MY MENTAL PROCESSES
Of course I did not know what was ahead of me, but I knew from the
experiences which were back of me how I felt toward the Germans. I had
gotten so that every time a German soldier passed me on the street with
his arrogant and hardened attitude, I muttered the words, "The scourge,"
under my breath. I had seen the invariable results of his _Kultur_ and
they had in every case been sordid and degrading. Henceforth I could not
look upon him with anything else than contempt and hatred. The vandalism
which I had seen and the terrible crimes that I had learned of, aroused
in me something that I had not realized before. An anger such as seldom
comes to men and such as I had not suspected my pacifist nature capable
of, now seized hold of me. I vowed in my secret self that if I ever got
out alive I would throw the weight of my small influence against that
inhuman machine.
The Good Book speaks of a "righteous indignation," and if ever there
was such a thing in the heart of a human I believe it had possession of
me then. Nor was it a momentary impulse. I had grimly and deliberately
gone from place to place, day after day, for the purpose of collecting
unbiased facts and impressions and these latter had taken their own
course in my heart and brain. Of course I wrote nothing down. I made no
attempt to get a single letter out of Belgium during all the time that I
was there. I was afraid that it would get me into trouble when I came to
leave. I kept no diary whatever. I needed none. All the things which I
have related have been from memory, but these facts were so vividly
burned into my soul that they will never be forgotten unless my faculty
of memory be permanently destroyed. I did not write down the impressions
which came to me, or the process of conversion which was constantly
taking place within my being. I dared not commit these things to paper.
I realized that I was in the hands of a powerful and terrible people who
would show no mercy upon one who was not in sympathy with its aims and
methods. Nevertheless, I swore that if I ever got free from them I would
tell the world the facts and do everything within my power to thwart
them and their purposes.
Before I had left the States I had not only been a pacifist, but I had
been neutral as well. Any person in my former congregation could testify
that I never spoke one word from the platform against the Germans, but
now I have no hesitation in condemning them with vehemence and opposing
them with violence. It might seem to some as though this was a strange
attitude for a minister of Christ to take, but I was led on as
inevitably to this position as the compass needle seeks the pole. I had
no choice. I could not help myself, but today I am proud to state that I
accepted this conclusion and that deliberately and boldly I will defend
it.
In a Utopian world one can act in a Utopian manner. And a Utopian world
is a beautiful theory. But it is a theory and a dream. You and I today
are living in a world of stern, cruel fact; in this world of fact we
find the stern, cruel German. We find him here in possession of a land
which he has stolen by stern, cruel, and murderous methods. He intends
to keep that land, perpetuate those methods, and steal more land by
identical methods. These are the methods he knows and employs. These
are the only methods he respects or that make any impression on him
whatever. Then we must use stern methods against him in order to
overcome and thwart him and restore the world to normal methods and
life. Otherwise he will encroach and impose his system upon the whole
world and his method will be the permanent and the universal fate.
[Illustration: _Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y._
THE BURNING OF A FRENCH FIELD HOSPITAL.
The hospital was hit by an incendiary shell. So sudden was the blaze
that only a few of the Red Cross ambulances could be saved. The hospital
and surrounding buildings were razed to the ground.]
If we see a wolf we meet him with force. If we deal with a kind man we
meet him with kindness. If we meet a reasonable and intelligent being we
answer him with reason and intelligent argument, and if we find vicious,
violent men, whether burglars, I. W. W.'s, or Germans, we meet them with
police, with militia, and with force. In a world of fact this is the
only way we have of meeting such. We cannot confront a real and stern
and urgent situation with a hazy theory, beautiful as it may be. In the
meantime, if we do, we will have no country. We will have a Germanized
world, and from our recent experience of Germanism we are convinced that
this would be defiantly opposed to the will of God.
Being an American citizen it was natural that the ideals of our
constitution should be rooted in my nature, and now I could not but
bring them into contrast with the ideals of Germanism as demonstrated
in this war. I believed these American principles to be Christian
principles and the very backbone of them to be at cross purposes with
the German goal. Our forefathers ordained and established that
constitution in order to establish justice which the German had tried to
break down while he established injustice. Our forefathers desired to
promote the general welfare and insure the blessings of liberty to
themselves and to posterity, while the German machine had existed and
had begun this war for the purpose of enslaving people and exploiting
them, thus depriving them of liberty.
Now one or the other of these viewpoints was right. If America was
right, Germany was wrong. Every clod and stone of Belgium declared the
guilt of Germany. And I now declare that Germany is wrong! And therefore
when she menaces the world in a military sense she must be put down by
military means. When one reasons the matter out from the facts he cannot
get away from this logic. Germany must be put down by military means!
Now, of course, I did not say this to the Germans who were constantly on
guard in the towns and cities. I had no military forces at my command.
They had the guns. Nevertheless, I was now morally on the side of the
Allied nations who were fighting to defend justice, right, and truth. I
firmly believe that this eye-opening experience in Belgium under the
very noses of the Germans and within their very power was the thing
which brought me to a right perspective of life and to be able to
clearly see things in their relative and proper values.
My viewpoint changed, and I am sure that I can never be the same man
again. Nobody can be the same who has been in this war.