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diff --git a/76636-h/76636-h.htm b/76636-h/76636-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d1a6d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/76636-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3843 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + My country’s part | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +td {padding-left: 0.5em;} +.tdl {text-align: left; text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 2em; } +.tdr {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;} + +div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} +div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 2em;} + +.xxlarge {font-size: 175%;} +.xlarge {font-size: 150%;} +.large {font-size: 125%;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .hide {display: none; visibility: hidden;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {display: inline-block; text-align: left;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -2.5em; padding-left: 3em;} +.poetry .first {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } +.x-ebookmaker .poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} + +.gap {padding-left: 2.5em;} + +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:smaller; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; + padding: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76636 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter hide"><img src="images/coversmall.jpg" width="450" alt=""></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h1>MY COUNTRY’S PART</h1> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_0"></span> +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> + <img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" width="700" height="449" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p class="caption">General Pershing’s veterans direct from the trenches in France marching to the City Hall, + New York City</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="title page"></div> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="titlepage"> +<p><span class="xxlarge">MY COUNTRY’S PART</span></p> + +<p>BY<br> +<span class="xlarge">MARY SYNON</span></p> + +<p>ILLUSTRATED</p> + +<p><span class="large">CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</span><br> +CHICAGO <span class="gap"> NEW YORK</span><span class="gap"> SAN FRANCISCO</span></p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1918, by</span><br> + CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/pub_logo.jpg" alt="publisher's logo"></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> TO<br> + <br> + <span class="large">THOMAS S. ENRIGHT<br> + JAMES B. GRESHAM<br> + MARLE B. HAY</span><br> + <br> + PRIVATES IN THE RANKS OF<br> + THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES<br> + WHO WERE THE FIRST TO DIE IN FRANCE<br> + IN OUR WAR AGAINST GERMANY<br> + <br> + THIS BOOK<br> + IS DEDICATED</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdr"><span class="allsmcap">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="tdr" colspan="2"><span class="allsmcap">PAGE</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td><td>“<span class="smcap">My Grandmother and Myself</span>”</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1"> 1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The United States and the World War</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40"> 40</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td><td> <span class="smcap">What the Great War Really Means</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53"> 53</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">How the War Came to the United States</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65"> 65</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td><td> <span class="smcap">How the United States Went into War</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77"> 77</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">What the United States Is Doing in the War</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_85"> 85</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Rear-Line Trenches</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93"> 93</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The American’s Part</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110"> 110</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The United States and Individual Freedom</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121"> 121</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The United States and International Peace</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_131"> 131</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +</div> + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdl">General Pershing’s veterans direct from the trenches in + France marching to the City Hall, New York City</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_0"> <i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdr" colspan="2"><span class="allsmcap">FACING PAGE</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl">Belgium refugees between Malines and Brussels</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_66"> 66</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl">President Wilson delivering his war message</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80"> 80</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl">Recruits of the National Army waiting at the booths of a National Army cantonment</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_90"> 90</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl">Children selling thrift stamps</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104"> 104</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl">Boys at work in their war garden</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110"> 110</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl">The launching of the U. S. S. <i>Accoma</i></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_118"> 118</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl">An immigrant family qualified to enter the United States</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128"> 128</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I<br> +<small>“MY GRANDMOTHER AND MYSELF”</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">What</span> can an American boy or an American +girl do for our country?</p> + +<p>The ways are many. Every man, woman, +and child in the United States has the duty of +defending the nation. In time of war every +American must be in spirit, if he cannot be in +actual duty, a soldier. A soldier’s part is to +guard his nation. An American’s part is to +guard America. The guarding may be done +by saving the food that the government asks +its citizens to save, by buying War Thrift +Stamps, by buying Liberty Bonds, by working +for the Red Cross, or for other patriotic organizations; +but it must be done with the idea that +our country is our first concern, our first care.</p> + +<p>Every American must be watchful for his +country’s welfare. How may he do this duty? +By remembering always that he is, first of all, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>an American. No matter what country his +father or mother, or grandfather or grandmother +came from, he is American, with the rights and +privileges and obligations of his citizenship. +And he must have no divided allegiance.</p> + +<p>The story of what one American boy could +do for his country is told in the story that +follows. Some people call this a fiction story. +But the root of it is truth. For every boy and +every girl in the United States can hold to the +love of country that John Sutton’s grandmother +put into his soul through the incidents that +make up the tale of</p> + +<h3>“<span class="smcap">My Grandmother and Myself</span>”</h3> + +<p>My grandmother was at the basement window, +peering into the street as if she were +watching for some one, when I came home from +school. “Is that you, John?” she asked me +as I stood in the hall stamping the snow from +my boots. “Sure!” I called to her. “Who’d +you think I was? A spirit?”</p> + +<p>She laughed a little as I went into the room +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>and flung down my books. My grandmother +hasn’t seen any one in ten years, though she +sits day after day looking out on the street as +if a parade were passing; but she knows the +thump of my books on the table as well as she +knows the turning of my father’s key in the +lock of the door. “’Tis a lively spirit you’d +make, Shauneen,” she said, with that chuckle +she saves for me. “No, ’twas your father I +thought was coming.”</p> + +<p>“What’d he be doing home at this time?”</p> + +<p>“These are queer days,” she said, “and +there are queer doings in them.”</p> + +<p>“There’s nothing queer that I can see,” I +told her.</p> + +<p>“I’m an old, blind woman,” she said, “but +sometimes I see more than do they who have +the sight of their two eyes.” She said it so +solemnly, folding her hands one over the other +as she drew herself up in her chair, that I felt +a little thrill creeping up my spine. “What do +you mean?” I asked her. “Time’ll tell you,” +she said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>My mother came in from the kitchen then. +“Norah forgot to order bacon for the morning,” +she said. “Will you go to the market, John, +before you do anything else?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I’m going skating,” I protested.</p> + +<p>“It won’t take you five minutes,” said my +mother. She seemed tired and worried. The +look in her eyes made me feel that there was +trouble hanging over the house. My mother +isn’t like my grandmother. When things go +wrong, my grandmother stands up straight, +and throws back her shoulders, and fronts ahead +as if she were a general giving orders for attack; +but my mother wilts like a hurt flower. +She was drooping then while she stood in the +room, so I said, “All right, I’ll go,” though +I’d promised the fellows to come to the park +before four o’clock.</p> + +<p>“And look in at the shop as you go by,” +my grandmother said, “and see if your father’s +there now.”</p> + +<p>“Why shouldn’t he be?” my mother asked.</p> + +<p>There was a queer sound in her voice that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>urged me around past my father’s shop. My +father was there in the little office, going over +blue-prints with Joe Krebs’s uncle and Mattie +Kleiner’s father and a big man I’d never seen +before. I told my grandmother when I went +home. “I knew it,” she said. “I knew it. +And I dreamed last night of my cousin Michael +who died trying to escape from Van Diemen’s +Land.”</p> + +<p>“You knew what?” I asked her, for again +that strange way of hers sent shivery cold over +me.</p> + +<p>“Go to your skating,” she bade me.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>There wasn’t much skating at Tompkins +Square, though, when I found the crowd. The +sun had come out strong in the afternoon and +the ice was melting. “Ground-hog must have +seen his shadow last week,” Bennie Curtis said. +All the fellows—Joe Carey and Jim Dean and +Frank Belden and Joe Krebs and Mattie Kleiner +and Fred Wendell and the rest of them—had +taken off their skates and were starting a tug +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>of war in the slush. Mattie Kleiner was the +captain on one side and Frank Belden the captain +on the other. Mattie had chosen Joe +Krebs and Jim Dean and Joe Carey on his side. +Just as I came along he shouted that he chose +me. Frank Belden yelled that it was his choice +and that he’d take me. “He don’t want to be +on your side!” Mattie cried. “He’s with the +Germans!”</p> + +<p>“Well, I guess not,” I said, “any more than +I’m with the English. I’m an American.”</p> + +<p>“You can’t be just an American in this +battle,” Frank Belden said.</p> + +<p>“Then I’ll stay out of it,” I told him.</p> + +<p>They all started to yell “Neutral!” and +“Fraid cat!” and “Oh, you dove of peace!” +at me. I got tired of it after a while, and I +went after Mattie hard. When I’d finished +with him he bawled at me: “Wait till your +father knows, he’ll fix you!”</p> + +<p>“What for?” I jeered.</p> + +<p>“For going against his principles, that’s +what,” Mattie Kleiner roared.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>“I’d like to know what you know about +my father’s principles.” I laughed at him.</p> + +<p>“Well, I ought to know,” he cried. “I +heard him take the oath.”</p> + +<p>“What oath?” we all demanded, but Mattie +went off in surly silence. Joe Krebs and Joe +Carey trailed after him. I stayed with the +other fellows until it was dark. Then I started +for home.</p> + +<p>Joe Carey was waiting for me at the corner. +“Do you believe him, John?” he asked me. +“Do you believe Mattie about the oath?”</p> + +<p>“How’s that?” I parried. I seemed to +remember having heard a man who’d been at +the house a fortnight before whispering something +about an oath, and I knew that I’d heard +my mother say to my grandmother: “I pray +to God he’ll get in no trouble with any oaths or +promises.” I kept wondering if Mattie Kleiner’s +father and Joe Krebs’s uncle and the big man +with the blue-prints who’d been in my father’s +shop had anything to do with it. “Oh, Mattie’s +talking in his sleep,” I said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>“Well, maybe,” said Joe Carey; “but +he wasn’t sleeping the night they had the +meeting in his house. He was on the stairs +going up to the top floor, and he kept the +door open a little way and he heard everything +they said, and nobody at all knew he +was there.”</p> + +<p>Joe Carey’s eyes were almost popping out +of his head, and so I knew that Mattie had been +telling him a long story. “I guess he didn’t +hear very much,” I said.</p> + +<p>“You bet he did,” Joe declared. “He heard +them reading the letters telling people not to +go on the ships because they were going to be +sunk, and he heard them talking about bombs +and munition factories. He says that he heard +your father say that he’d gladly lay down his +life for the sake of Ireland.”</p> + +<p>“But Ireland’s not in this war!”</p> + +<p>“Sure it is! Mattie says the Germans are +going to free Ireland if they beat England. +That’s why the Irish ought to be with the +Germans. Mattie says your father’ll be awful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>ashamed that you wouldn’t go on his side. +Mattie says your father——”</p> + +<p>“I don’t give a whoop what Mattie says +about my father,” I told him. “I guess I can +take my own part.”</p> + +<p>“I guess you’ll have to,” said Joe.</p> + +<p>As I went up the street toward our house +I had that queer feeling that comes sometimes +after I’ve been away for a while, a fear that +something terrible has happened while I’ve +been gone and that I’ll be blamed for it. It +was dark on the street, for people hadn’t lighted +the lamps in the basement dining-rooms, and +I was hurrying along when suddenly a man’s +voice came over my shoulder. I hadn’t heard +his step behind me at all, and I jumped when +he spoke. “Where does Mr. John Sutton live?” +he asked me.</p> + +<p>“Right there.” I pointed to our house.</p> + +<p>“Do you know him?” he asked. Through +the dark I could see that he was a tall man with +sharp eyes. I knew that I had never seen him +before, and that he didn’t look like any of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>men who came to my father’s machine-shop. +“Don’t you know Mr. Sutton?” he repeated.</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Know him well, sonny?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> + +<p>“How well?”</p> + +<p>“He’s my father.”</p> + +<p>He whistled softly, then laughed, turned +on his heel, and strode down the street. I +watched him to see if he’d take the turn toward +the shop, but he turned the other way at the +corner. I thought that I’d tell my grandmother +about him but my mother was with her in the +dark when I went in. They were talking very +low, as if some one were dead in the house, +but I heard my mother say, “If I only knew +how far he’s gone in this!” and my grandmother +mutter: “Sure, the farther he goes in, the +farther back he’ll have to come.” I stumbled +over a chair as I went into the room with them, +and they both stopped talking.</p> + +<p>I could hear the little hissing whisper my +grandmother always makes while she says the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>rosary, but I could hear no sound from my +mother at all until she rose with a sigh and +lighted the gas-lamp. She looked at me as if +she hadn’t known I’d been there. “Have you +any home work to do to-night, John?” she +asked me.</p> + +<p>“No, ma’am,” I said. “It’s Friday.”</p> + +<p>“Then I want you to come to church with +me after your dinner,” she said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I don’t want to go to church,” I’d +said before my grandmother spoke.</p> + +<p>“’Twill be a queer thing to me as long as +I live,” she said, “that those who have don’t +want what they have, and that those who +haven’t keep wanting.”</p> + +<p>The telephone-bell rang just then up in the +room that my father used for an office, and I +raced up to answer it. A man’s voice, younger +than that of the man who’d spoken to me, came +over the wire. “Say, is this John Sutton’s +residence?” it asked. “And is he home? And, +if he isn’t, who are you?”</p> + +<p>“What do you want?” I called.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>“Information. This is <i>The World</i>. We hear +that there’s to be a meeting of the clans to-night, +and we want to know where it’s to be held.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” I said.</p> + +<p>“Can you find out?”</p> + +<p>“No,” I lied. “There’s nobody home.”</p> + +<p>“Won’t your father be home for dinner?”</p> + +<p>Even then I could hear his key turning in +the lock, could hear him passing on his way +up to his bedroom, but a queer kind of caution +was being born in me. “No, sir,” I said.</p> + +<p>“Who was that?” my grandmother asked +me when I went down.</p> + +<p>I told her of the call, told her, too, of the +man who had stopped me on the street. Her +rosary slipped through her fingers. “I feared +it,” she said. Then the whisper of her praying +began again.</p> + +<p>At dinner my father was strangely silent. +Usually he talks a great deal, all about politics, +and the newspapers, and the trouble with the +schools, and woman suffrage, and war. But +he said nothing at all except to ask me if the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>skating were good. My mother was just as +quiet as he, and I would have been afraid to +open my mouth if my grandmother hadn’t +started in to tell about New York in the days +she’d come here, more than sixty-five years +ago. She talked and talked about how different +everything had been then, with no tall +buildings and no big bridges and no subways +and no elevateds. “Faith, you can be proud of +your native town, John,” she said to my father.</p> + +<p>“I wish I’d been born in Ireland,” he said.</p> + +<p>She laughed. “And if I’d stayed in Ireland +I’d have starved,” she said, “and little chance +you’d have had of being born anywhere.”</p> + +<p>“It might have been just as well,” he said +bitterly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, no,” she said; “there’s Shauneen.”</p> + +<p>He rose from the table, flinging down his +napkin. “I won’t be home till very late,” he +said to my mother.</p> + +<p>She stood up beside him. “Do you have +to go, John?” she asked him.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>“Oh, John,” she said, “I’m afraid.”</p> + +<p>“Of what?”</p> + +<p>“Of what may happen you.”</p> + +<p>“Nothing’ll happen me,” he said.