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Show DISCUSSION AFTER TOE BATTLE., Just why' did we go into the World War anyhow? The declaration itself, as passed by congress, indicated that' we went into the fight against Ger-' many because the imperial government govern-ment was violating our rights on the high seas by attacking our shipping, and committing other unfriendly acts. The idealists at the time told us we were fighting to preserve civilization, to make the world safe for democracy, 1 and last but not least were waging a ' war to end all wars. The objective set out by congress was accomplished 1 Germany no longer attacks our shipping, ship-ping, but the program of the idealists was not realized. But now comes Father Coughlin, the noted Detroit radio priest, with another theory of why we went intoj the great struggle. In one of his re-; cent Sunday radio addresses, Father Coughlin blamed the financiers for getting us into the war. He declared that we entered the war to save the 1 allied nations from financial collapse and to protect credits extended by American financiers to the allies. He stated that at the time of our entering the war Great Britain had overdrawn her account with J. P. Morgan and Co., in the sum of $400,-000,000, $400,-000,000, and that this overdraft wasi later paid by the American govern- ment out of the proceeds of the first j Liberty Loan. In support of his contention that j we entered the war to avert a world-1 wide financial panic, Father Cough-! lin read a letter written by the Am-! erican Ambassador to England on March 5, 1917, about a month before I we entered the war, to President Wil-1 son,' in which the ambassador told of j the impending world-wide financial panic and stated that sufficient credit! could not be extended to Great Bri-1 tain and France without declaring war against Germany. In summarizing up the after effects of the war, Father Coughlin said: ."First our factories closed as a result; re-sult; second the financial structure of Europe was changed; third we reaped the profit of trade stagnation, and, fourth we failed to avert a panic. But j we did finance the allies the same allies are now welching on their! debts." I If the historians dispute the cause I of our entry into the war, there can be no question of the after effects. ' They are well summed up in the above ! paragraph. j |