Cleveland County herald., 1918-11-07
Why We Fight Because Germany Menaces the Frcedora sf the World and Russia
 Can no Longer Resist
Bv CLARENCE D. SPEED

CAA'S
 We are in this war with Germany because it is a war for freedom more truly than ever before was war fought for the liberty of man. In times past, it is true, men have fought for freedom from oppressors. Sometimes they have won and sometimes they have lost. But always there has been a place in this big world where those who had lost in the struggle at home might go and find q country where they might enjoy the liberty they loved.
 Now all is different. If the forces which are fighting for freedom in this war are defeated, there will be no place in the whole world to which they may go to find q refuge from Prus- sian domination. Every land under the sun will be directly or indirectly under control of the victor; and if the victor is autocracy, freedom per ishes.
 The land where freedom is most im- minently menaced by the legions of Prussian autocracy, at this moment. is the land where unwonted freedom temporarily has run riot and has lost the power to fight for itself-Russia. We are fighting for the freedom of Russia, and must continue to fight for it until Russia learns what freedom means, and is again able to fight. If we do not, freedom will aie in Russia i; Prussian autocracy wi. rule and ex- ploit the country for it's own benefit; i; and the very forces which overthrow the czar will be turned against the freedom not only of themselves, but Of other lands.
 In years gone by, when the forces of revolution were showing themselves here and there in Russia, they had the sympathy of America in spite of the methods of terrorism of which we did not approve. When the czar and the kaiser, leaders of autocracy, were locked in a death grapple, Russia still had our sympathy, because she was fighting on the side of those who were seeking to safeguard the world from Prussian militarism.
 When the czar was depOsed over night American feelings were mixed There was joy at the downfall of an old, and sometimes cruel autoeracy, but there was fear that Russia would become too disorganized to fight fur ther, coupled with the thought that peg ha The revolution had come too soon to 5o effective.
 Then followed the brief regime of Kerensky, when it began to look as though freedom in Russia might be an organized freedom, prepared to fight for its rights, and all America hailed the Russian revolution as a blessing. It had become absolutely correct to say that the 'war.was war of democ- racy against autoc~" cy. No proGer~ man could longer pot TO ' czar, whenever an argument arcG7.
 Finally came the bolsheviki revofd- tion, in which Kerensky was over- thrown. Russian industry and Rus sian society were disorganized and Russian armies ceased to fight. The kaiser's armies pressed on unopposed, took what they desired in spite of signed peace, and Russia appeared to be about to pass completely under con- trol of Germany. America stood aghast at the prank freedom had played, and American opinion turned
 argcly against Russia, but thinking men refused to give up hope. Rus sia was and still is incapable of offer ing resistance, but Russia is not re- signed to autocracy. It devolves upon others to fight for the freedom Rus sia must have.
 The experience of other nations has been that men who loved freedom were willing to fight for it, and to die for it if necessary. The Russian at- titude of nonresistance was something new in the world, and is hard to un- dorStand. The bolsheviH represent ed the extreme idea of liberty. To them freedom meant not the right of the majority to choose their form Of government, but the right of the ind1- Vidual to be free from all forms of governmental restraint. They would tear down the old order completely, at one stroke, and set up the mil lenium. They would divide the land, the factories and the tools among the workers, and have no masters hence forth.
 Even in Russia, however, ttere were dissenters. Some took up arms; and the bolsheviki, who fought the Ger mans not at all, fought their brothers most ferociously. The result was an- archy, lawlessness, massacre, tue dis organization of the railways and the failure of the food supply. The mil lonium refused to come at the mere decree of the bolsheviki. It was shown that there must be organization and government of some sort.
 Russia will not longer fight side by side with her former allies. So in- siduous has been the German propa- ganda that, in many instances, Russian hatred of the allies seems to be deep. CT than hatred of Germany.
 Therefore the United States cannot render direct aid to the struggling peo- Die of Russia. She cannot send them armies and supplies, for they have re- fused to do hattie for themselves. To fo,. oba 11a,1ct fiOht on the