Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 166, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1917 — Only a Crushing Victory Will Free German Yoke. [ARTICLE]

Only a Crushing Victory Will Free German Yoke.

In a speech at Madisoi Barracks, N. Y., Sunday night before 1,500 members of the officers’ reserve corps, Secretary of State Robert Lansing, emphasizihg the peril of German imperialism to the United States and the world, declared the belief that the German people would not cast off the yoke of autocracy “until the physical might of the United democracies of the world has destroyed forever the evil ambitions of the military rulers of Germany. That,” he added, “is the only way to restore peace to the world. “Were every other people on earth able to express their will, there would, be no wars of aggression,” he said, “and if there' were no wars of aggression, there would be no wars, and lasting peace would come to this earth. The only way that a people can express their will is through democratic institutions. Therefore, when the world is made safe for democracy, when the principle prevails, universal peace will be an accomplished fact. 1 ' “No nation or people will be more fit than these United States when that time conies. A great people, ruled in thought and word as well as in deed by the most sinister government of modern times is straining every nerve to supplant democracy by the autocracy which they have been taught to worship. “When will the German people awaken to the truth? When will they arise in their might and cast off the yoke and become their own masters? I fear that it will not be until the physical might of the United democracies of the world have destroyed forever the evil ambitions of the military rulers of Germany and liberty triumphs over its arch-enemy.” Mr. Lansing sought to drive home to the student officers the righteousness of the cause for which they had volunteered to go to France and fight, asserting that America would win, '‘Because our cause is the cause of justice and right and- of humanity.”