JIP ■HHR1 tt HfflaflKBB gBi m ■ m Us Hill HI Class _ Book_ Copyright^ . COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; ®mmna$)(fwfrer Speeches and Essays ByR.C.Duff press or REIN ft SONS COMPANY HOUSTON. TEXAS 3\ £T| 5 .1175- COPYRIGHT 1915 BY REIN & SONS COMPANY HOUSTON, TEXAS ©CI. L33 PEJEFACE The accompanying articles, essays, speech, and poem in blank verse by Mr. Duff were produced by the author and at contemporary dates furnished to the press, during the first year of the present general war in Europe. Some of the articles containing an element of prophecy, the publishers deem it of interest to note the dates at which originally they respec- tively appeared. A continuing demand which otherwise cannot be supplied, has resulted in this compilation and repro- duction. The Publishers. INDEX GENESIS OF THE GREAT WAR 7 Chapter I — Bursting of the Storm 9 Chapter II — Murder of Austrian Heir Apparent 14 Chapter III — Russia Particeps Criminis 17 Chapter IV — William II of Germany... 20 Chapter V — Mobilization of Russian Army de Facto War 25 Chapter VI — Teuton and Slav Compared 29 GERMANIA DEFENDER 35 THE WAR IS OVER 41 Chapter I — Final Result Determined .... 43 Chapter II — Situation on Western Battle Front 45 Chapter III — Situation on Eastern Battle Line 54 Chapter IV — The Affray at the Dar- danelles 59 Chapter V — Situation on Italian Battle Line 61 GERMANY, ENGLAND AND UNITED STATES 69 AN EXPLANATION 95 OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT WIL- SON 101 SEVEN QUESTIONS ANSWERED.... 123 DUFF To every man who love* the Truth, and does not fear to talk it out aloud, this little volume is dedicated by THE AUTHOR. Houston, Texas, September 1B S 1915. ©ElESIS OF THE CHEAT WA1 (Amloagii 11, 1M4) IBIB ©F TIE ©MEAT WAE CHAPTER s It has come. That dark and dreadful hour against which, for a generation, all of Europe has prepared and all of hu- manity has prayed, has burst in storm and terror. The earth staggers beneath the tread of armed millions, and already at many points of contact rage hostilities, which, ere concluded, likely will rend the map of Western Europe and make its soil, from the Baltic Ocean to the Adriatic Sea, an universal field of carnage. Never in this world before (forgetting nothing in the way of former wars of which history makes mention) has mad- dened humanity assembled, for the pur- poses of death and destruction, forces so vast, equipped with arms and instruments so efficient for slaughter and ruin, nor in an environment of place and circum- stances where war could wreak such utter havoc. It is in some sort a privilege to be of the generation that witnesses while it endures an event the most momentous that has oc- curred since the Crucifixion. I doubt whether in the world's history any conflict ever occurred involving great- er consequences, and while probably no (9) Ge h mania Defender such event ever transpired where there appeared upon the surface so little occa- sion for war, yet the fundamental grounds of national quarrel are substantial and deep. The actual underlying contention, the very root and occasion of this war, is the steady pressure of the Slavonic races of Eastern Europe and of Asia against the peoples of Western Europe for the grad- ual possession and occupancy of the terri- tories of the latter. Consulting the map of Europe, it will be observed that already the territory under the dominions of the Slav, notably Russia, lloumania, Serbia, and Monte- negro, are vastly larger than the balance of the continent. Austria itself, domi- nated by its German faction, long has contained in its bosom the seed of danger in the presence of an ever-increasing popu- lation of Slavs. Bulgaria is largely Slav. The balance of Europe — Germany, Bel- gium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, England, Ireland and Scot- land — are, in area, if one will only ob- serve, little better than a mere fringe along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean/ North Sea and Mediterranean, clinging grimly to the western edge of the continent, while the vast domain of the Slav sweeps in solid (10) Ger mania Defender and continuous form, back into the inte- rior, across Europe and across Asia, from the Baltic Ocean and Caspian Sea, six thousand miles to the waters of the Pacific. Russia and Siberia alone contain 8,660,000 square miles of territory and the magni- tude of that area is more readily realized by observing that the whole of Austria- Hungary and Germany contains only 449,765 square miles. Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro are mere outpost positions for the great Slav family behind them in Russia and Siberia, and while, under the threat of compulsion by Western European nations, they are maintaining governmental independence of Russia, in race, religion, sympathy and interest they are one with Russia, and ex- tend the Slav dominion to the Adriatic Sea, half encircling the territories of Ger- many and Austria, home seat of the Teu- tonic races. Of all peoples that ever lived, with the possible exception of the British, the Slavs are the most avaricious for land. In Rus- sia and Siberia alone they hold already one-sixth of the land surface of the globe. They today occupy more and in proportion beneficially utilize less land than any race on earth that pretends to civilization. Yet, hardly a decade passes unmarked by some new aggression on alien territory. (ID Ger mania Defender Only the keen discernment of Japan ten years ago, seasonably penetrating Rus- sia's ulterior designs on the vast domain of Manchuria, followed by prompt and suc- cessful warfare, prevented a long contem- plated spoliation of the Chinese empire. Thrown back from the East by the unex- pectedly valiant arms of the Japanese, they have in the past few years renewed their old designs toward the southwest, and the attitude of their blood-brethren in Ser- bia has afforded them an easy cloak be- neath which to mask insidious approaches that have had in mind not merely the ex- tension of Russian power over the Slav states of the Balkan Peninsula, but deeply studied designs on those territories of Austria-Hungary, such as Bosnia-Herze- govina, where the Slav population is nu- merous. In this enterprise Serbia, according to many evidences, has been and is Russia's willing agent. Bosnia-Herzegovina, territories con- taining an area of 19,696 square miles, with a preponderating Slav population, down to 1878 were under the heel of the Turk, and the fruitful source of religious disturbances. Their deliverance was ac- complished following the Russo-Turkish war by the treaty of Berlin in the year mentioned, transferring the administration (12) Germania Defender of their affairs to Austria, retaining, how- ever, a species of nominal title in Turkey. Austria has redeemed them from substan- tial semi-savagery, has restored and main- tained peace and order, has built them a system of railroads, established schools, and in late years created in their territory a condition of business prosperity such as they never knew before. The Serbian Slav, who had witnessed the establishment of Austrian guardianship over Bosnia- Herzegovina with jealous eyes, has never ceased to plot their accession to Serbia, and in 1908 Austria, conscious of the dan- ger involved in their anomalous attitude, combined title to its existing possession and responsibility by annexing them. Strange to say Turkey, the power really authorized to complain, acquiesced quietly, but Serbia, while devoid of any rights whatever in the matter, has nursed a venom on that account that is directly the occa- sion of the cataclysm now overwhelming Europe. Its plotting, as regards Bosnia-Herze- govina, has been open and national, per- meating government and military circles and beyond question has had the sympathy and support of Russia. Nothing could be more consistent with the general policy of the Slavs in that quarter of the world. (13) C E R MAN I A 1) E F E N D E B obiaftieir nn Mimirdl^ir ©1! Arasftrusicn SMo Appsunennft They had looked forward to the death oi' Franz Joseph, the aged Emperor oi' Austria-Hungary, whose personality they have thought the only tie binding the ill- assorted elements oi' the dual monarchy in union, expecting that nn his demise the empire would disintegrate and that hour he opportune for the Slav to grasp with greedy hands its dismemhered southern provinces. Latterly, however, it has been manifest that in the Archduke Franz Fer- dinand, heir to Fran/ Joseph's throne, Austria- Hungary possessed and Slavdom would have to deal with