Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1918 — “STOP DREAMING OF PEACE: FIGHT FOR IT!” [ARTICLE]

“STOP DREAMING OF PEACE: FIGHT FOR IT!”

By Alvin McCaslin Higgins

Member American Defense Society, i {Copyrighted 1918, American Defense Society.) When the German sabre rattled in its scabbard, on that hot July day, four years ago, you yarned and then smiled. War was so unthinkable. Besides, there was The Hague and its temple of Peace; And the Nobel peace prize. Finally, there were the Rothchilds and the bankers of Europe, at Frankfort, at Vienna, at Paris, at Naples, at London. They simply would not permit war. BUT— War came, with all its red horror —trampling Belgium into a bloody mire, flouting the Hague treaties, mocking Peace, gagging the Rothchilds and'the banks. And before you knew what it all meant, Zeppelins had spattered babies’ brains on Antwerp, priests were crucified and Paris had fled to Bordeaux. You recovered your composure only when Joffre and his poilus stood at bay against the Prussian wolves at the Marne. You said the war wasn’t carried on by the German people, whose patron saint was Kris Kringle and whose caraway cookies were so good. You argued that the wicked Hohenzollerns had deceived the innocent Bavariaps and Saxons, and you almost get eyestrain searching for the news of all Germany revolting against Prussia. THAT WAS OVER THREE YEARS AGO. You chuckled at the gigantic war debt piling on Germany’s back and you quoted eminent actuaries who solemnly predicted that Germany was trying to lift herself by her financial boot-straps, and when she had incurred a debt of one hundred billion marks, she would blow up. THAT WAS OVER THREE YEARS AGO.

You smiled indulgently at Kitchener’s prophecy of a three years war. His exaggeration was quite pardonable, you said to keep the British from over-confidence. THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO. Have you forgotten how thrilled you were when ' the Grand Duke Nicholas captured Prsemysl and all those funny-named towns that seemed so new on the map? And how you glowed when you visualized the hordes of Cossacks swarming on to the Hungarian plains? THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO. How cock-sure you felt, when Italy spurned the Triple Alliance and started her avalanche on Austria. That would finish Austria you were sure. THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO. You felt supremely happy when the Allies bombed the Dardanelles. You knew the war would end the moment Constantinople fell. THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO. Your blood ran cold at the awful of Armenians by the German-Turks, and you fairly wept with joy when the Czar’s troops drove the Turks out of Trebizond. THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO. But the Grand Duke Nicholas and the Russian armies have disappeared now, the mass-murders in Armenia are going on, the Berlin-Stamboul express still runs, and the Allies abandoned their attack on Gallipoli and the Dardanelles over two years ago. The war is nearly four years old. Germany holds more territory today, on the continent of Europe, than at any time in her history. Germany has wiped out Belgium, Serbia, Poland, Roumania and Montenegro. Germany has paralyzed into abject submission, Russia! all of the Scandinavian countries, Holland and Greece. Germany’s seafleat is stronger today than ever. Her Baltic fleet is released, and she can now breed submarines in the. Black Sea.Prussia never lets a war be short unless she wins it. That is the price of her short wars. When she grabbed Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia whipped Denmark quickly. When she punshed the German states and Austria in 1866, it was called the Seven Weeks war. And when she got Alsace-Lorraine from France, it took Prussia eight months to get it. The Prussian mind is never organized to accept defeat. She believes that the minds of other nations are. Prussia counts on the fact that she has always found to be true, that peace-lovers will sacrifice all their principles but the love of peace, to avoid a long-drawn fight. The Prussian believes us chicken-hearted and that the German brigands need only be dogged and severe. And Prussia will win this war if their principles but the love of peace, Prussia will win this war if America does not stop talking peace! Prussian will win this war if YOU do not stop talking peace! Of course • Prussia wants peace. Why shouldn’t she want peace !With her bloody boots on the dead breasts of Serbia and Belgium, with her foul fingers clutching the throats of Poland and Armenia, and with her blood-shot eyes lusting for th' spoils of all Muscovy, why shouldn-t the hideous monster want peace? MEN OF AMERICA! DO YOU WANT THAT PEACE"?