</p> + +<p>I wanted to tell him of the strange man +who had halted me on the street, and of the +telephone call, but my father’s anger was rising +and I feared to fan it to flame. My grandmother +said nothing until after my father had +gone. Then she spoke to my mother.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you know better,” she asked her, +“and you eighteen years married to him, than +to ask John not to do something you don’t +want him to do?”</p> + +<p>My mother began to cry as we heard the +banging of the door after my father. “Well, +if you can do nothing else,” my grandmother +said, “you’d better be off to church. Keep +your eyes open, Shauneen,” she warned me +while my mother was getting her hat and coat.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>It was a grand night, with the evening star +low in the sky, like a lamp, and the big yellow +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>moon just rising in the east. The wind blew +sharp and salt off the water, but there was a +promise of spring in the air, saying that it must +be almost baseball time. We went over to the +Jesuit church, walking slowly all the way. +There we knelt in the dark until I was stiff. +As we came out my mother stopped at the holy-water +font. “John,” she said, “will you promise +me that if you ever marry you’ll never set any +cause but God’s above your wife?”</p> + +<p>“No, ma’am, I won’t,” I said, vaguely understanding +that my father had hurt my mother +by his refusal to stay at home, and wondering +what cause he had set above her. As we walked +toward the car-line I remembered what Joe +Carey had told me of Mattie Kleiner’s speech +about my father. “Do you have to go to Ireland +to die for Ireland?” I asked her. She clutched +my hand. “My grandfather died for Ireland,” +she said, “and he wasn’t the first of his line to +die for her. But I pray God that he may have +been the last.” She said no more till we came +into our own house.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>My grandmother was still at the window +of the dining-room. There was no light, and +my mother did not make one. “There was +another telephone call,” my grandmother said. +“Norah answered it. ’Twas the newspaper +calling again for John to ask about the meeting. +She said she knew nothing about it and that +no one was here to answer.”</p> + +<p>“Do you suppose,” I said, “it was detectives?”</p> + +<p>They said nothing, and I could feel a big +lump coming up my throat. I thought they +might not have heard me until my grandmother +said: “Do you know, Kate, where the meeting +is.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know,” +my mother cried. She turned to me sharply. +“Go to bed, John,” she said.</p> + +<p>“I know where the meetings are,” I blurted +out, eager enough for any excuse to put off +the hateful order. “They’re at Mattie Kleiner’s +house, because he hides on the stairs when they +come, and he heard them take the oath.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>“Is that Matthew Kleiner’s boy?” my +grandmother asked, so quietly that I thought +she had not realized the importance of my +news.</p> + +<p>“Yes, ma’am.”</p> + +<p>“Go to bed, Shauneen.” She repeated my +mother’s order.</p> + +<p>I went up-stairs, leaving the two of them +silent in the dark. I whistled while I undressed, +but I shivered after I had turned out the light +and jumped between the sheets. I was going +to lie awake waiting for my father’s return, +but I must have dozed, for I thought that it +was in the middle of the night that something +woke me. I knew, as soon as I woke, that some +one was in my room. I could feel him groping. +I tried to speak, but my tongue stuck to the +roof of my mouth. Then I heard a faint +whisper. “Shauneen,” it said.</p> + +<p>So far away it seemed that I thought it +might be a ghost until my grandmother spoke +again. “Your mother’s in bed now,” she said. +“Put on your clothes as quick as you can.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>“What is it?” I whispered.</p> + +<p>“We’re going to Matthew Kleiner’s, you +and I,” she said. “I’d go alone if I could see.”</p> + +<p>“What time is it?”</p> + +<p>“Between ten and eleven.”</p> + +<p>I pulled my clothes on as fast as I could. +Then stealthily as thieves we crept out from +my room and down the stairs. I held my grandmother’s +hand and wondered at its steadiness. +When we had come outside the basement door +she halted me. “Look down the street for the +tall man,” she bade me. There was no one in +sight, however, and we walked along sturdily, +turning corners until we came to Kleiner’s.</p> + +<p>It was a red-brick house in a row, not a +basement house like ours, but with a cellar +below and an attic above its two main floors. +There was no light on the first floor, but +I thought that I saw a stream behind the drawn +curtains up-stairs. I found the bell and pushed +on it hard. No one came for a long time. I +rang again. I could see shadows back of the +shades before Mattie Kleiner’s mother came. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>“What is it?” she demanded before she opened +the door.</p> + +<p>“Tell her that your mother’s sick and that +you’ve come for your father,” my grandmother +ordered me. I repeated what she’d said. Mrs. +Kleiner opened the door. “Oh,” she cried, “it +is Mrs. Sutton and little John. Oh, you did +frighten me. Is the mother very sick? I shall +call the father.”</p> + +<p>“Let me go to him,” my grandmother said. +We were inside the hall then, and I put her +hand on the railing of the stairway. She had +started up before Mrs. Kleiner tried to stop +her. “I’ve a message for him,” said my grandmother. +Mrs. Kleiner and I followed her. At +the top of the stairs I turned her toward the +front room, for I could hear the murmur of +voices. I passed a door and wondered if Mattie +Kleiner were hiding behind it. “Oh, we must +not go in,” Mrs. Kleiner pleaded. “The men +will not want us to go in.” She tried to stop +us, but my grandmother turned, looking at +her as if she could see her. “I’ve always followed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>my own conscience, ma’am,” she said, +“not my husband’s, nor my son’s, nor any other +man’s.”</p> + +<p>From within the front room came the sound +of the voices, growing louder and louder as we +stood there, my grandmother alert, Mrs. Kleiner +appalled, I myself athrill. I could hear my +father’s voice, short, sharp. “It’s our great +opportunity,” he was saying. “We have only +to strike the blow at England’s empire, and +the empire itself will arise to aid us. Twenty +thousand men flung into Canada will turn the +trick. French Quebec is disaffected. What if +soldiers are there? We can fight them! We +may die, but what if we do? We will have +started the avalanche that will destroy Carthage!”</p> + +<p>There were cries of “Right!” to him. Then +a man began to talk in German. His voice +rang out harshly. From the murmurs that +came out to us we knew that the men were applauding +his words, but we had no idea of what +the words were. Mrs. Kleiner stood wringing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>her hands. “Who’s in there?” my grandmother +asked her.</p> + +<p>“I do not know,” she insisted.</p> + +<p>“Joe Krebs’s uncle is there,” I said. “I +know his cough. And Mr. Winngart who keeps +the delicatessen-shop. And Frank Belden’s +father; and that’s Mr. Carey’s voice.”</p> + +<p>“They just meet for fun,” groaned Mrs. +Kleiner.</p> + +<p>“Sure, I saw that kind of fun before,” said +my grandmother, “when the Fenians went +after the Queen’s Own.”</p> + +<p>My father’s voice rose again. “We are +ready to fire the torch? We are ready to send +out the word to-night for the mobilization of +our sympathizers? We are ready to stand together +to the bitter end?”</p> + +<p>“We are ready!” came the shout.</p> + +<p>Then my grandmother opened the door.</p> + +<p>Through the haze of their tobacco smoke +they looked up, the dozen men crowded into +the Kleiners’ front bedroom, to see my grandmother +standing before them, a bent old woman +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>in her black dress and shawl, her little jet bonnet +nodding valiantly from its perch on her thin +white hair. She looked around as if she could +see every one of them. My father had sprung +forward at her coming, and, as if to hold him +off, she put up one hand.</p> + +<p>“<i>Is it yourself, John Sutton, who’s talking +here of plots, and plans, and war?</i>” she said. +Her voice went up to a sharp edge. She flung +back her head as if she defied them to answer +her. All of them, my father and Joe Krebs’s +uncle and Mattie Kleiner’s father and Mr. +Carey and Mr. Winngart and the big man who’d +had the blue-prints in the shop, and the others, +stared at her as if she were a ghost. No +one of them moved as she spoke. “’Tis a fine +lot you are to be sitting here thinking ways to +bring trouble on yourselves, and your wives, +and your children, and your country. Who +are there here of you? Is it yourself, Benedict +Krebs, who’s going out to fight for Germany +when your own father came to this very street +to get away from Prussia? Is it you, Matthew +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>Kleiner, who gives roof to them who plot against +America, you, who came here to earn a living +that you couldn’t earn at home? Is it you, +Michael Carey, who’s helping them hurt the +land that’s making you a rich man? Shame on +you; shame on you all!”</p> + +<p>“Why shouldn’t we fight England?” Joe +Carey’s father said with a growl. “You’d be +the last one, Mrs. Sutton, that I’d think’d set +yourself against that.”</p> + +<p>“’Tis not England,” said my grandmother, +“that you fight with your plots. ’Tis America +you strike when you strike here. And, as long +as you stay here, be Americans and not +traitors!”</p> + +<p>They began to murmur at that, and my +father said: “You don’t know what you’re +talking about, mother. You’d better take John +home. This is no place for either of you.”</p> + +<p>“No more than it’s a place for you,” she +said. “Will you be coming home with me +now?”</p> + +<p>“I will not,” my father said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>“Faith, and you’ll all be wishing you had,” +she told them, “when the jails’ll be holding +you in the morning.”</p> + +<p>“The jails!” The big man who had held +the blue-prints came closer to us. “What is +it you say of jails? You have told the police, +then?”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t need to,” my grandmother said. +“The government men have been watching +this long time. ’Twill be at midnight that +they’ll come here. But ’tis not myself they’ll +be finding.” I saw the men’s glances flash +around the room through the smoky haze before +she called: “Come, Shauneen.” I took +her hand again and led her out of the room. +Just before the door closed after us I saw that +my father’s face had grown very white, and +that Mattie Kleiner’s father had dropped his +pipe on the floor.</p> + +<p>Outside the house I spoke to my grandmother +tremblingly. “Do the police really +know?” I asked her. She gave her dry little +chuckle. “If they don’t, they should,” she +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>answered; “but I was born an O’Brien, and +I’ve never known one of them yet that ever +told the police anything. No, Shauneen,” she +laughed, “’twas the high hill I shot at, but I’m +thinking that the shot struck. We’ll watch.”</p> + +<p>We crossed the street and waited in the +shadow of the house at the corner. For a little +while all was quiet at Kleiner’s. Then I saw +the tall man come out with Joe Krebs’s uncle. +After a time my father came out with Mr. Winngart +and Mr. Carey. They walked to the other +corner and stood there a moment before they +separated, “Shall we go home now?” I asked +my grandmother after I had told her what I +had seen.</p> + +<p>“Not yet,” she said. “I’ve one more errand +to do this night.” I thought it might have +something to do with the tall man who’d spoken +to me or with the telephone call, and I wondered +when she sighed. “I’m a very old +woman,” she seemed to be saying to herself. +“I’ll be ninety-one years come Michaelmas +Day. Some of the world I’ve seen, and much +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>of life. Out of it all I’ve brought but a few +things. I’d thought to give these to my son. +But—” She paused. “How old are you, +Shauneen?” she asked me.</p> + +<p>“Fourteen,” I said.</p> + +<p>“Old enough,” she nodded. She turned +her head as if she were looking for something +or some one. Then: “Do you know your way +to the Battery?” she asked me.</p> + +<p>“Sure,” I told her. “Are you going there?”</p> + +<p>“We are.”</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>It had been quiet enough in our part of +town. It was quieter yet when we came to +Bowling Green and walked across to the Battery. +Down there, past the high buildings and +the warehouses, we seemed to have come into +the heart of a hush. To the north of us the +sky was afire with the golden glow from the +up-town lights. In front of us ran the East +River and the North River. Out on Bedloe’s +Island I could see the shining of the Goddess +of Liberty’s torch. Every little while a ferry-boat, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>all yellow with lights, would shoot out +on the water. A sailing-vessel moved slowly +after its puffing tug. The little oyster-boats +were coming in from the bay. A steamer glided +along past it as I walked with my grandmother +out toward the old Castle Garden.</p> + +<p>On the Saturday before Joe Carey and I +had come down to the piers, prowling all afternoon +on the docks, watching the men bringing +in the queer crates and boxes and bags while +we told each other of the places from where +the fruits and spices and coffee and wines had +come. There were thousands and thousands +of ships out there in the dark, I knew, and I +began to tell my grandmother what some of +the sailors had told us of how the trade of the +world was crowding into New York, with the +ships all pressing the docks for room. “If you +could only see it!” I said to her. “I can see +more than that,” she said. Then: “Take me +to the edge of the waters,” she bade me.</p> + +<p>Wondering and a little frightened, I obeyed +her, trying to solve the while the mystery of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>her whim to bring me to the deserted park in +the middle of the night. “Is Castle Garden +over there?” she pointed. “Then I’ve my +bearings now.”</p> + +<p>She stood alone, a little way off from me, +staring seaward as if she counted the shadowy +ships. The wind blew her thin white hair from +under her bonnet and raised the folds of her +shawl. There in the lateness of the night, alone +at the edge of the Battery, she didn’t seem to +be my grandmother at all, but some stranger. +I remembered the story I’d read somewhere of +an old woman who’d brought a pile of books +to a King of Rome, books that she threw away, +one by one, as he refused them, until there was +but one book left. When he’d bought that one +from her he’d found that it was the book of +the future of the empire, and that he’d lost all +the rest through his folly. As I looked at my +grandmother I thought she must be like the old +woman of the story. Even her voice sounded +strange and deep when she turned to me.</p> + +<p>“It was sixty-five years ago the 7th of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>November that I first stood on this soil,” she +said. “’Tis a long lifetime, and, thank God, +a useful one I’ve had. Burdens I’ve had, but +never did I lack the strength to bear them. +Looking back, I’m sorry for many a word and +many a deed, but I’ve never sorrowed that I +came here.”</p> + +<p>I would have thought that she had forgotten +me if she hadn’t touched my arm. “You’ve +heard tell of the famine, Shauneen,” she went +on, “the great famine that fell on Ireland, +blighting even the potatoes in the ground? +We’d a little place in Connaught then, a bit +of land my father was tilling. We hadn’t much, +even for the place, but we were happy enough, +God knows, with our singing and dancing, and +the fairs and the patterns. Then little by little, +we grew poorer and poorer. I was the oldest of +the seven of us. My mother and myself’d be +planning and scraping to find food for the rest of +them. Every day we’d see them growing thinner +and thinner. Oh, <i>mavrone</i>, the pity of it! And +they looking at us betimes as if we were cheating +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>them of their bit of a sup! Sometimes now +in the dark I see them come to my bed, with +their soft eyes begging for bread, and we having +naught to give them. Brigid—she was the +youngest of them all—died. Then my father +went.</p> + +<p>“I used to go down to the sea and hunt the +wrack for bits of food. There by the shore I +would look over here to America and pray, +day after day, that the Lord would send to us +some help before my mother should go. You +don’t know what it is to pray, Shauneen. Your +father cannot teach you and your mother hopes +you’ll never learn. For prayer is born in agony, +<i>avick</i>, and grief and loss and sorrow. But because +you are the son of my soul I pray for you +that life may teach you prayer. For when you +come to the end of the road, Shauneen, you’ll +know that ’tis not the smoothness of the way, +but the height of it and the depth of it, that +measures your travelling. Far, far down in +the depths I went when I prayed over there +on the bleak coast of Connaught.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>“God answered my prayer. There came +from America food to us. There came, too, +the chance for me to come here with the promise +of work to do. ’Twas a drear day when I left +home. How I cursed England as I looked back +on the hills of Cork harbor, all green and smiling +as if never a blight had cast its shadow behind +them!</p> + +<p>“’Twas a long, dreary sailing. Nine weeks +we were in the crossing. A lifetime I thought +it was between the day I looked on the western +sea from the Connaught mountains and the +day when I stood here looking back toward +home. Sure life is full of lifetimes like those.”</p> + +<p>She paused a moment, but I felt as if I were +under a spell that I must not break by word +of mine. A cloud came over the moon and all +around us grew shadowy. The big throb that +the city always beats at night kept sounding +like the thrumming of an orchestra waiting for +the violin solo to start.</p> + +<p>“I’d plenty of them before many years.” +My grandmother’s voice came like the sound +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>for which the thrumming had waited. “Did +you ever think what it means to the poor souls +who come here alone for their living? When +you’ve a house of your own, Shauneen, with +men servants and maid servants, don’t forget +that your father’s mother worked out for some +one. They were kind people, too, who took +me to their homes. Don’t forget that either. +For ’tis my first memory of America. Kind +they were, and just. They helped me save +what I earned and they showed me ways of +helping my folks at home. I’d brought out +Danny and James and Ellen and Mary before +the war. I met each one of them right here at +Castle Garden. That’s why I always think +of this place as the gateway through which +the Irish have come to America. Sure Ellis +Island’s been for the Italians and the Jews and +the Greeks. We didn’t wait outside the door. +We came straight in,” she chuckled.