Charlevoix county herald., 1919-05-09
WHAT ABOUT WILHELM!

Publicity Association, through its Pres
ident, Hon. Jonathan Bourne, Jr., to-
day gave out the following statement
from its Washington Headquarters:
as Bill the Butcher to get off scot
free? Is the muddle which Mr.. Wilson
is stirring up in Europe to screen the
escape of this arch-conspirator against
mankind? Is this advance agent of
Antichrist, if not the apocalyptic Beast
himself, to find safe refuge beneath
the academic skirts of man whose inn
perialism was repudiated at the polls
last November? 1t is beginning to look
that way.
"Of all the lame excuses ever SUBJ
mitted to disguised world, that OF the
American commission to the effect that
there is no precedent in international
law for the trial and conviction of the
head of State is the most spineless.
If precedent is needed, now is the
time to establish it, or the fate melted
out to Napoleon should suggest one.
"Did Wilhelm look for a precedent
when he overran Belgium? Did he find
excuse in international law when he
crucified Canadian soldiers, stockaded
and outraged Belgian and French wom-
en-, manned and disemboweled little
children, defiled and destroyed
churches, cut the threats of American
prisoners, sank unarmed ships without
warning, made of Belgium and North
ern France barren waste, and sent
his agents by the thousands into neut-
raj states to carry on his internal prop
uganda, which continues to this day?
Was there any precedent to be found in
history for this campaign of frightful-
ness, other than that supplied by Attila
the Hun? Napoleon was clean fighter
at least, and they banished him. Is
Wilhelm to be permitted to sojourn un-
disturbed in princely ease at Amerongen
castle, there to mature his plans for a
second trial for world conquest? If so,
Mr.. Wilson should be credited with a
remarkable victory as counsel for the
defense of this international criminal,
to Judge from reports.
1.-THE Patience which the President of
the United States has exhibited toward
Germany, the Germans, and the Kaiser
and his court, is of quality more vici-
Gus than virtuous. So far as is known
the records fail to show a single in
stance of the capital punishment of an
enemy spy in this country, yet we have
been infested with them. Nominal con-
finement in comfortable hotels at Gov
eminent expense, or in more fragrant
cases, segregation in commodious stoc-
kades, fed to repletion, and provided
with pleasant recreations, have spelled
the hard lot of these villainous agents.
A few months before we got into the
war at least one Democratic campaign
manager was hob-nobbing with those
agents in German beer-halls, and the
"kept us out of war cutlery was plant
ed in those German stems. And then
we had the notewriting contests be-
tween the President and the Kaiser,
with the Democratic press deciding the
President the winner in each "diplo-.
matte victory" Finally, when the
American public would brook no furth-
er insult, we went to warand then de-
layed SIX months getting in.
1--WE have gaCquarrel with the Ger
man people" said Mr.. Wilson. Ask the
soldiers of the American Expeditionary
Forces il that is true. Every soldier
who fought against the Kaiser's hosts
amy who witnessed his diabolical war
methods demands his punishment, and
50 does every red-blooded American
Who contributed to the defeat which
Mr.. Wilson seeks to minim-
ize. If Mr.. Wilson's Intervention saves
the hide of Butcher Bill, there is but
one reply to make to his unauthorized
assertion on behalf of the American
people, namely, He had no quarrel
with the German Kaiser.
'