This is no longer a war between two peoples, but between two
principles; it is as much to free the German people as to protect
ourselves. It is not for this narrow strip of hard-won soil, but for
every foot of a world that from henceforth must be free. The men who
are fighting on grounds of moral principle would rather pay any price
than lie at ease under the false shadow of militarism, materialism, and
grasping greed. These men are fighting, and many of them know that
they are fighting, for a new world. Not only military oppression, but
industrial oppression, must go. Not only German militarism, and
Russian autocracy, and Turkish cruelty must be done away; but American
materialism must be purged in the fiery furnace of this war. Its
purposes will reach far beyond our ken, and though man's sin alone has
caused the war, its issues are in the hands of God. The whole war has
been a demonstration of the result of leaving God out of His world.
The world with God left out leaves war; and life with God left out
leaves hell.

There must be a turning to God in our own national life. We speak of
the menace of German militarism, but what is militarism but armed and
aggressive materialism, the deeper principle which lies behind it? And
what is materialism but organized selfishness? Materialism and
selfishness are the dangers of our own land as well as of Germany. And
the war is a call to set our own house in order.

America can no longer live to herself alone. She is fighting for the
freedom of humanity. Here on the very field of battle, at the
throbbing heart of the conflict, we ask ourselves, What is the real
issue of the war? What are they fighting for?

Away there in Austria a young crown prince, Francis Ferdinand, was