The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-02-01
Character of the War

Do you remember how you plan.
ned your first airplane? You had
some rules to follow, and very prob.
ably you drew pictures of it, and
figured just how many inches long
1t was going to be, and then you
went after the wood and the
wheels (perhaps) and the paint,
and SO you had every part Of It
planned before you began to make
the plane. What would anything
be without plan? 1t would prob
ably not be anything very long.
would it?
That's the way this war was plan
ned. knowing that the methods
they were going to use were con-
trary to the principles of Interna-
tional law, they discarded those
principles, and planned to terror.
fze the people OF the countries that
they wanted to enter, as a means
Of quickly overcoming all opposi.
ton.
Their plan was based on the fol-
lowing thought which was given
expression by General Won Hart.
mann. and by many other German
officers and war lords:
Distress and damage TO the en-.
envy are the conditions necessary
to bend and break his will"
With this plan In their minds,
the German army set out to gain
more territory, more power, CON-
mercial superiority (by securing an
outlet to the seal in fact Greater
German Empire" at the expense Of
people who had just as much right
to freedom, happiness, and the de
velopment OF their possibilities
(which by the way. are just as
great as those of the Germans and
the Austrians) as the people OF the
Central Powers.
So they followed this plan. They
robbed, they murdered, and did all
kinds OF terrible things to people
who were not able to defend them
selves They surely did succeed in
terrifying the Inhabitants for a
time, into submission. Destruction
of people, Of industry, of country
was allowed by order OF the Ger.
man general staff Heavy taxes
were laid upon the people. free
men and women were taken to
work into the munitior factories
and in the fields OF the enemy
country. They gained ground.
Many of their desires became real.
tiles. They accomplished a great
deal because they had a plaza
deeply laid plan, which when they
started they carried out quickly.
But-we forgot to say one thing
about these plans-and in their
eagerness the Germans must have
forgotten 1t too. No matter how
splendid the plan II 1t isn't based
on our great, big true laws that are
behind every single thing in this
old world of ours, 1t must fail in
time. You may throw a ball very
high up in the air, but the law of
gravity will hurl 1t back to you
after while.
So that is what happened! The
plan was poor at the foundation, 1t
wasn't true to things as they are"
and so 1t had to fail. And the boys
who carried our wonderful flag
stood for true things, for freedom
and courage and kindness, and so
they helped to win.
So the war Is won but none of the
things that have been thrown down
or destroyed, have been built up.
OF course many Of the works of
art cannot be rebuilt. The cathed-
raj Of Rheims is q ruin, and 30 are
many othe-: old and beautiful build.
ings. Our own president has been
visiting many Of these places and
has received from people Of the
ruined districts presents that are
Of almost priceless value. One of
them is a complete pane Of one of
the beautiful glass windows Of the
Rheims Cathedral, which repre-
sents q picture of Christ, and Is one
Of the very few windows that re-
whole after the lombard
ment Of Rheims.
But the factories and the homes
non kn hv,{1f AAn &c.,. $50 ~