Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-04-18

-
ralDe. II nounAnia. n real ~ q
thsir justice and faiEaess ~ esoe
Froo this vs nay jsdgs ths rest
They are eajeyins In Rania {
cheap triumph In which no brave o.
gallant nation caA taks . peide. 4
great people. helpless By tAsdr own
act. lies for the time at their mercy.
Their fair professions are forgot
ten. They nowhere set mp Justice. but
everywhere impose their power and ex.
plot everything for their NJ use and
agsrandlzement: and the peoples Of
conquered provinces are invited to b
free under their dominion.
"Are we not justified In believing
that they would do the same thing at
their western front IL they were not
there face to face with armies whom
even their countless divisions cannot
overcome.
IF. when they have felt their check
to be final. they should propose "a
vorabie and equitable terms with re-
gard to Belgium and France and italy.
could they blame US II We concluded
that they did SO only to assure them.
selves Of a free hand in Russia and
the east1
World Dominion Built In East.
"Their purpose is undoubtedly to
make all the Slavic peoples, all the
free and ambitious peoples Of the Bal.
tic peninsula, all the lands TINT Tuf-
key has dominated and misruled, SUBJ
ject to their will and ambition. and
build upon that dominion an empire
Of force upon which they fancy that
they can then erect an empire - gain
and commercial supremacy-an I'm
pire as hostile to the Americas as to
the Europe which it will overawe-an
empire which will ultimately master
Persia, India. and the peoples Of the
far East.
I'm such a program vi ideals, the
ideals of justice and humanity and lib
erty, the principle Of the free self
determination Of nations upon which
all the modern world insists, a play
no part.
"They are rejected for the ideals Of
power. for the principle that the
strong must rule the weak, that trade
must follow the flag, whether those
to whom 1t Is taken welcome 1t or not,
that the peoples Of the world are to
be made subject to the patronage and
over-lordship Of those who have the
power to enforce 1t.
Would Mean World Conflict.
This program once carried out,
America and all who care or dare to
stand with her must arm and prepare
themselves to contest the mastery Of
the world, II mastery In which the
rights Of common men, the rights Of
women and Of all who are weak, must
for the time being be trodden under
foot, and dlsregarded, and the old, age
long struggle for freedom and right
begin again at its beginning.
Everything America has lived for
and grown great to vindicate and
bring to a glorious realization will
have fallen in utter ruin and the gates
of mercy nce more pitllessly shut up
on mankind.
"The thing Is prcposterous and i'm.
possible and yet, Is not that what the
whole course and action Of the Ger.
man armies have meant wherever they
have moved? do not wish, even in
this movement of utter dlsillusionment,
to judge harshly or unrighteously. /
judge only by what the German arms
have accomplished with IMPLYING
tiloroughness throughout every fair re.
glon they have touched.
What, then, are we to do? For my.
self, l I'M ready, ready still, ready even
now, to discuss a fair, just and honest
peace at any time that it Is sincerely
proposed--a peace in which the strong
and the weak shall fare alike. But
the answer, when l proposed such a
peace, came from the German comman-
ders In Russia and l cannot mistake
the meaning of the answer.
"Force to Utmost" Only Answer.
II accept the challenge.
II know that you accept 1t. All the
world shall know that you accept 1t.
1t shall appear in the utter sacrifice
and self-forgetfulness with which we
shall give all that we love and all that
we have to redeem the world and make
It fit for free men like ourselves to
live in.
This now Is the meaning Of all that
we do. Let everything that we say,
my fellow countrymen, everything that
we henceforth plan and accomplish,
ring true to this response till the males
ty and might Of u concerted power
shall fill the thought and utterly defeat
the force Of those who fout and mis-.
prize what we honor and hold dear.
Germany has once. more said that
force alone, shall decide whether jus.
tice and peace shall reign in the at.
fairs of men, whether right as Amer.
len conceives It or dominion AZ she
conceives 1t shall determine the des.
tinics Of mankind.
There Is, therefore, but n re,
Spouse possible from us: Force, force
to the utmost. force without stint o,
limit tho riVhtoOuu md trlnrruhnu