Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1918-10-31
Why We Fight
No. s
Because Germany kfenaces the
Freedom of the World and Russia
Cen no Longer Resist
By CLARENCE L. SPEED
Secretary OF the War Committee OF the
Union League Club of Chicago.

BECAUSE II Is = NdF 1OT ITSeuOIu uOTS
truly than ever before was a war
fought for the liberty Of man. In times
past, it is true, men have fought for
freedom from Oppressors. Sometimes
they have won and sometimes they
have lost. But always there has been
a place in this big world where those
who had lost in the struggle at home
might go and find a country where
they might enjoy the liberty they
loved.
Now all is different. Il the forces
which are fighting for freedom in this
war are defeated, there will be no
place in the whole world to which they
may go to find a refuge from Prus-
sian domination. Every land under
the sun will be directly or indirectly
under control of the ,ictor; and if
the victor is autocracy, freedom per-
ishes.
The land where freedom is most i'm
minentIy menaced by the legions Of
Prussian autOcracy, at this moment,
is the land where unwonted freedom
temporarily has run riot and has lost
the power to fight for itself-RusSia.
We are fighting for the freedom Of
Russia, and must continue to fight for
1t until Russia learns what freedom
means, and is again able to fight. If
we do not, freedom will die in Russia;
Prussian autocracy will rule and eX-
plot the country for its own benefit;
and the very forces which overthrow
the car will be turned against the
freedom not only OF themselves, but Of
other lands.
In years gone by, when the forces
Of revolution were showing themselves
here and there in Russia, they had the
sympathy Of America in spite Of the
methods Of terrorism of which we
did not approve. When the ear and
the kaiser, leaders Of autOcracy, were
locked in a death grapple, Russia still
had our sympathy, because she was
fighting on the side Of those who were
seeking to safeguard the world from
Prussian militarism.
When the car was depOsed over
night American feelings were mixed.
There was joy at the downfall Of an
old, and sometimes cruel autocracy,
but there was fear that Russia would
become too disorganized to fight fur
Their, coupled with the thought that per-
haps the revolution had come too soon
to be effective.
Then followed the brief regime Of
Kerensky, when it began to look as
though freedom in Russia might be an
organized freedom, prepared to fight
for its rights, and all America hailed
the RUSSIAN revolution as a blessing.
It had become absolutely correct to
say that the war was a war of demOc-
racy against autocracy. No pro-Ger-
man could longer point to the car,
whenever an argument arose.
Finally came the bolsheviki revolu-
ton, IN which Kerensky was over
thrown. Russian industry and Rus
sian society were disorganized, and
Russian armies ceased to fight. The
kaiser's armies pressed on unOppOsed,
took what they desired in spite Of
signed peace, and Russia appeared to
be about to pass completely under con-
aghast at the prank freedom had
played, and American opinion turned
largely against Russia, but thinking
men refused to give up hope. Rus
STA was and still Is incapable of offer
ing resistance, but Russia is not re-
signed to autocracy. It devolves upon
others to fight for the freedom Rus
STA must have.
The experience of other nations has
been that men who loved freedom
were willing to fight for it, and to die
for it If necessary. The Russian at
titude Of nonresistance was something
new in the world, and is hard to I'M
derstand. The bolsheviki represent
ed the extreme idea Of liberty. To
them freedom meant not the right Of
the majority to choose their form Of
government, but the right Of the indi-
vidual to be free from all forms of
governmental restraint. They would
tear down the old order completely,
at one stroke, and set up the mil
ienium. They would divide the land,
the factories and the tools among the
workers, and have no masters hence
forth.
Even in Russia, however, there were
dissenters. Some took up arms; and
the bolshevfki, who fought the Ger
mans not at all, fought their brothers
most ferociously. The result was an
archy, 1awlessness, massacre, the dis
organization of the railways and the
failure Of the food supply. The mil
lenfum refused to come at the mere
decree Of the bolsheyiki. It was shown
that there must be organization and
government of some sort.
Russia will not longer fight side by
side with her former allies. So in
siduous has been the German propa-
ganda that, In many instances, Russian
hatred of the allies seems to be deep
er than hatred Of Germany.
Therefore the United States cannot
render direct aid to the struggling peo-
pie of Russia. She cannot send them
armies and supplies. for they have re
fused to do battle for themselves. To
fight for Russia she must fight on the
western front She must do her share
toward humbling the kaiser, and fore
ing him to relinquish his grasp on the
East.
That is why we cannot talk peace
with Germany as long as the kaiser
hoe ono cfpu1o RuSSfou proyinc0 nm