OCR Text |
Show f WHY AMERICA FIGHTS j By J. II. PAUL, University of Utah. j YA Quest, as flermany is; wo ' JV are fijriit'm against it. Wo aro not riyhtinp; for any na-Z na-Z 'tiuirp rlaims to outlying rvil citato. AVo arc not lighting lor lory ism in any ' nf it forms. We aro not fighting to humiliate any peoplo, nor for any national na-tional prestige or glory. We aro not fi'liting oven for democracy in a pense whirh implies imposing it upon any nn- : iv i 1 1 i n gt poopln. Wo aro fighting to da- j-Yrui our rmniiry's plac in this sma!! ini'l limininhing world; for a pcaee thai will save the world from further fighting: for punctual world peace, in v; hi i'h our own and overv other de-I de-I iMO.Ta-y mav develop. ' I iOui-t F. l'nt in t he ' I'uMi'. Did wi! go to war h-vauyp. years ao, at Samoa, "l.he (ierman government attempted at-tempted tn take these islands from oh fur nr-.n a ;i naval has: in the Pacific? ' Not at. all: the Knglish I'l.'ft .-owed t.ho '(icrmans then, and w overlooked tho ;iL"rro.Mi)n. Nor did wo to war bo-.ausn bo-.ausn t h finrman fi-vt at. .Manila ' nifna.'rd the Amer-Han f-nuadron under "hewev and sought to wrest from us thn Philippine i'landn. No other gov-rrnment gov-rrnment could hfivn smoothed over sui-ii ;in affair, hot ouch did ho rather than ; ml, mil itself in war. Tho Knghsh 1 fleet ngain lined up with our own and 1 he fii'rinii n na vv made no further in oven at that time. ' War Forced Upon Us. We forgave, also, and would have pre-ferret! pre-ferret! to forget, the kaiser's defiance of flii" Monroe dorlrinn when he tried to fe(. iifi (iermaM domination in Venezuela Ven-ezuela during Mr. Kmmovelt 's administration. admin-istration. Nor ilnl r go to war because be-cause of the 'long serins of insults in , word and deed hurled at our nation by (lermfiii rulers, nor heeause of tho sink- ing of the Lusitania. and many Arner-iran Arner-iran vepsels. Kven t he deliberate slaughter of our eitiens by a war-mad 1 overnmenl did not deride up to make matters worse by gning to war; nor l he ruin of Die small nat ions Armenia, . Poland, Belgium and Serbiatheir von rig men lined up and shot, their I women violated, their rhildrnn starved i or massacred by the fiendish " ' mili- ! tarv measures'' of the (lerman government. gov-ernment. V inlat inn of their solemn rove n a n t s and renown 1 of submarine deslriirtinn of our peneeful vessels at ; last derided America to enter the war, bot h to free enslaved nations and to 1 f-m e herself. Secret Attacks by Germany. Secret d ispa trhes of the German government to Ambassador Bernstorff show that Germany was making war i ' on America for more than a year be-I be-I 1 ' fore wo went to war. One dated Jan-, Jan-, iijirv M, IP-17, says: "General CGer-niunl CGer-niunl staff desires energetic action in regard to proposed destruction of Ca-; Ca-; nadian Pacific railway.'' One on .Tan-' .Tan-' . uary gave the names of men "who were to help in the destruction of American factories, directing that "every "ev-ery kind of factory for supplying nut , nitions of war" he wrecked. This wim war, cowardly and treacherous, but all ; 1 that Germany could. then do. American Ameri-can good nature loiig refused to be-' be-' lievo t he Teutons capable of plotting 'to destroy a friendly government and ! ' to enslave an unoffending people; but ; 1 the German conspiracy to overthrow I ' America is proved in a pamphlet is- sued by our government, entitled 'Conquest and Kultur." This ro- . venla how, twenty years ago, Count von Goeten confided in our Major Tin i ley that in about fifteen years Germany Ger-many would start hor great war, be In Paris in about two months, then crush I f .Kngland. "Some months after we fin-j fin-j ish our work in Kuropo, we will take : t New York and probably "Washing- ton." ' Ready to Invade America. i How America was to bo invaded and despoiled was worked out in " Opera-, Opera-, tious on Land and Sen," published by : Von Kdolsheim in 1901. while he was in tho service of the German general i staff. He shows how Germany would : cause America "to sue for peace" by ! 