Newspapers / French Broad Hustler (Hendersonville, … / June 6, 1918, edition 1 / Page 3
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VxJiVf the united states j IS AT WAR WITH GERMANY. (Editor's Note : The following article was written by Miss Prances Summerrall in response to the offer of S25 by J. C. Sales for the' best esSay" from a public school teacher on the reasons why the United States is at war.) The outbreak of war in 1914 caught this. nation by surprise. The people of Europe had had atleast some warnings of the coming storm, but to us such a blind, savage, on slaught on the ideals of' civilization, iiad "appeared impossible. We were unable to comprehend the meaning of its occurrence, and since either side was championed here in America by millions living among us who were of European birth, many contradictory accusations threw our thoughts into disarray. . At first, we were unable to seeiiow our national policy might be affected. Later on, however, when we read the President's different proclamations, the nucleus of which was the preser vation of a strict neutrality, in order that we might be of great use in the task of mediation, it began to dawn unon us that there was a plausible possibility of a future infringement upon our rights. . Before the swift events of the mid summer of 1914, three influences, op erative in- American Consciousness had controlled- our foreign policy and anyone of these influences had seem ed potent enough to keep us perma nently aloof from all European con flicts. First, we were a peace-loving nation; secondly, we adhered firmly to the Monroe Doctrine, and thirdly, we were in a perfect mental neutral ity as regards the great European powers. As a peace loving nation, we played a role in the endeavor to sub stitute the rule of reason for the rule of the bayonet in international rela tions. We were rather looking for ward to a time when war would have become obsolete as a method for set tling disputes i among civilized na tions. By the Monroe Doctrine, we had for nearly a century been able to guarantee the independence of "the weaker republics of America, and for this reason, we had steadfastly re frained from interfering with any European disputes, although our na tion's sympathies had repeatedly been harrowed by the outrages of the Turks against the Armenians. But, act had been said, we were mentally neutral toward the various members- of the present contending allies. Hnwpver. this SDirit of neutrality iYf? not. easv to maintain, since wei were a hetrogeneous mass of people, ; and soon the American pendulum oi '1 sentiment began to swing unevenly. During the first few weeks of the war American sympathies began to range themselves somewhat on the side of the allies. Yet the nation as a whole felt that this was no conflict of theirs. Our newspapers and magazines were full of accounts and often allusions were made by writers, of our not dis cerning the difference betwen the ag gressors and those suffering aggres sion. No statesman, however mag netic, and influential, could have led America into the war during its first six months. X)ur national impulse to war was the result of the slow growth of more than two years. But, let us remember that during the time that we were pondering the question with commendable patience, it is well for us to keep before us the fact that we did not determine upon war merely to vindicate our national rights. The simple motives of the assertion of national rights and the revenge for national injuries stand alone as our reason for entering the conflict. Our own wrongs have come to seem to us insignificant by comparison v.ith the unutterable woes of all other nations ingulfed in war. Infringe ment upon our own rights brought home to us the sufferings -of other nations at the hands of Germany and furnished the precise occasion needed to convince the most idealistic advo cates of peace that a continuance of our neutrality was a moral impossi bility. The conviction of the Ameri can people, which is responsible for our participation in the world conflict is the solemn belief that civilization is at stake; that civilization is incom patible with a victory of the Prussian regime. It is upon this belief that we i entered the war. The clash between Germany and the United States rose out of a con vict of Germany's conduct of her submarine warfare and it is just here that the principle of military neces sity as applied by the general staff reached its climax. For, the sea is the highway of all nations and the violation of the laws of sea war fare strikes all the liberties of all na tions alike. And in this relation let us remember that aside from the de struction of millions of dollars worth of goods on the high seas, nearly four thousand Americans succumbed to watery graves at the mercy of Germany's submarines, while pursu ing her policy of ruthless submarine warfare. Whatever may be said against the sort of blockade which England en forced against Germany, two things raay be said in its favor : It was legal according to precedent and its en forcement did not cause the sinking a single ship or the sacrifice of a single life. Thus we see that our part in the war is that of the defen sive; we are doing our part in at tempting "to make the world safe for democracy." Some speak of peace, but what 'vould a peace do now? A hasty pee would only give Germany time to build another vast navy, to equip another army and evoke upon us a Jcond conflict. We will be ready to submit to peace when Germany is billing to rule her own people and no JJ-ner, to abide by "mere scraps of PaPer and to enter in a league or ganized strong enough to enforce the huma demand for peace. At the present time the American People are far from actualizing that octrme we hold so dear, for airmen, w v I WHY THE UNITED STATES I I IS AT WAR WITH GERMANY. . (Editor's Note : The following article was written by Prof. J. W. Briggs in response to the offer of $25 by J. C. Sales for the best essay from a puohc school teacher on the reasons why the United States is at war.) (winner of prize) America is a peaceful nation. 