a man, big, hold and amply strong to hold the reins oi' pow- er in the dual monarchy, and moreover, a man most conspicuously inimical to all that they intended. They simply murdered him. In the latter part oi' last June, the archduke, tak- ing with him his wife, in the course of administrative work visited Serajevo, the eapital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, near the Serbian boundary. Passing through the streets in a carriage on his way to the city hall, an effort was made to murder him by exploding a bomb. It failed; he was un- (14) Ge it mania Defender harmed and continued his trip. But so persistent and bold were the assassins that on his return through the streets some minutes later, a Serbian, Prinzip, burst through the crowd and by the archducal guard, sprang on the steps of the arch- duke's carriage and emptied a revolver point blank into the bodies of the arch- duke and his wife, killing both. This assassin, according to the declara- tion of the Austrian ministry, as regards his plot and the instruments for its con- summation, was traced clearly and directly back to semi-official Serbian anti-Austrian societies in Belgrade. Before God and man this cruel and cold-blooded murder represented not mere- ly an attack by the individual Prinzip against the individual Franz Ferdinand of Hapsburg, but by Serbia and the Slavonic race against the throne, the continuity of the imperial family, and the integrity of the dual monarchy. It was not merely ground for war, but was war in a most revolting and inadmissible form. What followed is too recent to require extended review. Every power engaged in the present war knew exactly the signifi- cance of this murder, and it should not, in human nature, have been hard to fore- see that the hour had come when Austria, Teutonic Austria, would take its sword in (15) Geiuiania Defender hand and God willing once for all stamp to death the hateful Slav faction which, on its southern border, was eternally plot- ting Austrian destruction. After calling on Serbia to root out these things itself, to be agreed to in forty- eight hours, Austria declared war. It has been said that within the time fixed by Austria, Serbia signified its will- ingness to comply with all but one of the Austrian demands. The fact is, and all Europe knew it, that, however directly the Serbian government might signify in words its willingness to respect the integ- rity of Austria, and to abolish conspiracies against Austrian dominion in Bosnia- Herzegovina, before it could perform its promises, it would require either to make over the nature of the Serbian Slavs or re- people Serbia. The fact is when Serbian plotting had proceeded to the point of assassinating members of the Austrian imperial family, there was nothing left for it short of puni- tive war bv Austria on Serbia. (16) Germania Defender (S1A1PTIEM HEII MonggSa IP&ir&^pg (CirSiEanimSs The question, big with fate, was, how far would Slavonic Russia go to support the guilty nation? Had no question of racial ambition, no greed for power nor territory, no brother- hood-bund that made the Serbian's act its own, underlaid this situation, never in this world would Russia have drawn its sword to prevent the punishment Serbia has so long invited and deserved. It was bound by no treaty with Serbia that required it to fight Austria. Yet all Europe knew that on the instant Austria attacked Serbia, even in so righteous a cause, Rus- sia would attack Austria. Why? Can any man justify such at- titude ? By making common cause with Serbia would she not avow her partnership not only in Serbia's immediate crime, becom- ing accessory after the fact, but openly disclose her privity to all the deep design- ing that lay behind those murders? This was obvious, but it proved no deterrent to the Czar. Issuing a statement that Rus- sia could not be indifferent to the fate of its Slavonic kindred in Serbia, he set in (17) Germania Defender motion the machinery of general war by ordering the mobilization of the Russian army on the frontiers of Austria and Ger- many, and thereby set out on a program to garner, if he could, the fruits of the gen- eral Slavonic policy of years in the Bal- kan region. In this act Nicholas consciously took the helm of affairs. Immediately the Aus- tro- Serbian situation was dwarfed to in- significance. The two, had he let their im- broglio alone, might have battled away in- definitely; no other nation would have in- terposed, and, whatever the event, no great harm to humanity would have be- fallen. Nicholas, could he but have for- gotten for a time Russia's ancient lust for land, could he have but forsworn an un- righteous blood-brotherhood that has no better basis than universal Slavonic greed for the possessions of other peoples, held in his hands for several fateful days the power to perpetuate the peace of Europe. Knowing first that by the terms of the triple alliance, should Russia move on Austria, Germany was bound in honor as in interest, to make common cause with Austria; and, second, that in such case un- happy France and England, against their own interest and without a stake in the quarrel, were bound by a subsisting sim- ilar convention they never should have (18) Ger mania Defender made, to make common cause with him, it was for the Slav to say whether the con- test should limit itself to a small space in the Balkans, soon to find surcease, and be devoid of either great disaster or great consequences, or whether by making Ser- bia's quarrel his own, plunge at once a continent in one mad welter of blood, flame and fierce destruction, the dreadful shock of which would shake the earth, the end of which no vision could perceive, and the results of which no mind might dis- cern. He chose for war! Immediately that Russia ordered the mobilization of its army, signifying its obvious designs on Austria, and by con- sequence of the terms of the triple alliance necessarily inviting and defying action by Germany, there appeared in quick action the most remarkable figure, and in this country the least understood, on earth today. (19) Germania Defender CHAIPTIEM HV ml U ©g ©©raaumy William II, King of Prussia and Kaiser of Germany, is now 55 years of age. He ascended the imperial tlirone in 1888, and therefore has reigned 26 years. They have been years of profound peace for Germany, unmarked till now by any quarrel whatsoever with any other nation. In that time France, England, Russia, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria, Roumania, Belgium, Montenegro, Greece and Tur- key, in short, nine-tenths of Europe, all have been at war once or more than once. But under the hand of William II Ger- many has slept in peace. Yet they have called him the "War Lord of Europe." The time has come for men who want to judge a vast and momentous event in the lights of facts and with fairness to brush away prejudice and misinformation. Germany is a constitutional monarchy, established in 1871 by the unification of 26 separate German states similar in popula- tion, religion, language anl culture and indulging the same high racial and na- tional ideals and aspirations. In the bat- tle for German liberty and union Prussia, • (20) Germania Defender more than any other state, had led and bled, and by the constitution of the Em- pire the King of Prussia was nominated hereditary Kaiser of the German Empire. If ever country or people owed ag- grandizement and prosperity to the virtue and genius of a single family, Prussia owes that debt to the House of Hohen- zollern. Never in the world, according to the historical reading of this writer, has there appeared in human affairs another such family, who, rising out of an obscure position in life, and step by step for seven centuries, advancing from mere knight- errantry progressively to the titles of margrave, prince, elector and king, fur- nished without failure generation after generation men, who while born to and surrounded by all the appanages of power and finally of wealth, maintained in their private lives and government such high ideals of honor and such sincere and sin- gular devotion to the welfare of the peo- ple whom they ruled. When England, under the early mon- archs of the present House of Bruns- wick; France under the Bourbons, and Russia under the Romanoffs, presented to the world the spectacle of monarchs and courts steeped in licentiousness, frivolity and corruption, when morality in high circles was laughed at and public treas- (21) Ger mania Defender uries exhausted to build palaces for royal courtesans and to maintain