Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights

ecretary Lane Tells Why We Fight-Broken Pledges-Laws Violated-Pru

ex of war with France, England, Russia, Belgium, Italy and other nations; but that the iron hand of Prussianism, as exemplified in the conduct of the

at transatlantic steamship Lusitania, and, while pretending friendship for the United States and pleading no intent to disregard A

part of the German forces which clearly marked them descendants of the "wolf tribes" o

he subject of international adjudication but for the arrogance of the ruling forces of the Teutons. In a broad sense, Pr

by an autocratic and ambitious German Government-that of the Hohenzollern dynasty-which possessed an insane ambition to dominate the earth, leaving to America no alternat

nd is developed by environment and training. Just as the professional spirit in any other occupation leads to an exhibition of exaggerated importance, the despotic doctrin

ILITAR

words of Secretary Lane, of the Department of the Interior, at Washington, who in an address before the Ho

e rest of the world from the nation that has linked itself with the Turk and adopted the methods of Mahomet,

he made the attack upon us; not on our shores, but on our ships, our lives, our rights, our future. For two years and mor

he attacks on Scarborough and other defenseless towns, the laying of mines in neu

thrown away; all nobility; man has come down to the primitive brute.

O DEFEND

r, led to the invasion of the United States by slow, steady, logical steps. Our sympathies evolv

cerity, as honest men should talk, until we discovered that our ta

o be a nation of mere moneymakers, devoid of all character-until, indeed, we were told that we could not walk the highways of the world without permis

ound that the treaty torn to pieces at Liege was but the symbol of a policy t

ght to live as we have lived, not as some one else wishes us to live. In the name of freedom we challenge with ships

es, a living spirit which has purpose and pride and conscience, knows why it wishes to live and to what end, knows how it comes to be re

A MUST

mpathy with our purpose, and will not hesitate to destroy us if the law that we respect, the rights that are to us sacred, or the spirit that we have, stand across her set will to make this world bow before h

history and in this sense

nnot forget Liege, Louvain and Cardinal Mercier. Translated into terms of Am

ed to save the land of Lafayette. Glorious, golden France, the preserver of the arts,

call Anglo-Saxon civilization. We defeated her once upon the land and once upon sea. But Australia, New Zealand,

o freedom. Her peasants must have their chance; they must go to school to Washington, to Jefferson and to

r rising hope that the world may be

CRIMES A

e us and then to fool us. We could not believe that Ger

up out of the sea where the Lusitania went down. A

rowded with the sons and d

nd laden with the wounded of all nations; ships carrying food and clothing to friendly, harmless, terrorized peoples; ships flying the

we see that she was holding us off with fair promises until she could build her huge fleet of submarines. For when spring came she blew her promise int

illed our cities. Officials of her Government, received as the guests of this nat

ill held hands off-she sent the Zimmermann note calling to her aid Mexico, our southern nei

THAT HAS NO

r the nations of the world must keep faith. There can be no living for us in a world where the State has no conscience, no reverence for the things of the s

llage below. It is a war of democracy-the right of all to be their own masters. Let Germany be feudal if she will! But she must not spread her system over a world that has outgrown it. Feudalism plus science, thirteenth century plus twentieth; this is the religion of

tants, with dirigibles that bombard men and women while they sleep, with a perfected system of terrorization tha

HAUNTE

ood and in money. This spirit might demand Canada from a defeated, navyless England, and then our dream of p

and you will mark but four, running from the Baltic through Austria and Bulgaria to Turkey. All the other n

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 wh

the House of Hohenzollern, of which Emperor Wilhelm is the head, and which has developed the unbendin

ich has permitted the cruel characteristics of the "wolf tribes" of feudal times to be carried down through the generations, and

A WARL

Germans in history is as a warlike race. The earliest German literature is composed of folk tales about war heroes-their ideals and

niuses, 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

aves or wardens to guard the frontiers of the kingdom, fortified his towns and required every ninth man to take up arms for his country. Robbe

ntry was divided into principalities, each of which maintained a force of arms. This limited form of military rule maintained for several centur

