Part 2

What wonder Germany desires a "Peace without indemnities or annexations"? But we have not yet exhausted Germany's profits in this war. Without counting her recent advances into Finland, Roumania and the Ukraine, without counting her last conquest in Russia, Germany has seized 500,000 square kilometers of conquered soil occupied by a population of forty-two millions; from these millions Germany has been drawing that forced labor which she has been paying at the biblical wage of a penny a day. I am often asked to admire the great fight Germany has put up against the entire world. But I know that that fight has been made possible only because, against all the instincts and laws of civilization, Germany has been enslaving huge populations, setting them to forbidden tasks in order to release every German for her armies. Without that slavery Germany could not have raised such armies or endured so long. Not to Germany, but to England and to France, which--while enslaving no nation, have given twenty per cent of their entire population to this war, is honor and reverence due! And this Germany wants peace because she is already dreaming of another war. Frederick Nauman, member of the Reichstag, tells us that she will build barns and granaries to hold a supply of food sufficient for her entire population for ten years; that she will build concrete entrenchments, impregnable lines of defence, along all her frontiers. Germany has already enforced a dreadful kind of concubinage, to avoid a worse term, upon the women of the occupied territories, and now we have evidence that she is enforcing that same dreadful system upon the women of her own land in utter disregard of all ethics, religion and the dignity of womanhood. At any expense Germany means to have boys that, twenty years from now, when France is still exhausted from this struggle and before England shall have regathered her strength, Germany shall have a new army to send over the Rhine, through spent Belgium and unrecuperated France. Then there shall be no halt before the walls of Paris, no battle of the Marne, no failure at Calais!

And let America keep in mind the fact that this Germany has expressed the greatest hostility for America. "Let America look out when this war is finished," and "I will stand no nonsense from America after this war," said the Kaiser to Ambassador Gerard. In 1898 Count von Goetzen said, in substance, "About fifteen years from now my country will begin a great war; in a few weeks we shall have taken Paris; in three months we shall occupy London; then we will turn to America. We will take some billions of dollars from America in indemnities; we will put you in your right relation with Germany and we will take charge of the Monroe Doctrine for ourselves." "We are keeping books on you Americans," said Major Liebster. "It is a long account, and we have not missed a detail. We are keeping the account in black and white; rest assured that it will be presented to you some day for settlement." In 1901 Freiherr von Edelsheim of the German General Staff wrote a book on sea power, in which he briefly outlined a German plan for the conquest of America and said: "Germany is the only power in a position to conquer America." If once we and our allies let go our grip, if we grow soft, if we falter and fail, be very sure we and our children shall pay to the full the penalty.

I heard Major Murphy say that the Captain of the Arabic, who had gone down with his torpedoed ship and had been rescued from the sea, told him that as long as he stayed on the bridge of that sinking vessel, every time he rang a bell to the engine room he got the answering signal. I know no story of heroism in all this war that moves me more than this. Have you ever been in the engine room of a great liner where the sides come close together and you can put your fingers on the steel plates and know that just a fraction of an inch beyond, the deep green waters of the sea are running? Then take your stand with these thirty or forty stokers and engineers; the ship is sinking, you know that the life boats are putting off, rafts are being launched and men are leaping into the sea. Now turn and look up that narrow and twisting iron stairway and watch for the first green gleam of foam-flecked waters to come cascading down, and then every time the bell rings give back the answering signal.

Our Ship of State has pushed out into a stormy sea; the officers are on the bridge, the lookout at the prow; the fortunate men are at the gun. To us, far in the interior, there comes the humbler task of keeping the fires burning on which depends the vital element of speed, but wherever you stand, whatever your work, see to it that when your call comes you can give back the answering signal.

And there is so much that we can do.

In the first place this war has been made possible only by the ghastly education which Germany has been giving her children through the past forty years. Dr. Van Dyke said that there was an American professor, I think of Columbia University, who had written a life of Goethe. When he was in Germany the Minister of Education sent for him and asked permission to translate that Life into German for use in German schools. Permission having been readily given he said: "But there is one chapter that must come out before we can put that book into the hands of German children. You have a chapter on Goethe as a lover of liberty; we would like that omitted from our text book." To the credit of America let it be said the book never was translated nor has it yet appeared in German schools; but it is significant that German children must not be taught that a great German could be a lover of liberty. Professor Kusian, of Hollins College, Virginia, said that in his day William Tell could not be read in German schools. There is a song that German school children are singing to-day that was written by a school master and this is the translation: "Over there in the cowardly trenches lie the enemy, and no one but a dog will say that mercy should be given to-day. Shoot down everything that cries for mercy; kill everything like dogs; more enemies, more enemies, be your prayer in this day of retribution."