worthless fa- vorites, the Hohenzollerns as electors of Brandenburg and after 1701 as Kings of Prussia, were holding stern and frugal state in Berlin, worshipping God accord- ing to their faith, drilling their troops and studying the economic interests of their people, while on his deathbed old Fred- erick William, the father of Frederick the Great, solemnly declared that in all his life he had never known a woman save Sophia Dorothea, his wife. Not always intellectually brilliant were they, but mentally solid; always true to themselves and their country; gluttons for hard work and devoted to duty; stern in defense of their personal right and rule and jealous of authority; yet it was Fred- erick the Great himself, who set before the eyes of his successors, of whom the present Kaiser is beyond question the most distinguished, the maxim in German government that "the prince is not the ab- solute master, but only the first servant of his people." Such was the family from whom the Kaiser springs. I have adverted to the fact that the world has called him the war lord since when, on the day of his accession to the throne, he issued an address to the Ger- (22) Germania Defender man army saying that it was the hope and salvation of its country, and because since that time he has constantly fostered the ideal of the "nation in arms," by which was implied universal training to arms of German citizens. The fact is, no man since Napoleon more clearly discerned the menace to Western Europe presented by the Slav than William II, and in view of the fact that today the whole of Europe has put upon the arms of the German people the double burden of dashing back that fatal tide while, at the same time, waging des- perate war with countries that ought to be fighting by their side, who can now deny the foresight and wisdom of the words and policies which, while he maintained utter peace, as did not his neighbor sovereigns, earned for him the title of the "War Lord"? On numerous occasions, in speeches and interviews, he has declared that while it was his purpose, by prepared- ness, to insure Germany immunity from outside attack, his aspiration otherwise was for the superior development of Ger- man industry, trade and commerce, work consistent only with the maintenance of peace. More than any monarch of his period he himself almost annually visited the other countries of Europe in personal efforts to establish and maintain senti- (23) Ger mania Defender ments of peace, based on mutual confi- dence and esteem. His work bore fruit. In the last quar- ter century German industry expanded be}^ond all calculation; German manufac- tures, fostered by a protective tariff, and by the Kaiser's policy in behalf of a Ger- man navy and a German merchant marine have penetrated every corner of the globe "Made in Germany" stamped on multi- tudes of articles used in every household the world over has become as common a* the alphabet. And the German people for all the cost of maintaining their greal army, never in all their history knew such prosperhy as William's policies have brought them during the last ten years. Such was the record of the man tc whom the burden of responsibility shifted on July 29, 1914, when word was flashed through the world that the Czar had or- dered an army of 1,200,000 Slavs to as- semble on the Austrian and German fron- tiers. (24) Ger mania Defender ©HAFTER V M@lbnllfls©(fcn@nn ©2 Mungdknn Airss^ dl© Fadto War Armies are mobilized in this world for but one purpose, viz : to fight. Under the circumstances mentioned the order for mobilization by Russia was de facto the commencement of hostilities against both Austria and Germany, as definite and un- equivocal as is the case where an individual draws a pistol, cocks it and raises it toward another individual's head. And, moreover, since by previous pledge France and Eng- land had bound themselves that in any such case the quarrel of Russia was to be made their own, Russia's act was the act of France and England, and nothing re- mained prior to effusion of blood save verbal formalities that recognized the situ- ation of belligerency. In modern war, once that condition is established, the laggard is a fool. The government that hesitates gives half con- sent for its own territory to be made the theatre of war and for all the horrors of invasion to fall upon its own people. William acted with characteristic promptitude and decision. On July 29 he warned the Czar that he, of course, con- (25) Ger mania Defender strued mobilization by Russia to mean war, and called on him to avoid responsibility for that crime by revoking the order of mobilization. At the same time as to France, to insure against any possible chance of error, he inquired of its govern- ment whether it was the unalterable pur- pose of France to abide its engagement with Russia. Russia's reply was to further prosecute with fury its work of mobiliza- tion, and France's that it stood by its death pact with the Czar. What remained? Merely to strike — hard and quickly. First complying with the honorable usage in that regard that calls for open declaration of war ere striking the foe, William picked up the double gauntlet Russia and France had thrown at his feet, and gave his armies the order to march. I have seen much shallow comment be- wailing conditions in Europe, where, it is said, lust for blood and the personal ambi- tions of sovereigns have plunged their peoples into an unwelcome war. Be assured of this: The acts of Wil- liam in this matter are as certainly (and probably more certainly) a reflex of the German national spirit as that any act of war ever adopted by the American Con- gress represented American public senti- ment. He could not sustain for thirty days (26) Gee mania Defender nor would have dared ever to embark on the present titanic conflict, were he not supported by overwhelming public senti- ment in Germany, where the people are as cultured and as well informed concern- ing their interests as are the Americans. In this connection, we Americans, sub- merged in self-satisfaction concerning our own form of government, are prone to forget that an overwhelming proportion of the earth, as regards both area and population, adheres to and reveres the in- stitution of monarchy; yet the people of Europe, except in Russia, by their own volition exercise such preponderating pow- er as regards their governmental affairs that, if they chose, they can surely change either rulers or forms of government ; and today no throne in Western Europe is stable whose occupant in fundamental matters defies the public will or neglects the public welfare. In Norway so late as 1905 that country having dissolved its union with Sweden, the people had in their hands the immediate matter of de- termining their new form of government, and clinging to the institution of mon- archy they elected a king, Haakon, the present monarch, by a popular vote, the vote standing 259,563 for Haakon, with only 69,264 against his election. The German people know — what puts (27) Germania Defender France and England to shame — that the conflict is essentially the age old battle renewed between the Teutonic and Sla- vonic races for control of Western Eu- rope, and for the survival there of the most cherished institutions of civilization, the best in science, art, literature and music, with which the Teutonic races have en- dowed every part of the earth except those parts impervious to such influences, domi- nated by the Slav. (#0 Germania Defender CHAPTER VIE T@Qnft@na aumdl Slaw C@ii3aipsiir@dl Is it necessary in this day of enlighten- ment to institute a comparison between these races? Think only for a moment. Consider the civilization not merely of Germany and Austria, but of Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England and the United States of America, and remem- ber that German, Austro-German, Dutch- man, Dane, Norwegian, Swede, Angle, Saxon and Norman, and their descendants in England, America and everywhere, in- cluding, of course, a large element of the populations of Belgium and France, draw their blood from the self -same source, and that wherever that blood dominates, en- lightened and representative government, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and of the press, and, among the people, suitable guarantees of life, liberty and happiness prevail; none of which applies in any territory on earth dominated by the Slav, whose very name, in an age gone by, was the etymological derivative for our word "slave," in whose blood mingle strains from Tartar and