1 ' ' injuring tho whole counby through j the successful seizuro of many of the ; i Atlantic ports;" also how "A line of ! land operations would disorganize j ail overntnental affair, assume con-- j trol of all useful buildings, confiscate I all war-and-transport supplies, and im- j pose heavy indemnities. ' 1 All such publications arouse. i derision outride of (erniarr., but now tlie world knows j that they meant what they said. To Overthrow Our Country. j In January 1017, German secret messages to 'J a pun and Mexico, seized bv America, revealed that Germany had undertaken to biot out every se:n-bl.-uiee of our free government by di- idi ii y our country anions Germany, Meviei, and Japan. The Kocky Mountain Moun-tain region was offered to Japan for t ho no-re price of subduing it. The Mirsiippi valley, the world 's crreat- ; e.-t granary, was" offered to Mexico if j she would as-d.-t iu the compicst. The; Atlantic coast, the chief iron and coal i region of thn globe, was to be taken I over lv Gerrnanv. This proposal was not a niiTc ourhurst of war pas-don, but a flehberat el v worked out project, j the plans laid, the instruments chosen, j the fnrc.es measured. German officials' w dl k new that, to subjugate the Pa- j cifie coast, with its intense love of j freedom, would mean Hie massacre or' at leat a majoritv of the men, before the free ue-t, would bow to foreign op- predion. Thev knew that this con-! con-! ((uest would sweep into Mongolian slavery our women bet ween the ages of Ifi " n ud .".0. Nor could t hev doubt that thn shame of our women among men of the Mongolian race would be even more hateful than the German white slavery of the .French and Belgian Bel-gian girls. They knew t hat onlv untold un-told destruction would make possible the submission of the Mississippi region re-gion and the Atlantic states to the oke of Mexican tyrants or German milituj-y masters. Vet were tho German Ger-man officials; both willing and ready lo enter upon the execution of these unspeakable tragedies. No parallel to this attempt fan be found in history. Have Ye Rij-ht to Live? The military policy of Germany since Bispiarck's day has aimed at tho u!t imate ' overt hrow and spoliation of our country. The German aristoeraey desire our land to replenish the wealth they have spent on armies and navies. ''America," said Bismarck, ''is a fat ho-, which we (Germans) will carve at our leisure." Hut not until February, Feb-ruary, 1917, did the leaders of our nation na-tion feel certain that tho real aim of Germany was to subdue and plunder A rnericH. The first step was to de-stroy de-stroy tho French army and to get possession of the commerce a nd navy of Kngland. When Germany should thus have trebled her strength by the overthrow of France and Kngland, i when all Furope must, furnish her with men and supplies, then would have come America's fight for life. Has America the. right to live? Tf so, has she tho right to fight for her existence? exis-tence? Ju other words, have we Americans Amer-icans the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness 1 f not, then j what havjo we the right to? What Germany Victory Means. f Germany wins, our country will share the fate of Poland. There the able-bodied men are being removed to work liko slaves in Germany, while j their families starve, in order that j their land may be made vacant for : Germans to" occupy, la Serbin threo- fourths of a million people out of three j millions have thus been starved by Germany. Tn Armenia, six hundred thousand people have been slain in cold blood by tho Turks, led by Ger-I Ger-I man officers. ' Women left captive i are enslaved in northern France, prisoned in underground dungeons, tethered for the use of their bodies by German officers and men. In all the world such a thing has Dever been. The human mind has never conceived con-ceived the like. Even among the barbarians bar-barians the thing would be incredible. ' Men, lands, countries, are German Ger-man prizes. "Women are Germany's prey, children are spoils of war. Populations Pop-ulations destroyed or enslaved, so Ger many may gain. If it takes everything ev-erything in the world, if it takes every one of us, this abomination must be overthrown. t must be ended or the world is not worth living in." See F. C. Walcott, "The Prussian Svstem," issued by the United States food administration. |