</p> + +<p>“My mother wouldn’t come from the old +place. Long I grieved over her there in the +little house where my father and Brigid had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>died, but after a while I knew she was happier +so. Sometimes, Shauneen, I think of Ireland +as an old woman, like my mother, sitting home +alone in the old places, grieving, mourning, +with her children out over the world, living the +dreams of her nights by the fire. ’Twas here +we found the freedom the Irish had been fighting +for. ’Twas here, away from landlords and +landholding, away from famine and persecution, +that we found that life need not be a thing of +sorrow. ’Twas here I met your grandfather.</p> + +<p>“I’d nothing of my own, and your grandfather +had but a trifle more when we married. +I suppose ’tis brave that people would call us +now. We didn’t think that we were. We were +young and strong and we loved each other. +And we were getting along fairly well—we’d +started the payments on a bit of a house of +our own after your father was born—when +the war came down on us.</p> + +<p>“Your grandfather went with the brigade. +Not twice did we think whether or not he should +go. We knew that he owed his first duty to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>the country that had called him, and sheltered +him, and given him work and hope and freedom. +For he was a boy from home as I was a girl +from home. I stood on the curbstone the day +he marched by, with your father in my arms, +and I cheered for the flag. ‘Sure he’ll be walking +to meet you when you come back!’ I +called, lifting up the child. Your grandfather +never came back. He fell at Marye’s Heights.”</p> + +<p>When she spoke again her voice had changed +more to her every-day tone. “Well, I raised +your father,” she said, “and I thought I was +raising him well. My arms were strong. I +worked at the wash-tub morning, noon, and +night. It wasn’t long till I had a laundry of +my own. I thought to give my son all that I’d +ever wanted for myself. Perhaps that was +where I made my mistake. I thought too much +of the things that money can buy in those years +when money was so hard to earn. Perhaps +’twas myself and no other who taught your +father the cold, hard things of life, though, +God knows, I’d no thought to do it. He’s a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>good man in many ways, but he’s not the man +I want you to be. He’s a good hater but he’s +not a good lover. And, faith, what’s there in +life but love?”</p> + +<p>I moved a little then, and my grandmother +swung me around, with her two hands on my +shoulders, and, blind as she is, stared at me as +if she were looking right down into my heart. +“Shauneen,” she said, “I have prayed, day +and night, that your father might be to America +the good citizen his father was. I have prayed +that if America should ever need him he would +stand ready for her call. I have prayed that +he’d love America as I have loved America. +I love Ireland, <i>mavrone</i>. Always in my heart +do I see her hills as they looked on the morning +I looked back on them from the sea. But I +love America, too, and I wanted my son to +love her even more than I do. I’ve wanted +him to love this land as my fathers and their +fathers loved Ireland. ’Twas not that I wanted +him to forget my land; when he was a lad like +you I’d tell him tales of Ireland’s glory and of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>Ireland’s woe. How was I to know that all it +would do for him was to rouse the black hate +for England? I taught him love for Ireland, +but never did I teach him to set my land above +his own.</p> + +<p>“For ’twas America gave us our chance, +Shauneen, when we’d no other place on earth +to seek. Hard days we’ve known here, too, +days when even the children jeered at us, but +we’ve never felt the hand of the oppressor upon +us since we touched our feet on these shores. +We’ve been free and we’ve prospered. Fine +houses we have and fine clothes; and ’tis a long +day since I knew the pinch of hunger. This is +our debt. Tell me again, Shauneen, what you +see out there?”</p> + +<p>I told her of the shining lights, of the funnels +of the steamers, of the piled piers, of the little +oyster-boats, of the great liners waiting the +word for their sailing.</p> + +<p>“’Twould be a fine sight,” she sighed. “Do +you think me a madwoman to bring you here?” +she went on, as if she had read my thought. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>“Perhaps I am that. Perhaps I’m not. For +you’ll remember this night when you’ve forgotten +many another time, just as I remember +the day when my mother took me to the shrine +at Knock. For this is the shrine of your country, +Shauneen, this old Castle Garden, where +your people set foot in the land that’s given +them liberty. Here it was that I told my +brothers and my sisters of the future before +them. Here it is that I’m telling you that your +country will be the greatest nation of all the +world if only you lads stay true to her. That’s +why I’ve brought you here to-night, Shauneen. +I’m an old, old woman. I’ve not long for this +earth. But I’ve this message for you; it’s +yours; this duty that your father shirks when +he plots with black traitors who’d drag us into +wars that are not of our choosing. Raise your +hand, Shauneen. Say after me: ‘<i>As long as I +live, God helping me, I shall keep my country first +in my heart and, after God, first in my soul!</i>’”</p> + +<p>Through the misty moonlight there came +to me the memory of my mother’s plea at the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>door of the church, my mother’s cry: “Promise +me that you’ll set no cause but God’s before +your wife!” Some battle of spirit struggled +within me. For an instant I was silent. Then, +suddenly, as if the moon had ridden above the +cloud, I saw the right. “Since all true causes +come from God,” I said to myself, “it is right +to set my own country above anything else +that may ever come.” And I said the words +after my grandmother.</p> + +<p>She took my face between her hands and +kissed me. “God keep you, Shauneen,” she said, +“for the woman who’ll love you, and the children +you’ll teach, and the land you’ll serve!”</p> + +<p>Then through a sleeping city my grandmother +and I went home.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Our country’s part is to keep the flame of +freedom burning above the darkness of the +world. Our part is to feed that flame with the +oil of our love of our country. No matter what +our duty may be, whether it be great or small, +let us do it as our country asks; that we may +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>keep our land the place where men may live +in freedom, in justice, in peace.</p> + +<p>We have come upon troubled times. We +have enemies at home as well as abroad. We +have those who would cry “Peace at any price,” +when our country knows that the only enduring +peace is one which is won with honor. We +have those who would barter American ideals +for immediate comfort, those who would sell +the future for the present. It is our part, the +part of each and every American, to stand firm +for those principles which America has cherished +and for which she fights to-day. It is our part +to be American, to think American, to pray +American. It is our duty to remember what +America does for us. It is our privilege to do +what we can for America. Every man, woman, +and child in the United States, not in active war +service in army or navy, is nothing less than a +licensed pilot, steering the ship of his patriotism +among rough waters. It is his part to steer it +straight, and, as the President said of the nation, +“God helping him, he can do no other.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II<br> +<small>THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD WAR</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the last days of April, 1918, fifty men +in the khaki of the army of the United States +of America landed at an Atlantic port. Their +coming, unheralded and almost unwelcomed, +marked one of the most important events in +the history of our country. For they were the +first homecoming veterans of the American +Expeditionary Forces, men who had fought +under Pershing on the soil of France for the +principles that inspired our nation’s entrance +into the world war.</p> + +<p>There was the man who had fired the first +American gun in the battles. There was the +man who had stood beside the first man killed +in action. There was the man who had brought +five German prisoners back into camp after +the rush on the trenches. Wounded, disabled, +made unfit for further immediate service, they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>had been sent home; and they came back to +their country, the advance-guard of the greatest +army the United States has ever assembled +and one of the greatest armies the world has +ever seen, to bear witness to the fact that +America has actually taken her place in the +world struggle.</p> + +<p>They had fought under German fire. They +had stood beside French soldiers and British +soldiers in the attack. They had received their +baptism of blood. They had set the flag of +the United States of America on the battle-fronts +in the standard that bears the flags of +those nations which are defending the rights +of democracy against the invasion of autocracy. +They are of the first division of an American +army to fight a battle for America in the fields +of Europe; and they had come home to give +testimony of what America’s part in the great +war really is. For they are the first of the millions +of fighters whom the nation has gathered +for the winning of the war.</p> + +<p>Even when the United States entered the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>great war on the 6th of April, 1917, the part +that we would take in the conflict was not clearly +defined. Would we send an army abroad? +Would our navy fight? Or would we merely +defend our own shores against possible attack, +and supply the other nations at war with Germany +with food, munitions, and other supplies? +The question was soon answered by American +honesty which thundered that the only way +to wage war was to send soldiers to the scene of +battle. Preparations never equalled in the history +of the world went into effect for the purpose +of conveying our soldiers over the ocean, +of supplying them and equipping them, and of +standing back of the troops and peoples of the +Allies who were already at war with Germany.</p> + +<p>Not, however, until more than a year after +the beginning of our part in the war was the +issue of exactly what the United States would +do on the battle-fronts settled. Then the President +of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, +gave the order that General John Pershing, in +command of the American Expeditionary Forces, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>should place the American force at the disposition +of General Foch of France, commander-in-chief +for the armies of the Allies. The American +Expeditionary Forces slipped into place, +and American soldiers began the actual fighting +of America’s war.</p> + +<p>For the war into which our nation has entered +is, in spite of the fact that it is being fought +on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, as much +America’s war and a war of defense as if it +were being fought along our own Atlantic seaboard +against an invading army. It is being +fought for the same principles which are the +only ones great enough to force our country +to war, principles of freedom for the individual, +freedom for the free-governed nations, and of +ultimate, lasting peace for the world. It is +being fought against the forces of aggression, +of greed, of injustice. It is being fought against +the intention of Germany to dominate the +world.</p> + +<p>In every war there are two great issues +battling against each other. Men fight for one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>or the other. Nations fight for one or the other. +There have been wars of conquest waged by +strong nations against weaker ones, wars of +religion, wars of territorial aggression, wars of +defense, wars of trade, wars of high moral ideals. +This is a war where the issue is sharply set. It +is a war where democracy fights against autocracy, +where liberty fights against bondage, +where freemen fight to keep their freedom +against men who strive to take it away from +them.</p> + +<p>There are two kinds of nations in the world, +those nations which believe that governments +derive their just powers from the consent of +the governed and those other nations which +believe that power comes from God to Kings +to be used over people who have nothing to +say about its use. The first is a democracy, +even though it have a monarch nominally as its +head. The other is an autocracy. And, since +this is a war of democracy against autocracy, it +is really a war of the free people of the world +against the bondsmen and their masters.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>There was a time when all the great nations +of the world had Kings. It was part of the +evolution of the social system. Nations need +leaders, and there were men so strong that they +were able to seize and hold leadership, keeping +it for their sons so that the people came to accept +one family as its rulers. But in time some +nations began to emerge from the yoke that +these rulers set upon them. The people, who +had been serfs and slaves, began to demand +a voice in the government. Kings and nobles +began to lose power in these nations with the +awakening of the people. The signing of the +Magna Charta in England by King John +marked the transfer of power from the King. +Bit by bit in those nations tending toward +liberal government the shift of power took +place.</p> + +<p>It was not until the last quarter of the +eighteenth century, however, that the theory +of free government flowered and bore fruit. +Then the Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain, +situated along the western Atlantic seaboard, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>revolted against the imposition of a tax that +the colonists considered unjust, went to war, +and won the war. They established the United +States of America, a nation which has been +from that day to this a genuine democracy, a +free republic based absolutely on the doctrine +that power came from the people, and that +government exists merely as the steward of that +power.</p> + +<p>It was through the aid given to the Colonies +by France, brought by Lafayette and Rochambeau, +that the War of the Revolution was won. +The French soldiers, returning home at its close, +took with them reinforcement of the spirit of +desire for freedom that was already animating +France and which in time brought about the +beginnings of the French Revolution, a war +which changed France from a monarchy where +the King said with truth “I am the state” to +a real democracy.</p> + +<p>The example of the United States of America +inspired other nations of Europe toward the +ideal of a government in which the people should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>have a voice. Our republican institutions have +had a reflex upon English institutions so that +to-day Great Britain, in spite of having a +nominal King, is one of the most democratic +governments in the world. The King of Italy +holds his power as a result of a war in which the +people of Italy wrested freedom from Austrian +domination. And Russia, at the time when it +went into war, was moving toward a more +elastic form of government. That it failed in +the experiment was due to German intrigue, and +not to lack of desire of the Russian people for +self-government.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the people of the Central +Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, have +accepted—sometimes with mutterings of revolt, +but eventually with resignation—the idea that +their rulers derived authority from some divine +source. Few nations in modern times have +had less voice in the government of their country +than the people of Germany. For, under +the German constitution, Germany is governed +by its Emperor, with its legislative power in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>two bodies, the <i>Bundesrat</i> and the <i>Reichstag</i>. +Now, the United States puts its legislative power +into two bodies, the Senate and the House of +Representatives. France puts power into the +Chamber of Deputies, England into the House +of Commons and the House of Lords. But +England is shearing the power of the House of +Lords, and in our country the Senate and the +House of Representatives are elected by and +are directly responsible to the voters of the +country. Here, as in France and in England, +the vote is not restricted by wealth or by class. +In Germany the vote is so arranged that 370 +rich men have the same voting power as 22,324 +poor men in one district, Cologne; while the +<i>Bundesrat</i> is merely a diplomatic assembly, +representing the kingdoms of the German Empire, +an assembly which the King of Prussia +absolutely dominates, and through which he +becomes, as Emperor of Germany, absolute +ruler of the empire. For the <i>Reichstag</i> has no +power to make or unmake ministries, or to +control the Emperor in any way. The Emperor +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>appoints the chancellor, and the chancellor is +answerable only to him. So that in the long +run, although it has a constitutional form, the +government of Germany is the Emperor of +Germany and the military group known as +Junkers with whom he has surrounded himself.</p> + +<p>The Emperor of Germany and the Junkers +of his Prussia forced the present war. They +prepared for it during years while the rest of +the world was keeping peace. They justified +it to their people on the ground that Germany +needed new territory, new trade, new markets. +Although she was gaining the trade and markets +without war, Germany’s leader made this their +excuse to their people, and when they were +ready they went to war for the purpose of imposing +their form of government upon peoples +who did not want it, of forcing their rule upon +nations opposed to their ideas. Serbia lay in +their path of conquest into Asia, and so they +caused Austria, their tool, to make an excuse of +the assassination by a Serbian of an Austrian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>archduke, and declare war on the small nation. +Then Germany invaded Belgium, with which it +was not at war, to get to France, against which +war had been declared. Belgium resisted. +England entered the conflict. The struggle +was on.</p> + +<p>Month after month the aggressions of Germany +caused new nations to break off relations +with her. Italy and Japan entered the war. +China, most peaceful of nations in her relations +with the outside world, broke off relations. +One after another of the South American +republics were forced to do the same. The +United States, after a long period of patient +endurance of German insults, attacks on our +commerce, intrigues and plots in our own country, +restriction of our maritime activities in +defiance of international law, was finally driven +to announcement of the existence of a state of +war. The lines were drawn. Democracy was +making a stand for its life against autocracy, +the freemen of the world against the bondsmen.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>It is right and fitting that the United States +of America should take her place in a war which +is being fought for those principles for which +she has stood since her coming into nationhood. +For more than a century and a quarter +she has been, like the Statue of Liberty in the +harbor of New York, a symbolic figure to the +world beaconing men to freedom. It is in line +with her history that she should go to Europe +for the same cause for which she has fought +all her wars—defense of the weaker against the +stronger, the right of people to determine their +own governments, the right of all to be free.