Winning a Cause | Page 7

encounter. The most characteristic
of Prussian institutions is the Hindenburg line. What is the Hindenburg
line? The Hindenburg line is a line drawn in the territories of other
people, with a warning that the inhabitants of those territories shall not
cross it at the peril of their lives. That line has been drawn in Europe
for fifty years.
You recollect what happened some years ago in France, when the
French Foreign Minister was practically driven out of office by
Prussian interference. Why? What had he done? He had done nothing
which a minister of an independent state had not the most absolute right
to do. He had crossed the imaginary line drawn in French territory by
Prussian despotism, and he had to leave. Europe, after enduring this for
generations, made up its mind at last that the Hindenburg line must be
drawn along the legitimate frontiers of Germany herself. There could
be no other attitude than that for the emancipation of Europe and the
world.

It was hard at first for the people of America quite to appreciate that
Germany had not interfered to the same extent with their freedom, if at
all. But at last they endured the same experience as Europe had been
subjected to. Americans were told that they were not to be allowed to
cross and recross the Atlantic except at their peril. American ships were
sunk without warning. American citizens were drowned, hardly with an
apology--in fact, as a matter of German right. At first America could
hardly believe it. They could not think it possible that any sane people
should behave in that manner. And they tolerated it once, and they
tolerated it twice, until it became clear that the Germans really meant it.
Then America acted, and acted promptly.
The Hindenburg line was drawn along the shores of America, and the
Americans were told they must not cross it. America said, "What is
this?" Germany said, "This is our line, beyond which you must not go,"
and America said, "The place for that line is not the Atlantic, but on the
Rhine--and we mean to help you roll it up."
There are two great facts which clinch the argument that this is a great
struggle for freedom. The first is the fact that America has come in. She
would not have come in otherwise. When France in the eighteenth
century sent her soldiers to America to fight for the freedom and
independence of that land, France also was an autocracy in those days.
But Frenchmen in America, once they were there, their aim was
freedom, their atmosphere was freedom, their inspiration was freedom.
They acquired a taste for freedom, and they took it home, and France
became free. That is the story of Russia. Russia engaged in this great
war for the freedom of Serbia, of Montenegro, of Bulgaria, and has
fought for the freedom of Europe. They wanted to make their own
country free, and they have done it. The Russian revolution is not
merely the outcome of the struggle for freedom. It is a proof of the
character of the struggle for liberty, and if the Russian people realize,
as there is every evidence they are doing, that national discipline is not
incompatible with national freedom--nay, that national discipline is
essential to the security of national freedom--they will, indeed, become
a free people.

I have been asking myself the question, Why did Germany, deliberately,
in the third year of the war, provoke America to this declaration and to
this action--deliberately, resolutely? It has been suggested that the
reason was that there were certain elements in American life, and the
Hohenzollerns were under the impression that they would make it
impossible for the United States to declare war. That I can hardly
believe. But the answer has been afforded by Marshal von Hindenburg
himself, in the very remarkable interview which appeared in the press, I
think, only this morning.
He depended clearly on one of two things. First, that the submarine
campaign would have destroyed international shipping to such an
extent that England would have been put out of business before
America was ready. According to his computation, America cannot be
ready for twelve months. He does not know America. Second, that
when America is ready, at the end of twelve months, with her army, she
will have no ships to transport that army to the field of battle. In von
Hindenburg's words, "America carries no weight." I suppose he means
she has no ships to carry weight. On that, undoubtedly, they are
reckoning.
Well, it is not wise always to assume that even when the German
General Staff, which has miscalculated so often, makes a calculation it
has no ground for it. It therefore behooves the whole of the Allies,
Great Britain and