The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-10-17
A JUST PEACE

William Roscoe Thayer in the
can never end in a just speace until
the German shall be forced to pay
for everything which can be paid for.
He has sunk IA, 900, 900 tons OF the
worlds shipping, and he exults in this
enormous crime; but justice will not
be placated until he has paid back
ton for ton. He has ravaged thous-
ands of square miles of French and
Belgian, Polish and Serbian territory;
he has laid Armenia waste, he has
damaged Italy. SO far as material
devastation and losses can be paid for
and restored, he shall pay for them.
The great spiritual calamities which
he has brought upon the world, the
doctrines Of inhumanity and mendaci-
ty which he has shed owe it like a
poisonous gas, the innumerable be-
reavements, the blighting and shat
tering of millions Of families, the
heartaches and sufferings of the
myriads who survive to lead crippled
lives, these concerns of the spirit can
not be compensated in money. These
things we leave to the vengeance of
God.
AS | write this, the German army
has already been driven back, and I'M
less some incredible disaster to the
allies should supervene, the Teutons
are inevitably beaten in the field.
That the German .despots understand
this is proved by their frantic efforts
to secure peace by chicane. Only by
listening to their guile, and by being
duped into accepting a part today.
when they could have the whole to-
morrow, could the allies lose the GER
tain victory which awaits them.
We must not slacken our prepara-
ton; we must push on with larger
and larger forces, and never allow the
willy Huns to imagine that We are war
weary or dowEhearted or willing to
compromise. During the latter part Of
the year 1864, also, there were doubt
ers, towards and friends of the en-
envy, who still beset President Lin
coin with declarations that the civil
war was a failure and that he must
make peace. But he knew better. He
saw the end was near, and he hasten
ed to attain it. No man hated war
more than he did, no mans heart bore
a heavier burden of grief than his
did; but he would not betray his
country and the world in order to ST
lence the clamor of sentimentalists or
of the shallow Drained.
or all great national rulers, none
has surpassed Lincoln in a sense of
justice. The words which he spoke to
our fathers in their crisis were so just
that they apply equally to us in our
similar ordeal in which they will not
be most pertinent. Therefore, l quote
Lincoln's immortal passage: Fond
ly do we hope, %fervently do we pray,
that this mighty scourge of war may
speedily pass away. Yet, II God wills
that it continue until the wealth piled
by the bondman's $50 years of unre-
Quilted toll shall be sunk, and until
every drop of blood drawn with the
lash shall be paid by another drawn
with the sword, as was said 5000
years ago. so still it must be said,
The judgments Of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether"
In conclusion, let me commend the
serious reading of this passage to
those who have been appealing to
Lincoln's phrase, with malice toward
none, with charity for ALL" in their
endeavor to incline the heart of the
American nation to a peace framed IN
the interests Of the Hun, and those
who are urging us to make the way
Of the German transgressor easy.
do not believe that the United States
and the civilized world. can be duped
to their destruction.