'We respect other nations rights, wish them prosperity and envy them noth ing. We have vast territory and un developed resources . zo occupy our minds and our hands for venerations without meddling with other peoples' concerns. We believe that the. peace and happiness of mankind will best be promoted by self-government, for which we have stood through almost our whole history. We protected China, from robbery and war on the part of more greedy nations, and hav.e stood the strongest friend of the new Chinese republic. In 1896, we stood the friend of Venezuela in her controversy with Great Britain; for years we have even allowed our own citizens to be wronged in Mexico rather than make war on our neigh bor republic. When we departed from our peace policy in 1898 and made war on Spain, it was in order to stop intolerable oppression at our very door in Cuba; and only took the Philippine Islands that we might save them from falling to some less disinterested nation, and that we might educate their people for inde pendence later. We did not wish to fight Germany; she made the attack on us on our ships, our lives, our" rights, our fu ture. We are in the war because we could not keep out. It is a war of self-defense, a war to save America, to preserve self-respect, to justify bur rights. Germany has dared to tell us what oceans our ships may sail on, the kind and amount of the cargo to be carried, and the paths they must travel. We will not choose the path of submission, and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. And in the name of freedom we ac cept the challenge with ships, with money, with men and with our un daunted spirit. Germany forced us into war by her unlimited submarine warfare which she started Feb. 1, 1917. Before this many American ships had been sunK by German submarines, and hundreds of lives had been lost on these and other ships. This was contrary to all humanity and even to all law. The most horrible outrage was the sinking of the Lusitania in May, 1915, when 1154 lives were lost, 114 being Americans. The Kaiser had struck in advance a medal for him who com mitted the treacherous deed; the Ger man school children were given a holiday celebration of the event; in a nublic address, a German pastor said: "Whoever cannot approve "from the" bottom of his heart the sinking of the Lusitania, and give himself up to hon esi (delight at this victorious exploit of German defensive power, him we judge to be no true German." We saw the Sussex sunk, crowded with the sons and daughters of neutral na tions. Where these ships went down, we still hear coming up from the sea the piteous cries of mothers and children. And Germany has never asked the forgiveness of the world. We see ship after ship sent to the bottom ships of mercy bound out of America for .the Belgium starv ing; ships carrying the Red Cross, and laden with the wounded of all na tions; ships carrying food and cloth-, ing to frien&Jy, .harmless, terrorized peoples; ships flying the Stars and Stripes; sent to the bottom hundreds of miles from shore, manned by American seaman, murdered against all law, without warning and without mercy. We fight because of .Belgium in vaded, outraged, enslaved, impover ished Belgium. We cannot forget Liege, Louvain, Cardinal Mercier. Translated into Amerkan history, these names stand for Bunker-Hill, Lexington, Patrick Henry. Our sense of human justice was horrified by the German invasion of Belgium, a weak and innocent nation which stood in the road which the German armies wished to take into France. We were horrified still more by their conduct in Belgium by their vile and filthy treatment of Belgians; by their rob beries and murders; by their dishon oring of mothers, wives, daughters and sisters ; by their stabbing of little babies with bayonets and carrying them along the streets singing; by tht'jr destruction of precious and sa cred things, and the transporting of valuable material and machinery to Germany; by their deporting of hun dreds of Belgians to work in the mines and munition factories of Ger many; by their herding together young married women and girls, and in stock cars carrying them away to destinies unknown and by the com plete annihilation of towns and cities by burning alive the inhabitants in their homes. Than we hear a Ger man officer say:: "The blood of the entire - population of Louvain is of less worth than one drop of the blood of a German soldier, and the ugliest stone placed to mark his burial is more glorious than all the monuments and all the cathedrals of Europe." We fight to redeem Belgium, lest we be made another Belgium, lest we see the statue of Liberty moulded into German cannon, and the