Mongolian, and who at the end of a thousand years of his- tory and contact with enlightened peoples (29) G E It M A N I A D E F E N 1) E B has not yet been able to confer upon him- self any part whatever in the affairs of his government, whose people in general are unlearned and steeped in superstition, and whoso place in the useful sciences and arts, as well as the world of letters, commerce and trade is five hundred years behind the Teuton. It is as though Mexico, if peo- pled by overwhelming numbers, were to undertake the conquest of the United States. Shame on England! Germany today is fighting the battle of civilization, and England assigns no better reason for ally- ing herself against her cousins in blood than that the late development of German industry menaces English foreign trade! It is hard to assign any reason for France's adherence to Russia against the Germans other than the immemorial an- tagonism between French and Germans. "La revanche" as against Germany has been the undisguised policy of France since the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, as the result of which the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine were taken over by Germany. Otherwise it is difficult to perceive any sentiment or interest that France possibly can have in common with the Slavs. But let it be remembered that only one hundred years ago the French under Napoleon had crushed Prussia like (30) G e r m a n i a Defender an eggshell, and spared not even their in- ternal autonomy or independenee. The fact is, could Britain forget its trade jealousy and France Alsace-Lor- raine every reason possible exists why both should be united with Germany to roll back from Western Europe that same Slavonic peril which the French a century ago vainly attempted to avert by their fa- mous and disastrous march to Moscow, and which, with better luck than Napoleon, both united with the Turks to check, in the Crimean War of 1859-'60. And should they in their present alli- ance be so unfortunate as to extort victory for Russia over German arms, every ele- ment in their natures must prove false to itself or within five years France and Britain, while Germany lies prostrate and bleeding, with all the power and resources left at their command, will in their turn be waging desperate war against Russia to save themselves from consequences that the aid they are now rendering Russia will devolve upon the whole of Western Eu- rope. In our public press and in personal discussions it has appeared to the present writer that Americans were jumping at hasty conclusions concerning the causes for and issues involved in the pending con- test. The foregoing review of the his- (31) Geemania Defender torical elements involved is offered for publication with the hope that it may aid a clearer and broader conception of the European situation, as regards which, in line with President Wilson's late plea for neutral consideration, while no American should be partisan, all Americans should be informed. (32) AMIA PEFIEMPJ !©„ 1918) Gee mania Defender AUEA PISFISM©] They say, Germania — that hostile world That now rings thee around with brutal steel, It says — that in those four and forty years, The while thou and thy children slept at peace, (Whereas the same-while, they who frown on thee Ranged all the earth with bloody hands, now at Each other's throats, now snatching colonies Wherever might be found a spot whose sons Were not sufficient to defend it) they — That world, declares that thou, the whilst thou slept Dreamed of wars — of horrid wars of conquest. And with the corners of their mouths pulled down, Their finger tips atouch and eyes rolled up, Murmur their pain that such depravity Should yet abide, even in dreams, among A Christian, self-styled cultured people! They charge not on thee any overt act; They say not that the mighty sword thou sheathed After Sedan, at Versailles, thenceforth left Its scabbard; but they say, that in thy heart Thou meditated war; complain that thou Permitted not that sword, of old so keen In thy behalf (and theirs) to go to rust; That many times in vain they pointed thee Examples, shining and blest, of nations Of which history has made some mention, That went disarmed and unprepared for war: Egypt, India, China, Korea, Persia, The Boer Republics, Poland, saying naught Of many other such nations whose names Are now no more remembered among men. What of it, O Germania, if that The time thou slept, thy slumbers were annoyed Ever by loud clashing of arms of theirs? If that through half-closed lids, thine eyes that slept, Yet never slept so soundly but they saw The portent of world-wide events, beheld (35) Germania Defender (Within the very time thou raised no hand), The deadly British grip tighten upon The throats of India and Egypt; saw The Boer Republics of South Africa Go down beneath a storm of shot and shell And losing nationality become "British South Africa"; beheld a joint British and Russian policy, meddling In the affairs of Persia, coiling there A serpent doomed to strangle her to death; Beheld Russia encroaching on China Until in deadly fear, Nippon, that knew The Bear and what his rough embrace implies, Risked all, and drove back from the Yellow Sea, Still hungry and unsatisfied, those hordes, Germania, that many times have brought The torch and sword across the Vistula Into the bowels of thy land; beheld "La Belle" France, vis et armis, seize and hold Defenseless Tunis and Algeria; Beheld that France building a chain of forts, Not only good for defense but a base For war upon thy western boundary, From Basel to the Belgian line; beheld Belgium, herself take up that work, and in Her turn, while leaving her French line exposed, Build Liege on thy flank, and point its guns, And those of Namur, toward thy River Rhine. Beheld Japan, polite and bland, at once, A pupil and a fellow in the school Of Europe, tutored by her great ally, Wage wars for conquest twice, and then garner The fruits of war by annexing Korea, Whose very name she struck from off the maps, Appropriately calling it — Cho-Sen. Beheld the wide and rolling deep enchained (The seas, to which the right of property Cannot at law pertain, and where, by right, By natural right, ships under every flag Must have — and have — a common home) enchained, (36) Ger mania Defender And narrowed down to a mere British lake By an assumption that "Britannia Rules The Wave," a claim in fraud of every land With shores upon the sea, and therefore good Only so far as might can make it right; And yet enforced by British policy Calling for ships of war at every hour Sufficient to combat whatever power Other two naval nations in concert Can put upon the sea. These things thou saw. Nor didst thou fail to see, and reflect on The "Strassburg Monument," a shrine whereon At Paris, in the heart of France, was kept Alive the fire of hate. The sombre crepe Renewed from time to time, for forty years, That hung about its base, proclaimed in ways The world could not misunderstand, a deep And deadly purpose at the cannon's mouth To seize again thine ancient heritage Of Alsace and Lorraine. This, too, thou saw. O thou Germania, disturber of The world-peace, why with all these presages, Abounding everywhere thy vision turned, Of universal good intent and love, Shouldst thou, unholy and unhappy one, Have called about thee all thy warlike sons And put into their hands cold steel, and bid Them keep it bright; have taught them all to sing A song discordant to the general ear, Of "Deutschland uber alles?" Deep thy fault! Nor was this all the measure of thy blame: They take it hard, Germania, and hold It matter of offense, that thou, thy son, Especially thy son, and King, should call On the Almighty God — associate Divinity in things of German kind. And "Ich und Gott" they misquote him as saying, To nurse a scorn not wholly based upon Their jealousy for precedence of "Gott." Since first the dread of death, or deep concern Regarding duties, such as fall upon (37) Q E B M A N I A 1) E P E N 1) E B The shoulders of a man whose public acts Make current history, engendered in The human mind a tendency to lean Upon l hope of superhuman aid, Mankind, that is, the best of it, has prayed. And in all times and countries things of weight, Of national importance, that effect The people's lives and welfare, have been deemed Fit matter for embodiment in prayers To the Most High. Even the Turcomen, The Sengalese, Japanese and Gurkhas, Now pouring death on you in cause not theirs, All feel a right to call on God, Allah, Mohammed, Budda, Brahma