Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-05-23
il contend that he should be more
loyal to the United States of
America than to the world?

it contend that he should be more
loyal to the United States of
America than to the world?
Mr. Berger is the extraordinary citi-
zen who polled 10000 votes in Wis
consin recently, thanks to the big
German element-on platform call
ing for the immediate withdrawal of
the American army from France. In
a practical sense, there is not an i'm
pressive amount Of "internationalism"
in the act of scuttling out Of France
just when the Germans are seeking to
smash the allied de1ense and impose
a peace of annexations and indemni-
ties on the conquered nations. If Mr..
Berger, however, likes an information.
alism that fills the kaiser's bag with
plumber, then that is the sort of inter
nationalism that Mr.. Berger likes. He
may be left to summer and winter
with it, and be happy ever after.
The questions Mr. Berger's paper
has asked still further reveal the sin
gular obliquity of his mind and the
Glow visibility of his reasoning. The
answer to them can be quickly given.
There is in existence no such organ
lied political entity as "the world"
in the sense in which The Leader
uses the word The city of Spring
field, the state of Massachusetts and
the United States Of America exist
as tangible political entities, but
the world is not an organization or
a society, or anything whatever but
an abstraction of Mr.. Berger's mind.
He has no doubt an ideal Of world
state, fully organized, but there is no
such thing in fact, and, what is more,
he knows there is no such thing in
the whole range of reality.
If "the world as an organized po-
litical entity, does not exist, then the
next best thing for one to be loyal to
is the nation, which is the most high
ly evolved political organization yet
seen on the earth One may be loyal
to it or disloyal to it; but one cannot
be loyal to anything higher up. Mr..
Berger's paper, consequently, talks
nonsense in asking if a citizen Of
Springfield should be more loyal to
the United States of America than to
the world" in a war period of i'm.
mense conflict and stress, when va
carries cannot possibly survive the
hard impact of realities. One must
definitely choose what he will be loyal
to, and if he chooses to be loyal to
moonshine, the earth is hardly the
place for him.
Has Mr. Berger read the resolution
recently voted for by the seven social
list aldermen of New York city? They
have cut out Mr.. Berger's naive con-
ception of ''the world and have sub
stituted the following very workable
doctrine:
The founders of our nation
made untold sacrifices to establish
what they soIemnly declared to be
the unalienable rights of life, lib
erty and the pursuit of happiness.
If we are to be worthy Of the
name of free men, every energy
that we possess must be cxerted
to preserve unimpaired the preci-
Gus heritage of liberty and free
dom descending to US. The coun-
try's heart is in this righteous
struggle for humanity and justice.
This is the peoples war, in which
the glorious ideals of democracy
are arrayed against the ruthless
dictates of autocracy and militar-
ism.
Is it too much to hope that even
Victor Berger will yet indorse the po-
sition finally taken by his socialist
comrades in New York?