The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1918-01-10
.TEUT0NS ARE WAR-AAD
Attorney Declares That Modern Ger
many Has Deified Force - Proves
Statements by History - Lecture
Follows Usual Banquet.

John =. Voigt, speaking before st.
Matthew's Men g Club on Tuesday
evening, brought a message of truth
and fire. Discussing the topic "Our
Country and the War;, he presented a
scathing denmciation of Germany and
a brilliant vindication of the United
States ror her declaration of war. Hav-
ing heard Mr.. Voigt's address, no man
at the gathering was in any mood to
agree to compromise peace or any
peace that will not guarantee the Sc
curity of nations against the encroach-
ments Of militarism
Having reviewed the early history of
the United States in such a way as to
show its cosmopolitanism-its strange
commixture of conscientious English
men, thrifty Dutch, sturdy Swedes,
earnest Catholics, simple Quakers,
Cavaliers, canny Scots, imaginative
1rishmen and serious minded Hugenots
he expressed his confidence in the
Americanism Of the vari -blooded citizens
of the worlds most universal nation.
"'My father was born ON the Baltic" y,
he declared in commenting upon
'hyphenates' Of the better sort, "my
mother on the Rhine. / was born
thank God-in our own United States
and / believe I bespeak the sentiment
of most of our citizens of foreign
descent when say that I am dedi-
Gated body, mind, and soul to America
and the Stars and Stripes"
Thereafter Mr.. Voigt described con-
ditions in European countries, and es-
pecially Germany, which had made the
immigrants to the United States es-
pecially contented with our government
and our economic systems. BY present
ing the causes of the war he showed
the hopeless militarism that for almost
fifty years has dominated every ac-
tivity of Teutonic life and made it es-
sentially nation p~acticing and
preaching the fallacious theories Of
Nietsche, Trietsche, and Bernhard,
namely 'Might makes right, "Any
barbarity is justified by national
necessity, and Deutschland must
be "uber alles''.
Germany is no longer the country
of Goethe, Schiller, and Beethoven -,
Mr.. Voigt affirmed with great feeling,
but nation that has forgotten the
Father and deifed Force'.
BY way of proving this strong but
truthful statement the speaker told the
story Of the rise of Germany. "Prus-
STA has grown, he asserted, ''by
forcibly imposing its will upon its
neighbcrs as witness-the Danish War
in 1864, the Austrian War in, 1868, and
the Franeo-Prussian War in 1871. Che
has fought deliberately incurred wars
for purposes of territorial aggrandize-
ment and has been 50 diabolically sue
cessful as to dream of world-dominion.
Her government is first last and always
autocratic and essentially opposed to
democracy in any form. This is at
tested by Bismarck who said: eThere
is one role / refuse to playa repre-
sentative of the people and more re-
Gently by Won Bethman- Hollweg
when he stated Il serve not the people
but my Kaiser''
Mr.. voigt then explained that pat
riotism and religion were united in
Germany in the person of the Kaiser
and that the army was dominated by
a personal allegiance to the emperor
rather than national devotion to
country and humanity. He demon.
strated that these ideas and ideals were
primarily medieval and plead for the
universal establishment of the more
modern principles of Liberty, Frater.
nifty, and Equality.
''The Stars and Stripes stands for
Freedom, Humanity, and international
JUSTICE, Mr.. voigt concluded with
dramatic emphasis, s'and Americans
now stand ready to fight to beneath its
folds for these sacred principles
The lecture of the Chicago attorney
was preceded by the usual excellent
dinner and followed by the usual NOV
ing pictures-no they were comic this
time blame it ON the storm-insteae
of the regular ar-pictures showing
life among the Poilus and Tomnlies nov
defending America and American lib
erty somewhere in France.