The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-12


 awoke from our sleep. from our blindness and deafness and the realization of the truth came home to us with abasing fol ce Alas, for the three years wasted, frlttered away in idleness, not only noth- ing done, but nothing doing.
 We are speeding ahead at last mal ing desperate efforts to overtake the time that was and is not and never can be. We won't catch up. because no na- tior of humans ever couId-but the best that we can do will be done. And be- cause we came late into the war we will have to face the penalty--have to bear accrued burdens and pay heavier costs. Had we gone in when the Lusitania was sunk, the war would be over, or nearly over, and the Prussian would be forever rbeaten. As it is, the Prussan is not yet, most assuredly not yet, beaten-and because we have been tardy in coming into the war, and have prolonged the var by that very tardiness it behooves us as a nation frankly to acknowledge that fact and prepare to bear the addi- tional burden that tardiness entails.
 The war is in Europe and it must be kept there-first because it is there; second, because for a purely selfish reason we don't want it here
 Germany is fighting this war on for eign soil because it seeks to keep the war from home and Germany free from invasion. So must we, accepting existing conditions fight the war in Europe-and win it there, in order that America may be spared the hor- TOTS of a Hun invasion. For. be as- sured, if the Hun wins in Europe he will promptly carry his he'll to our shores, and do to this fair land what he has done to France and Belgium raV1sh our women murder our men, loot and burn and Lombard our cities and the land that lies between
 II the Hun comes he will come as the conquerer of Europe, with all the power and might which that implies with the fleets of all his vassal nations and the resources of those nations at hE command. Think you we could withstand him?
 Granted that we might-at least, we would try. But what of the cost? What has been Frances cost and Bel gium's, and Servia's, and Rumanias, and Russia's? And the total of it won't even approximate the price to us. For Tn no other way can he sustain his boast-openly and truculently made that he would make America pay the cost of the war"
 And having taken his toll do you fancy that then he, will return across the sea? Surely no one is so guileless It is not the Prussian way to re- houiCC tHdI w men ne possesses, 10 re- turn what he has filched to show to the conquered the slightest evidence Of humanity so long as he is in the position to dominate and oppress. No; no! America will be German prov ince, with a German military gover- nor; Berlin. not Washington will be the seat of government and Kaiser, not a President, will rule us in the Prussian fashion. We shall pay tdXeS-taypg ac tn iol, tax will be mere trifle-out of a. tithe of which Germany will maintain in our midst vast Prussian army to oppress and suppress and bully us into subjection. If anyone needs an idea or what g PrusSian army would do to us, let him read what a Prussian army has done and is doing to unhappy Bel- gium and the conquered portions of France
 Will an American risk such fate for his country and for hmself-risk seeing the Prussian flag on the capitol at Washington and a Hohenzollern in the White House-with all which that signifies?
 Some years ago, on his first visit to this country a Prussian of high, very high. military rank sailed up New York harbor in a dense fog Sud- denly the fog lifted and the towering buildings of the mighty city burst upon him. For moment he was speechless-and when he spoke it was softly, with the coveteousness of an- ticipation:
 God" he said. what city to 1ootw
 Loot! It was the. true Prussian, running true to stypeI Loot 5vas his first thought on beho1ding for the first time the metropolis of the western hemisphere-and loot will be the Prussians only thought if ever they land an army on these shores
 Is there no need. think you, for us to keep the Prussian in Europe?
 Loot! Think you a mere crossing of the Atlantic would change the ra- cial nature of this hideous beast?
 siGod what ritv to loot