city of Washington be reduced to ashes. We fight Germany because of France invaded, desecrated France, millions of whose sons have died to save the land of Lafayette France, the preserver of the arts, and the first (Continued on page 6.) have Insured, at best, only 'life, with out liberty and with no chance what ever for the pursuit of happiness. For many others we have not even in sured life itself. Our hope now is that at the close of the war, a league for peace may be formed so as to de bar all tides of war, and thus, that there may develop in every citizen a true freedom and, at length, a true union of hearts will exist for all peo- WHY THE UNITED STATES IS AT WAR WITH GERMANY. (Editor's Note : The following article was written by Miss Bessie Steedman in response to the offer of S25'by J. C. Sales for the best essay from a public school teacher on the reasons why the United States is at war.) "In vain the Dove of Peace has tried To end the cruel strife : The Vulture of the East seeks naught Save blood and human life. ! The Tyrant, from his far off seat, j Has flunc his challenge wild. His armies, merciless, have spared Nor man, nor beast, nor child. From over head his human birds Drop bombs (where none resist) To still the breast of harmless ones, (But why should they be missed?) Beneath the waters of the sea, His fish of metal hide, And strew with wreckasre ev'ry where The ocean's bosom, wide. A nd now and then in peaceful guise, His grey hounds scent their prey, And loose their masked fangs of steel, And shoot, and sink, and slay. And now the Tyrant grows more rash, The whole wide world defies; Tor Justice, Mercy. Peace nor Right ; Can move him by their cries. 1 Aroused, the Dove no longer mourns ; It thrills from toe to crest, And lo, the Dove of Peace is now The Eagle of the West. The Dove (that's now an eagle free) Soars screaming in the air, And bids the nation, reat and strong, Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Hurrah! Hurrah! The work goes o! Nor shall it ever rest. Till low the Vulture lies oeneath The Eagle of the "West." Why do we fight Germany? "We have no selfish ends to serve. We de sire no conquests, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation." Then, why are we ready to sink billions of dol lars without one dollar of return, when not one foot of territory will be added to our domain? Why are we ready to sacrifice thousands of our young men. the very flower of our young manhood? The answer is easily given. An an swer which gives us our highest war rant of war by every law of nations, even the most narrow, and by every natural law, for self defense is Na ture's first law. We are fighting in self defense, we are resisting inva sion. We are fighting now in France, that we may not have to fight later in America. We are fighting with help TiowVthat-we" may Vot fight without later. "Plans have been formed and printed, by men of military rank,, for an invasion of America.'" "Can we doubt it when Germany stands self confessed? America had better look out after the war!" "Three weeks to Paris, three months to London, three years to New York." Out of her own mouth she stands condemned, and by her confession do we stand justified. Otir liberty is in peril, our . democracy is in danger, our nation is threatened, our flag, Old Glory, is insulted, our honor is af fronted. The evidence of Germany's bad faith and hostile intent is piled up on every hand. Her auibbles. misrenre- sentations and counter accusations. 1 M - " to our protests against her methods of warfare and disregard of nVhts of Neutrals. No friendly nation fills an other with spies, subsidizes newspa pers to stir un internal discord, nor. while protesting friendship, plots and conspires to make war. Yet, "the Im perial German Government" "filled our unsuspecting: communities with vicious spies and consniritors." Her I g,-"i.o jica.vt ocuitiuu dlllUIlga L UUX people, and, by violence, sought to destroy our industries and arrest our commerce. Insurrection was stirred up in Cuba, Haiti, and San Domingo; hatred and distrust was aroused in Latin America ; Mexico was incited to attack us; and German intrigue sought to embroil us in war with Ja pan. Our hospitality was abused and violated, our turst betrayed, our honor insulted. "The flag under which we serve would have been dis honored had we held our hand." Then, came the attacks of subma rines upon the lives and property of American citizens. Ship after ship was sent to the .bottom. "Ships of mercy bound out of America for the Belgian starving carrying food and clothing to friendly, harmless, terror ized people ; ships flying the Stars and Stripes, sent to the bottom hundreds of miles from shore, manned by American seamen, murdered against all law, without warning." In May, 1915, the Lusitania was sunk with one hundred and fourteen Amrican lives lost. On August 19. 