Part 28

You see how dreadful it is to have the people so radically misinformed. It was added that our Navy Department was withholding the facts with regard to these sinkings. I have no doubt that the publisher of the paper printed this in perfect innocence and without intending to convey a wrong impression, but it is evident that allegations of that sort proceed from those who wish to make trouble between Mexico and the United States.

Now, gentlemen, for the time being at any rate, and I hope that it will not be a short time, the influence of the United States is somewhat pervasive in the affairs of the world, and I believe it is pervasive because those nations of the world which are less powerful than some of the greatest nations are coming to believe that our sincere desire is to do disinterested service.

We are the champions of those nations which have not had the military standing which would enable them to compete with the strongest nations in the world, and I look forward with pride to the time which I hope will come when we can give substantial evidence not only that we do not want anything out of this war, but that we would not accept anything out of this war; that it is absolutely a case of disinterested action.

And if you will watch the attitude of our people you will see that nothing stirs them so deeply as the assurances that this war, so far as we are concerned, is for idealistic objects. One of the difficulties that I experienced during the first three years of the war, the years when the United States was not in the war, was in getting the Foreign Offices of the European nations to believe that the United States was seeking nothing for herself, that her neutrality was not selfish, and that if she came in she would not come in to get anything substantial out of the war--any material object, any territory or trade or anything else of that sort.

In some Foreign Offices there were men who personally know me and they believed, I hope, that I was sincere in assuring them that our purposes were disinterested; but they thought that these assurances came from the academic gentleman removed from the ordinary sources of information and speaking the idealistic purposes of a cloister. They did not believe I was speaking the real heart of the American people, and I knew all along that I was. Now I believe every one who comes in contact with American people knows that I am speaking their purposes.

READY TO HELP RUSSIA

The other night in New York at the opening of the campaign for funds for our Red Cross I made an address. I had not intended to refer to Russia, but was speaking without notes, and in the course of what I said my own thought was led to Russia, and I said that we meant to stand by Russia just as firmly as we would stand by France or England or any other of our allies.

The audience to which I was speaking was not an audience from which I would have expected an enthusiastic response to that. It was rather too well dressed. It was an audience, in other words, made up of a class of people who would not have the most intimate feeling for the sufferings of the ordinary man in Russia; but that audience jumped to its feet in enthusiasm. Nothing else that I said on that occasion aroused anything like the enthusiasm that single sentence aroused.

Now that is a sample, gentlemen. We cannot make anything out of Russia. We cannot make anything out of our standing by Russia at this time--the remotest of European nations so far as we are concerned, the one with which we have had the least connections in trade and advantage--and yet the people of the United States rose to that suggestion as to no other that I made in that address.

That is part of America as we are ready to show it by any act of friendship toward Mexico. Some of us, if I may speak so privately, look back with regret upon some of the more ancient relations that we have had with Mexico long before our generation; and America, if I may now so accept it, would now feel ashamed to take advantage of her neighbor.

NO SELFISH AGGRESSION

So I hope you can carry back to your homes something better than assurances and words. You have had contact with our people. You know of your own personal reception. You know how gladly we have opened to you the doors of every establishment that you wanted to see and have shown you just what we are doing, and I hope you have gained the right impression as to why we are doing it. We are doing it, gentlemen, so that the world may never hereafter have to fear the only thing that any nation has to dread--the unjust and selfish aggression of another nation.

Some time ago, as you probably all know, I proposed a sort of Pan-American agreement. I had perceived that one difficulty in our past relations with Latin America was this: The famous Monroe Doctrine was adopted without your consent and without the consent of any Central American or South American States. If I may adopt a term that we so often use in this country, we said: "We are going to be your big brother whether you want us to be or not."

We did not ask whether it was agreeable to you that we should be your big brother. We said we are going to be. Now, that was all very well as far as protecting you from aggression from the other side of the water, but there was nothing in it that protected you from aggression from us, and I have repeatedly seen an uneasy feeling on the part of representatives of States of Central and South America that our self-appointed protection might be for our own benefit and our own interest and not for the interest of our neighbors. So I have said:

"Very well, let us make an arrangement by which we will give bonds. Let us have a common guarantee that all of us will sign a declaration of political independence and territorial integrity. Let us agree that if any one of us, the United States included, violates the political independence or territorial integrity of any of the others, all others will jump on her."

