"America speaks for the world in fighting Germany. Mark on a map those countries which are Germany's allies, and you will mark but four, running from the Baltic through Austria and Bulgaria to Turkey. All the other nations, the whole globe around, are in arms against her or are unable to move. There is deep meaning in this.
"We fight with the world for an honest world, in which nations keep their word; for a world in which nations do not live by swagger or by threat; for a world in which men think of the ways in which they can conquer the common cruelties of nature instead of inventing more horrible cruelties to inflict upon the spirit and body of man; for a world in which the ambition or the philosophy of a few shall not make miserable all mankind; for a world in which the man is held more precious than the machine, the system or the State."
In his denunciations of the Imperial German Government President Wilson and his advisers have indicted the House of Hohenzollern, of which Emperor Wilhelm is the head, and which has developed the unbending military spirit which has resulted in Germany being counted an outcast among the nations of the world.
America, it must be noted, has no antipathy for the Germans as a race, but modern civilization opposes that form of Government which has permitted the cruel characteristics of the "wolf tribes" of feudal times to be carried down through the generations, and capitalized by the Imperial powers to bring terror to the hearts of all who do not bow to the iron hand of the Kaiser and his ilk.
GERMANY A WARLIKE RACE.
The thing from which this Prussianism—this militarism—grew is easily traceable down the German ages. The very first appearance of the Germans in history is as a warlike race. The earliest German literature is composed of folk tales about war heroes—their ideals and manly virtues. And this ideal in one form or another, under varying circumstances and conditions, persisted throughout the centuries.
It is not merely that military service has been compulsory in Germany, but that almost everything else has been subjugated to the development of the army. While Germany has given to the world a generous quota of scientists, industrial geniuses, musicians and poets, the whole race is imbued with the warlike spirit and its influence is manifest in every phase of national life. Practically all that is best in the nation in the way of efficiency has been inspired or may be traced to the military discipline to which the people have been subjected for years. They have been created human machines, trained to obey orders and to perform the services to which they are assigned without protest and without question.
The history of Germany began with Henry, the Fowler, about A.D. 929, who was essentially the first sovereign. He developed the system of margraves or wardens to guard the frontiers of the kingdom, fortified his towns and required every ninth man to take up arms for his country. Robbers were forced to become soldiers or be hanged, and as lawlessness was rampant there was no dearth of material to fill up the ranks of the army.
The margraves, or military leaders under them, grew in importance and influence until the offices tended to become hereditary. Gradually the country was divided into principalities, each of which maintained a force of arms. This limited form of military rule maintained for several centuries of troublesome times, or until about 1412, when Emperor Sigismund appointed Burgrave Frederick, of Nuremberg, "Stratt-halter," or vice-regent.