</p> + +<p>There is a story told of General Pershing’s +entrance into Paris. He was taken to the tomb +of Lafayette. His hosts crowded about him, +waiting for his speech. But, like all American +soldiers, Pershing is no orator. “Well, Lafayette,” +he said, “we’re here!” That was all. +But France, hearing, understood. America +was there, to fight side by side with them, to +suffer with them, to die with them, that the +cause of liberty for which Lafayette had fought +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>on two continents might live. The world war +had menaced the United States in its sacred +institution of freedom, and the United States +had met the challenge, and had come to fight +for that which is dearer than life—honor, and +right, and justice.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III<br> +<small>WHAT THE GREAT WAR REALLY MEANS</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> history of the human race has been +the history of man’s struggle toward freedom. +Because certain nations have seen the light +sooner than others, they have been the object +of attack by these others, primarily because +the rulers of the latter have been shrewd enough +to see that revolution is contagious. A free +neighbor threatens the existence of a monarch +who derives his power from the force with which +he has surrounded himself and from the blindness +of his own people. A free neighbor is therefore +a menace to autocracy, and something to +be crushed.</p> + +<p>When the people of France, inspired by the +example of the United States, arose in revolution +against their monarch, the revolution shook +the thrones of Europe. The King of France +was closer in blood to other royal families of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>Europe than he was to the people whom he +had governed. The Queen of France was a +Hapsburg, of the royal family of Austria, whose +representatives were in almost every royal +house of the Continent of Europe. The success +of the French Revolution was the handwriting +on the wall; and every Belshazzar on a throne +had a Daniel of statesmanship to tell him what +it meant.</p> + +<p>Almost at once the Kings of Europe rallied +against France, because free France threatened +the existence of the Kings. France fought valiantly. +The military establishment which she +had to assume to protect her rights, however, +swung her out of the republican form of government +she had set up, and Napoleon Bonaparte, +who won her wars, became her Emperor. The +change, however, did not swing back the French +people into any slavish acceptance of royalty. +They held, in spite of Bonaparte’s court, their +fundamental democracy; and it was a democratic +army which France sent across Europe. +Napoleon himself said that every private carried +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>a field-marshal’s bâton in his knapsack. +Every man had a chance for promotion. Every +man had a chance to better his life. And, because +France remained fundamentally democratic, +the Kings battled against Bonaparte. +They defeated him, finally; but they did +not defeat France, for its spirit remained +free.</p> + +<p>Germany, nearest neighbor to France, had +never known democracy. Once part of the +vast kingdom known as the Holy Roman Empire, +she had disintegrated into little states, +kingdoms, duchies, and archbishoprics, each +ruled by one-man power. Sometimes a King, +stronger than the others, drew the kingdoms +together for purposes of warfare against other +countries. Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, +fought against Austria. With him the power of +Prussia rose. After his death it declined so that +Napoleon found the conquest of Prussia easy, +and went about it so thoroughly that he made +the French conquest a profound humiliation to +the Prussians. Even his defeat at Waterloo +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>failed to pay the debt Prussia cherished against +the French.</p> + +<p>It was in the time of Napoleon that the +German people came nearer to freedom of spirit +than they had been before or have been since. +For in fighting a foreign enemy who sought +power even as the Hohenzollern ruler of Germany +seeks it to-day, the youth of Germany +glimpsed the truth of democracy. With Napoleon’s +defeat they stood ready to move forward +toward it. But again the Kings intervened.</p> + +<p>There was formed in Europe at that time +the Holy Alliance, that same group of Kings +and Kingmakers who sought to restore to Spain +its revolting colonies in South America, and +who held firmly to the idea of the divine right +of Kings. This Holy Alliance throttled free +thought in Germany. By 1848 revolutions for +the right of freedom surged up throughout the +German states and kingdoms and principalities. +They were beaten down by the ruling powers, +one helping the other. It was at this time that +the German emigration toward the United +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>States began, for the leaders of the revolution +sought a land where they could be free. Those +who stayed came in time to accept the system +which the rulers imposed upon them.</p> + +<p>The putting down of the revolution of 1848 +gave Prussia increased power. She had a disciplined +standing army, and a military establishment. +In 1862 William I became King. +He made Bismarck his prime minister, and the +march of Prussia toward world conquest began.</p> + +<p>Bismarck made the whole Prussian nation +into an army. Then he made alliance with +Austria to secure the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein +from Denmark. Then he provoked a +quarrel with Austria so that Prussia might +deprive her of all influence over the other German +states. He won his object in a six-weeks’ +war in 1866. But he was not satisfied with the +power he had won, for democratic France—democratic +for all her acceptance of another +Napoleon for her throne—still threatened the +power of Kings who claimed that their power +came from God, and not from their people.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>Prussia waited its chance. When France +was unprepared, a quarrel was brought on, +and the blow struck. Prussia took Alsace and +Lorraine from her. Then the King of Prussia +was made Emperor of Germany.</p> + +<p>The territory which Prussia had acquired +for the German Empire, for Alsace and Lorraine +are the richest mineral districts of France, +gave Germany opportunity for that industrial +development which has marked her history +since the Franco-Prussian War. Germany’s +population overcrowded her territorial space. +Germany grew rich and prosperous. Germany +became highly efficient in mechanical arts. +German trade reached out over the world, but +found the barriers of the establishment of other +nations. The German army remained a great +machine, officered by Prussian nobles. Germany +grew so mighty that she grew to believe +that might makes right. She had the might, +and she made ready to exercise it.</p> + +<p>First of all, she needed trade routes. She +needed a way to the sea more open than the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>Hamburg harbors. She wanted a road to Asia. +She wanted to control the gateway to the rich +Orient. She wanted an empire that would +contain Austria-Hungary as well as Germany +proper. And she set out to win it all.</p> + +<p>In 1914 the situation was this: Francis +Joseph, Emperor of Austria, was an old man, +a sick man. His empire, composed of scores +of nationalities, held together by a thin thread. +If he died, it might disintegrate into groups of +free peoples. Serbia, its near neighbor, had +won independence. The Balkan wars had +shifted power to small states that stood between +Germany and the Orient. Russia was +disaffected. A revolution might come at any +time that would dethrone the Czar. Unless a +war, and a great war, was started, many and +great free nations would soon surround Germany, +cutting her off from the way to the Orient. +France, her hated neighbor, flaunted her free +institutions in her face and remembered Alsace +and Lorraine. England cut her off from unrestricted +rule of the sea. To be sure, she was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>not eager to force war with England, since the +German navy had not arrived at the point of +preparedness of the German army. England +could wait until Germany had conquered the +rest of Europe. Then, when England was conquered, +too, Germany would punish the United +States for our “international impertinence” as +Bismarck called our policy of the Monroe Doctrine. +It was the time to strike. Germany, as +usual in the Bismarckian policy, made the occasion.</p> + +<p>Down in Bosnia, a Balkan state which Austria +had seized and held against the will of its +people, an anarchist threw a bomb which killed +an Austrian archduke in June, 1914. For a +time no action came of the happening. Then +Austria announced that she had discovered that +the assassination was the result of a Serbian +plot, known to the Serbian Government, Bosnia’s +neighbor and the friend of her freedom. +Therefore she declared war on Serbia. Germany +gave her consent to the ultimatum. She +was taking her opportunity.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>Knowing that a war of Austria against +Serbia would open a way for her own progress +toward the East, Germany, being prepared to +the last gun and last man, forced the issue. +She knew that Russia would rise against her, +but she knew, better than the Russian Government +did, how unprepared Russia was. On the +first day of August, 1914, she declared war +against Russia. On the fourth day of August +the <i>Reichstag</i>, the people’s legislative body of +Germany, met and for the first time learned +officially of what had been done. By that time +the German Government had put itself in a +position of war against Russia, France, Great +Britain, and Belgium, a fact which proves how +little the German people had to say about the +making of actual warfare.</p> + +<p>In utter contempt of a treaty which had +been signed Germany invaded Belgium on the +way to France. Belgium resisted the invasion. +A Chinese schoolboy, writing of the event in a +school in western Canada months afterward, +phrased the story better than any historian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>has done. “Germany,” he wrote, “said to +Belgium: ‘Let me through.’ Belgium said: ‘I +am not a road. I am a nation.’” And Belgium +proved to the world how strong a small +nation may be in courage. For she resisted +Germany so well that France had time to gather +her forces for defense. The drive to Paris was +stopped. Prussia had announced that its armies +would be in Paris in an almost incredibly short +time.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Germany made alliance +with the Sultan of Turkey. The war on the +eastern front began. Hordes of Austrians and +Germans swarmed over Poland into Russia, +and back again as Russia beat them back, then +forward again as Russia collapsed. In Egypt, +in Palestine, in Mesopotamia war has raged. +Japan joined. China broke off relations with +Germany. Japan holds troops at the eastern +end of the Russian-Siberian railway, waiting +for the word of the Allies to strike westward.</p> + +<p>In the west the war has remained almost +stationary since the initial sweep of the German +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>hordes; but eastward Germany has driven her +armies toward her goal. Russia has disintegrated, +pulled apart by the insidious forces of +German intrigue. Germany has the open way +to the East. She has the resources of Austria-Hungary, +of Russia, of Asia Minor at her command.</p> + +<p>Had it not been for Germany’s idea that +she could conquer the world in one war, an +idea supported by her eastward conquests, she +might be nearer to ultimate success than she +is to-day. For the entrance of the United States +into the war, provoked by German measures +of attack on American commerce, has materially +changed the issue. It has put heart into the +Allies, as well as opening up the field of supplies +of men and munitions for them. Our country +has barely begun to fight, for it has taken a +year to bear to France the necessary troops +and equipment.</p> + +<p>However long the war may be, it is one that +must be fought to the end. For, as a river purifies +itself as it flows, so has the issue of the war +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>defined itself as it has progressed. In its beginning +Germany strove to make the world +believe that it was a trade war between Austria +and Serbia which Russia had entered for +the injury of Austria and which had been forced +on Germany in Austria’s defense. Then she +claimed that she fought England “for the freedom +of the seas.” The war against Belgium +was “a military necessity,” the submarine warfare +against neutral nations “a retaliatory +measure against blockade.” But in the long +run Germany’s war is the war of the military +caste of the world against the free peoples, the +war of government holding power by force +against government holding power by popular +vote, the war of military establishment against +peaceful ideals; and until it is won by those +who fight Germany there can be no lasting +peace in the world.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV<br> +<small>HOW THE WAR CAME TO THE UNITED STATES</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> great war, beginning in 1914, brought +to most Americans no idea that our country +would ever be more than a watcher of it. That +we ourselves would one day become part of +it—and one of the greatest parts of it—was +something beyond the imagination of most +men. America had lived apart from other nations. +For, although our government had made +treaties with foreign nations, and become part +of The Hague Conference, and been drawn to +some extent into international politics, we had +none of the ambitions which draw nations into +ordinary wars. We had no desire for colonies, +we had no jealousy of other nations, we had +no fear of neighboring governments. In fact, +Americans believed that wars were going out +of fashion, and that western Europe, any more +than ourselves, was not likely to go to war. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>The coming of the conflict was therefore a shock +to us, but not one that brought us to realize +that we were likely to take part in it.</p> + +<p>When Germany invaded Belgium with no +excuse other than that progress through that +nation afforded the quickest way to France +the people of the United States awoke to their +first knowledge of what militarism may mean. +Although people of German birth or parentage +in America were inclined to accept Germany’s +attempted justification of military necessity, +the sympathies of most Americans went to +Belgium and became one of the important factors +in determining the country’s attitude +toward the war. For the United States had +always stood for principles of justice and humanitarianism. +The stories of how Germany +treated the civilian population of Belgium, +stories which were verified by the later reports +of such non-partisan investigators as Brand +Whitlock, American minister to Belgium, +aroused American sentiment against German +military methods.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> + <img src="images/i_fp66.jpg" width="700" height="452" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p><small><i>Copyright Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd.</i></small></p> + <p class="caption">Belgium refugees between Malines and Brussels</p> + <p class="caption"><small>When Germany invaded Belgium ... the people of the United States awoke to their first knowledge of what militarism may mean</small></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>There were people in the United States +who believed that our country should go to +war in defense of Belgium, just as we had gone +to war to free Cuba from the dominion of Spain +when the rule of Spain on that island became +cruelly oppressive. But our government, believing +that the war was not a parallel instance, +since it had not yet violated those fundamental +principles of our national life that had been +struck at by Spain, refused to consider such +action, and the people fell back into consideration +of the causes and progress of the war +abroad.</p> + +<p>It began to be clear, as German forces +crossed Belgium and plunged into France, while +at the same time German forces swept eastward, +that Germany had evolved the definite +scheme of world conquest which her later demands +and movements have proven. The +American people, however, were slow to believe +this intention of Germany. Bit by bit only our +country began to see that Germany was pushing +forward a gigantic plan of territorial aggression, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>and with all that we heard and some +that we believed, we were slow to see how this +plan could affect the United States.</p> + +<p>Because we had lived apart from the rest +of the world we would probably have continued +to feel that, terrible as the war which Germany +had begun was, it was not our war, and that +all we were expected to do was to remain +genuinely neutral and to give such assistance +as the international law permitted neutral nations +to give the wounded and stricken. But +Germany would not allow us to remain apart. +The ruling class of Prussia, headed by the +Kaiser, grown mad with power and the desire +for more power, put into operation methods +that forced us toward war.</p> + +<p>Germany’s progress into this war had, as +we have seen, struck blows at those principles +for which America had struggled, the principles +of individual freedom, of international peace, +of the freedom of the seas. For any one of these +ideals the republic might have rushed into war; +but it was only when the American people came +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>to know that Germany was plotting not only +to overthrow the Monroe Doctrine but actually +against the American Government here in the +United States that we were roused to desire +for conflict to uphold our national honor.</p> + +<p>“It is plain enough how we were forced +into war,” President Wilson declared in his Flag +Day Address of June 14, 1917. “The extraordinary +insults and aggressions of the Imperial +German Government left us no self-respecting +choice but to take up arms in defense of our +rights as a free people and of our honor as a +sovereign government. The military masters +of Germany denied us the right to be neutral. +They filled our unsuspecting communities with +vicious spies and conspirators and sought to +corrupt the opinions of our people in their own +behalf. When they found that they could not +do that, their agents diligently spread sedition +amongst us and sought to draw our own citizens +from their allegiance; and some of those agents +were men connected with the official embassy +of the German Government in our own capital.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>“They sought by violence to destroy our +industries and arrest our commerce. They +tried to incite Mexico to take up arms against +us and to draw Japan into a hostile alliance +with her; and that, not by indirection, but by +direct suggestion from the Foreign Office in +Berlin. They impudently denied us the use of +the high seas and repeatedly executed their +threat that they would send to their death any +of our people who ventured to approach the +coasts of Europe.</p> + +<p>“Many of our own people were corrupted. +Men began to look upon their own neighbors +with suspicion and to wonder in their hot resentment +whether there was any community +in which hostile intrigue did not lurk. What +great nation in such circumstances would not +have taken up arms? Much as we desired +peace, it was denied us, and not of our own +choice. The flag under which we serve would +have been dishonored had we withheld our +hand.”