Frenzied Liberty; The Myth of "A Rich Man's War"

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Frenzied Liberty and The Myth of A Rich Man's War , by Otto Hermann Kahn
THE MYTH OF
“A RICH MAN’S WAR”
Otto H. Kahn
EXTRACTS FROM ADDRESS
GIVEN AT THE UNIVERSITY
OF WISCONSIN, JAN. 14, 1918
Part One
Frenzied Liberty
We are engaged in a war, an “irrepressible conflict,” a most just and righteous war for a cause as high and noble as ever inspired a people to put forth its utmost of sacrifice and valor. To attain the end for which this peace-loving nation unsheathed its sword, to lay low and make powerless the accursed spirit which brought all this unspeakable misery, sorrow and ruin upon the world, is our one and supreme and unshakeable purpose.
That is the purpose of the people of Wisconsin as it is the purpose of the people of New York and of every other State in the Union. I give no credence to and have no patience with those who would measure as with a thermometer the loyalty temperature of our communities. Some dreamers there may be, here as everywhere, so immersed in their dreams that the trumpet call of the day has not yet awakened them.
Some politicians there may be, here and elsewhere, so obsessed by the issues which heretofore were good election assets and so unable to shake off the inveterate habits and the formulas and calculations of a lifetime, that they are unable to recognize and to share in the sudden flaming manifestations springing from the deep of the people’s soul—and after a while, looking around for their usual followers, find themselves in chilly loneliness.