THE MILIT

e Hohenzollerns in Brandenburg, and, in fine, f

ary ideal. In the beginning history says that Burgrave Frederick tried all the arts of peace, but it was only with the army o

st Joachim I, of Brandenburg (1529), who introduced Roman law and established a supreme court for all the provinces at Berlin; Kurfuerst Joachim II, of Brandenburg (1542), whom history describes as an unscrupulous despot, fond of luxury and display, and who changed his religion because it was an advantage politically for him t

fter the lapse of time the Thirty Years' War finally turned Germany into a field of blood, the Great Elector emerg

OPE AT H

ard "The Great," was taken from his women teachers at the age of seven years and subjected to rigid military discipline. He commanded a company of cadets, composed of the sons of nobles who were compelled to drill for him, and at the age of four

compulsory military training. All males born were enrolled and liable to service when of age. The army was recruited by districts and every district had its regiment, though later exemptions we

1871, which placed the king of Prussia at its head, the Constitution of the German Empire made every German a member of the active army for seven years. Service

RENGTH I

our batteries were added. Two complete army corps were added in 1890, and in 1893 the color service, or length of time when reservists were subject to duty under colors only, was decreased by two years, bringing the peace strength up to more than half a million and the reservists up to 4,000,000. Step by step the strength of the military forc

ch, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Waldeck, Lippe, Schaumburg-Lippe, Reuss (elder line), Reuss (younger line), Anhalt, Schwarz-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Ha

service. Reservists under the rules in force when the war started were subject to t

ND EXAGGERATE

ustrated by his many egotistical and exaggerated utterances. In dedicating the monument o

stone of what my father and Prince Frederick gained." The thrills which such expressions arouse are born of an inveterate emoti

Bismarck for the development of Prussian power and that while at times Germany has been reported to be maneuvering for peace, her peace moves have in reality been war moves, and that a truce would on

its conquest. Based upon reports received by agents of the United States, of England, of France and other countries, Germany aimed to form a consolidation of an impregnable military and economic unit st

T WORK S

rmany as the harmless activity of extremists, too radical to be taken seriously. Coupled with this plan, as an instrument of economic consolidation, the German officials used with

by boundaries very coincident with the military lines held today, under German officers, by the troops of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. Adhesion of the German Government itself to such a plan was not suspected by the other Powers, although the

emburg into the German confederacy and then into the German Empire, Emperor William chose war as the means of es

F DISSO

ing little in common and apparently held together only by the decaying genius of the aged Emperor Franz Joseph, the dual monarchy was regarded everywhere as on the verge of dissolution. Her helplessnes

abetted by industrial agents, scattered throughout the country by Germany, hold the Austrian and Hungarian population in a union which neit

coup, which in itself is regarded now as further evidence that a clear road through to

fending Turkish territory and in eradicating inharmonious elements, such as the Armenians and Syrians, but German industrial organizations h

898 that all Mohammedans might confidently regard the German Emperor as "their friend forever." There also is a complete understanding now of Ger

ust accomplish the "liberation of Italians, of Slavs, of Rumanians and of Tzecho-Slovacs from foreign domination; the enfranchisement of population

protect its ships and make secure the lives of its citizens on the highways of the world, but the p

adox of history is that every struggle leads to firmer unity. Wars ceme

to have a force sufficient to be a menace to general peace, and a League of Peace be for

hat compose them, and for the benefit of

e of the whole world as well as to its own prosperity o

d from advancing the profits of capital, a

ship and opinion, and liberty of move

h be manufactured except under control o

seas be f

iew to the general welfare and no

, and all other common and necessary means of

conscripted to devote a certain part

e under strict government control, so that no irresp

to equip him or her for self-sup

enjoy every rig

ays have precedence over

ech, of a free press, and of a