Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-01-04

would come to this earth. Tic only
wny that q people can express Their
will is through democratic institu-
tions. Therefore, when the world is
made safe for democracy, when that
great principle prevails, universal
peace will be an accomplished fact.
But that~time has not yet come. A
great people. ruled in thought and
word, as well as in deed, by the most
sinister Government of modern times
are sraining every nerve to sup
plant democracy by the autocracy,
which they have been taught to wor-
ship. When will the German people
awaken to the truth? When will
they rise in their might and cast off
the yoke and become their own mas
ters? j fear that it will not be until
the physical might of the united dem
ocracies of the, world have destroyed
forever the evil ambitions of the mil
itary rulers of Germany, and liberty
triumphs over its arch enemy.
And yet in spite of these truths
which have been brought to light in
these last three years l wonder how
many Americans feel that our democ-
racy is in peril, that our liberty needs
protection, that the United States is
IN real danger from the malignant
forces which are seeking to impose
their will upon the world, as they have
upon Germany and her deceived allies.
Let us understand once for all that
this war to establish an abstract prin-
ciple of right. 1t is a war in which the
future of the United States is at
stake. If any among you have the idea
that we arc fighting others battles
and not our own, the sooner he gets
away from that idea the better it will
be for him, the better ii will be for all
of us.
Imagine Germany voctor in Europe
because the United States remained
neutral. Who, then, would be the
next victim of those who are seeking
to be masters of the whole earth /?
Would not this country with its enor-
nous wealth arouse the cupidity of an
impoverished tho triumphant Ger
many? Would not this democracy be
the only obstacle between the auto
cratic rulers Of Germany and their
supreme ambition? Would they with
hold their hand from so rich prize?
Would it be easier or wiser for this
country single handed to resist n Ger
man Empire, flushed with victory and
with great armies and navies at its
than to unite with the brave
enemies of that empire in ending now
and for all time this menace to our
future?
Primarily, then, every man who
crosses the ocean to fight on foreign
soil against the armies of the Ger
man emperor goes forth TO fight for
his country and for the preservation
of those things which our forefathers
were willing to die. To those who
thus offer themselves we owe the same
debt that we owe to those men who
in the past fought on American soil
in the cause OF liberty. No, not the
same debt. but greater one. 1t calls
Tor more patriotism, more self-dcnial,
and truer vision to wage war on
distant shores than TO repc an invad-
er or defend ones home. The young
men who have gone forth to fight for
their country have done n splendid
thing. They have earned already the
gratitude of their countrymen and of
generations of Americans to come.
Their battle flags will become the
cherished trophies of n nation which
Will never forget those who bore them
in the cause of liberty.
| know that some Americans NAV
that the idea that Germany
would attack us, if she won this war,
to be improbable, but let him who
doubts remember that the improbable
yes, the impossible, has been hap
pening in this war from the begin
ming. If you had been told prior to
1914, that the German gov
eminent would disregard it's solemn
treaties and send its armies into Bel
gum, would wantonly burn Louvain,
would murder defenseless people. ex-
tort ransoms from conquered cities.
would carry away men and women
nOuity llhc NIHuuIS OIL
old, destroy some of history's most
cherished monuments, and would, with
purpose, lay waste the fair
est fields of France, Belgium, you
would have Indignantly denied the
possibility. You would have exclaim-
ed, that Germans, lovers of art and
learning, would never permit such
foul deeds. Today you know that the
unbelievable has happened, that all
these crimes have been committed,
not under the impulse of passion, but
under official orders.
Again. if you had been told before
the war that German submarine COM
manders would sink peaceful vessels
OF commerce and send to sudden death
men, women. and little children. YOU
would have declared such scientific
brutality to be impossible. Or if YOU
had been told that German aviators
would fly over thickly populated cit
les, scattering missiles of death and
destruction, with no other purpose