Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-06-13


Because Gsr.aay la,.h thslaw
sf ths yu.tDs aAd Hef DeoeaaEb
"slkts hskiSht'
BY CLARENCE L SPEED
Secretary Of the War Committee Of the
Union League Club Of Chicago.
We are at war with Germany be-
cause Prussia dominates Ger.
many, and from the days Of Freder-
lex the Great, Prussia's law has been
the law Of the jungle. her doctrine
sMight IL Right" and her policy, In
dealing with other nations, one Of rob
bling the weak and terrorizing the
strong. Germany has grabbed terri
tory and exacted tribute from her
neighbors. and finally, her greed be-
coming greater. has looked out over
moro distant lands, and has commit
ted herself to policy Of world domi-
nation which menaces the continued
free existence of every nation which
will not submit to her will.
Germany's policy is not an acciden-
tai one. It has been carried out with
remarkable singleness Of purpose
from generation to generation Of
Hohenzollern rule, from the time
Of the Great Frederick until to-
day. Germany's atrocities are not
accidental. They are deliber-
ate. well thought out part Of this
Hohenzollern policy, which was to
break down the. resistance Of her OPP
ponents. not only by fighting and de
feating their armies but by killing.
torturing and terrorizing the civil
populations.
The German rulers committed them
selves to the doctrine Of the survival
Of the fittest. Through generations Of
teaching they made the German peo-
pie believe that they, and they alone.
were the at.
We have the words Of the German
rulers and German warriors and Ger.
man leaders Of thought for all Of this
More than that we have the perform
ance Of German officers and German
armies in conquered lands to prove It
Let's start with Frederick the
Great In presenting the evidence
This monarch, who earned his sou.
brfquet through despG;;i-.~. his neigh.
bors. rather than through any real
qualities Of mind which he showed
said. in letter to his minister, Rad
twill:
III there is anything to be gained
by 1t, we will be honest; If deception
10 necessary, let us be cheats. One
takes what one can, and one is wrong
only when obliged to give back"
This philosophy, applied to present
conditions. means that Germany was
right when she took Belgium, and will
be wrong only IL she is not able te
hold 1t.
From Frederick the Great to Bis
marck is long jump in the matter
Of time; but we find the Prussian pol
icy unchanged. Speaking before the
military committee of the Prussia1
Chamber Of Deputies in 1862 Bis
marck said:
"Not by speeches and resolutions
Of majorities are the great questions
Of the time decided, but by iron ant
blood"
Then, with blood and iron, PrussiJ
went out and despoiled Denmark o.
territory in 1854, beat and robbed Aus
tria In 1865, and finally, in 1870
brought France to her knees and tool
her richest provinces.
Here is what the present kaiser toll
his troops when, in 1900, they were
about to depart for China to put dow1
the boxer uprising:
use your weapons in such wa.
that for a thousand years no Chi
nese shall dare to look upon German
askance. Be as terrible as Attilla'!
Huns"
Coming on down to the present wa
We find a German minister accredited
to neutral state far across the sea-
one which one would think should b
free from the entanglements Of w0rlt
polftics-writing home to his govern
ment, in state paper, advising tn
sinking Of two ships from this neutra
nation, in such manner that no trac,
be left. Dead men, he believed tel
no tales.
| TWAS Baron Luxburg, minister plenl
potentiary to Argentina, who wrot
this amazing dispatch ON May 10, 1917
II beg that the small steamers Oral
and GuazO which are nearin
Bordeaux be spared IL posi-
BILE, or else sunk without trace be
ing left"
This telegram was intercepted in tn
United States and published. It sen
thrill Of horror around the world.
Chancellor Won Bethmann-Hollweg /
a true disciple of Frederick tn
Great, Bismarck and his royal master
In a public speech on January 81. 1911
he said:
when the most ruthless method
are calculated to lead us to victory
swift victory, they must be employed.
So they were used, and are bein
used today. They include sinking Q
hundreds Of neutral ships, the burnin
Of cities, the deliberate devastatin
Of the fair lands Of France, the ravist
ing Of women, the enslavement Q
workmen and the murder Of little chi
dren.
Horrors such as these are told in d.
tail in 1.-THE Prussian System" by F.
Walcott, who, for long time, was e1
gagged In behalf Of America in trying
get food tO the Poles whom tho Go,