In a
military autocracy there can be no liberty of the printing press. If a
man criticises the Kaiser, he goes to jail; in this republic, if Horace
Greeley criticises Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln does not send the
great editor to jail, but writes the latter, "My paramount object is to
save the Union," and vindicates himself at the bar of the nation. An
American editor or citizen would choke to death in Germany. He could not
breathe because of the mephitic gases of imperialism and militarism. For
a long time some of us did not realize what was involved, but now we do
realize the difference between the fruits of democratic self-government
and the fruits of military imperialism.
The last five months have brought a new realization to American citizens
as to the rights and liberties of small States. In the republic the sin
of trespass is one of the blackest of sins. Here we hold to the
sanctity of property. A man's home is his castle, a citadel that cannot
be invaded even by the power of the State. So deep is the American
hatred of trespass against property rights that imperialism finds it
impossible to understand this.
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