East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-04-01


the free peoples Of the world from IN,
menace and the actual power Of a vas
military establishment controlled by ar
irresponsible government, which, having
secretly planned TO dominate the world
I proceeded to carry out the plan without
Of treaty or the long -estsblIshed prac.
tlees and long cherished principles Of IN
transitional action and honor; Thu
the ruthless master Of the German peo
| pie. II Is our business to see q
Il that the history Of the rest Of III.
President Wilson, August II, 1917.
THE GERMANS AS A CHOSEN
PEOPLE.
! The foundation cause Of this war Is
| Germany's firm belief that she alone
has the right to direct the progress Of
the world and to exploit its resources
For the last thirty years 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 obe-
| dience to its will. German political
writing of recent years is full of the
idea that the German people is Gods
chosen people, destined to impose its
'Kultur' upon all other peoples"
"The German soul is the worlds
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
to 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 is always right,
because it is the German people, and
numbers 100000 souls" "Kultur is
best promoted when the strongest in
dividual Kultur, that of given ma
tion, 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 'Militarism' is about to
achieve"
These quotations are but a few of
hundreds of like expression, and the
last one cited is from a manifesto
signed by thirty-fUe 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 ombdts between Kulturs in
which the stronger and God-directed
one has the right to prevail and must
prevail. The immediate and present
object is TO make cur Kultur prevail
in the East (in 'MuscovyD, and in ac-
complishing 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 to |
each must be left the working out of |
its own problems.
We Americans are unable to under I
stand, or sympathize with, people |
who conceive OF themselves as a chosen /
people, chosen of Coda people to |
whom all things and actions, however |
inhuman or brutal, are regarded as /
permissible, even holy, because of a .
faith in their superior mission and /
To us such belief is
direct evidence, not of leading, but .
0f ld00iH0 civilization.
This German ideal, when expressed
merely in theory, even though taught
n Germany for the last thirty years.
stirred but Indifferent interest in other
European nations. In this war Ger
many has revealed in the application
If her theory a lust for world power
It the expense of other peoples, a lack .
II good faith, brutality that have
her theory as involving a re- /
urn to barbarism
By the application of German theory /
We were forced, unwillingly, to 90 to /
var. But today We know that there .
vas no escape from a war between two +
ontradictory ideals. Germany's eco /
ionic objects are many and large .
they will be pointed outl, but the basic 4
ause of this war'was the German ideal /
4 dominant nation. That ideal. .
y Germany's own challenge. is on trial T
n arms. Against it We must prevail.
r We shall perish.
This Is the first Of a series oF e,