Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-04-30

riding over tbs Held OF Austsrlfis the evening .after his
victory. made = similar hypocritieals uttsrance. s.
We credit the Kaiser. however, with not having fore.
seen Cambria nor the other terrors when In 1919 he
decided for war. It is no draft on our credulity to be-
|lieve that he had no such horrors In his mind then as
have since happened. He did not count upon holocausts
OF dead and wounded upon four years Of destruction.
upon such human suffering as no one mans act ever
has caused humanity. Could he have foreseen,. even that
%pinchbeck imitator Of the great butchers would have!
|blenched from the responsibility. IL
But no man can foresee the consequences, 81 hin net.
Judgment and justice have their part. OF course; but
even with the best exercise of them, a man cannot. Al
ways foretell what a train Of events he sets In motion.
Judgment and Justice We may believe do impose some
control or moderation upon the sequence. At least. Jus
tice and Judgment are all that anyone can impart into
his decisions. Humanity he cannot do better. Having
done his best, he sees the consequences Of his act occur.
ring. one following the other to he knows not what
benehcence or catastrophe.
But when impiously he disresards justice ana ninxs
moderation away, he has forfeited the right to wonder at
the horrible result which may come to pass. And the
world finds it sckening to hear such disclaimers 4. this
of tho Kaiser on Cambraiss field. @
Wilhelm is certainly not excused, BECAUSE, when he
cast the die for war, he did not contemplate these mas
sacres. starvations, and asonies. They were all within
FSe"S~HS oS y VI HE ACIs- AuQ
the act itself was a coldly considered polite one. not
one OF a generous mistaken passion even. unless. the
Hohenzonern ambition be conceived as generous. The
act was unconnected with justice and has been proved
non-judtcious-it was worse, it was conceived in evil
and delivered in derision of all whom it must hurt. That
it set in motion consequences which no imagination at
the time could compass. in no wise diminishes the guilt
of its perpetrator. Whether he decided in strength or
yielded in his weakness, Wilhelm is %riehtfully the most
hated person Of modern times. #M
What an inconsequential creature seems the great.
est of us in himself! A sense Of humor perceives any
person. emperor or clown, to be a rather isnoble and
somewhat ridiculous victim Of evolution, and none Of us
is saved from, this aspect by the solemnity with which
we regard ourselves. Yet inconsiderable in himself as
any man is, there resides in his act a latent power to
raise literal hell. Casually he touches the button and the
world proceeds to blow its whole head of.
1t is not that himself weighs much, even though he
be the German Kaiser. 1t is that he happens IA set
afre the train of powder leading to the key, drops al
cisaret butt perhaps. And the key exploding wraps the
whole works in flame, and there you are. Causes? we
are not causes, we are inconsiderable poor mortal,. we
happen sometimes to be occasions, or the mediums be-
tween cause and effect. The system in which we fit
about a day is SC. complicated and interconnected as to
ing upon the ceiling of a hy-Minneapol!s Journal.