I pointed out to some gentlemen who were less inclined to enter into this arrangement than others that that was, in effect, giving bonds on the part of the United States that we would enter into an arrangement by which you would be protected from us.

PEACE BY MUTUAL TRUST

Now, that is the kind of agreement that will have to be the foundation of the future life of the nations of the world, gentlemen. The whole family of nations will have to guarantee to each nation that no nation shall violate its political independence or its territorial integrity. That is the basis--the only conceivable basis--for the future peace of the world, and I must admit that I was anxious to have the States of the two Continents of America show the way to the rest of the world as to how to make a basis of peace.

Peace can only come by trust. If you can once get a situation of trust then you have got a situation of permanent peace. Therefore, every one of us, it seems to me, owes it as a patriotic duty to his own country to plant the seeds of trust and confidence instead of seeds of suspicion.

That is the reason I began by saying to you that I had not had the pleasure of meeting a group of men who are more welcome than you are, because you are our near neighbors. Suspicion on your part, or misunderstanding on your part, distresses us more than we would be distressed by similar feelings on the part of those less near to us.

It is you who can see how Mexico's future must depend upon peace and honor, so that nobody shall exploit her. It must depend upon every nation that has any relation with her and the citizens of any nation that has any relations with her keeping within the bounds of honor and fair dealing and justice, because so soon as you can admit your own capital and the capital of the world to the free use of the resources of Mexico it will be one of the most wonderfully rich and prosperous countries in the world.

And when you have foundations of established order and the world has come to its senses again we shall, I hope, continue in connections that will assure us all permanent cordiality and friendship.

In Flanders Fields

By Lieut. Col. JOHN D. McCRAE

[Written during the second battle of Ypres, April, 1915. The author, Dr. John McCrae of Montreal, Canada, was killed on duty in Flanders, Jan. 28, 1918.]

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly, Scarce heard amidst the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow. Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe! To you from falling hands, we throw The torch. Be yours to hold it high! If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

America's Answer

By R. W. LILLARD

[Written after the death of Lieut. Col. McCrae, author of "In Flanders Fields," and printed in The New York Evening Post.]

Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders dead. The fight that ye so bravely led We've taken up. And we will keep True faith with you who lie asleep With each a cross to mark his bed, And poppies blowing overhead, Where once his own life blood ran red. So let your rest be sweet and deep In Flanders fields.

Fear not that ye have died for naught. The torch ye threw to us we caught. Ten million hands will hold it high, And Freedom's light shall never die! We've learned the lesson that ye taught In Flanders fields.

Secretary Lansing on War Themes

Why the United States Is at War

Robert Lansing, Secretary of State of the United States, delivered an address in New York on May 23, 1918, in honor of the third anniversary of Italy's entrance into the war. He said in part:

Oh, you of the blood of a people who have given so much to civilization, no greater task has ever fallen upon you, no greater duty has ever been the lot of the Italian race, than that which is yours today. You are called forth to defend the land which is enshrined in the hearts of the world as the cradle of justice and liberty. Fail you cannot, fail you must not, fail you will not in such a cause and such a crisis.

This is no time to measure the price which must be paid in blood and treasure. No price is too large, no sacrifice too great for the protection of your sacred heritage from the invaders.

Today, America, youngest of the great powers of the earth, is proud to cross the seas and to stand side by side with the most ancient power of Europe in upholding the standard of democracy, and to unite in proclaiming to the nations tortured by war that peace must be won and will be won by the might of liberty-loving men, a glorious peace which will endure throughout the ages because it is written in the book of destiny that freedom will rise triumphant from the ashes of this desolated world.

To gallant Italy, to our loyal associate and friend, we of America extend greetings on this day of reconsecration to a noble cause, on this day when the Italian people renew their solemn pledge to resist to the uttermost the accursed ambitions of the military rulers of Germany and Austria.

