The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-04-04

ment
Leland Stanford Junior University
THE object OF this war Is to deliver
the free peocies Of the world from the
menace ana tae actual power ot a vast
military establishment controlled BY an
irresponsible government. which. having
secretly planned 10 dominate the world.
proceeded 10 carry out the plan without
regard either 10 the sacred obligations
Of treaty or the long established prac-
tees and LONG cherished principles Of in
ternatonal action ard honor; This
power IS not the German people. II is
the ruthless master OF the German peo-
pie IL S our business 10 see to
Il that the history Of the rest OF the
world IS no longer left to its handling"
-President Wilson, August 27, 1917.
THE GERMANS AS A CHOSEN
PEOPLE
The foundation cause Of this war is
Germanys 5 firm belief that she alone
has the riaht to direct the progress Of
the world and TO exploit its resources.
For the last thirty wears the military
autocracy of Germany has seen TO ii
that this belief was taught In the
schools, and today that autocracy is
reaping the benefits of a blind ODE
dience 70 its will. German political
writing of recent years is full of the
idea that the German people is God 5
chosen people, destined to impose its
'kultur upon all other peoples
ssrrba cA,J 10 ha NrorI1tc
soul, God and Germany belong to one
another Germany is the center of
Gods plans for the world we hope
that a great mission Will be allotted
70 us Germans and this Ger
man mission is: TO look after the
world Germany is chosen, for her
own good and that of other nations
TO undertake their guidance. Provi.
dence has placed the appointed people,
at the appointed moment, ready for
the appointed task
The German people /. always right,
| because it is the German people. and
numbers $1,000 900 souls" "kultur is
| best promoted when the strongest in
dividual Kultur that Of a given ma
ton. enlarges its field of activity at
the expense of the other national kul-
turs.' The attempt of Napoleon to
graft the Kultur of Western Europe
upon the empire of the Muscovite
ended in failure Today history has
made us Germans the inheritors Of the
| Napoleonic idea The further we
carry our kultur into the East, the
more and the more profitable outlets
shall we find for our wares Economic
| profit is of course not the main motive
of our Kultur activity, but it is no un-
welcome by-product" Our belief is
/ that the salvation Of the whole Kultur
of Europe depends upon the victory
which German Nlilitarism is about to
! achieve
| These quotations are but few of
hundreds of like expression. and the
last one cited is from a manifesto
signed by HiHyf5e hundred German
| professors and lecturers. Reduced to
| simple terms the German belief at the
beginning of this war was; God di
rects Germany Civilization advances
only by c0mbdtS between Kulturs in
which the stronger and God-drected
one has the right to prevail and must
prevail The immediate and present
object is to make cur Kultur prevail
in the East Gin 'MuscovyD, and in ac
compishing this we shall also gain
economic advantages. This is the first
step in our world domination
Where does America stand in this
theory Of chosen people? America
denies that theory. she denies that
God has chosen any one people as
His own; she asserts rather that there
are many civilizations, each with Its
own merits and defects, and that tC
each must be left the working out OF
its own problems.
We Americans are unable TO under
stand, or sympathlze with, a people
who conceive of themselves as chosen
people, chosen Of Coda people tC
whom all things and actions, however
inhuman or brutal, are regarded as
permissible, even holy, because OF q
faith in their superior mission and
civilization To us such a belief is
direct ertdence, not OF a leading, but
Of a tagging ciuiliedtion.
This German ideal, when expressed
merely IN theory even though taught
in Germany for the last thirty years
stirred but Indifferent interest la other
European nations In this war Ger
many has revealed in the application
of her theory a lust for Nord power
al the expense of other peoples, lacb
| OF good faith, brutality that have
stamped her theory az involving a re
| turn to barbarisnl
BY the application OF German theory
/ we were forced, unwillingly, to 40 tr
| war But today we know that there
| was no escape from war between two
| contradictory ideals Germany's eco
| nomic objects are many and large
| (they will be pointed OUT, but the basi,
cause Of this war was the German idea
/ Of a dominant nation That ideal
/ by Germanys own challenge, is on tria
In arms. Against it we must prevail
Or we shall perish.