Conjointly with the allied rulers I proposed to our enemies to enter forthwith into peace negotiations. Our enemies refused my offer. Their hunger for power desires Germany's destruction. The war will be continued. Before God and humanity I declare that on the enemy Governments alone falls the heavy responsibility for all the further terrible sacrifices from which I wished to save you.
With justified indignation at our enemies' arrogant crime and with determination to defend our holiest possessions and secure the Fatherland's happy future, you will become as steel. Our enemies did not want the understanding offered by me. With God's help our arms will enforce it.
The Kaiser, January 6, 1917.
Neutrals cannot expect that Germany, forced to fight for her existence, shall, for the sake of neutral interest, restrict the use of an effective weapon if her enemy is permitted to continue to apply at will methods of warfare violating the rules of international law. Such a demand would be incompatible with the character of neutrality, and the German Government is convinced that the Government of the United States does not think of making such a demand, knowing that the Government of the United States has repeatedly declared that it is determined to restore the principle of the freedom of the seas from whatever quarter it has been violated.
German Note to President
Wilson,
February 3, 1917.
The total English tonnage is stated to be about 20,000,000 gross register tons, and is accounted for as follows: Requisitioned for military purposes, 8,500,000 tons; engaged in coastal trade, 500,000 tons; under repairs, 1,000,000 tons; plying "in the interest of the Allies," 2,000,000 tons; remaining for the supply of England, 8,000,000 tons "at most." It is added that, as a matter of fact, the statistics for July to September, 1916, show only about 6,750,000 tons of English shipping as plying to England, and it is estimated that, with the addition of 900,000 tons of non-English enemy tonnage and 3,000,000 tons of neutral tonnage, England is dependent upon a round total of 10,750,000 gross register tons.
The Lokalanzeiger, February 4, 1917.
This is a conflict not of armies, but of industries and economic resources. Mr. Lloyd George once said that the last £100,000,000 might win the war. The United States not only has the last £100,000,000, but it has many times £100,000,000. The day that this country enters the war the economic resources of the Allies will be doubled. We can practically care for France while recruiting an army of our own. The German General Staff may delude itself into believing that it has challenged the immediate war-power of 100,000 men. What it is really challenging is a war-power of 200,000,000,000 dollars (£40,000,000,000) and a financial and industrial system that can be indefinitely mobilized.
The New York World,
February 6, 1917.
News of the wholesale destruction of Dutch vessels, after the "solicitude" so considerately shown for their safety by the German authorities, has provoked a degree of feeling far surpassing any hitherto aroused, even by the many "unfortunate occurrences" of a similar nature which Holland has previously experienced at German hands.
Reuter, Amsterdam, February 25, 1917.
Seven Dutch Steamers which left Falmouth on February 22 were attacked about 5 p.m. of the same day by a German submarine, without their papers being examined. Three of the ships are known to have been sunk, one has been towed into harbor, the other three, says a Lloyd's telegram, "might still be afloat."
If the Dutch reports are correct that these seven vessels perished, this will be deeply regretted, but responsibility for it falls on the ship-owners, who preferred to send out their vessels on February 22 on a promise of relative security instead of waiting until March 17, when absolute security was promised. The report of the submarines has not yet arrived.
We regret the rupture with a nation who, by her history, seemed to be predestined to work together with us, not against us, for common ideals. But since our honest desire for peace has only encountered hostile ridicule on the part of our enemies, there is no more "going back," but only "ahead" possible for us.
Imperial Chancellor, Berlin, February 27, 1917.
The revelation takes the form of a letter from Herr Zimmermann, the German Foreign Secretary, to Eckardt, the German Minister in Mexico, which was forwarded through Count Bernstorff and dated January 19. The letter announces unrestricted submarine warfare for February first, and instructs Eckardt to negotiate an offensive alliance with General Carranza, who should approach Japan, apparently with the object ultimately of getting her to join in an attack upon the United States.
Times Correspondent, Washington,
March 1, 1917.
Sir Stanley Maude, telegraphing on March 11, announces that the British forces occupied Bagdad early that morning.