Can you imagine teaching children lessons like that?

There is a juvenile paper published in Germany that recently contained an article whose substance follows: "War is divine, it is glorious. When the soldier falls upon the battlefield, his spirit goes directly to the gates of Paradise, where all good soldiers go, but none of those old women in petticoats who say that war is brutal; there a Prussian Lance Corporal throws wide the door." (It is worth noting that St. Peter has lost his job, that a Prussian Lance Corporal now bears the key and determines who shall be and who shall not be allowed to enter.) "While old Fritz leaps from his golden throne to welcome each home-coming Prussian soldier." It sounds blasphemous, but it appears that Prussian militancy has dethroned even the Lord God Omnipotent, and has placed the Thief of Silesia on the Golden Throne. I wonder how he ever entered in. We are told that "Nothing that worketh abomination or maketh a lie can ever enter in," and it was old Fritz who once said "If it pays us to be honest; let us be honest. But if it is necessary to lie, let us be cheats."

There is, then, this that we can do. We can see to it that every child in our schools, in our churches, in our homes, nay, that every man and woman, too, in all America shall be brought up to love and reverence every star in our flag, to such a consecration of life to all for which that flag stands as shall produce a devotion and loyalty that shall outmatch the best that Germany can do.

Our Flag!

"We who in the old days, the easy days of pleasuring, Loitered in the distant lands, we know the thrill that came When, in far foreign places, above the stranger faces, The sight of it, the might of it, would wake us like a flame. Our own flag, the one flag, it stirred our blood to claim.

"We who in these new days, these days of all confusion, Look upon it with the eyes of one long blind who sees, We know at last its beauty, its magnitude of duty, Dear God! If thus it seems to us, what will it mean to these Who wait for it, who pray for it, our kindred over seas?

"These who face the red days, the white nights of fury, Where Death, like some mad reaper, hacks down the living grain, They shall see our flag arise like a glory in the skies, The Stars of it, the Bars of it, that prove it once again The new Flag, the true Flag, that does not come in vain."

(THEODOSIA GARRISON.)

It is for every one of us, if it costs all that we have and all that we are, to see to it that that Flag comes swiftly, with the maximum of power, and that it "does not come in vain."

There is another thing that we can do. We can remember that Loyalty to America to-day means also Loyalty to her allies.

A great propaganda is being waged throughout this country which is intended to arouse suspicion, distrust and antagonism towards England. The Germanic value of that propaganda is obvious. It is dangerous to-day to advocate sympathy for Germany, but if German agents can sow seeds of distrust among the Allies and can divide England, France and America or hinder their perfection of coöperation Germany will be the gainer.

That propaganda may be found in books on the shelves of our libraries; it appears occasionally in the pages of some of our newspapers; it is working among the soldiers in our cantonments. It is playing on the memories of 1776 and of 1861; it is working on all Irish loyalties and sympathies; it is striking every note of passion and of prejudice. In view of this propaganda, it is time for us to review the relations of America with England and to strike a balance.

We have recently celebrated the Centennial Anniversary that commemorated the conclusion of one hundred years of unbroken peace with England. In view of that Centenary, we might consider the books of 1776 as definitely closed, although still we should remember that Burke and Chatham together with a host of English Whigs fought the battle for the American revolutionists no less bravely and staunchly than did the armies of the Americans themselves. We might also recall the words of George III to Mr. Adams, the first Minister of the United States to Great Britain: "Sir," said the King, "I wish you to believe, and that it may be understood in America, that I have done nothing in the late contest but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do by the duty which I owed to my people. I will be very frank with you. I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made I have always said, as I say to you now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power." That message of friendship surely closes the issues of the Revolution.