or Vishnu, According to the faith each holds at home, For aid in this their pious enterprise; And always everywhere is there indulged A national egotism in each land That God should favor it, in peace or war. But thou, O land of Martin Luther, by What right didst thou, or Wilhelm, son of more Than twenty generations of real Men, Who, for eight hundred years have ruled in fear Of God, and actual belief in Him (And who, since he by law is spokesman for And himself typifies the German State, Might, on the ancient ground, "vox populi, Vox Dei est," be pardoned if at times He speaks albeit in the German tongue, The idea of the Latin), how merited thou Or he the right to ask God to concern Himself about the Germans? It was wrong! And so, Germania, their combined sword Is at thy throat, and they have sworn never To sheathe it till thou liest in the dust, Stripped of thy fairest members, penuried, Thy pennon driven from the seas, Thy sons expatriate, and all the debt Thou owest to this world (God save the mark!) For giving it, decade on decade, all The best thou hadst or it has ever known, Of all the arts of peace that serve to make Life glad, paid up in full in blood and woe. (38) Gehmania Defender O Germania, remember Leuthen, Remember Rossbach, and the Seven Years! And if at times, beholding all about thee, Wherever thou canst see, only a wild And surging sea of foes, thy mighty heart Grow weak, or long to know that somewhere in This wide and callous world, thou hast some friends, Be sure that there are many undeceived, Who know thy work and worth and true intent, And bid thee God speed in this hour of peril. (39) THE W^M ES ©¥3 (Jaime 20, IMS) (; E S m a N I a I) E i E N D E I TEIE WAK Eg ©VEK ClfflAJPTTEIR II FSnaaiD lRasdlft D<&(teinmniin oec.es ol piracy. Gekmania Defender whether practiced under the black flag or under the Royal George of Great Britain. TIkg Waur ®iJQ ©2 Itota a iii]§iitfi©iBigiI] Law The offenses of Germany against in- ternational law as regards the United States, unlike those of Great Britain, have arisen solely from the difficulties of main- taining blockade by submarines, except in the case of the destruction at sea of the American ship, Frye, and her cargo of wheat, which occurred without loss of life, and as regards which Germany has frank- ly assumed responsibility, her act appar- ently being based on a misunderstanding by the commander of her cruiser of the rules of international law. She is offering to pay a suitable indemnity and there is no likelihood of a similar case occurring. The torpedoing of the Nebraskan and Gulf light occurred in the war zone and ap- parently represents acts in pursuance of an effort to establish there a condition of im- minent danger, adequate to dissuade all neutrals from entering British waters and ports. The German attitude is that to over- come the effect of Great Britain's viola- tion of the law, she, too, is justified in setting up a new form of blockade; that having warned all neutrals and others out of the zone of danger, she has a right to assume that every ship now found in that (85) G E R M A N I A 1)E F E NDEB area, regardless of her colors, concerning which British ships practice deception, be- longs to her enemy, is affected with a military character, and may be attacked with or without notice. Established in- ternational law, however, makes no more allowance for Germany's novel form of re- taliatory submarine blockade than it does for England's system of blockade by seiz- ures at sea, and the hard case of Germany lies in the fact that less concern of course can be felt regarding the multiplied mil- lions of dollars of property damage will- fully inflicted on us by Great Britain, than is felt concerning the loss on occasions of American lives, to protect whom would necessarily require the adoption of meas- ures by Germany, which if generally prac- ticed, might be fatal to her own submarines and necessitate the abandonment by her of her retaliatory blockade. Entire relief concerning this whole situation is in the hands of the United States; if we stand sternly on our right as against Great Britain, to enter German ports in the absence of absolute blockade, and that Great Britain shall strike from her list of contraband all articles of mer- chandise, including foodstuffs and cotton, not heretofore subject to such classifica- tion, the purpose of Germany's submarine blockade will have been accomplished, and (86) G e r m a n i a Defender in such case she can cheerfully restrict the operations of her submarines to an of f en- sive against the enemy ships of war. Tlfee "M(bw D(g(£kraft3®nn ©f? IM@p@iiiidl@ffii<£ ddq sub And, sir, when the Congress convened in 1805, a situation existed strikingly like the present. Practically entire Europe was engaged at war, it having been begun by Great Britain's violation of the treaty of Amiens, followed by her declaration of war on May 18, 1803. Napoleon and his allies were upon the one side and Great Britain and her allies on the other, and both sides were committing depredations, as is now the case, against the sea-borne commerce of the United States. At that time Thomas Jefferson, the father of the political faith to which you, sir, and I alike, adhere, and after whose examples I under- stand you practice most nearly to conform, was President of the United States. On December 3, 1805, he transmitted to the Congress his Fifth Annual Message. The message described conditions in Europe and the offenses committed by both sides against American shipping. With refer- ence to that situation, altogether similar to the present, at a time long after the com- mencement of the war and when as a re- sult of Lord Nelson's victory at Trafalgar over the French and Spanish navies in the preceding October, Great Britain, then as (108) Ger mania Defender now, was in absolute command of the seas, dealing with problems confronting the United States, quite similar to those that now confront you, he recommended to Congress in particular two things, first, that the Congress make provision to train an army of three hundred thousand men for the defense of the United States, and second, submitted to their determination, 4 'an immediate prohibition of the exporta- tion of arms and ammunition." At that time the joint resolution of Congress (adopted in 1898) , which author- ized the President, at his discretion, to pro- hibit the exportation of arms and ammuni- tions to all countries, modified in 1912, to refer only to American countries, which includes Mexico, had not been enacted. Your situation, therefore, differs from that of President Jefferson in that while he was required to take the initiative and propose such a law, you have already re- ceived from Congress and your predeces- sors expressions which recognize that the traffic is in its nature illegal and allows you at any moment, by a mere proclama- tion, to suspend it, at least as to some coun- tries. Sir, from every motive of humanity, neutrality and justice, you ought now to exercise that power as to the countries within your discretion, and I respectfully (109) Germania Defender contend should call on Congress to pass an act forever prohibiting the traffic referred to in time of war, as to all countries. Tl® AirgtHiflaiioaal ®2 Oflaffaniran@ss ®§> to fffla© I know that it has been urged and the idea appears to have prevailed, that to place an embargo on the export of arms and munitions at this hour would be unfair to Great Britain and her allies. When, then, could the embargo have been pro- claimed, with fairness to them? No such embargo is applicable in time of peace, and the instant that war ever occurs involving Great Britain her ability to reach our ports, by reason of her overwhelming sea power, becomes exclusive to her and her allies. Personally, I have never heard the ar- gument advanced except by someone who, on interrogation, disclosed clearly his per- sonal sympathy upon its alleged intrinsic merits for the cause of Great Britain and her allies. In 1805 Great Britain was the only belligerent power that had access to the American markets for arms and ammuni- tion, and yet President Jefferson did not (no) Ger mania Defender _ consider it unfair to recommend to Con- gress to shut her off from these markets. Thev tell us, sir, that it is from this source that the languishing prosperity of the United States is to be revived, it is not true; the vast commerce of this coun- try can not be substantially aided or in- jured by a factor so adventitious, so tran- sient and confined to so narrow a circle. But were it otherwise, how valuable would you, sir, esteem a prosperity, gained like that of Judas, as the price of blood! In all sincerity, I submit the question whether it be better for us as a race and country to purchase the continued cordial- ity of Great Britain, if that be involved, by supplying the necessities of her armies, or to earn what will soon become inevita- ble, and what in human nature must be condoned, the exasperation and eternal ill will of the Germans, who begin to leel that without the aid we are furnishing their enemies they might ere this have brought them to an accommodation of the quarrel. The thing we are doing lies so closely to the borderland of wrong, that average men, unskilled in legal niceties, will rarely be able, now or historically, to trace the slender thread of logic which alone holds together the fabric of your past policy. 