Italy's decision was the decision of a people who preferred the horrors of war to dishonor, who preferred to die rather than to be enslaved by Prussian masters or by Prussia's vassals. It breathed anew the valor of Rome.

United with you of the Latin race are we who could desire no prouder title than "the Romans of the West." A citizen of this young Republic could crave no higher public virtue nor covet a more devoted patriotism than that which inspired a dweller on the Seven Hills in the brave days of the old Roman Republic.

My friends of America and of Italy, we will win this war. It may be on the wasted fields of Flanders and Picardy; it may be in the valley of the Piave and the snow-crowned peaks of the Alps; or it may be on German lands beyond the Rhine. Somewhere and somehow and some time we will win. It cannot be otherwise, for we fight for justice, for liberty, and for humanity.

AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Secretary Lansing delivered another address in New York on June 5 at the commencement exercises of Columbia University. In accepting an honorary degree from that institution he said:

Today this Republic stands with the democracies of the earth arrayed in battle against the most relentless enemy of human liberty which the ages have produced. To save this country of ours and to save the civilized world from Prussianism has become the supreme duty of the American people and of all other peoples who love justice and freedom.

In this titanic struggle we are joined not only with France, our historic ally, but also with Great Britain, our ancient foe. On the blood-stained fields of France we three, together with Italy, Belgium, and Portugal, are standing shoulder to shoulder against the plunderers. Our traditional friendship for France, which can never be forgotten, and our traditional enmity for Great Britain, which is forgotten, are swallowed up in this supreme crisis of liberty, our common heritage. The grave perils to our lives as nations unite us with bonds of steel as our armies face the foe of all mankind.

I am proud that in these terrible days we are associated with the tenacious warriors of Britain; I am proud that with our blood we can on French soil prove the affection which we cherish for the French people; I am proud that Italy, superb in her determined resistance, is our partner in this conflict, and that the indomitable spirit of the Belgians and Serbs is a living inspiration to gallant deeds and noble sacrifice. I am proud, as I know every American is proud, to be thus united with the nations which hate Prussianism and loathe the evil desires which it engenders in the hearts of men.

Prussianism has appealed to the sword, and by the sword Prussianism must fall. It is the divine law of retribution which we as the instruments of justice must enforce so that the world may be forever rid of this abomination. * * *

Let us understand that a Prussian-made peace would not be the end; that it would only postpone the final struggle. Now that this war has come upon us we must carry it through to a decision. We must not transmit to future generations the germs of militarism. From the spirit of despotism, which has caused this awful tragedy, this war must free the world. We have suffered enough. The nations must never endure such black days of agony as those in which we are living.

It is the supreme task of civilization to put an end to Prussianism. To listen to proposals for a Prussian peace, to compromise with the butchers of individuals and of nations so that they would by agreement gain a benefit from their crimes would be to compound an international felony, which this Republic will never do.

Force is the one way to end Prussianism, for it is the only thing which the Prussian respects. This war for democracy must be waged to a successful conclusion to make liberty and justice supreme on the earth. It will be a bitter struggle, with lights and shadows, for the foe is strong and stubborn; but in the end we shall triumph, for we must triumph or abandon all that is worth while in this world. May every American so live and so serve that when the day of victory over the Prussians dawns, as it will dawn, he may, by right of faithful service, share in the glory.

To that bright hour let us look forward with confidence, for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe could not decree otherwise. He has imposed upon us and our brave comrades in arms the task of freeing mankind from the curse of avarice and inhumanity which besets us. He has put upon us the burden of making this world a fit dwelling place for civilized men. Let us not shrink from the task or seek to avoid the burden. Convinced of the righteousness of our cause and of our destiny let us make war with all our energy. Let us keep our banners unfurled and our trumpets sounding to battle until victory is achieved.

Prussia wickedly sought war and Prussia shall have war and more war and more war until the very thought of war is abhorrent to the Prussian mind. So I read the spirit of America. So I read the supreme purpose of the Allies. Victory lies before us and beyond victory a just and enduring peace. Until that peace is sure America cannot and will not put aside the sword.