In 1861 and throughout the Civil War, it is admitted that the majority of the English aristocracy, the Parliament and the Cabinet were in sympathy with the South. But it is also true that the great mass of the scholars, writers and almost the whole of the English middle class were strong in their sympathies with the Government at Washington. Let me quote passages from Prof. Willis Fletcher Johnston's "American Foreign Relations," "The next step of the British Government was even more marked in its friendship to the United States. This was on June 1st, the issuance of an order forbidding the naval vessels or privateers of either belligerent to carry prizes into any British port or territorial waters. The Confederate Commission in London earnestly protested against the order, but in vain, while Seward remarked that it would probably prove a death blow to Southern privateering. The example set by England was followed by France, Spain, Prussia, Holland, etc." "Adams reported to Seward that he was assured on every hand that sympathy with the Federal Government was universal." "The blockade brought to England the greatest industrial distress the land had ever known, for which at first the North was held responsible. Against this judgment several influences were in time triumphant." "Punch," attacking the attitude of the English Government wrote:

"Though with the North we sympathise it must not be forgotten That with the South we've stronger ties which are composed of Cotton. The South enslaves their fellowmen, whom we all love so dearly The North keeps commerce bound again, which touches us more nearly. Thus a divided duty we perceive in this hard matter. Free Trade, or sable brothers free? Oh, won't we choose the latter?"

"BATTLE OF HUMANITY"

"Bright, Forster, the Duke of Argyll and 'Tom' Hughes spoke effectively to convince England that the United States was fighting the great battle of humanity. 'The question of intervention between the Federal and Confederate Governments arose early in the War. It was practically considered only by England and France. The latter was far more inclined to such action; it proposed it earlier, more frequently and in a more extreme form.' When the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation was understood, the heart of the English people responded to it with an impulse no power could withstand and which no Government could defy. A great public meeting was held in London on New Year's Eve which hailed the dawn of an era of universal freedom and of closer friendship between England and America. At the same time a similar gathering in Manchester, stricken as it was with the cotton famine, adopted similar resolutions addressed to the President of the United States. At Sheffield a vast gathering passed resolutions to the effect that it was the duty of England to give her sympathy and moral support to the Northern States. All England took up the cry within the next few weeks. Deputations waited upon the American Minister with addresses of sympathy and encouragement. At least two members of the Cabinet, the Duke of Argyll and Milner Gibson, spoke publicly for the Federal Cause. Vast meetings at Spurgeon's Tabernacle and at Exeter Hall applauded the name of Lincoln and cried down that of Jefferson Davis. In Gloucestershire any apparent complicity of England with the Confederacy in the equipment of warships was condemned and in almost every considerable city or town in England, Scotland or Wales such sentiments were expressed at great popular assemblies. An increasing number of statesmen, including such men as Lord Disraeli and Lord Derby, openly espoused the Federal side."

Since the Civil War, the evidences of England's friendship have been as many as they have been valuable. We have good reason to believe, although it never can be proved as the proposals were never reduced to writing, that at the time of our war with Spain an effort was made by the Powers of Continental Europe, who were all strongly pro-Spanish and anti-American in their sympathies, to band Europe together and to intervene unitedly between the United States and Spain, but in the interests of Spain and to the detriment of the United States. This scheme was only blocked by the attitude of England.

AT MANILA

We should do well also to remember the day in Manila Bay when the English Fleet steamed and anchored between the German ships and Admiral Dewey's squadron and when Admiral Chichester practically gave von Diderich to understand that a shot fired against America would hit England first. Just before this war broke out, Germany went to England, unofficially, to say that that Government had it in mind to seize parts of Argentine and of Brazil and to establish Imperial colonies there, and wished to know the attitude of the English in such a contingency. England replied, also unofficially, that Germany had forgotten the Monroe Doctrine. Germany responded that she had not forgotten the Monroe Doctrine, but that she was prepared to meet that issue with America if, and when, America raised that issue. England then said that she could only consider such an act by Germany as an expression of unfriendliness and the German fleet never sailed.

Let us remember that Germany has never assented to the Monroe Doctrine. In 1898 Count von Goetzen said "About fifteen years from now my country will begin a great war. In two months she will be in Paris; then will come the crushing of England. Some months after we have finished our work in Europe we will take New York and probably Washington and hold them for some time. We will put your country in its place with reference to Germany. We will take a billion of dollars or more from New York and other places. The Monroe Doctrine will be taken charge of by us, as we will then have put you in your place and we will take charge of South America as far as we want to."

"AN IMPERTINENCE"

"The Monroe Doctrine cannot be justified, it is only an aspiration which we Europeans consider an impertinence. The inviolability of American soil is invoked without there being at hand the slightest means of warding off an attack of a respectable European Power." So said Johannes Vollert in 1903.

