The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-04-05
PEACE

The United States did not enter in
to this war unadvisedly, hastily, 'un-
der stress of heat or passion. We
took the step calmly, soberly, reluc-
, family, with a full sense of the awful
responsibility involved, the sacrifices
demanded, the magnitude of the task.
President Wilson did not advise in
his war message, nor did Congress
act in declaring a state of war be-
tween the United States and Germany
without giving the most solemn con-
sideration to what the action meant.
They knew it meant the death of
thousands of brave Americans; they
knew it meant suffering and wounds
and the disabling for life of hun
dreds of thousands Of our young men.
They counted to the full the human
cost and the material cost.
Every development since has JUS
titled and proved the wisdom and the
imperative necessity of Americas
participation. Every German sue
cess and every German failure have
shown how necessary to our welfare
and peace, how necessary to the safe
ty and peace of the world the defeat
of Grmany is. Every foot of ground
Germany has been forced to give up,
every foot of land she has seized, have
| demonstrated the imperative neces-
sity of defeating that sinister, intoler-
able thing called Germanism.
Germanism is 5000 miles away. 1t
must never come any nearer. Let
this war result in anything but the de-
feat of Germany, let her emerge with
her power unbroken and her kultur
still dominant, and it is but a ques-
ton of time until we alone will be
fighting Germany instead of warning
against her with our Allies on our
side. -
Lincoln said that this country could
not exist half slave and half free. All
Americans now recognize that truth.
| The events of the last few years have
shown equally clearly that this world
cannot exist half free and half auto
cratic--half free people loving liber-
ty and justice and peace and half an
autocracy seeking to dominate the
world, caring nothing for liberty or
justice and nothing for humanity and
civilization where they interfere with
its ambition.
There is no peace for America ex-
cept just peace, a peace that means
world fit for free people to-live in.
German ideals, German purposes, and
German practices are the antitheses
of American. The beliefs we love
and honor and uphold are contempt
ible to them; the objects for which
they will to death millions of their own
men and millions of their enemy are
abhorrent to our ideas of right and
Justice; their methods and practices
in warfare are an abomination and
horror to us,
The American who now advocates
or wishes for peace, except just
peace, is either woefully misguided OF
traitor to Americas future and
Americas past, to all things Ameri-
can--the things which have made our
country great and free, which hun
dreds Of thousands of Americans have
died to maintain, and for which
Americans now are dying in France.
There can be no peace with honor
or safety to ourselves or to poster
ity, except a just peace. Work for
peace accomplishes nothing but the
hampering of our effort, the delay OF
the real peace, and greater toll Of
death of American fighting men
Our duty is to war for just anc
righteous peace; to work or speak fol
any other peace is treason.