The English operations in Mesopotamia have been accompanied by a great success. The British flag floats over Bagdad and in all the bazaars of the East the news will resound that the feringhi have beaten the warriors of the padishah, and captured the city which for long centuries was invested with the garment of story and fairy tale.
British Press Bureau, March 14, 1917.
During the past few days a tract of land between the region of Arras and the Aisne was evacuated by us in accordance with plans. The movements, prepared long beforehand, were carried out without disturbance by the hesitating, pursuing enemy. The rear-guard troops, by their prudent and heroic conduct, screened the evacuation of the positions and the departure of the forces.
German Official Communiqué, March 19, 1917.
President Wilson has authorised the Navy Department to spend £23,000,000 to speed up naval construction and to purchase auxiliary craft. This expenditure was recently authorised by Congress.
Reuter, March 20, 1917.
Whole towns and villages have been pillaged, burned, destroyed; private houses have been stripped of all their furniture, which the enemy has carried off; fruit-trees have been torn up or rendered useless for all future production; springs and wells have been poisoned. The comparatively few inhabitants who were not evacuated to the rear were left with the smallest possible ration of food, while the enemy took possession of the stocks provided by the Neutral Relief Committee and intended for the civil population.
The fact has been established by our military authorities in the recaptured districts (says this instruction) and notably at Péronne, where the branch of the banque de France was pillaged and the strong rooms were found broken open and empty, that a very large number of securities have been stolen by the German troops in their retreat.
French Official Protest, March 24, 1917.
I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of non-combatant men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be.
The present German warfare against commerce is warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations.
American ships have been sunk and American lives taken in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way.
President Wilson,
Washington, April 2, 1917.
According to new reports, our troops during the battle of April 16 between Soissons and Rheims broke up very important German forces. In expectation of our attack the enemy had brought up nineteen divisions.
According to the accounts of prisoners, formal orders had been given to hold out at any cost on the first position, which had been deepened. The losses suffered by the Germans were heavy not only during the battle, but on the preceding days.
The number of unwounded prisoners taken by us between Soissons and Rheims now reaches eleven thousand.
French Communiqué, April 11, 1917.
Our gains reported this morning north of the Vimy Ridge have been secured and our positions strengthened.
During the fighting on the 9-10th inst. we captured prisoners from all infantry regiments of six German divisions—namely, 79th Reserve Division, First Bavarian Reserve Division, 14th Bavarian Division, 11th Division, 17th Reserve Division, and 18th Reserve Division.
British Official, April 12, 1917.
A Berlin telegram published by the "Cologne Gazette" states that Herr Scheidemann, leader of the German Socialist Majority Party, has gone with other German Socialists to Stockholm, in order to get into touch with Russian Socialists.
Reuter, April 12, 1917.
What is Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg still waiting for? If he now makes a frank and bold statement in the sense of the Russian peace formula three States will stand together, namely, Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.
Vorwärts, May 7, 1917.
At the last sitting of the executive committee of the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, M. Borgbjerg, on behalf of the Labor parties of Scandinavia—Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian—conveyed an official invitation to all Socialist parties in Russia to the proposed international conference at Stockholm.
M. Borgbjerg said that, having had interviews with the German Social Democrats, he was able to communicate to the executive committee the peace terms proposed by the official Social Democratic Party, i. e., the majority section.
These, M. Borgbjerg proceeded, recognised the right of nations to freedom of development, and advocated the introduction of compulsory international arbitration; the restitution by Germany of all conquered territories; a plebiscite in Russian Poland, with freedom to choose between independence, annexation by Russia, or annexation by Germany; the restoration of independence to Belgium, Serbia, and Rumania, and the restoration to Bulgaria of the Bulgarian districts of Macedonia, and the granting to Serbia of a free port on the Adriatic. As to Alsace-Lorraine, they are of opinion that a rectification of the Lorraine frontier could be secured by means of an amicable understanding. The program of the minority section was wider in scope.
Reuter, May 8, 1917.
Flotillas of American destroyers have been sent to the submarine zone, where they are now effectively coöperating with the Allied Navies.
One Army division, a force of Marines, and nine regiments of Engineers have been ordered to France.