ITALIAN AMBASSADOR'S SPEECH

Count Mocchi di Cellere, the Italian Ambassador to the United States, in his address at the Italian anniversary celebration, said:

Literally speaking, this is the third anniversary of Italy's formal entry into the war. But perhaps I need not remind you, gentlemen, that our struggle against the enemy goes back to the time when, some twenty centuries ago, on those selfsame fields and mountains that are now a part of our common allied front, the Roman eagle was already waging that fight against the barbarians in which the American eagle has more recently joined us.

The struggle of today is to us Italians the rounding-out of a tremendous cycle of world history, in which, alone of all civilized nations, Italy was in at the beginning and is in at the finish. Since the time when Roman law laid the foundations for the international intercourse of the world, the struggle has gone on against Teutonic brutality. We are in it as a nation with all the traditions and survivals of centuries, with all the memories of the race, with all the influences of obscure ancestral heredities.

One verse of our national hymn reminds us that no Teuton stick ever curbed Italy, and that the children of Rome do not bow their necks to a yoke. That was the blunder of the enemy--he did not realize that to a liberty-loving people the spirit of freedom is like the breathing of pure air, an essential of life. Sometimes a man does not know how essential it is until some one tries to take it from him. Then he must die or revolt. Italy revolted. * * *

Whatever the enemy may have to say or may desire others to believe about it, Italy is not in this war for any base and selfish motives of conquest, imperial or unlawful territorial aggrandizement. While in fact fighting for the liberation of mankind threatened with oppression and slavery, Italy is aiming at the liberation of her oppressed sons within and beyond the boundary imposed upon her by an iniquitous treaty.

For the freedom of our country we need security on land and sea; a security which nature herself had assured us with well defined geographic boundaries and which the violence of oppressive and barbarous nations has too long stolen from us. Now we see our duty clear; and faithful to our duty, we will not lay down our arms until the freedom of mankind, which implies the freedom of our oppressed brothers, and the security of our land, is attained.

Secretary Lansing delivered the chief address at the commencement exercises of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., June 10. He said in part:

It is hardly open to debate, in the light of subsequent events, that the philosophical and political ideas which have been taught for years from the university platforms, from the pulpits, and through the printed word to young and old in Germany, excited in them an insolent pride of blood and infused into their national being an all-absorbing ambition to prove themselves supermen chosen by natural superiority and by Divine mandate to be rulers of the earth. Not only in Germany, but among those of German descent in other lands, has this pernicious belief spread, linking Germans everywhere to the Fatherland in the hope that they would be considered worthy to share in the future glory of the masters of the world. * * *

A decade before the war Reiner, inspired with the imperialism of Prussia, announced: "It is precisely our craving for expansion which drives us into the paths of conquest, in view of which all chatter about peace and humanity can and must remain nothing but chatter."

Not less ominous to liberty are the words of Professor Meinecke: "We want to become a world people. Let us remind ourselves that the belief in our mission as a world people has arisen from our originally purely spiritual impulse to absorb the world into ourselves."

Observe that extraordinary phrase, "to absorb the world into ourselves." To conceive such a national destiny is to resurrect the dead ambitions of an Alexander or a Caesar; to teach it as a right to young men is to sow in their minds an egotism which breeds distorted conceptions of individual honor and justice, and gives to them an utterly false standard of national life.

Not alone from the lecturer and the essayist came this idea that the Germans are a superior race set apart to rule the world. It was preached in the pulpits as a Divine truth by those who even had the effrontery to support their assertions by references to the Holy Scriptures. Listen to some of the thoughts proclaimed by ordained ministers of Christ to their German congregations:

"It may sound proud, my friends, but we are conscious that it is also in all humbleness that we say it; the German soul is God's soul; it shall and will rule over mankind."

May we be spared the consequences of a German "humbleness" which fairly struts and swaggers, and which finds further expression in the words of another Doctor of Divinity when he declares: "Verily the Bible is our book. It was given and assigned to us, and in it we read the original text of our destiny, which proclaims to mankind salvation or disaster as we will it."

"As we will it!" There in four words is the whole story of the Prussian doctrine of the "superman," of a "place in the sun."