Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-02-15

tells and pawns in a game, even
the great game, now forever dis
| credited of the balance of power;
but that,
| Third Every territorial set
Element involved in this war must
| be made in the interest and for
| the benefit of populations con-
| cerned and not as part Of any
mere adjustment or compromise
of claims amongst rival states;
and,
Fourth-That all well defined
aspirations shall be accorded the
utmost satisfaction that can be
accorded them without intro.
!! ducing new or perpetuatlng ola
elements of discord and antagon-
ism that would be likely in time
to break the peace Of Europe and
| consequently Of the world.
"a general peace erected on such
foundations can be discussed" tho
president continued, in his address to
congress; until such a peace can be
secured we have no choice but to go
on"
Over the same telegraph wire which
brought to The Courier office the text
of President Wilson's address, there
came, few minutes later, an Amster-
dam dispatch containing Kaiser Will
helms declaration that, although Ger
many desires to live in friendship
with neighboring peoples" the "vic'
tory of German arms must first be
recognized"
| Here, in brief, is the exposition Of
the whole cause Of the war and the ex-
position of the principles on which
that war must be fought.
The kaiser's Boosting speech, made
In reply to an address by the burgo-
master of Hamburg on the conclusion
Of the treaty of peace with Ukraine,
was uttered principally for German
ears and German intellects. That is
obvious. 1t holds much Of the old-time
braggadocio which was notably absent
from the emperor's utterances little
more than week ago. when the
strength of the militaristic party in
Germany was being put to the test by
sporadic outburst Of socialistic re-
volt That test is passed in safety; the
reign Of the mailed fist is re-estab-
1ished; the conclusion of peace with
| the bolsheviki Of Ukraine and the as.
surance of the final surrender of Rus
STA by the Lenfnists revived the old
bombastic spirit Of the Hohenzollern.
William was himself again.
"The Lord" he said, pointed out to
us by hard school the path which we
should go. The world, however, at the
same time has not been on the right
path. We Germans, who still have
ideals, should work to bring about bet
ter times. We should fight for right
and morality. Our Lord God wishes
us to have peace but a peace wherein
the world shall strive to do what is
right and good"
Certainly, this is asking the Creator
to approve much that God.fearing folk
have been taught to regard as any
thing but in keeping with the spirit Of
nouncing Divine approval rather than
imploring it.
And now, while the talk Of peace is
in the air, it is we'll to consider some
of the acts by which Germany has
marked its course in the war-that
war which the German ruler says is
''waged for right and morality" and
must 60 on until the world shall recog-
nize the victory Of German arms.
These are the facts, we are forced to
conclude, by which Germans, "who
still have IDEALS are aiming at a
peace wherein the world shall strive
to dc what is right and good"
i In 1914, Germany trampled on the
solemn treaty by which her govern
ment had guaranteed the inviolability
of russia. She turned her hordes of
drunken, savage soldiers loose in Bel
GUMS cities and countryside, to kill
old men, torture old women, butcher
children, violate young girls, desecrate
shrines, mutilate human bodies, burn
steal treasures and spread ruin, terror
and "kultur' among a peace loving
people whose only offense was desire
to protect the rights which the Ger
man government had guaranteed them
Germany set her submarine traps to
catch steamships carrying women and
children on journeys Of peace, and
when the Lusitania was sunk, with its
hundreds of innocent non-combatants,
the kaiser's followers, who still have
IDEALS" proclaimed holiday and
struck commemorative medals to mark
the date Of this heinous atrocity.
Germany commanded her bomb drop
pers to select Red Cross hospitals as
their special targets. and dispatched
U-boats with specific orders to wayiay
hospital ships and send their hundreds
of invalids to sudden death.
Germany employed spies In America,
first to dynamite factories where war
supplies were being made. and then to
spread poison and powdered glass in
the food which must be eaten not alone
by American soldiers but by little chill.
dren and other non-combatants whose
offense lay in the fact that they were
not Of German blood.
Germany plotted destruction OF
every government but her own, plotted
the subjugation Of every other race,
plotted the seizure of land and power
Throughout the world, at will.
And every lawless aim, every bar
barrie, inhuman. atrocious scheme OF
murder, rapine. plumber and deceit
which German cunning has evolved
since the war began and in all the
years before, is Germany's still. Every
ono etill ic an aDnroyed Wea non for the