Ten thousand doctors, in addition to many nurses, have been ordered to England and France, and hundreds have already gone.
Together with the Americans who are already serving in the British and French Armies these additional units will shortly give a total of 100,000 Americans in France, equalling five German divisions.
British Press Bureau, May 27, 1917.
Latest police reports show that the casualties so far reported in to-day's air raid are:
| Killed | Injured | ||
| Total | 97 | Total | 439 |
| Men | 55 | Men | 223 |
| Women | 16 | Women | 122 |
| Children | 26 | Children | 94 |
No damage of a military or naval nature was done.
British Communiqué, June 13, 1917.
The High Commissioners of France, Great Britain, and Russia, having demanded by their note of yesterday the abdication of King Constantine and the appointment of his successor, the undersigned prime minister and minister of foreign affairs has the honor to bring to your Excellency's knowledge that the king, solicitous as always solely for the interest of Greece, has decided to leave the country with the crown prince, and to designate as his successor Prince Alexander.
M. Zaimis, June 13, 1917.
The important announcement that the City will be warned in future when an air raid is threatened was made on Sunday by the Lord Mayor, at a meeting at the London Opera House, called to demand reprisals for air raids. A resolution calling on the Government to undertake air reprisals on German towns and cities was passed, amidst great cheering.
London, June 19, 1917.
All over the world attempts were made to create distrust of German Social Democracy. We were described as being really war agitators, obedient servants of German Imperialism. The memorandum on our peace work which we delivered at Stockholm will, we hope, destroy many misunderstandings and many prejudices which are based on them.
Of course the misstatements and slanders have already begun again.
Herr Scheidemann,
Stockholm, June 29, 1917.
We must keep before our eyes daily the events of three years ago, which are fixed in history and show that we were forced into war by Russia's secret mobilization, which was the great danger for Germany. To have participated in a conference while the Russian mobilization proceeded would have been political suicide.
Herr Michaelis,
Berlin, July 27, 1917.
Southend was bombed by about a dozen German aëroplanes this evening while the place was full of holiday-makers. The attack lasted a quarter of an hour and resulted in the death of twenty-three people, the majority of whom were women and children. About forty people were injured. One of the victims was a little girl, who was terribly mangled, and another was a woman, who was also badly mutilated.
Times, August 17, 1917.
Does not the cartoonist Raemaekers fail in this cartoon? The artist Raemaekers is inspired—here as always. But does the cartoonist succeed this time in burning the right idea, his idea, into the reader's brain?
Here is the real Kaiser and here are real German workingmen. It is they who are carrying the burden of Kaiserism. All this is convincing. But do not other workingmen in other countries carry burdens?
The failure is only at first glance. Raemaekers is not concerned to reproduce the conventional cartoon of workingmen carrying a burden of other classes on their shoulders. The point lies not in the burden, but in the nature of the burden, the contrast, so perfectly portrayed, between the character of the Kaiser and the characters of his proud and willing slaves. The Kaiser, crafty and contemptuous, but neither so ignorant nor so stupid as to be wholly unconscious of the foolish and contemptible position he occupies! The workingmen evidently once strong, intelligent and enthusiastic, though now blinded and crippled, are utterly unconscious of what they are doing. Carrying the heavy burden of Kaiserism seems no more to them than their day's work.
You see Raemaekers knows both Kaiser and workingmen, and so will have nothing to do with the conventional portraits of either. The Kaiser is neither a beast nor a fool—however foolish his position may be. The workingmen are neither labor heroes ready to revolt, nor conscious and beaten serfs.
William English Walling.
In the inscription "Ten Million Men between 21 and 30" on the Statue of Liberty, Raemaekers has as usual gone to the heart of things. Ten million trained citizen soldiers!!! What an insurance of peace and security against attack or insult. Universal Citizen Military Education and Training.
From the beginning the first article in our Internatíonal Creed has been the Monroe Doctrine—America for Americans. If the result of the present war shall be to add two additional items to that creed, namely Universal Military Education and Training, and the United States, the First Air Power in the world, it will be worth all that it costs, and this great nation can go on in peace and security to work out the mighty destiny awaiting it.