I am told by men who freely admit England's friendliness and its value to America that after all, England is not disinterested. She saw herself confronted by the hostility of great powers abroad and needed the support of America; hence her friendliness. Is it not asking a great deal of any Government that we should demand that it should rest its policies on disinterested affection for another people and not upon the welfare of those for whose wellbeing they have been placed in office? But, if we discount English friendship on that ground, let us be logical and consistent. We have publicly and enthusiastically admitted our debt to France for the help she gave us in our Revolution. But before the year 1776 Vergennes, who was over the Foreign Office in Paris, had written a memorial on American affairs. "In the document the importance of maintaining a close alliance between the different branches of the House of Bourbon and of opposing on all occasions the interests of Great Britain was clearly demonstrated and especial stress was laid upon the necessity of aiding the Americans in their struggle for independence. The defeat and submission of the colonies would, Vergennes declared, be followed by disastrous consequences for the French and Spanish possessions in the West Indies. If, however, the Americans won by their own exertions, they would be themselves disposed to conquer the French and Spanish West Indies, so as to provide fresh outlets for their productions. Hence it was of supreme importance that France should at once lay the colonists under a debt of gratitude...."

"LET US BE JUST"

I yield to none in my admiration and affection for France, but let us be just in the application of our standards and criterions of judgment. If we are to condemn and repudiate our debt to England because we deny it the element of disinterestedness, let us also, and for the same reason, repudiate our admitted debt to France. It is admitted that we were utterly unprepared for war even as late as 1917. Mr. George Creel defends our unpreparedness and says that we could not logically and consistently work for peace while we prepared for war, but even in defending he admits the fact. While we have been so unprepared it has been the English fleet that has been defending our Monroe Doctrine; it is the English fleet that has kept our coasts unscarred; it is the English fleet that has enabled our commerce and our transports to cross the seas; it is that Imperial line of ships and guns and men that have protected us through our uneasy slumbers, that have given us time to wake up to the issues of this war and upon which we have depended for the opportunity to make ready and prepare.

Again and again has England saved the world; once when the white sails of the Armada rounded Ushant and spread out over the English Channel; again when Louis XIV was threatening the Old World and the New; again when Bonaparte was making and unmaking kings from Madrid to Warsaw; but never did England give to the world a greater service than when she offered up that little Expeditionary Army and threw herself, all unprepared, across the pathway of victorious Germany. Not one of us can look at the ruins of the cities of France and Belgium and remember the threats of Germany directed towards ourselves without thinking with a shudder at what might be the condition of our own cities and citizens had England failed the world in that dreadful summer of 1914.

"POISON OF HATRED"

The American citizen who is opposed to England because of the memories of 1776, or because of the attitude of the English Government in 1861, we can understand. We can argue with him sympathetically, for his antagonism is based on American history imperfectly studied. But the German-American who hates England, not because of what she has at any time done to America, but because of what he thinks she has done or would do to Germany and who spreads the poison of his hatred through America, is admittedly disloyal. The Irish-American who hates England, not because of anything she has done to America, but because of what Cromwell did in Ireland nearly three hundred years ago or because of what English Cabinets may not have done in more recent years may not be disloyal in intent, but he stands upon the same basis as the German-American in this, that he imports antagonism; he does not base it on American soil but on a soil that is three thousand miles away. His antagonism is not due to his Americanism, but to his affections for another land. But exactly the same must be said of the German-American who preaches hate for England. To-day English ships convoy our squadrons safely through the seas made dangerous by Germany; American destroyers are helping to guard English shores; American regiments are merging with English regiments and are acting as reserves and reinforcements for the English Army; our flag and the English flag are flying side by side in Picardy. Our guns stand wheel to wheel with English guns; our ships, our armies and our Red Cross are standing side by side with English surgeons, nurses, soldiers and battleships. The same spirit of unity must be maintained at home as well as abroad and we must understand that a common cause makes a common foe, but it also makes a common friend. Loyalty to America to-day means also loyalty to England.

I have a friend, president of a large corporation which employs thousands of men, who has been called to the head of a Department of a certain war activity in Washington. He told me that they had given him what seemed to be a very unimportant task, one that any clerk in his employ could well discharge, "but," he said, "I am trying to make it important by putting into it the best I have and the best that I can do."

When that spirit grips us, every single one, we shall sweep forward to a victory that nothing in all Germany can ever halt.

There is one other issue in this war, one other thing for which we fight, and I have left it to the last.