Never in all the history of nations did any strong nation ever endure without war one one-hundredth part of the causes for war that were heaped upon us by Germany between August 1, 1914, and the final severance of relations. For the sake of "peace" with a mad-dog military despotism, we endured insults, injuries and murders until the whole world looked at us in stupefied amazement. Why, in the first year of our Civil War, we came to the very verge of war with England because we halted at sea the British steamer _Trent_, and took from it, as ordinary prisoners of war, the two Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell. But Germany sank scores of American ships, and drowned hundreds of Americans,--and still we went on seeking to avoid the clash of arms. But, always "Beware the fury of a patient man!" Now that we have put our hand to the plough, the furrow will be turned to the uttermost finish, whether it takes one year or ten years. We will not leave a living Pfafner,--a great, stinking German military dragon,--as a heritage for our children. 7. THE BLUNDER OF "FRIGHTFULNESS." There are some blunders that dogs and horses, and even sensible wild animals, do not commit. Of all the stupidities of the German people, the crowning glory of their blundering is their idea that German savagery and "frightfulness" could so appal their enemies that they would be paralyzed by the shock of atrocities, and purchase peace at any price. It is difficult to believe that such fantastic theories as these originated anywhere outside of a madhouse. No words at our command can so well describe this situation as do the words of a once-German, of New York and of Kuhn, Loeb & Company, Mr. Otto H. Kahn. They were written on June 28, 1915, to a relative in Germany, and published in the N.Y. _Times_ of July 4, 1917. "The theory of 'frightfulness' in the conduct of warfare which Germany now preaches and practices is no new discovery. On the contrary, it is a very ancient one,--so old, in fact, that long ago it came to be discarded and superseded in European warfare, and passed into the limbo of forgotten things. There, until resurrected by your countrymen, it lay for generations, along with much else that the human race had overcome and left behind in the progress of culture and humanity,--a progress achieved by strenuous toil, sacrifices and suffering in the course of many centuries. "=And what have you gained from your 'frightfulness'?= Your victories have been due to quite other qualities. =By your 'frightfulness' you have steeled your enemies to the utmost limit of sacrifice; you have embittered neutral opinion; you have disappointed and grieved your friends, and sown dragon's teeth, the offspring of which will arise against you many years, even after the conclusion of peace.="