3 It is easy to conceive how the pursuit ot a theory of neutrality, doubtless approved (ill) Ger mania Defender by the legal experts around you, which sanctions wrong on the ground of estab- lished custom, has made you an unhappy witness of the consequence it entails. And imagine, sir, if the stockholders of the great American corporations that are manufacturing shrapnel, could be trans- ported bodily to the battle- front in Flan- ders along with their shipments, could see the shells that lately left their factories ex- plode in the faces of German soldiers, and when the smoke arose, could view the frightful harvest, how many of them think you, sir, would vote to continue the manu- facture and sale of their products? And, sir, consider the fruits of the same policy in Mexico. One hundred and fifty thousand men, it is said, have now practi- cally destroyed that splendid, rich and once prosperous country, inhabited by fif- teen million people. They could not have done this and they can not continue to do it without arms and ammunition. Up to about the time of the outbreak of the Eu- ropean war, prior to which the markets of all countries were open to them, they made some pretense of fighting for a principle, but for almost a year now it has been clear that they are fighting without a worthy cause or a definite program. Mere bands of ruthless, destructive robbers, villains and savages, they are preying upon and (112^ Ger mania Defender destroying their own country. Fifteen millions without arms are made the victims of one hundred and fifty thousand, armed with American-made weapons and now supplied exclusively with American-made munitions. You, sir, must have reports in- dicating conditions in that country far more accurate than anything available to me. What fine-spun theory of law can there be that possibly can justify you in continuing to license these Mexican bri- gands to obtain arms and ammunition in the United States for the further lacera- tion of their bleeding country, and also for the commission of murder and outrage against American citizens domiciled in that country? You may not care to enter into that country and set up a government for its benefit, although in the judgment of this writer, sooner or later, inevita- bly that unwelcome burden must be as- sumed by some American President, but you might at least, by putting an embargo on arms and ammunition, remit them back and limit their means for destruction to the primitive weapons of knives, sticks and stones or bows and arrows, which are more suited to their stage of culture than the modern instruments of death that our manufacturers supply them. (113) Ger mania Defender C@DQsM(Birfflftn(a>ias Jta(i5Eyiiffii^ EMbairg® Must a slender rule of law, or not law but rather usage, and one that you by reso- lution of Congress, at least as regards Mexico, are authorized to abrogate, be per- mitted forever to overrule the dictates of humanity ? Are our international relations so delicately balanced that we dare not make known to all mankind: 1. That the first President of this Re- public laid it down as a principle, which we regard as still obtaining, that each gov- ernment ought in its own country to "pro- mote and establish such manufactories as render them independent of others for military supplies." 2. That it is observed by us that the countries composing the Britannic alliance now include besides the British Isles, the areas, populations and industries of France, Russia, Montenegro, Serbia, Italy, Egypt, India, Australia, New Zea- land, Canada, and Japan, containing the greatest manufacturing centers of the earth ; that their adversaries consist merely of three comparatively small countries, Germany, Austria and Turkey, only one of them, Germany, holding high rank as a manufacturing nation ; that a year now has passed since the beginning of hostilities; that in all reason the Allies have had ample (114) Geemania Defender time to augment their resources and to establish instrumentalities adequate to pro- vide themselves with every article required for the further prosecution of war ; that on Thursday, July 8, 1915, debate in the Brit- ish House of Commons disclosed that the great English arsenal at Woolwich lately has not been run to its capacity; that it is observable to the world that the Allies' re- sources in men, money and raw material, if they see fit to employ them, are beyond all comparison greater than those of their enemies. 3. That there reside within the body of this country, constituting one of the largest individual racial elements of our citizenship, approximately 20,000,000 peo- ple of German birth or of German ex- traction ; that Russia's participation in the present war, according to her own avowal, was due to the racial sentiment existing between the Slavs of that great but not wholly Slavonic country and their kinsmen in Serbia. That similar ties of blood bind our German element to the people of their former country, and that while they en- tertain no disposition whatever in favor of the United States interposing in the ter- rible European conflict in aid of their German kinsmen, it is with utter agony of spirit that they observe, day by day, enor- mous volumes of death-dealing instru- (115) Geb mania Defender ments furnished from the United States to the enemies of Germany, poured out from American manufactories, and by the modern methods of transportation rushed to the battle line, where probably within a week or two after they leave the makers' hands they are exploding in the bowels of fathers, brothers, uncles and cousins of this mighty proportion of our constitu- ency ; that there is no better element in the citizenship of this country than those re- ferred to ; that in every crisis that this coun- try has endured, they have measured up to the highest standards required for broad, tolerant, robust, red-blooded Amer- icans; that this country can not "regard with indifference" the suffering and sor- row which overwhelms them as the result of a traffic, which not only is condemned by the laws of humanity, and under dis- favor of the laws of nations, but under the laws of this country, as regards American countries, is criminal the instant that it re- ceives your dissanction; that by all prece- dents of statecraft here and elsewhere gov- ernments regard with tender solicitude dis- tress and agony visited on any large bodies of their citizens, and that it is the proper function of governments to assuage their suffering, if by just and moderate action they can do so. That by reason alone of (116) Germania Defender sympathy for the feelings of Jewish- Americans this government some years ago cancelled an important subsisting treaty with Russia because of mistreatment accorded Jewish-Russians by Russians in Russia. 4. That we want to be friends with all the world and purpose wrong to no nation. That as regards the purchase of arms and ammunition in the United States by Great Britain, she holds no vest- ed or treaty right; that the practice has now extended utterly beyond anything of the kind that ever occurred before in the history of the world, or that was dreamed of when the existing rules of international law omitting prohibition of such traffic were accepted by the nations. That prior to modern times the means of transporta- tion were so inefficient and the require- ments of war so different from those of this day, that probably no case seemed likely where the fortunes of war were apt to be influenced decisively by the purchase of arms or munitions in foreign countries ; that in the present case to the contrary it is observed that the United States has become almost the depot of arms, ammunition and supplies for the outfitting of the vast armies of the Allies; that such radical changes in circumstances have grave (117) Gebmania Defender weight with and are justly entitled to au- thorize us to review the entire question. 