</p> + +<p>The President of the United States stated +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>America’s case against Germany mildly. Evidence +of the bad faith of the government of +Germany to the government of the United +States is piled in the archives of the State Department +in Washington. The honest efforts +of our government to establish honest relations +with them were met by German officials +with quibbles, misrepresentations, counter-accusations, +and continuing, deliberate delays. +German high officials kept us in humiliating +waiting while German official agents in this +country, protected by the rules of diplomatic +immunity from criminal prosecution, used their +trust to conspire against our internal peace. +Agents of the German Embassy placed spies +through the length and breadth of our country. +They put their agents at work in Japan and in +Latin America while they were professing to +be our friends. They bought newspapers and +employed speakers for the purpose of rousing +distrust of us in those countries. They incited +insurrection in Cuba, in Haiti, and in Santo +Domingo. They did their best to arouse against +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>us the Danish West Indies. They spread suspicion +of us and our motives in South America. +They conducted an attack upon the Monroe +Doctrine such as no other nation had ever attempted.</p> + +<p>For a time the government of the United +States tried to take the view that this intrigue, +plotting, spying, and insidious warfare was the +work of irresponsible agents, not countenanced +by the Imperial German Government; but +the proof was too strong. The government +finally had to request the recall of the Austro-Hungarian +ambassador and of the German +military and naval attachés, presenting proof +of their criminal violations of our hospitality. +Their governments offered no reply to us, issued +no reprimands to them.</p> + +<p>In spite of all this the temper of the American +people was that we should keep out of +war as long as it was possible to maintain our +national honor without war. The President +even began the preparation of a communication +to the warring nations, asking them to define +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>their war aims, as this would be a step toward +peace. Before this note was completed, the +German Government sent out a communication, +asking the same definition. But the German +Government issued this document on the idea +that the German armies had triumphed, and +incorporated in it a threat to neutral governments. +From a thousand sources, official and +unofficial, word came to our government that +unless the United States used her influence to +end the war on the terms dictated by Germany, +Germany and her allies would consider themselves +free from obligation to respect the rights +of neutrals. The Kaiser was frankly ordering +the neutral nations of the world to force those +Powers which fought him to accept the peace +he offered. If they failed to do this, Germany +would resume her submarine warfare on neutral +commerce with new ruthlessness.</p> + +<p>The President, continuing his own purpose, +finished his note to both sides, sending it on the +18th of December, 1916. Both sides replied, the +Powers who resisted Germany declaring that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>their principal end in the war was the lasting +restoration of peace. Germany and her associates +refused to state their terms, and merely +proposed a conference—another method of delay. +The President, in an address to the Senate +on the 22d of January, 1917, outlined the terms +of the peace which the United States could honorably +join in guaranteeing.</p> + +<p>“No peace can last,” he stated, “or ought +to last, which does not recognize and accept +the principle that governments derive all their +just powers from the consent of the governed, +and that no right anywhere exists to hand people +about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if +they were property....</p> + +<p>“I am proposing government by the consent +of the governed; that freedom of the seas +which in international conference after conference +representatives of the United States +have urged with the eloquence of those who +are the convinced disciples of liberty; and +that moderation of armaments which makes of +armies and navies a power for order merely, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>not an instrument of aggression or of selfish +violence.”</p> + +<p>Six days earlier, on the 16th of January, the +German secretary of foreign affairs had secretly +despatched a communication to the German +minister in Mexico, informing him that Germany +intended to repudiate its pledge made +to the United States to discontinue submarine +warfare on neutral ships, and instructing him +to offer to the Mexican Government New Mexico +and Arizona if Mexico would join with Japan +in attacking the United States.</p> + +<p>On the last day of January, 1917, the German +ambassador to the United States, Count +Bernstorff, brought to the secretary of state +a note in which Germany announced her purpose +of intensifying her submarine warfare. +The German chancellor stated in Germany +that the reason that this policy had not been +put into force earlier was simply because his +government had not been ready to act.</p> + +<p>On the 3d of February, 1917, the President +announced to both houses of Congress +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>the complete severance of our relations with +Germany. Count Bernstorff went to Berlin, +and James W. Gerard, American ambassador +to Germany, was recalled to this country. +Count Bernstorff had begged that no irrevocable +decision of war be made until he had the chance +to make one final plea for peace to the Kaiser. +If he made the plea, he failed. The submarine +warfare began again in greater violence. And +on the twelfth day of March our government +ordered the placing of armed guards on our +merchant ships.</p> + +<p>With the Sixty-fourth Congress dissolved +on the 4th of March, we had come to the +door of the greatest war in the history of the +world.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V<br> +<small>HOW THE UNITED STATES WENT INTO WAR</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> hundred and thirty years before the +great war of Europe came to the threshold of +the United States a group of wise, far-sighted +statesmen met in the city of Philadelphia to +make a constitution for the governing of the +Colonies whose independence had just been +won. They desired, above all things, to establish +a government which would stand the test +of time and remain a government of the people, +by the people, and for the people. For months +they deliberated, bringing to the meetings all +the wisdom, all the ideals, all the visioning they +had acquired from long study, and from victorious, +righteous warfare. Finally they—the +fathers of our republic—completed a document +that has governed the United States of America +and become to the world a model of democratic +government.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>In this document, which was ratified by +the States then existing and which became the +law of those States which were admitted to the +nation, its makers set down certain rules governing +the making of war.</p> + +<p>The Constitution divided the government +into three branches: the executive, the legislative, +and the judicial. In order that no one +of them might have too much power, the duties +of each were determined and divided. The +executive, of which the President is chief, could +do certain deeds and duties. The judicial had +the final determination of the right of enacting +certain laws, saying whether or not later laws, +made by Congress, conformed to the original +Constitution. But to the legislative, represented +by two houses of Congress, the Senate and the +House of Representatives, the Constitution +granted certain very clear powers.</p> + +<p>Among these powers was the power to declare +war. In autocracies monarchs declare +war; but in a democracy such as ours it is right +and just that the power of declaring war should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>rest with that body most directly responsive +to the people of the nation. The Congress is +such a body. The Constitution therefore gave +to Congress the right of war declaration; and +nothing better illustrates the difference between +autocracy and democracy than the fact that +the Emperor of Germany had thrust his country +into war three days before the German +<i>Reichstag</i>, which is the limited popular assembly +of the empire, knew officially of its existence, +while the President of the United States had +to summon Congress into special session for +consideration of the war problem.</p> + +<p>On the second day of April, 1917, the President +went before the Congress which he had +summoned. Beneath the dome of the white +Capitol in the city of Washington, while a world +waited breathlessly for the verdict of the great +nation, he read his message to the men who +represent the people of the United States. In +that message he set down the case of the United +States against Germany. Only twice before +in the history of America—at the beginning +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>of the War of the Revolution and at the beginning +of the war between the States—had +there been so momentous an occasion. Upon +the men assembled in the Senate and the House +of Representatives depended the honor, the +future of the nation, and the honor and the +future of democracy.</p> + +<p>“It is a war,” the President read to them, +“against all nations.... The challenge is to +all mankind. Each nation must decide for +itself how it will meet it. The choice we make +for ourselves must be made with a moderation +of counsel and a temperateness of judgment +befitting our character and our motives as a +nation. We must put excited feelings away. +Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious +assertion of the physical might of the nation, +but only the vindication of right, of human +right, of which we are only a single champion.”</p> + +<p>In that spirit the Congress listened. In +that spirit they heard the voice of the man who +was speaking not for himself but for our United +States, not for our generation alone but for the +generations who have passed and the generations +who will come, when he said:</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> + <img src="images/i_fp80.jpg" width="700" height="425" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p><small><i>From a photograph by G. V. Buck, Underwood & Underwood.</i></small></p> + <p class="caption">President Wilson delivering his war message</p> + <p class="caption"><small>On the second day of April, 1917 ... while a world waited breathlessly for the verdict of the great nation, President Wilson read his + message to the men who represent the people of the United States</small></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted +upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish +ends to serve. We desire no conquests, no dominion. We seek no +indemnities for ourselves, no material compensations for the sacrifices +we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights +of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as +secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.”</p> + +<p>With the weight of the gravest responsibility +an American Congress has ever raised falling +upon their shoulders, they gave heed as the +chief executive brought to them the issue:</p> + +<p>“It is a distressing and oppressive duty, +gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed +in thus addressing you. There are, it +may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice +ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this +great, peaceful people into war, into the most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization +itself seeming to be in the balance. But the +right is more precious than peace, and we shall +fight for the things which we have always carried +nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right +of those who submit to authority to have a +voice in their own governments, for the rights +and liberties of small nations, for a universal +dominion of right by such a concert of free +people as shall bring peace and safety to all +nations and make the world itself at last +free.</p> + +<p>“To such a task we can dedicate our lives +and our fortunes, everything that we are and +everything that we have, with the pride of those +who know that the day has come when America +is privileged to spend her blood and her might +for the principles that gave her birth and happiness, +and the peace which she has treasured.</p> + +<p>“God helping her, she can do no other.”</p> + +<p>The Congress of the United States deliberated, +through three days and three nights, while +the world waited, upon the question of war. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>On the 2d of April, the very day of the President’s +message, the war declaration passed the +Senate with a vote of 82 yeas and 6 nays. On +the 5th of April, it passed the House of Representatives +with a vote of 373 yeas and 70 +nays. America had spoken, and the voice of +America thundered this message to Germany:</p> + +<p>“Whereas the Imperial German Government +has committed repeated acts of war against +the Government and the people of the United +States of America: Therefore be it</p> + +<p>“<i>Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives +of the United States of America in Congress +assembled</i>, That the state of war between +the United States and the Imperial German +Government which has thus been thrust upon +the United States is hereby formally declared; +and that the President be, and he is hereby, +authorized and directed to employ the entire +naval and military forces of the United States +and the resources of the Government to carry +on war against the Imperial German Government; +and to bring the conflict to a successful +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>termination all the resources of the country +are hereby pledged by the Congress of the +United States.”</p> + +<p>The United States of America had gone +into its greatest war.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> + + <h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI<br> +<small>WHAT THE UNITED STATES IS DOING IN + THE WAR</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> a military nation of the type of Germany +goes into war the entrance is but a step +forward out of the preparations which it has +been making for years; but when a peace-loving, +peace-observing nation of the type of +the United States goes into war the entrance +is a revolution in the thoughts, habits, and intentions +of the people.</p> + +<p>The declaration by Congress of the existence +of a state of war with Germany found the United +States with the greatest resources of any nation +in the world but without the sort of military +machinery necessary for prosecution of the +conflict. The readjustment of the nation from +ordinary occupations into war-making occupations +has been a gigantic task, and one that +has been accomplished only through the intelligent +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>patriotism of the citizens of the nation, +co-operating with the government.</p> + +<p>The first concern of the nation was the increase +of our army and navy to a size commensurate +to the part we were about to take in the +conflict. Neither the army nor the navy came +near to the strength which the nation knew to +be imperative for the winning of the war. For, +although the exact part which the United States +would take in the struggle was to be determined +later by conferences with the war councils of +the other nations fighting Germany, it was +certain that we would require a vast army and +an adequate navy.</p> + +<p>Congress having voted that the United +States should undertake extensive military +preparation, the duty of providing that preparation +fell upon the executive branch of our +government. It was provided that the army +of the United States should consist of the Regular +Army, the National Guard, and the +National Army. The law provides that, when +these armies are assembled, there shall be no +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>difference between the Regular Army, the National +Guard, and the National Army. Every +man in the army, no matter in what service, +is equal in dignity, in responsibility, and in +opportunity to every other man of the same +rank in the army.</p> + +<p>The first year of the conflict has been largely +occupied with the assembling of these armies, +and in the despatch of those trained for battle +duty to France. To insure this despatch in +safety the navy has been greatly increased in +size and efficiency, although it stands to the +honor of America that her navy proved itself +instantly worthy of her trust.</p> + +<p>With the beginning of the war there was a +rush of men to enlist in the Regular Army and +in the National Guard, which was to be part +of the army of the United States. The government, +however, decided upon a method of service, +known as selective service and sometimes +called “the draft,” which would be more democratic +and fair than the enlistment method, and +which would supplement the other methods.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>The selective-service law, passed by Congress +on the 18th of May, 1917, established a class of +men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one +from which the President may draft soldiers. +All men between those ages were enrolled on the +5th of June, 1917. The administration of the +draft is in the hands of the War Department +under the supervision of the President. Every +voting district has a local draft board, and every +congressional district a board of appeal, which +decides contested cases. All men between the +ages given are subject to service, unless they are +exempted for reasons allowed by law. No exemptions +can be bought. No substitutions can +be made. The richest man in the country of +draft age is as subject to service as the poorest +man. Exemptions are permitted those men who +are supporting dependants who cannot support +themselves, those men who are working in occupations +necessary for the winning of the war, +such as ship-building and the making of munitions +of war, and those men who are physically +unfit for war service.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>In the registration 9,659,382 men enrolled. +By a drawing system conducted publicly in +the Capitol of the United States at Washington +the order by which these men were to go in +the army was determined by lot. The President +issued instructions to the exemption boards +on the 2d of July, and the first National Army +of 687,000 men was called to service on the 5th +of September, 1917.</p> + +<p>Following this call every man in the rest +of the nearly 10,000,000 men received a document, +known as a questionnaire, which gave a +number of questions to be answered, and which +he filled out. According to his answers the local +board determined to what class he belongs. +There are five groups of selective service, ranged +according to a man’s obligations and his occupation. +Single men without dependent relatives +head the first class. Licensed pilots, who are +so necessary to navigation as to be almost indispensable, +end the last class. No fairer system +of military service was ever devised.