Decatur High School - Azure and Maize Yearbook (Decatur, MI)

Page 75 text:

, is 51 ' s- ., Klux ..1 ,-.1 3-if su 'gfgagf 'fs ' 'lg .. . . 5 , K ,Y ,.'.- i eq . V. T.,-' -re:-. ii .V 4- .-u, -7 . ,, f 2. 16 5. .,,r., Valedietory C'pXI.l. to armsf XYhen has it not thrilled us? XYhen have we not responded? llitherto we have answered merely' b v offering' our services in battle. Now, however, we must be ready and willing' not only to light but to feed the righting' men. lint are we responding' fully in accordance with the need? Per- haps we do not quite realize the issue at stalqe. XX'hat if it? You say defending' for the second time our rights on the sea. The bag- tle is for that. yes and more. We are now engaged in the great- est and last struggle for democracy. ln saying' this. let us go furtlier :nd Consider the opposing' sides in this gigantic conlliet. First, the central powers, what are they. and for what do they stand? Germany is a monarchy. .Xnstria is a monarchy, and the others of this confederation are small countries dependent upon their larger and proportionately more p'-wwerful allies. The emporeroffiermany isa perfect type of a divinely appointed ruler. .Xustria has a similar form of government, but her prince is not so strong a character as is fiermany's ruler. For Turkey. no explanation is necessary. Second. the allied powers: lfngland. despite its rnonarchial form of government has been said to be more of a democracy than is oi own hnited States. lie that as it may. it will readily be admitted that it is not despotism. France is a republic. liussim iititil a short tinie ago. has been considered a very gwiotl example of an autocratic government. But was it? You have doubt- less heard it said that constitutions are not made. they grow. and so it is with republics. Did .-Xnierica become a republic just dur- ing' or at the culmination of, the war for Independence? No. The spirit of democracy had been growing' for years. XYhen Russia entered the war. altl'oug'h to all outward appearances she was a strong'monarcl1y. still there was seething and boiling. among the great masses of her people, that same over-powering' spirit of freedom and self-government. That was the force that domin- ated her entrance into the war. This immense conflict is a war for the preservation upon earth, of that liberal minded idea of freedom and equality that our .-Xrnerica began. .-Xnd may our .Xmeriea finish it. Nay she. '. 'm struck the first. be also the one to strike the last blow at the now tottering autocraey. Tonight our class is represented here. by at least a few. but tornorritw we will be scattered. This is our last time together. and perhihps a lifetime apart. XYe go forth into the strange and , x

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L1f1liUOWf1 WOI'ld. Some to achieve success, some. perhaps, to fail, and others even to sink weary by the wayside. But through sick- nesseand in health, in sorrow or in glzidness, we will ever look back on these days we are leaving, with fond rememhrances of the classmates with whom we worked and played, or our parents and the schoolboard, who, together, have made our education possible and of the dear, kind teachers, who so patiently cor- rected our mistakes and labored with us to overcome our stupid- ity. May we think of them often and may the lessons they taught us, help to make us realize our duty toward our friends and toward our country. ROBERT XXI-XLBRIDGE, 'l7.