5. That as regards Mexico, you feel the time has come when this country can no longer comiive at the aimless and wan- ton destruction being prosecuted there by means of arms and munitions obtained in this country, and that you have now ex- ercised the discretion vested in you by law to suspend the traffic. And further that you have now deemed it proper to call on Congress to adopt and hereafter forever to maintain as the per- manent policy of these United States, first, as counselled by Washington, the estab- lishment in our own behalf of "such manu- factories as will make us independent of all others for military supplies," and second, as counselled by Jefferson, that citizens of the United States henceforth shall be ab- solutely prohibited from furnishing arms, munitions and supplies suitable only for the purposes of war to or for account of governments of any and all other coun- tries that are engaged in war. I believe that no course you could take would be more consistent with that pro- found and tender humanity that exalts your nature and makes you not only a champion for the rights but a mourner for the sufferings of all peoples everywhere, or, ridding the question of international (118) Geemania Defender lawyers' technical tangles, that you, with greater pleasure would pursue. Mr. President, the earth is on fire ! On every continent the flames are bursting out. Approximately the whole of Europe, most of Africa, all of Asia Minor, a vast portion of Asia, including Turkey, Si- beria, Arabia, India, and Japan; Aus- tralia and New Zealand; the north half of our continent, Mexico, and even the wretched island of Santo Domingo are in- volved; the wild flames are now licking around the borders of our own country, and no eye can see the end ; the mind stag- gers before a spectacle never witnessed in history nor dreamed of heretofore in man's maddest imaginings. Shall the United States continue to furnish fuel for all of those flames? Very respectfully, R. C. Duff. (119) SEVEN QGJESTHOMS ANSWERED Germania Defender SIEVIEM QHJEST10MS MSWIEIED To the Houston Post: Mr. A. T. Shulz of Mexia, Texas, re- garding an article entitled, "An Open Letter to the President,' ' lately contrib- uted by me to your paper, propounds to me through the Post of the 11th, seven questions, which in the main are pertinent and are entitled to a candid reply. With 3 r our kind permission, I will answer them through your columns, quoting first the questions, respectively, and following each question with my answer : 1. Question: Is there any ethical dif ference in furnishing arms and ammu- nition to warring nations by a neutral power and the furnishing of foodstuffs or clothing for the feeding and clothing of such armies, that they may be in proper condition to use arms and ammunition? Answer: There is no ethical differ- ence. The Declaration of London, of Februaiy 26, 1909, represents the sense of the principal maritime powers, which in- cludes the earth's best civilization today, and it was unanimously agreed between them that foodstuffs and clothing, when intended for military use, were contraband of war equally with arms and ammunition. (123) Germania Defender In my judgment expediency and true neu- trality both concur in the doctrine laid down by George Washington with refer- ence to the United States that each coun- try ought to establish at home facilities to provide itself with all supplies required for strictly military purposes, and the citizens of foreign nations, not parties to interna- tional controversies, ought not to be ex- pected nor under the rules of neutrality permitted to supplement the weakness or folly of any country that fails to adopt the principle announced by President Washington. It is stated that this princi- ple is being pursued, and for many years has been pursued by Germany and for the same time has been ignored by England and Russia. The result to date would seem to speak for itself. 2. Question: Is there any ethical difference in furnishing cotton and other substances for the making of ammunition and the furnishing of it already prepared? Answer: There is none. But as re- gards an article, such as cotton, the use of which for war purposes is trivial compared with its general use, it would be neither practical nor humane to deny exportation to belligerent countries. During the Russo- Japanese war of 1904, Russia, because it desired to prevent the government of Japan from obtaining supplies of Indian (124) Ger mania Defender cotton for the manufacture of explosives, declared cotton to be contraband of war. Great Britain instantly and sternly pro- tested to Russia against such declaration, and subsequently in 1909 at the conference of nations called by herself to meet at London, with full knowledge of the use of cotton in the construction of certain ex- plosives, insisted, and all the other nations concurred, that cotton ought to be placed on, and it was thereupon placed at the head of the list of articles which no nation should ever declare to be contraband of war. I stand absolutely on the ethics and reasoning that then and there prevailed. 3. Question : Is there any practical reason why you should not sell what you have to sell to any nation that wishes to buy? Answer: There are not only practi- cal but moral reasons why citizens of a neutral country should not sell nor be per- mitted to sell articles such as arms and am- munition to nations or factions of nations engaged in war. One extremely practical reason is that such traffic is liable to build up hatreds which without other occasion will conduce to war; such traffic from the United States to Cuba was undoubtedly one of the animating causes that led to the war between the United States and Spain in 1898. Another practical reason is that (125) Ger mania Defender the United States, while having developed an export trade amounting to two and one- half billion dollars per annum, is merely on the threshold of its possibilities along that line, and if we maintain friendship with all countries we ought in the future, under the influence of universal good will, to extend our commerce with all countries, greatly to our practical advantage. Another practi- cal advantage of prohibiting the exporta- tion of arms and ammunition as regards Mexico, is to abolish the peculiar policy of furnishing those brigands with guns, can- non and munitions with which to defy the United States, to shoot American citizens, as in the fifty-two cases at Nogales, and with which to invade Texas, as thev are now doing, in Cameron County. 4. Question: Are you responsible for the fact that any one, or more, of the nations to which your markets are open, so far as you are concerned, either can supply herself, or is shut out from your market by other nations? Answer: A book of fascinating pow- er, dealing with world politics prevailing during the last century, might be written in reply to the above question. No, the United States is not responsible for the fact that Great Britain and her allies, pro- tected by the overwhelming naval power of (126) Germania Defender Great Britain, can reach American mar- kets for ammunition, whereas Germany and her allies can not. British foreign and naval policy, the most astute, brilliant and successful ever practiced by any nation on earth, which, continuing in consistent and militant form at all times, in both war and peace, for three hundred years, has ex- panded a group of small islands off the west coast of Europe into the greatest em- pire known in history, alone is responsible. When some centuries ago the mighty minds of early English statesmen mapped out a program of grandeur where Eng- land should attempt the astounding feat of dominating the earth, the first and most important truth that dawned upon their minds was that whatever nation command- ed the seas thereby instantaneously domi- nated seventy-one per cent, of the earth's surface, together with all islands, all sav- age or effete countries and all commerce that must move by the sea. The attainment and maintenance of such dominion for cen- turies has been the program of Great Brit- ain. Her statesmen have co-ordinated and looked ahead, and they undoubtedly knew in 1909, that if they maintained their two- power naval program, a stipulation in the rules of war that obligations of neutrality do not require a neutral power to prohibit (127) Ger