</p> + +<p>For the training of this army arrangements +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>had to be made. The government set about +the building of camps, called cantonments, for +the use of the National Guard and the National +Army while their various units were being prepared +for service abroad. Most of these camps +are in the South so that the men may have less +hardship during the winter season. Some of +the camps were completed in September, 1917. +The construction of every camp was a great +engineering achievement. Camp Meade is the +second largest city of Maryland, and every +camp is in itself a great community. There are +thirty-three of these camps, or cantonments, +extending from Atlantic to Pacific and from +the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border in +their locations. Here the men are trained into +service, and cared for in various ways while +they are being trained.</p> + +<p>Training-camps for officers were also established +where men were taught the science of +warfare and the leading of other men. In addition +to the army, training-camps for the United +States marines, who are in the naval service, +were established. Special branches of service, +such as aviation, had special camps.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> + <img src="images/i_fp90.jpg" width="700" height="450" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p class="caption">Recruits of the National Army waiting at the booths of a National Army cantonment</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>On the fourth day of July, 1917, the news +came to the United States that the first division +of the American Expeditionary Forces, +under the command of General John Pershing, +had landed in France. American troops began +intensive training with French and British +soldiers, and when they were judged ready, +took their places on the battle-lines. Day after +day the casualty lists have recorded the deaths +and injuries of American soldiers in the war. +Our country is paying the price for the liberty we +have enjoyed, and which we struggle to hold.</p> + +<p>Every day sees new divisions sailing eastward +on their way to Europe. The shipyards +of the country are busy night and day in the +building of ships to convoy troops and supplies +to the battle-fronts, and to the countries of the +peoples who fight with us against Germany.</p> + +<p>For upon the United States has fallen the +task, not only of supplying men for fighting with +the men of France and Great Britain on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>western front, but of supplying food, clothing, +and ammunition. Depleted by the years of devastating +warfare, our fellow fighters look to us +for sustenance. And we are not failing them.</p> + +<p>One of the sinews of war is money. Nations +must raise vast sums to keep up armies. Soldiers +must be fed and clothed, and given guns +and bullets with which to defend themselves. +If they have families at home, their families +must be supported. The government of the +United States does all this for the men in its +army and navy. And the people of the United +States stand back of the government to pay +for these needs. Besides the government, certain +private enterprises are aiding the soldiers, +sailors, and all the victims of war abroad, as +well as those needing aid at home for various +reasons connected with the change that war +brings. Only a certain percentage of our population +may go overseas to fight, but to every +American is given the opportunity of standing +back of the lines and doing the part asked of +him.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> + + <h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VII<br> +<small>REAR-LINE TRENCHES</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Back</span> of the firing-lines of battle are other +lines which must be held by the fighting nations, +if a war is to be won. These lines, which +may be called the rear-line trenches of conflict, +are the means of supply by which the armies +at the front are fed and clothed, and given ammunition, +and cared for in every way that will +make them better soldiers. It is on these lines +that the civilian population of a nation gives +help to the fighting men. It is in these trenches +that the men, and women, and children of a +country may do their part for the soldiers and +sailors who have to go into the actual battles.</p> + +<p>Because the United States is a democracy, +fighting in a great struggle for the principles +of democracy, it follows that our country has +enlisted the service of every American to win +the war. There is no one in the nation who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>may not help, since every one may do something +to give actual, immediate, necessary aid +to the men at the front, and those who are on +their way to the front.</p> + +<p>This aid has been given, and is being given, +in many ways. Through food conservation, +Liberty Loans, War Thrift and Savings Stamps +and Certificates, the Red Cross, the Young +Men’s Christian Association, the Young Men’s +Hebrew Association, the Knights of Columbus, +the Young Women’s Christian Association, and +various other organizations which are working +for the welfare of the soldiers, sailors, and marines, +almost every person in the United States +old enough to understand that the country is +at war has helped toward the winning of the +war.</p> + +<p>Some of these methods, such as food conservation, +and the raising of money through +Liberty Loans and the sale of War Thrift +Stamps, have been used directly by the government. +Others have been semi-private enterprises +with governmental sanction. All of them +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>have been for the purpose of helping the men +who have been doing the actual fighting, so +that every one in the nation who has done what +he could for these causes has been fighting his +country’s battles in the trenches back of the +front.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Food Conservation</span></h3> + +<p>Napoleon, the one-time Emperor of the +French and the greatest general of modern warfare, +said that “an army travelled on its stomach.” +He meant that no army could go faster +than its food-supply. Although the method of +warfare has changed since the century ago when +he fought, the truth of his statement remains. +No army can win battles unless it is properly fed.</p> + +<p>When the United States went into the great +war the government of our country knew that +a vast amount of certain kinds of food must +be shipped abroad to feed those soldiers whom +we would send across and those soldiers of the +nations on whose side we were to fight against +Germany. France and Belgium, devastated by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>the invading armies of the Germans, could +not raise food enough for their own populations, +to say nothing of the defending armies. +England, with her men fighting abroad, and +with only a comparatively small area of farming +land, could not do much more. Canada +was sending millions of bushels of wheat and +thousands of tons of other food-supplies monthly +to the Allies, but the need was infinitely greater +than the supply. It therefore became the first +duty of our country to send to those nations +which were fighting in the same cause all the +food which we could possibly spare, in order +that their soldiers, and our soldiers when they +came, would be properly fed.</p> + +<p>Although the United States produces great +quantities of food products every year, only +certain kinds of food could be sent abroad. +It was necessary to send the kind of food that +would take up the least space in shipment and +have the greatest nourishment. The greatest +demand was for wheat, and even our country +could not—without saving at home—send to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>Europe as much as was required. In order +that the people of the United States might be +taught how to save wheat and other foods needed +for our troops and the Allies, the government +established a food administration for the double +purpose of taking over this instruction and of +devising other methods of food saving. The +success of both branches of service has been +due to the intelligent co-operation of the American +people with the officers of the food administration; +but it has been in the actual +savings by individual Americans that the sum +of sacrifice has been attained.</p> + +<p>It may not seem a soldier’s duty to refrain +from eating white bread on certain days designated +by the government. It may not seem +a patriot’s duty to keep from eating sugar or +pork on other days; but it is none the less a +duty as certain as that one which his commanding +officer assigns to the soldier in the ranks, +and one which should be as carefully followed. +The following of it has enabled the United States +to ship abroad wheat, pork, sugar, and other +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>foodstuff in quantities sufficient to keep fed the +people who are actually fighting the enemy. +The man, woman, or child who has saved at +home the kind of food that the government +has needed to send abroad, and who has used +the substitutes, has done a patriotic duty and +his share of keeping the rear-line trench where +he is placed.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Fuel Conservation</span></h3> + +<p>Coal is one of the essential means of making +war. Without coal ships cannot cross the seas, +bearing soldiers. Without coal the great factories +where guns and bullets, powder and +cannon, uniforms and equipment are made +for our army and navy could not run. Because +of many reasons there was during 1917 a shortage +of 50,000,000 tons of coal. The government +therefore appointed a fuel administrator +for the purpose of finding ways to make up +this shortage so that ships would not be delayed +nor factories stopped where munitions +for our soldiers and sailors were being made.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>The fuel administrator ordered the shutting +down of the use of electric lights where these +were not absolutely needed, and also, when the +shortage was most acute, the shutting down +of all factories not employed in munitions-making +for a certain period of time. This was +why there were so-called “lightless” nights and +“coalless” days. The people were also asked +to save fuel in their homes as much as possible. +The result was a saving of fuel that was used +for war purpose directly.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">War Finance</span></h3> + +<p>In the old days, when Kings hired men of +other nations to help their own armies fight +their wars, it used to be said that the victory +went to that side which had the most money. +Some wars where countries with practically +no money fought against rich nations and defeated +them, because of superior valor and +courage of their men, proved that it was not +money, but men, which won wars. The fact +remains, however, that money is absolutely +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>necessary for any country to carry a war to +success. Soldiers must be fed and clothed, +and given guns and bullets and cannon, as +well as proper care. All this takes money.</p> + +<p>A government has two ways of raising +money. One of these ways, the older way, is +by taxation. The government says to the +citizen: “You have property worth so much +money. We shall require you to give us a certain +percentage of that money. You have an +income of so many dollars. We shall take from +you part of it, according to your wealth.” Or +the government may put a tax on tea, or coffee, +or clothes, or any other article which people +use. All this is perfectly right and legal as a +means of raising money for the prosecution of +a war in which the government must direct the +people, to win.</p> + +<p>The other method of raising money by the +government is the sale of bonds. Bonds are +really promises made by a corporation to pay +at a certain stated time, with interest, the +amount which the purchaser gives for them. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>For instance, when a railroad company wants to +get money enough to make some necessary improvements, +it issues bonds at a certain rate of +interest, payable at a certain time. If the improvements +help the railroad, and the company +makes money by having done this, the person +who buys the bond usually finds that his purchase +has increased in value because of the certainty +of the interest payments. It is this +certainty of payment, both principal and interest, +which has always made United States +bonds such good investments. It is not hard +for a man who has good property to secure a +mortgage upon it.</p> + +<p>The United States is the richest country +in the world. The government of the United +States has at its command the greatest resources +of any nation. Therefore, the government +could raise more money than any other +agency.</p> + +<p>When the war came to our country, the +government had the choice of raising money +by taxation or by the sale of bonds. In order +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>to make the task as easy on the people as possible +the government, through its officers, decided +to combine the systems. Through the +Internal Revenue Bureau of the Treasury of +the United States the government set about +the collection of taxes imposed by Congress, +and designed to raise money for the winning +of the war. And the secretary of the treasury +announced the opening of the first Liberty +Loan.</p> + +<p>The Liberty Loans are really bond sales. +Through them the government sells to the +people bonds, which are promises to pay the +money which the government borrows. These +bonds are promises to pay the purchasers at +the end of a certain number of years the +amount which they pay for them. In the +meantime they pay semi-annual interest. These +bonds are investments. Buying them is not +making a gift to the government. It is, rather, +letting the government make a gift to you.</p> + +<p>In order to have money enough to purchase +bonds, however, hundreds of thousands of people +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>have had to make sacrifices during the course +of the Liberty Loans; and it is only when they +have made sacrifice, when they have given up +clothes they wanted, or vacations they thought +they needed, or pleasure they would have sought, +that they are really doing something for the +country. But so many millions of men and +women and children have bought Liberty Bonds +and are continuing to buy Liberty Bonds that +their purchase has become one of the great patriotic +movements of our country in this war.</p> + +<p>In the War of the Revolution, Robert Morris, +of Philadelphia, loaned money to General Washington’s +army. History has made famous his +name because he had faith enough in his country +and love enough for his country to loan +money to her in the hour of her need. In this +great war every man, every woman, every boy, +every girl in the United States has the opportunity +of becoming a Robert Morris.</p> + +<p>For, although the lowest denomination of +a Liberty Bond is fifty dollars, the government +has devised a method by which every one who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>has any money at all can help in the war. The +treasury has issued War Thrift Stamps and +War Savings Certificates so that any one who +has money at all—no matter how little—may +do his share. The stamps may be bought almost +everywhere for twenty-five cents. In +January, 1918, a certificate cost $4.12. In +every month which followed it cost one cent +more. But it will bring back to the holder of +it in 1923 five dollars. The stamps may be +exchanged for certificates, as soon as the saver +has enough of them, with the odd amount added, +to make the purchase.</p> + +<p>Since every one in the nation who has twenty-five +cents may buy a Thrift Stamp, it is almost +certain that every one in the United States +can help the government win the war by making +the purchase. And it is by the individual efforts +that the money will be raised, and the war won.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> + <img src="images/i_fp104.jpg" width="700" height="450" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p class="caption">Children selling Thrift Stamps</p> + <p class="caption"><small>The Treasury has issued War Thrift Stamps and War Savings Certificates so that any one who has money at all—no matter how little—may + do his share</small></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Red Cross</span></h3> + +<p>From an auxiliary branch of a great organization +the American Red Cross has become +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>one of the great agencies of the war. Before +the United States entered the conflict, the American +Red Cross had been the great relief agency +among the peoples of the stricken districts of +western Europe. Food, clothing, a new chance +at life had been given the stricken. Back of +the battle-fields the soldiers, wounded in the +struggles, were cared for. Even in Germany +the American Red Cross had made easier the +lot of the prisoners of war. With our entrance +into the war the organization became one of +the great factors in our country’s means of +caring for the welfare of our fighters.</p> + +<p>The American Red Cross, of which the President +of the United States is honorary chairman, +is the means through which volunteer aid is +given to the sick and wounded men of the army +and navy, to sufferers in the war zones, and +to the families of men in the service.</p> + +<p>There are two classes of Red Cross service, +civilian and military. The civilian relief includes +the care and education of destitute children +in the war zone, the care of mutilated soldiers, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>the care of sick and wounded soldiers, +the relief of the devastated districts of France +and Belgium, aid for prisoners of war and +civilians sent back from bondage in Germany +to France and Belgium, and the prevention of +tuberculosis. It also includes care for the +families of soldiers and sailors beyond the aid +given by the government. Military relief establishes +and maintains hospitals for sick and +wounded soldiers in the American army in +France, and canteens, rest-houses, recreation-huts +for American soldiers and also for the +soldiers of the other nations at war with Germany.</p> + +<p>In the equipment of the hospitals and in +the other relief work done by the Red Cross +a very great number of special articles, such +as bandages, garments, and other articles requiring +skill in the making were needed. Almost +every woman and child in the United +States has been at work since the beginning +of the war in making something for the Red +Cross, so that this semi-governmental activity +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>has become one of the most wide-spread forces +in providing comforts and necessaries for our +army and navy, as well as for the relief of conditions +in the war zone.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Welfare Work</span></h3> + +<p>Both in the camps at home and in the +trenches abroad the soldier needs something besides +the routine life provided for him by the +government. In order to give him recreation +and pleasures, so that his life may be normal +even when he is away from home, several organizations +have been at work since the beginning +of the war. The Commission on Training-Camp +Activities, the Young Men’s Christian +Association, with its attendant Young Men’s +Hebrew Association, the Knights of Columbus, +and the Jewish Welfare Board have been among +the many who have been working to make the +fighting men happier. These organizations have +built rest-houses and recreation-huts for the +men. They have given entertainments for +them. They have supplied them with comforts, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>and have kept up a high morality among them. +The United Service Clubs have also been busy +in providing good lodgings for soldiers and +sailors when they have been out of the camps on +leave. The Young Women’s Christian Association +has also done splendid work both for the +men in the camps and for their visiting relatives.