The Weber Literary Journal A Principle of Humanity at Stake awarded first place in sons of american revolution contest TWO years and five months ago, on the bloodstained fields of France, in behalf of the struggling masses of mankind, we, Americans, thru heroism and magnanimity of our soldiers, rang down the asbestos curtain on a most tragic scene. With the world for a stage, we, with heart-rending emotions, had, for four terrible years, seen enacted the most destructive, vindictive and tragic war ever written into the annals of history, and which for carnage and bloodshed, destruction and misery, has never been equaled. And now, after we have lowered the curtain on that scene, and are trudging back over the rugged roads of reconstruction, we find ourselves confronted with another difficult problem. We see that our mission to mankind has not yet been completed; that there still remains the task of poising the scales of justice; that, as in the midst of the world conflict, it was our duty to rescue the principles of humanity, so now, on the threshold of another crisis, it is our duty to protect them; and in order to protect them, we must marshal our own moral forces, and be as one with our allies in their determination that Germany shall pay the war indemnity. Let us now consider, for a moment, the real condition of affairs. The treaty of peace specifies that Germany shall, within 42 years, in annual payments of over $1,000,000,000, pay to the allies for damages perpetrated during the war, the sum of $43,000,000,000. This is but a small amount compared with the actual costs of the war, but since it would be impossible for any one nation to pay the entire debt, we allies, demanded only this small, reparative sum. Since the war, Germany has refused to pay. Fellow students, thru her folly, she has greatly wronged millions of people. Is it just, that now she pay for that folly? Perhaps we, as Americans, who did not drink so deeply of the bitter dregs, do not understand thoroughly, conditions. 10 The Weber Literary Journal Perhaps, because some of us did not encounter the atrocities with which our Allied friends met, we are more apt to cast the matter aside as a horrible dream, and leave it to be forgotten. But, fellow students, let us remember the conditions in France and Belgium, where the wounds are so deep and fatal that those peoples will ever have before them the scars and heart-rending recollections of a most severe conflict. Have we forgotten Louvain, Vise, Andennes, and the rest, where poor little Belgium was rent and torn? Have we forgotten that vast devastated area of land from Lens to Craonne, which was ravaged by the Germans in their great retreat to the Hindenburg Line? Let us recall to our memories that great event of 1917 and picture ourselves as some of the peasants fighting to regain our homes. What a thrill finds its way into our souls as we see the hated Huns turn their forces back in retreat! Our discouraged, worn expressions are erased by those of hope and gladness; the air is saturated with songs of "Victory" and our very beings vibrate with new vigor and life. Half hysterically we portray to our fellow comrades our homes in the villages into which we will soon come. We assure him rest and comfort beneath the shade of a blooming orchard. We promise him refreshment from the trickling, cooling essence of the tiny brook. The shadows in the distance finally take substantial form and we are spurred on and on. At last we arrive. Are these the villages which but four years before had been the sites of happy homes? Are these our houses, destroyed and ruined every one? Our orchards are torn from the ground; our wells and refreshings brooks poisoned and useless. The sun which once smiled on a blossoming country now scorches a hideous waste. This was not merely the case in one or two villages, fellow students, but official records show that in France alone, 1,649 townships were completely destroyed during the war, 630,000 houses were left in the ruins. The wreck which has been brought about to the mines and factories in northern France is appalling; nearly 21,000 factories have been destroyed, and the injury done to mines has made it impossible for any of them to be worked for at least ten years. Some of the coals mine in in Alsace-Lorraine will be nothing but a great expenditure to 11