mania Defender its citizens from selling arms and ammu- nition to belligerents, was exactly as though it were written that in any war involving Great Britain the citizens of the United States might sell to Great Britain and her allies, but to them alone. The United States apparently has never appre- ciated that danger exists for her in Great Britain's program of two-power suprem- acy at sea. Please understand the writer has no personal prejudice. I have merely examined these questions with the eye and apprehension of a student, and of an American. A blind man, however, ought to be able to see that German militarism, or Russian militarism, or militarism on the part of the whole of Europe, can only tear itself to pieces. If directed against us in the absence of navalism, it would neces- sarily drown on the eastern shores of the Atlantic two thousand miles away, with- out ever disturbing our serenity; whereas navalism so efficiently represented by Great Britain, steams to our very doors, and patrols and menaces our shores and ports. At the moment of this writing, and every day since the war began, the smoke of British cruisers is and has been percepti- ble almost from the custom house at New York. At the same time, off our western shores, Great Britain has posted an ally, an ally not only for defense, but for offense, (128) Gee mania Defender the Japanese, who possess a fleet about equal to our own and an army strong enough to cross into Asia, eleven years ago, and beat the Russians, a power fifty per cent, greater, numerically, than ourselves, and w r ith a standing army larger than that of Germany. Coached by a craft as keen as Iago's, Japan, which has kept her army and navy entirely out of and its strength unimpaired by the general melee in Eu- rope, sits opposite our shores as Britan- nia's eastern outpost and final reserves, finger on trigger, and with eyes that sweep the horizon for any possible foe of Great Britain that can not longer be fooled by international lies or bribed by war-orders to continue its besotted slumber. This situ- ation is as much as to say to us, that if we are good, according to the standards of Great Britain, we shall be safe ; but if we are naughty about our cotton or on other subjects growing out of the present war in Europe, we shall be sorry. We are not "responsible" for this situation except in the sense that it is folly for a people to sleep all the time at a juncture when they ought not to sleep at all. 5. Question : What would be your position if the United States were attacked by a power, or a combination of powers, that was able to furnish all its munitions and the United States had a shortage, and (129) Ger mania Defender wished to buy from neutral nations able to furnish what she needed? Answer: I would favor resorting to every means and exerting every power on earth (leaving all rules of neutrality or ethics to be considered by those from whom we were forced to purchase and who, as in the present case of Holland, as regards Germany, under the duress of our enemy or constraint of true neutrality, might re- fuse to sell) to secure from whatever source obtainable the supplies required to save our country from the consequences of the blind folly of modern politicians, statesmen and easy-marks (in which list the President clearly does not intend to be enrolled), who had scorned the wisdom of George Washington, contained in mes- sages and speeches, time and again warn- ing us : "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well digested plan is requisite, and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, sup- plies" (1790). And again: "The United States ought not to iti- (130) Gkr mania Defender dulge a persuasion that, contrary to the or- der of human events, they will forever keep at a distance those painful appeals to arms with which the history of every other na- tion abounds. There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the repu- tation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war" (1793). And if you want to know what disre- gard of this salutary advice is at this mo- ment costing us, reflect upon the situation of the cotton farmers of the South. The losses inflicted on them to date by Great Britain's wanton and illegal interference with their shipments, even to neutral coun- tries, mounts into hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet American politicians, with the eminent exception of Hoke Smith, in- stead of standing up like men for the one direct and forceful policy that will pre- serve their rights, viz: that England shall absolutely keep her hands off of our for- eign trade, bend and truckle to the wave of pro-British sentiment now temporarily predominant in this country, and propose impossible measures for lending money to the farmers, that is to say, to plunge them into debt, for want of courage to vindicate (131) Ger mania Defender our rights throughout the earth to open seas and open markets, the restoration of which will return the price of cotton to a figure that will enable the cotton farmer to pay his old debts without incurring new debts. 6. Question : Is it not in your mind, that if this power, or combination of pow- ers, was Germany and her allies, attacking the United States, that you hope the Unit- ed States would be shut out and conquered by them; that if it was Great Britain, or Great Britain and her allies attacking us, you would think it more than reasonable that Germany and the other nations not in the alliance should sell us ammunition and anything else we needed? Answer: The first half of this ques- tion is an insult, but it shall be answered courteously. My granduncle, an old gen- tleman, told me many years ago that when he was a boy he used to see, converse with and still remembered a venerable relative back in North Carolina, who at that time was upward of ninety years of age. He stated that this old gentleman was a crip- ple, able to move only with the aid of crutches. He said that both feet of the old man were practically destroyed; that they had been frozen off at Valley Forge, he being one of that devoted few, who in the midst of desertion, abided the rigors of (132) Gebmania Defender that terrible campaign along with George Washington. It, of course, constitutes no merit on my part that this old gentleman was one of my direct ancestors, but if there has been any counter-current of cowardice or treachery infused into the blood since his day, it has escaped observation. When- ever Germany affords to the United States one-half the provocation for war that we suffered in 1776 and 1812 from Great Britain, or whenever she shall purposely and willfully inf lict on our people as much actual damage and suffering as the agri- cultural interests of the South are now suf- fering from Great Britain, and can not otherwise be constrained to do us justice, with profound regret and sorrow for the necessity of fighting so great a people, and one that so far has never in its history either planned or meditated a willful in- jury directed against us, I shall favor, and so far as in me lies, assist in a war by us against the Germans. Answering the second half of your question, if Great Britain ever attacks the United States, unless in the meantime we greatly increase our navy, we shall not have access to any market or port of any other country on earth where ammunition or supplies can be purchased. Our exports and imports now amounting to four and one-half billion dollars yearly will be de- (133) Gee mania Defender stroyed in an instant; just as has been the case with Germany, but worse. 7. Question: Is not your sense of justice and your common, good old every- day philosophy, tinged most extraordinari- ly with partisanship ? Answer: I am not a partisan as re- gards the European war; but for some years have been a rather close student of history. I have not contented myself mere- ly with dim remembrances of things trans- piring in my own lifetime under my own observation, but so far as I have been able have sought to ascertain the causes under- lying and producing present conditions. In such manner I have gained I think cor- rect information concerning the causes that have brought about the present Euro- pean war, upon the maturest consideration of which I am convinced of the rectitude and justice of the German cause. These, sir, are my answers to your questions. Very respectfully, R. C. Duff. Houston, Texas, August 12. 1915. (134) Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: .. .w 7Q01 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066