</p> + +<p>In addition to the large organizations smaller +ones are busy all over the country in aiding the +soldiers. Almost every town has some group +of people who are giving service to the men in +the camps. In every city and town through +which the troop-trains have passed on their +way from the camps to the harbors where the +soldiers would be placed on board the transports, +women have fixed food for the men, and +children have aided them in carrying this food +to the stations. Large sums have been raised +to carry on the recreation service in the camps, +both here and in France, and the response of +the American people to any request for the +soldiers and sailors has been speedy and inspiring.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts of the +United States have been noteworthy in their +work for our country. Three hundred and +twenty thousand Boy Scouts aided in the work +of selling the bonds of the Third Liberty Loan +and of the sale of War Thrift Stamps. The Girl +Scouts have done all sorts of clerical and special +work for the same cause, as well as for various +others. The children of every public school +and almost every private school in the United +States have worked in some cause or another +for the winning of the war. With the men and +women of the country they have earned their +place on the patriots’ roll.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VIII<br> +<small>THE AMERICAN’S PART</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Entering</span> the great war after it had already +waged for nearly three years, the United +States learned many of the lessons that experience +had taught to the Allies, and outlined a +programme that was designed to promote speed +and efficiency. Every programme that is dependent +upon human action is, of course, imperfect; +but the programme of our country in +this war has, at least, given to the citizens of +our land opportunity for service in the prosecution +of the war. No man, woman, or child in +the nation need be idle or useless. He has the +chance now of helping his country as he has +had in no other time in her history.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> + <img src="images/i_fp110.jpg" width="700" height="449" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p class="caption">Boys at work in their war garden</p> + <p class="caption"><small>No ... child in the nation need be idle or useless. He has the chance now of helping his country as he has had in no other time + in her history</small></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Why should the American help America?</p> + +<p>There is, to begin with, in the soul of every +human being a love of country that should +come next to a love of God. Love of country +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>is not only next to love of God, but is part of +genuine love of God. No man who loves his +God sincerely fails to love his country. Even +those countries which have not been kind or +just, or fair to their peoples, countries where +men are not given the chance for freedom or +opportunity, have their patriots. But the +United States of America, more than any other +country in the world, has given to her people +liberty, justice, opportunity, freedom. It is, +therefore, the grateful duty of every American +to do what he can to keep his country what +she has been.</p> + +<p>For those men who are in the army or navy +the duty is clear. They are making the supreme +sacrifice in standing ready to give their lives in +the defense of our nation. For those who stay +at home the path may not be as plain, but it +is there, and no one should fail to find it and +travel upon it, for it is the road of patriotism, +and patriotism is a divine duty.</p> + +<p>The United States, as we have seen, entered +the war to uphold those principles of right which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>all great Americans, from Washington and +Patrick Henry to Abraham Lincoln, have cherished. +For freedom of the seas, for the safekeeping +of the Monroe Doctrine, for the right +of arbitration in international disputes, for the +right of small nations to govern themselves, for +the preservation of those free institutions of +democracy which the autocracy of Germany +strives to conquer, our nation took up the +burden of conflict. While it is the first war in +which we have sent our troops to foreign soil, +it is a war in keeping with the basic principles +of our nationality. It is being fought for the +same freedom for which the thirteen Colonies +fought in the War of the Revolution. It is +being fought for the same maritime right for +which the War of 1812 was fought. Both these +struggles were, it is true, against England, who +is now our cobelligerent in the war against Germany. +By our winning of those wars the +United States helped the people of England to +see that light for which they are now sacrificing +everything. There were men in England, even +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>in the times of the War of the Revolution and +in the War of 1812, who believed America right, +and who proclaimed their belief in the halls of +Westminster. Their courage and our success +set beacons on the hills of history for the lighting +of those who followed. The same spirit that +inspired our nation in its beginnings is the spirit +that inspires not only ourselves but those against +whom we fought until they, too, are fighting +for it now on the fields of Flanders and France.</p> + +<p>It is a war which is being fought for the +same basic principles on which the War of the +States was fought in the sixties of the last century. +For while the North fought for the freedom +of the slave, the South fought, not for his +continuation in bondage, but for the rights of +the separate States. Both issues were fundamentally +right. The greater—for the freedom +of the individual is greater than the constitutional +right of a State—triumphed. But the +spirit of both is American, and part of our reason +for entering this war.</p> + +<p>Since it is a war in keeping with American +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>traditions, it is the part of the American, in +service or out of it, to keep up the standard of +our country in it.</p> + +<p>How shall he do it?</p> + +<p>Every man sees his own duty clearest. But +there are certain lines of life in which this duty +is so clear that it is easy to mark. One of these +lines is that of the American of foreign birth +or parentage, now a citizen of the United States. +Another is that of the families of officers and +soldiers. A third is that of the industrial workers +of the country. The men, women, and children +in any one of these zones have definite standards +to uphold. If they fail to do so, they are not +less traitorous than the sentry who falls asleep +at his post and lets the enemy in.</p> + +<p>The American of foreign birth or parentage +is a citizen of this country because he or his +parents saw that America offered an opportunity +which could not be secured in the old +country. He is the recipient of favors of freedom, +liberty, and such wealth as he did not +before enjoy. His allegiance is doubly owed. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>It is therefore his part to do everything in his +power to prove his gratitude. It is his part to +combat all disloyalty, to uproot all treason, to +stand firm for American principles at home and +abroad, to proclaim by word and deed his loyalty +to our country.</p> + +<p>Because this is a war for democracy it is +the part of every American to maintain that +democracy at home and in deed as well as abroad +and in word. Military organizations have a +tendency to create distinctions, unless the people +of the country keep close watch on themselves. +Military discipline must be maintained, +but any line drawn between officer and private +must end with discipline and not be carried +into private life. The private in the ranks is +as great an American, if he does his duty, as +the general in command; and no one knows it +better than the general. It is not in the army +or navy, but in the civilian families of soldiers +and sailors, that the danger lies. Therefore, +it is the part of every member of these to bear +in mind constantly and continuously that every +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span>man in the service is equal; that the commissioned +officer is giving no more than the man +in the ranks; and that both are giving up everything +else in life for the one thing of paramount +importance, the winning of the war. “No snobbery” +is as good and as great an American watchword +as “Give me liberty, or give me death.” +For snobbery is the death of liberty as surely +as the will of a tyrant. The “Junker” class +of Prussia is the officer class who look down +upon all others, and who have come to believe +the world to have been made for their rule. +We are fighting “Junkerism” in Europe. It +is the American’s part to fight the slightest +trace of it at home.</p> + +<p>Every war has its home heroes as well as +its field heroes. Since this war is, more than +any other, a war of resources, it follows that +the part of labor is more important than it has +been in any previous war. If the working men +and women of any one of the great warring +nations should refuse to continue at work, that +nation would be defeated as surely as if the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>armies had laid down their arms in the field. +American victory is as dependent upon American +labor as it is upon American manhood. +And it is with pride that it may be said that +American labor has been found worthy of all +American traditions.</p> + +<p>The United States has been pre-eminently +the nation of the working man. Its legislation +has continuously tended toward the betterment +of his condition. Nowhere else in the +world has he enjoyed the lot that has been his +in America. Nowhere else has he the voice, +the power, the future that our nation accords +him. And upon him in this war has fallen the +duty of speeding up the war production of the +country, a task so important that those men +of draft age engaged in such occupations have +been exempted from military service in order +that they may continue at their work. For +the making of munitions is as necessary as the +firing of guns.</p> + +<p>It has become the duty of American labor to +keep at the allotted tasks. No one must shirk. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>No one must fail. No one must delay. No +matter how trivial the task may seem in the +sum of the war work, it may be the one whose +lack of doing may be the breach in the wall +through which the enemy may enter.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> +<div class="first"> “For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost.</div> +<div class="verse">For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost.</div> +<div class="verse">For the want of a horse, the rider was lost.</div> +<div class="verse">For the want of the rider, the message was lost.</div> +<div class="verse">For the want of the message, the battle was lost.</div> +<div class="verse">For the loss of the battle, the kingdom was lost.</div> +<div class="verse">All for the want of the nail of a shoe.”</div> +</div></div> + +<p>And the maker of the horseshoe was one of +the factors of his country’s defeat!</p> + +<p>The civilian’s part in this war has been outlined +by the President of the United States in +his proclamation of the 16th of April, 1917:</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> + <img src="images/i_fp118.jpg" width="700" height="447" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p class="caption">The launching of the U. S. S. <i>Accoma</i></p> + <p class="caption"><small>Scarcely a minute after this 3,500-ton wooden cargo-ship had been launched the keel of another ship was swung into place</small></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>“These, then, are the things we must do +and do well besides fighting—the things without +which mere fighting would be fruitless; +we must supply abundant food for ourselves, +our armies, and our seamen, not only, but also +for a large part of the nations with whom we +have common cause, in whose support and by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>whose side we are fighting. We must supply +ships by the hundreds out of our shipyards to +carry to the other side of the sea, submarines +or no submarines, what will every day be needed +there, and abundant materials out of our fields +and our mines and our factories with which +not only to cloak and equip our own forces on +land and sea, but also to clothe and support +our people for whom the gallant fellows under +arms can no longer work; to help clothe and +equip the armies with which we are co-operating +in Europe and to keep the looms and manufactories +there in raw materials; coal to keep +the fires going in the ships at sea and in the +furnaces of hundreds of factories across the +sea; steel out of which to make arms and ammunition +both here and there; rails for worn-out +railways back of the fighting fronts; locomotives +and rolling-stock to take the places of +those every day going to pieces; mules, horses, +cattle, for labor and for military service; everything +with which the people in England, France, +Italy, and Russia have normally supplied themselves, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>but cannot now afford the men, the +materials, or the machinery to make.”</p> + +<p>America is the factory of the world. The +American who stays at home is the worker in +the factory, and it is his part to do his work +so well that the man who fights overseas for +the same cause may hold his hand in the essential +brotherhood of equal service.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> + + <h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IX<br> +<small>THE UNITED STATES AND INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the soul of every human being, no matter +how clogged it be by traditions, lives the desire +for freedom. It is this desire, this spark of +fire, which has peopled the continent of America. +For, long before the colonies revolted and established +a republic the great territory which has +become the United States beckoned to the +peoples of the Old World a welcome to a land +which would give them opportunity for the +freedom they sought. The whole history of +the American colonies is a history of the search +of mankind for individual freedom in which to +work out his ideals without governmental interference. +Political refugees, religious refugees +dared the dangers of the ocean to come to the +new land that they might live and worship as +their souls urged them.</p> + +<p>The settlement of Massachusetts was made +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>by the Puritans of England who were seeking +a refuge from the oppression they had suffered +in England on account of their religious beliefs +and practices. They braved the stormy northern +Atlantic to come to the wilderness. They braved +the Indians to stay. They established their +homes, their schools, their meeting-houses, their +government, and dwelt according to the dictates +of their consciences in that freedom which +they had desired.</p> + +<p>No less for freedom did William Penn and +his colony of Quakers come to the western hemisphere. +They sought a place where they would +be given a chance to worship God according +to their belief. A peaceful sect, they sought +peace, and they brought into the new country +standards of living that set their impress upon +the infant nation. Liberal to others as they +desired liberality for themselves, they were +destined to sow seeds of thought that were to +be harvested in the effects of the Constitution +of the republic, when it was formulated.</p> + +<p>The Huguenots in the Carolinas, fleeing religious +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>persecution, found haven. Lord Baltimore +established the Maryland colony of English +Catholics who could not practise their religion +in the old country. And where the motive +for the establishment of the colony was not in +itself purely a question of finding a place of +religious freedom, the interrelationship of the +colonies became so close that in time the spirit +of religious freedom became warp of the fabric +of the country that was to be the American +nation.</p> + +<p>Political freedom was promoted, in the beginning, +by the distance of the colonies from +Europe. France, Spain, and England were +too far away, and ocean travel too hazardous, +to make the bond between the mother countries +and the colonies tight. Men and women +who had been venturesome enough to cross +the seas were not of the sort who would be held +for long by mere traditions of allegiance to +old lands. Little by little the people of the +colonies gained larger measures of political +freedom until the time arrived when the unjust +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>tax imposed by England aroused them +to revolt. The Boston Tea Party expressed +the spirit of America. The Declaration of +Independence voiced America’s aspiration and +America’s intention. The War of the Revolution +settled the right of Americans to their own +government. The Constitution of the United +States guaranteed to Americans their rights to +the enjoyment of that freedom which had been +the mainspring of the foundation of the nation.</p> + +<p>Gradually the fact that this was a country +where men could have a share in the government, +could speak their minds, could worship +God in their own way, could work out their +ideals and ambitions without governmental +interference as long as these in no way conflicted +with the interests of law and order, went +over the earth. It found its way into those +countries of Europe where men were eager for +its coming. The English, after the War of 1812, +when the United States definitely established +our standing as a nation, were among the first +to come as settlers. And from other western +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>countries of Europe came other settlers, led +by the knowledge that here could they enjoy +individual freedom.</p> + +<p>To America, as to the Promised Land, flocked +the Irish. Restless under the English yoke, +denied economic, political, religious, and educational +liberty by a government of an alien +neighbor, the Irish people turned westward. +The famine and the political revolution of 1848 +sent them out from Ireland by the tens of thousands. +To our land they brought a passionate +yearning for freedom and a passionate gratitude +to the country which opened it to them; and +because they were, as a people, gifted with the +power of expressing their emotions, they spread +the fame of the United States broadcast over +the world as a haven for those who sought liberty.</p> + +<p>After them came the Germans, led by the +political refugees of that country who had incurred +the enmity of Prussia in the Revolution +of 1848, which had striven to bring some measure +of freedom to the German people. Denied it at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>home, hundreds of thousands of Germans came +to America to find liberty in their individual +lives, to find opportunity. It is these Germans +and their descendants who, understanding what +the Prussian yoke means, have become among +the best of our American citizens. Knowing +what they escaped, they know what America +fights against now.