Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-02-21
The Mask Falls

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The Prussian mask at last falls in
front Of all the people of Germany and
Austria-Hungary
This is not a war OF defense, to save
the very existence Of the central allies
Il is a war of conquest and wholesale
murder. 1t is a brutal crushing of de-
fcnceless peoples by Prussian imper-
ialism.
Even the kul:ur-benumbed people of
Germany gasp at the drive on helpless
Russia, where peace proclamations of
Il week ago brought rejoicings
throughout the German and Qua en-
pres.
The meaning of the half-Lnderstood
words Of the President of the United
States is now better realized-"The
world can not trust the war masters
The people of Austria arise to de-
mand. through the public press, assur-
auce from the minister of war, Count
'zernin, tina Austria-IIungary have
Il" land III this war upon helpless
I-ussiA.
In Austria they are beginning to
realize wint the world is feeling and
what history Will say of them. They
want peace and they know that the
Russian masses not only want peace
bat have dropped their arms and have
thrown themselves upon the mercy of
the world.
the more decd is recorded against
l'tussIanisnl. Tie rising Indignation
81 home responds to world-hatred of
tur war party of INSCRIPTIONS greed,
relentless murder. uncnding passion
iur puver.
In Th" Worlds Work for February,
j. /: w Gardiner writes:
We al know the wave of horror
ruirIl sUI2cl over Tn" world at the
IaN"c wrought 10y the retiring army in
France: how railroads were torn up.
d'rt ads dNuamited. houses destroyed
and IIcIr contents either burned or
sent int" Germany. Every work of art
"l ~ architecture was leveled. every
u"c cut down, all Nature was system
atI'illN 1aNisijc'l until all that re-
manned OF = r"pul"us. thriving country
was q d"sclt waste. The popular idea
Is tnat this WaS hut the o~utcroppinc
"t an innate lust for destruction. that
~ was rlrc and simple vandalism. |
tIlnk - moments consideration of Ger
many position VIII dispcl this illusion
both ~ the case Of France and Of Bel
Giuui As have said. Germany rcal-
tzcd ri that time her own inability to
WIN rather III" was seriously threat
'rci with defeat. She realized. too.
lat these nets "f rapaCitN. more like
the venting ~ rage of some savage
least than like the. acts OF a civilized,
,rcanized state. unless there was some
carefully considered Interior motive,
we're calculated To arousc among her
enemics a feeling of bitter resentment
which would find its reflection in the
terms of peace which Germany as Il
defeated nation could obtain. Ger
many - cold, silrcwdly calculating.
and materialistic. She does nothing
from impulse hut tempers her acts to
NJ in with a carefully mapped out
p!au. Least Of all would she close the
d"or to a generous peace in the case
"t possible defeat unless. as | have
said. size were impelied BY an Interior
f~nutiVe-and tho motive here is easy
~ divine II is to So weaken France
and Belgium. while she herself is still
intact, thai they cannot possibly re-
cover from the effects of wal in the
sam" time thai Germany herself can.
To To- "nStitute tho t,elgian nation
alone, wiki ALI its a~blc-bodied men eX-
copt the relic Of its army. will take
several generations. With d%epopula-
ted. blasted France the case is almost
~ bad. In much less time would Ger
many he ready to strike again, and
with Rclgium no longer a thorn in her
side. and with the northeastern gate
way to France wide open, the German
hordes could march without effective
OPPOSITION direct to Paris and Calais"
That is the Germany the world faces
t'daN. the Germany that is now in
aicting terrorism upon the disorgan-
ized pcople Of a divided nation.
Shall We permit such a Germany
&" liNe-or. that part of it which the
world fears and hates. to live? Or,
shall the manhood of America arise in
its righteous wrath and sweep this
monster from the path of civilization
Il is our work, if the peoples of those
h~uitur-owned countries do not soon
recognize that they are being fed to
the ambitions Of a demon group. Per-
Laps they have never had so clear a
glimpse Of the cloven hoof of their
rulers as today.