1915. the Arabia was sunk, three American lives lost. September 4, 1915, the Hesperian, one American lost; Octo ber, 1916, The Marina, eight Ameri cans lost; December 14, 1916, Rus sian, seventeen Americans lost; Feb ruary 26, 1917, Laconia, eight Ameri cans lost; March 16, 1917, Vigilancia,' five Americans lost; March 21, 1917, Healdten, seven Americans lost; April 1, 1917, Aztec, twenty-eight Americans lost. In all, before our declaration of war, some two hun dred and twenty-six American citi zens, many of them helpless women and children, were the victims of a warfare as ruthless as ever a barbar ous nation waged, a war opposed to every law of God and man. Our protests met with evasions or false promises, until on January 1, 1917, Count Von Bernstein handed Secretary Lansing a note in which the German Government announced its purpose of ruthless and unrestricted submarine warfare; thus,, the German Government threw down the gaunt let, and America accepted the chal lenge, flinging it back in those words which will "go sounding down ' the man Government has committed re peated acts of war against the Gov ernment and people of the United States of America: Therefore be it. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Ger man Government which has been thrust upon the United States is here by formally declared; and that the President be, and he is hereby, au thorized and directed to employ, the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the "Government to carry on the war against the Imperial German Government; and to bring the con flict to a successful termination nil the resources of the country are here- Dy pledged by the Congress of the United States." And so, we fight for fredom, free dom of the seas, whence the blood of murdered countrymen, like the blood of Abel, cries for vengeance, and in blood shall we blot out that word "Verboten" which German barbarism has written on land and sea. We fight for America, her safety, her honor. "A Prussianized Germany, triumphant in Europe, dominant on the seas, would find occasion to strike down America in her isolation and make of us the overseas tributary of a New Roman Empire.' What? This fair, free land of ours, America, child of Freedom, ground under a despot's heel? Free-born American citizens subjects of a con quering race, subservient to Prussian power, cringing to Prussian brutal ity? The Stars and Stripes trailed in the dust "while around it sounds the wailing of its people in their woe?" Nay, we will "fight till the alst armed foe expires" or Old Glory shall wave over a land reddened by the blood of its sons and daughters, a land of the dead, but still "the Land of the Free and the home of the Brave."! But this is not all we are fighting for. Purged of every selfish consid eration, the cause for which we fight may be given in three words: Lib erty, Humanity1, aa'nd Christianity, these three embrace every ideal for which America stands. We fight because Democracy, the synonym of Liberty, is imperiled, be cause Civilization and Christianity hang in the balance. It is Democracy against Autocracy, Civilization against Barbarism, Christianity against a Philosophy which is oppos ed to every teaching of the "Prince of Peace.", The Powers of Darkness are arrayed against the Powers of Light. We are fighting for Democracy, Liberty. "There can be no question that the future of democracy and of independent national life is hanging in the balance in this struggle." "With us are the democracies of the world, great and small; against us, the autocracies of the world are ar rayed warring against the principles and ideals on which our democracy fi Tl 1 1 Xfjjr and all others are founded." The freedom of the world is chal lenged, and we fight "that the small est nation may equally with the great est" have the right to "live its own life and to have that life determined by the will of its own people." We fight for freedom, "the freedom of the seas, so that all nations may have unmolested intercourse with each other in the peaceful pursuit of legiti mate commerce." But more than this, we fight to preserve that vision of a great world Republic, a Democ racy in which the innocent and help less shall be protected, where honor shall be the reward of merit, not the haphazard of blood, where power does not come of "Divine Right," where might is not right, where honor is not an empty bubble, and solemn jr fc ' ' I 1 II . 9 I II 1 ' T . I rfTvp- ' . Here come to teyou every week My name is Billy Bear. , I've hired out to the Best Hardware Store in this town. . I am going to tell you all about our store, our methods and the fine' Hardware we sell. Be sure and meet me here in this news paper every week. I am going to work for BLAND PHONE NO. 7 10) Mil ley T7 A commodious pavilion dining room is now in process of construction up at Chimney Rock. This will be open for the public July 1st, and will constitute ah attraction of great interest to the motorist. n u I V .i(D(C,A pledges Dut'scraps of paper," where the, flower of freedom, that fragile flower, first nurtured among the snows of the rugged New England hills, may grow into "a tall and state ly lily with a golden heart," a radiant bloom ''flashing its golden glory across the blue leagues of all the seven seas," where "the Common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe. And the kin'dly earth shall slumber wrapt in universal law." We fight for Humanity; for Bel gium, invaded, desolated outraged Belgium," gallant, devoted Belgium, with her blackened, descrated homes; for France, glorious heroic France, the eldest born of American Liberty, "millions of whose heroic sons have (Continued on page 7.) fin 7'n(f tocuf this town. IARDWARE Cffi ci L( Do T3 i I LJLo many :0f our WoiVh we !
French Broad Hustler (Hendersonville, N.C.)
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June 6, 1918, edition 1
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