</p> + +<p>The third great movement of a people to +the United States has been the westward coming +of the Jews. In this country, as in no other, +they possessed full religious freedom, and to this +country they have flocked from every land of +Europe where they had huddled, unwelcome, for +centuries. Here they have found no opposition +to their faith. Here they have had full chance +to worship as they would. For the first time +in thousands of years the Jew could build his +temple unhindered. For the first time since +the Roman had gone into Palestine the Jew +was a citizen of the land in which he dwelt.</p> + +<p>Then came the peoples of eastern Europe, +peoples of the vast empire that is called Austria-Hungary +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>for lack of a better name. Ruled by +a man not of their race, a man of one of the +oldest, most corrupt, and autocratic of the reigning +families of Europe, they were struggling +upward toward freedom when the growing commercial +dominion of the United States took the +word to them of our nation’s beacon. To us +they have literally surged. Among us they +have found the freedom denied their peoples +at home.</p> + +<p>Another people sought the United States +to attain freedom. The Poles, oppressed on +one side by Germany, on another by Austria, +and on the third by the autocratic government +of Russia under the Czars, heard the tale of +the land of liberty, and set out for our shores +in great hordes. So many have they come that +Chicago is the second largest Polish city in the +world, having almost as many Poles as Warsaw; +and Milwaukee, Buffalo, and other American +cities attest the surging of the Pole toward a +land of liberty.</p> + +<p>In fact, there has been no country in Europe +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>where people were dissatisfied with their +government that has not sent its people to the +United States. That France has sent the least +number in proportion to her population has +been due largely to the fact that the people of +France had worked out for themselves a genuine +democracy that satisfied the souls of her sons +and daughters.</p> + +<p>Through the hundred and forty-one years +that had elapsed between the calling of the +Continental Congress and the entrance of the +United States into war against Germany this +nation had been solidifying that right of individual +freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. +The war between North and South had been +fought in defense of the right of a human being +to freedom as against the right of a State to +separate itself from the national government. +The latter issue was lost, not because it was +wrong, but because it was not as vitally important +in the history of civilization as the former. +For that men and women and children should +be held in bondage violated the spirit of America; +and the bondage had to be broken. “No government,” +as Abraham Lincoln said, “can exist +half-slave and half-free.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> + <img src="images/i_fp128.jpg" width="450" height="647" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p class="caption">An immigrant family qualified to enter the United States</p> + <p class="caption"><small>There has been no country in Europe where people were dissatisfied with their government + that has not sent its people to the United States</small></p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>Some one has called America the melting-pot +of the nations. If it is, the fire that fuses +the nationalities which have come to our land +has been the fire of freedom.</p> + +<p>That is why America’s entrance into the +world war is so much more vitally significant +than a mere attack in defense of certain violations +of international law. It is a defense of +the principle of individual freedom. Were +the United States not to oppose a force that +threatened the freedom of the world, we would +not be worthy of the trust which the peoples +of other lands have reposed in us. The Irish, +the Germans, the Jews, the Slavs who came to +America would eventually have come in vain. +For Germany threatens the liberty of all peoples, +if she wins to victory in Europe. Germany +stands for all those ideas of government from +which these peoples fled. Germany stands for +the suppression of the individual as a political +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>unit. Germany stands for might. Against all +that we have always fought. If we failed to +fight now, we would be but deferring the issue. +And so to-day the United States sends our soldiers +to France and our sailors out on the seas +in defense of that right of mankind which is +God’s gift, no matter how men have tried to +take it from him, the right of the freedom of +the individual to live his life as he sees best, +according only to the dictates of order, of moral +integrity, of justice, and of righteousness.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> + + <h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER X<br> +<small>THE UNITED STATES AND INTERNATIONAL PEACE</small></h2> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">International</span>, lasting peace is the third +great ideal sought by the Republic of the United +States of America, and it is for the enforcement +of that kind of peace that the United States +is fighting. For, unless such peace is assured +by a decisive victory, the menace of German +imperialism will so overshadow the world that +all civilization will be flung back into one long +effort to keep armed to repel the invader.</p> + +<p>Although other nations have struggled +toward a standard of international and permanent +peace, the United States was one of +the first great nations to put the theory into +practice. One of the first instances of this practice +came at the close of the war between the +States, when the question of the <i>Alabama</i> +Claims arose.</p> + +<p>During the war the Confederate States had +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>caused to be built in English ports, with the +knowledge of the British Government, cruisers +to damage Federal commerce on the high seas. +The cruiser <i>Alabama</i> was most active of these, +and from its prominence gave name to the claim +which the United States brought against Great +Britain for the offense against international +law, particularly since the independence of the +Confederate States had not been recognized. +Great Britain had paid no attention to American +remonstrance during the war, but at its +close requested settlement of the difficulty.</p> + +<p>The United States was equipped for war, +with a victorious army at command, and with +a record of two victorious wars over England. +It was a chance to launch another, had our +nation been inclined toward militarism. Instead, +our country did its part in appointing +members of a joint high commission, of five +British and five American statesmen, who met +in Washington in 1871 and adjusted the difficulty. +These commissioners made a treaty, +known as the Treaty of Washington, by which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>it was agreed that the claims of either nation +against the other should be submitted to a +board of arbitration to be appointed by friendly +nations. In 1872 this board met at Geneva, +Switzerland, and decided the claims in favor of +the United States. Great Britain paid fifteen +million five hundred thousand dollars for the +damage done by the cruisers built in her ports; +but even more important was the precedent +established by two great nations.</p> + +<p>Through a period in which the world was +singularly free from great wars the peace ideal +grew among those countries where the democratic +form of government was progressing. +The other nations, striving to maintain that +elusive standard of political and trade domination +known as the balance of power, juggled +with the peace idea, but from a different point +of view. And it was, strangely enough, the +Czar of Russia who proposed the establishment +of an international court for the settling of international +disputes. His idea and that of the +nations who accepted the plan was to keep +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>peace by a settlement of the causes of war, and +also to reduce the military and naval armaments +of the great Powers. He also brought forward +the idea that, if war should come, the conditions +of warfare should be made less terrible for the +men who were fighting. He invited the delegates +of the nations of the world to a conference +at The Hague, in the Netherlands, in May, +1899.</p> + +<p>The first conference promoted—to all appearances—a +general good feeling, but did not +formulate actual rules. The second, called by +the Czar in 1907, at the request of the government +of the United States, and extending from +June to October of that year, promulgated +certain rules that were regarded until the beginning +of the war by Germany in 1914 as those +which would hold all civilized nations.</p> + +<p>The articles of this conference, known as +The Hague Conventions, provided for:</p> + +<p>I.—The pacific settling of international disputes;</p> + +<p>II.—The recovery of debts contracted;</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>III.—Rules for the opening of hostilities;</p> + +<p>IV.—Laws and customs of war on land;</p> + +<p>V.—Rights and duties of neutral states and +individuals in warfare on land;</p> + +<p>VI.—Treatment of enemy’s merchant ships +at the opening of hostilities;</p> + +<p>VII.—Transformation of merchant ships into +war vessels;</p> + +<p>VIII.—Placing of submarine mines;</p> + +<p>IX.—Bombardment of undefended towns by +naval forces;</p> + +<p>X.—Adoption of humane standards authorized +by the Geneva Convention to maritime +warfare;</p> + +<p>XI.—Restrictions on right of capture in +maritime war;</p> + +<p>XII.—Establishment of an international +prize court;</p> + +<p>XIII.—Rights and duties of neutral states +in maritime war.</p> + +<p>In addition to the adoption of these thirteen +articles, which were designed to keep peace or +to make war less terrible, if it came, the conference +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>established a permanent court of arbitration +which has had its place at The Hague, +and which is known as The Hague Tribunal. +This court is really a number of judges from +whom some are selected to try cases of international +dispute. It is noteworthy that the +first case laid before The Hague Tribunal for +settlement was the Pius Fund matter between +the United States and Mexico. The government +of the United States took the dispute to +The Hague, the first time in history when a +great nation had appealed to an international +court for settlement of a claim against a small +nation.</p> + +<p>Since The Hague Conference the United +States has concluded about thirty peace treaties +with as many nations. They are all modelled +on one general idea which is expressed in the +opening article of each in this way:</p> + +<p>“The high contracting parties agree that +all disputes between them, of every nature +whatsoever, shall, when diplomatic methods +of adjustment have failed, be referred for investigation +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>and report to a permanent international +commission to be constituted” (by the +contracting parties) “... and agree not to declare +war nor to begin hostilities during such +investigation and before the report be submitted.”</p> + +<p>Thirty-five nations had accepted this plan +“in principle” before Germany flung war upon +the world, and thirty treaties had been signed. +France, Russia, Great Britain, and Italy had +signed the treaties. Germany professed approval +of the plan, but avoided all definite arrangements, +her attitude apparently growing +out of her dislike of arbitration.</p> + +<p>This opposition to arbitration on Germany’s +part was due to the fact that for many years +she was actually preparing for war, and believed +that her best chance of winning it was +in the unpreparedness of the nations against +which she intended to wage it. The utterances +of her statesmen, philosophers, and editors revealed +the German official attitude of mind. +There can be no doubt but that Germany desired +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>to keep the world lulled in a false security +until she had made ready to strike the blow +against world peace. Nothing else explains +her refusal to bind herself with the terms that +other nations accepted in the hope that wars +were becoming things of the past.</p> + +<p>Just before the United States was forced +into the breaking off of diplomatic relations +with Germany the President of the country +went before the Senate to set forth the principles +which should govern our nation in the +making of any peace with which we would associate +ourselves. The principles which he set +forth were:</p> + +<p>I.—An equality of rights between nations, +to be based on justice and not on the old principle +of balance of power;</p> + +<p>II.—Recognition of the principle that governments +derive their just powers from the +consent of the governed;</p> + +<p>III.—The right of all great peoples to have +a direct outlet to the sea, either by territorial +acquisition or by neutralization;</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>IV.—The freedom of the seas;</p> + +<p>V.—The limitations of armaments on land +and sea;</p> + +<p>VI.—Refusal to permit any nation to extend +its policy over any other nation or people;</p> + +<p>VII.—A concert of nations to guarantee +peace and the rights of all nations, no entangling +alliances creating a competition for power, +but a league for the enforcement of international +peace.</p> + +<p>“These are American principles, American +policies,” the President stated. “They are also +the principles of forward-looking men and +women everywhere, of every modern nation, +and of every enlightened community.”</p> + +<p>To the very last, until the action of Germany +in restricting the freedom of the seas for which +the United States had fought and won a war in +days when she was ill-prepared for any conflict, +our country had stood out for peace. Only +when our vital rights were threatened, our vital +principles violated, did war come. And, when +it came the United States entered into the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>conflict, not in hot passion, but with the high +purpose of establishing a real peace that cannot +be broken by any one vandal nation.</p> + +<p>The kind of peace which is the ideal of the +United States, and the one toward which we +are now fighting, is not to be the sort which +may be patched up over a council-table for a +brief space. There is only one way of curing +a cancer of the human body. It must be cut +out. And so it is with the world. The only +way to cure the world of war is to cut out the +cancer of militarism. The only way to cut it +out is to defeat the armies of militarism.</p> + +<p>The United States and the Allies are not +fighting to impose on Germany and her fellow +fighters any particular form of government; +but they are fighting to defeat that form of +government which has precipitated the war, +the so-called Junker policy of the German Empire. +The Junker, who is a member of the Prussian +nobility and a man devoted to militarism, +has been the instrument of war, forcing it on +the world that Germany, which for him means +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>only a certain small class of rulers in Prussia +headed by the Kaiser, shall be rich and powerful +over all the earth. It is to end his reign +upon earth that hundreds of thousands of men +are dying on the fields of France and Flanders. +It is to end that policy of Germany which aims +to keep men always at war that we are warring. +For, if Germany is not totally defeated, every +country in the world will have to build up a +military machine of the same kind as Germany’s +in order to be ready to fight her when she makes +up her mind to invade their territories; and +no one will know when she might do that. The +policy of Germany will threaten every democracy +in the world; for democracies cannot +exist while military establishments continue. +Nothing but a total, annihilating defeat of +Germany in this war will make the world “safe +for democracy” and sure for peace.</p> + +<p>When the war is won the United States +will, it is sure, insist upon a just peace that +will insure these ideals, a peace that will make +impossible another such outrage as the invasion +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>of Belgium, another <i>Lusitania</i> outrage, another +defiance of all civilized standards, a peace +that will remove militarism, make free the seas, +and give to the individual that freedom that +has made the United States the haven of the +whole world.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="transnote"> +<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> + +<p>Perceived typographical errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p>Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.</p> +</div></div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76636 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76636-h/images/cover.jpg b/76636-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..13b59b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/coversmall.jpg b/76636-h/images/coversmall.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c925c9c --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/coversmall.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_fp104.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_fp104.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..05baba7 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_fp104.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_fp110.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_fp110.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9832aa7 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_fp110.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_fp118.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_fp118.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d38dc69 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_fp118.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_fp128.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_fp128.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a70d0f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_fp128.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_fp66.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_fp66.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aaf95c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_fp66.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_fp80.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_fp80.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..95a14f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_fp80.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_fp90.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_fp90.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..25da4e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_fp90.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_frontis.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..740558b --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_frontis.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/i_title.jpg b/76636-h/images/i_title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0655c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/i_title.jpg diff --git a/76636-h/images/pub_logo.jpg b/76636-h/images/pub_logo.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f905f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/76636-h/images/pub_logo.jpg |
