French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1918-04-11

Fellow ClLlZS0S MS is Ln0 du-
niversary of our acceptance of Ger
many's challenge to fight for our right
to live and be free, and for the sacred
rights of free men everywhere. The
nation is awake. There is no need
to call to it. We know what the war
must cost, curt utmost sacrifice, the
lives of our fttest men and, Of need
be, all that we possess. The loan we
are met to discuss is one of the least
parts Of what we are called upon to
| give and to do, though in itself it is
imperative. The people OF the whole
| country are alive to The necessity Of it
and are ready to lend to the utmost,
wen where it involves a sharp and
! daily sacrifice to lend out of meager
earnings. They viii look with repro
baton and contempt upon those who
al and will not, upon those who de-
m2nd a higher rate of interest, upon
those who think OF it as a mere com
meTcial transaction I have not come,
therefore, to urge the loan. l have
come only to give you, if I can, q more
vivid conception of what it Us. for.
II 1CuSCu y I1AtS S~ q wal , NA
reason why it had to come, the need
to fight it through, and the issues that
hang upon it's outcome are more clear
ly disclosed now than ever before. It
is easy to see just what this particular
loan means because the cause we
are fighting for stands more. sharply
revealed than a \any previous crisis
~ +h0 ronronp%nYYe cEw,TorTo Tho ~ m
who knows least can now see plainly
how the cause Of Justice stands and
what the imperishable thing is he is
asked to invest in. Men in America
may be more sure than they ever
were before that the cause Is their
own, and that, if it should be lost,
their W great nations place and
mission in the world would be lost
with IL. 49, q n-.r.a
81 CALI you to witness, my fellow
countrymen, that at no stage of this
terrible business have I judged the
purposes Of Germany Unexpectedly. I
should be ashamed in the, presence
OF affairs so grave, SO fraugAt with
the destinies OF mankind throughout
all the world, to speak with trucu-
lence, to use the weak languages Of
hatred or vindictive PURPOSE. We
must judge as We would be judged. I,
have sought to learn the objects Ger.
many has in this war from the mouths
OF her own spokesmen and to deal as
frankly with them as I wished them
to deal with me. I have laid bare our ,
own ideals, our own purposes, without
reserve or doubtful phrase, and have
asked them to say as plainly what it
is that they seek.
eve have ourselves proposed no in
justice, no aggression. We are ready, !
whenever the final reckoning is made
to be just to the German people, deal
fairly with the German power, as
with all others: There can be no diff
ference between peoples in the final
if it is indeed to be alright
eous judgment. To propose anything
but justice, even-handed and dispas-
sionate justice to Germany at any
time, whatever the outcome of the
war, would be to renounce and dis
honor our own cause For we ask
uOIuluS LndI we " IL " "4AA41IS " az /
cord.
cit has been with this thought that
I have sought to learn from those who
spoke for Germany whether it was
Justice or dominion and the execution
of their own will upon the other ma ,
lions of the world, that the German
leaders were seeking. They have an
swered, answered in unmistakable
terms, They have avowed that it was
not justice but dominion and the un-
hindered execution of their own will. /
"The avowal has not come from
Germany's statesmen. It has come
from her military leaders, who are
her real rulers. Her statesmen have
said that they wished peace, and were +
ready to discuss it's terms whenever
their opponents were willing to sit
down at the conference table with
them. Her present chancellor has said,
In indefinite and uncertain. terms, in
deed, and in phrases that often seem
to deny their own meaning, sbut with
as much plainness as he thought pfu- !
dent-that he believed that peace
be based upon the principles
which We had declared would be oHr1
own in, the final. settlement.
"At Brest-Litovsk her civilian dele
gates. spoke4n similar terms; profess
ed their desire to conclude . fair
peace and accord to the peoples with
whose fortunes they were dealing the
right to choose their own allegiances:
But action accompanied and followed
the profession. Their military masters,
the men who act for Germany and
exhibit her purpose in execution,
proclaimed very different conclu-
sion. We can not mistake what they
have {done-in Russia, in Finland, in
the Ukraine, In Rumania. The reall
test ofNtheir Justice and fair play has