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Show AN ARRAIGNMENT OF GERMANY m By Rudyard Kipling. B ""pHE German has spent quite as much energy M ' A in the last forty-five years preparing for war m as we have in convincing ourselves that wars M should not he prepared for. He has started this H war with a magnificent equipment which took Hj him time and heavy taxation to get together. 1 That equipment we have had to face for the last B ten months. The Germans went into this war m with a mind which had been carefully trained fl out of the idea of every moral sense or obliga- H tion private, public or international. He does H not recognize the existence of any law, least of M all those he has subscribed to himself, in mak- H ing war against combatants or non-combatants, M men, women and children. H He has done from his own point of view very JH well indeed. All mankind bears witness today I1K that there is no crime, no cruelty, no abomina- H! tion that the mind of man can conceive which fe i the German has not perpetrated, is not perpetrat- H ing, and will not perpetrate if he is allowed to Hj go on. Those horrors and perversions were not H invented by him on tho spur of the moment. H They were arranged beforehand tho outlines are H laid down in the German war-book. H They are part of the system in which Ger- Hj many has been scientifically trained. It is the H essence of that system to make such a hell of H the countries where her armies set foot that any H terms she may offer will seom like Heaven to H i the people whoso bodies she has defiled and H whose minds she has broken of set purpose and H intention. H In the face of these facts it is folly for any Hj fit man to waste one minute in talking about H what he would do if our system of recruiting H , -were changed, or to wait on, as some men are H i waiting, in the hope of compulsion being intro- H; duced. We shall not be Baved by argument. We HC shall most certainly not be saved by hanging H on to our private jobs and businesses. Our own H strength and our own will alone can save us. H 'If these fail, the alternative for us is robbery, H. ' ' rape of the women, starvation, as a prelude to H' , ' slavery. Nor need we expect any miracle to H ' save us. So long aB an unbroken Germany ex- H ists, so long will life on this planet be intoler- H' able not only for us and for our Allies, but for H I '' all humanity, and humanity knows it. At pres- Hf ent six European nations are bearing the burden H' of tho war. There is a fringe of shivering neu- !trals almost under tho German guns who look out of their front doors and see, as they were meant to see, what has been done to Belgium, the German-guaranteed neutral. 1 But however the world pretends to divide it self there are only two divisions In the world today human beings and Germans. And the German knows it. Human beings have long ago ., sickened of him and everything connected with him, of- all ho does, says, thinks, or believes. From the ends of the earth to the ends of tho earth they desire nothing more greatly than that ' ., BMBSBEMJSbBBBsgee'?' u. ;nHnwwMWHwiHfiiiigig .this unclean thing should bo thrust out from the membership and the memory of the nations. Tho German's answer to the world s loathing is: "I am strong. I kill. I shall go on killing by all means in my power till I have Imposed my will on all human beings." He gives no choice. He leaves no middle way. Ho has reduced civilization civil-ization and all that civilization moans to the simple question of, kill or bo killed. Up to the present, as tar as we can find out, Germany has suffered some three million casualties. She can suiter another three million, and, for aught wo know, another three million after that. We have no reason to believe that she will break up suddenly sud-denly and dramatically as a few people still expect. ex-pect. Why should she? She took two generations to prepare herself in every detail and through every fibre of her national being for this war. She is playing for the highest stakes in the world the dominion of the world. It seems to me that she must either win or bleed to death almost where her lines run today. Therefore we and our Allies must continue con-tinue to pass our children through fire to Moloch until Moloch perish. This, as I see it, is where we stand and wehre Germany stands. Turn your mind for a moment to the idea of a conquering Germany. You need not go far to see what it would mean to us. In Belgium at this hour several million Belgians are making war material or fortifications for their conquerors. conquer-ors. They are given enough food to support life as the German thinks it should be supported. By the way, I believe the United States of America supplies a large part of that food. In return, they are compelled to work at the point of the bayonet. If they object, they are shot. Their factories, their houses, and their public buildings have long ago been gutted, and everything every-thing in them that was valuable or useful has been packed up and sent into Germany. They have no more property and no more rights than cattle; and they cannot lift a hand to protect the honor of their women. And less than a year ago they were one of the most civilized and prosperous of the nations of the earth. There has been nothing like the horror of their fate in all history, and this system is in full working order within fifty miles of the English coast. Where I live I can hear the guns that are trying try-ing to extend it. The same system exists in such parts of France and Poland as are in German hands. But whatever has been dealt out to Belgium, Bel-gium, France and Poland will be England's fate tenfold if we fail to subdue the Germans. That we shall be broken, plundered, robbed and enslaved en-slaved like Belgium will be but the first part of the matter. There are special reasons in the German mind why we should be morally and mentally shamed and dishonored beyond any other people why we should be degraded till those who survive may securely dare to look each other in the face. Bo perfectly sure, therefore, there-fore, that if Germany is victorious every refinement refine-ment of outrage which is within the compass of the German imagination wil be inflicted on us in every aspect of our lives. Over and above this, no pledge we can offer, no guarantee we can give, will be accepted by Germany as "binding. She has broken her own most solemn oaths, pledges and obligations, and by the very fact of her existence she is bound to trust nothing and to recognize nothing except immediate superior force, backed by illimitable cruelty. So you see, there are no terms possible. Realize, Real-ize, too, if tho Allies are beaten, there will he no spot on the globe where a soul can escape from the domination of this enemy of mankind. There has been childish talk that the Western Hemisphere would offer a refuge from oppression. oppres-sion. Put that thought from your mind. If the Allies were defeated, Germany would not need .o send a single battleship over the Atlantic. .Jio would issue an order and it would be obeyed. Civilization would be bankrupt and the western world would bo taken over with the rest of tho wreckage by Germany the receiver.- So, you see, there is no retreat possible. There are no terms and no retreat in this war. It must go forward, and with those men of England who are eligible for service, but who have not yet offered themselves, them-selves, the decision of the war rests. |