at Grey and began moving
through Luxembourg, despite the spir-
Ited protests of the grand duchess,
and Berlin asked Belgium to permit
the passage of troops through that
country. This was refused. the king
Of Belgium appealing to the lwers
that had guaranteed the neutrality of
his kingdom,
All this time Great Britain had
been striving to avert the outbreak of
general war, and Germany rested
cOmplacently on the information of
her spies that the British would not
enter into the conflict. But Berlin
reckOned without the British spirit OF
fair play and faithfulness to treaties,
and when the kaiser tore up the
"scrap of paper" and invaded Belgium
Great Britain jumped to the rescue.
Her mighty feet was mobilized ana
her army, pitifully small, began NOV
ing across the channel. Then events
came with daZing rapidlty. One af-
Ter another the nations fell into line
against the Germans and Austro-Hun-
garians, but the Teutons were ready
and the others, except France, were
not.
The Invasion Of Belgium.
On August began one of the most
shameful chapters. in the history d
the wOrId--the rape Of Belgium. King
Albert and his heroic little army re-
sisted to their u,omst, but the suppos'
edly impregnable forts of Liege, Ma
mur and other Belgian towns were |
speedily reduced by the Hun cannon
and the land and its people were made
captive. The atrocities committed by |
the Germans, officers and prlvates
alike, will remain blot on the name |
Of Germany to the end of all time,
The world has been so well informed
those brutal crimes that it
Is unnecessary to recapitulate them.
Having Overrun all but Il narrow |
strip of Belgium, the Hun armies be.
gan what Berlin fondly believed was I
to be triuMphal march to Paris
England's little regular army was
thrown across their path and fought
and died almost to man. and side by