Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-01-04
A War Of Self
Defense
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BY ROBERT LANSING, Z
Secretary of State of United States

oecTetary Oh State oil united states.
We must all realize that we are liv-
ing in the most momentous time in
all history, in time when the lives
and dcsttinies of nations are in the
balance, when even the civilization
which has taken centuries to build,
may crumble before the terrible storm
which is sweepin cover Europe. We
are not only living in this critical
period but we, as a nation, have be-
come q participant in the struggle.
Having cast our lot on the side of the
Powers allied against the Imperial
German government we will put be-
hind our decision the full power and
tic resources of the Republic. We in
tend to win in this nightly conflict,
and we will win because our cause is
the cause of jusetice and OF right and
Of humanity
] wonder how many of us compre-
lend what the outcome of this war
means to mankind, or, to bring it
nearer to each one of us, what it
means to our country. l sometimes
link that there prevail very erro-
neous impressions as to the reasons
why we entered the war, not the i'm
mediate reasons but the deep underly-
ing reasons which affect the life and
future of the United States and all
other liberyt loving nations through
out the world.
OF course the immediate cause of
The war against Germany was the
announced purpose of the German
government to break it's promises as
to indiscriminate submarine warfare
and the subsequent renewal of that
ruthless method of destruction with
increased vigor and brutality.
While this cause was in itself suf-
ficient to force us to enter the war
if we would preserve our sclf-respect
the German governments deliberate
breach of faith and it's utter disregard
of right and life had far deeper
meaning, meaning which had been
growing more evident as the war had
progressed and which needed but this
act of perfidy to bring it home to all
thinking people. The evil character
of the German government is laid
bare before the world. We know now
that that government is inspired with
ambitions which menace human liber-
ty, and that to gain its end it does
not restitate to break faith, to violate
the most sacred rights, or to perpc-
trate intolerable acts of humanity.
It needed but the words reported to
have been uttered by the German
Chancellor to complete the picture of
the character of his Government when
ne announced that the only reason
why the intensified submarine cam
paign was delayed until February
last was that submarines sufficient
could not be built before that time to
make the attacks on commerce eff
fective. DO you realize that this means
If it means anything. that the prom
isc to refrain from brutal subma-
rinc warfare. which Germany had
made to the United States, were new
or mende to be kept, that they were
only made in order to gain time in
which to build more submarines, and
that when the time came to act the
German promises were unhesitatingly
torn to pieces like other scraps of
paper?
1t is this disclosure of the character
of the Imperial German government
which is the underlying cause of our
entry into the war. We had doubted
or at least many Americans had
doubted, the evil purposes of the rul-
ers of Germany. Doubt remained no
longer. In the light of events we
could read the past and see that for
Il quarter of a century the absorbing
ambition of the military oligarchy,
which was the master of the German
Empire, was for world-dominion. Ev-
cry agency in the fields of commerce.
industry, science. and diplomacy had
been directed by the German Govern
ment to this supreme end. Philoso-
pliers and preachers taught that the
destiny of Germany was to rule the
world, thus preparing the mind of the
German people for the time when the
mighty engine which the German gov
it'i SllOlllu
all opposition and the German EN-
peror should rule supreme.
For three years we have watched
the conduct of the Imperial Govern
ment, and we have learned more and
more of the character of that gov
eminent and of it's aims. We came
very slowly to a realizing sense that
not only was the freedom of the Eu-
ropean nations at stake, but that lib
erty throughout the world was threat
ened by a powerful autocracy which
was seeking to crafty it's vast am
bition.
Not impulsively, but with DELHI
Grafton, the American people reached
the only decision which was possible
from the standpoint of their own ma
tional safety. Congress declared that
a state of war existed between the
United States and the Imperial Gov
ernment of Germany, and this coun-
try united with the other liberal ma