Raemaekers' placing "All Highest" and his aide upon the conning tower of a submarine, suggests another most vital matter at this present time.
The submarine has held the world's spotlight for the last two years. Its deadly efficiency is universally conceded. That deadly efficiency is the direct result of Admiral von Tirpitz's unyielding insistence on a centralized, independent, untrammeled Department for the submarine.
Peary.
Whether the war be long or short, the quickest road to peace is the road straight ahead of us, with no division among the American people.
William Jennings Bryan.
The Prussian theory of right and justice is this: "What is mine is mine. What is yours is also mine if I want it."
This idea is deep buried beneath the thick bone of the Prussian head. He holds it with stolid stupidity and deep, prehistoric crudity, like a pig or an idiot. He cannot understand that there are any rights higher than Prussian greed. "If I want it, it is mine because I want it." It is the logic of the primitive human animal, the caveman.
Cornered and accused of his thefts he clings to his loot like the pig that has stolen a carrot. When asked to disgorge he is shocked by the suggestion. "But they are mine! I wanted them, so they are mine!" he says. Right and Justice answer, "They are not yours; you stole them." "Maybe so!" says the Prussian. "But just the same they are mine—I stole them a long time ago."
The logic of the Prussian fills ten thousand volumes. It is written in hundred-line paragraphs and six-inch words. It can be condensed into two short words—piggish greed; piggish because it knows neither right nor justice, greed because it is greed.
Ellis Parker Butler.
It is Germany's "Kultur," her spiritual code, that is responsible for America's entrance into the war; her gruesome sacrifice to Moloch of all which distinguishes humanity from the brute and the savage. It is her philosophy which has made us her horrified but resolute foe.
The fruits of her spirit stand forth alike in her speech and acts. "Kultur is a spiritual organization of the world, which does not exclude bloody savagery. It raises the dæmoniac to sublimity. It is above morality, reason, science," so wrote a Teutonic expounder in the first year of the war. "We have become a nation of wrath; we think only of the war. We execute God Almighty's will, and the edicts of His justice we will fulfil, imbued with holy rage, in vengeance upon the ungodly. God calls us to murderous battles, even if worlds should thereby fall to ruins," so wrote one of Germany's poets. "Whoever cannot prevail upon himself to approve from the bottom of his heart the sinking of the Lusitania, whoever cannot conquer his sense of the gigantic cruelty to unnumbered perfectly innocent victims—and give himself up to honest delight at this victorious exploit of German defensive power—him we judge to be no true German," so wrote one of her pastors. And for hideous, ruthless deeds which violate every sanctity and deify falsehood we need but cite her slaughter of children and the aged, her poisoning of wells, her shooting of nurses, her sinking of hospital ships, her brutal deportations and all the revolting sinuosities of her spy system.
Robert Grant.
Whether it is that an invigorating climate has given our Anglo-Saxon blood a piquant Gallic flavor or because Europe sent us for ancestors only those light-hearted and adventurous souls with a spirit akin to that we admire in the French people, true it is that Americans have always had an especial liking for France and the French. They were our first allies as they are the latest. From Lafayette and Rochambeau to Joffre and Viviani, a host of Frenchmen have won the affectionate regard of Americans and are numbered with our national heroes.
With their French allies Americans can work in most cordial understanding and sympathy. That subtle spirit of unselfish dedication to country which has won for the French the admiration of the world consecrates the alliance of the peoples who are giving their sons in common sacrifice to save liberty to the world. Out of the heat and turmoil of war bonds are being forged between the Allied nations which time and circumstance can never sever. On that alliance the hope of civilization depends; from it may come, in God's good time, some great forward step in the march of progress which began at a manger in Bethlehem.
Myron T. Herrick, Cleveland, Ohio, March, 1918.
If, as the artist suggests, and the plainest reading of the facts of the fruitless Verdun assault seems to confirm, lives of men were squandered in a reckless attempt to save the princeling's face (which was, in fact, beyond saving), then does he richly deserve the grim decoration with which in the name of infamy he is here invested—the Order of Butchery, with knives. And you may view the crosses upon the pathetic mounds before Verdun as so many entries in the Recording Angel's ledger.
Joseph Thorp.